Weekend Open Thread

10 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

1. The long drought of no videos is thankfully over ​. In honor of my trip to France, today's is France's ESC 2012 entry.

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2. No particular point or political agenda, I just really like this version of “Nessun Dorma” , sung while Potts was still an unknown, homely cell phone salesman.

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   1. He was amazing. Hard to believe someone that good hadn't been discovered before then.

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      1. And what about Susan Boyle.  Similar story and glorious voice.

          

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3. Is Obama any better than Bush when it comes to supporting whistleblowers?

   I can tell you that there are ways, if you think that the government is abusing a program, of coming forward. In fact, I, through Executive Order, signed whistleblower protection for intelligence officers or people who are involved in the intelligence industry.

   This message is false. 

   What happens if you follow channels?

   Drake’s story puts the lie to the notion that internal channels serve as anything other than a trap for unwitting whistleblowers. What is so revealing is that if Snowden had gone through internal channels, the outcome would have been worse: the United States would have charged him with espionage and he’d be in jail for, in essence, spying on his own country on behalf of the public. It should not require martyrdom for a free citizen to challenge government abuses of power. It should not require choosing one’s conscience over one’s career, citizenship, or freedom.

   This is the system that President Obama has purposefully supported. And lied about.

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   1. And on that same subject – Detaining my partner: a failed attempt at intimidation.

      This is obviously a rather profound escalation of their attacks on the news-gathering process and journalism. It's bad enough to prosecute and imprison sources. It's worse still to imprison journalists who report the truth. But to start detaining the family members and loved ones of journalists is simply despotic. Even the Mafia had ethical rules against targeting the family members of people they felt threatened by. But the UK puppets and their owners in the US national security state obviously are unconstrained by even those minimal scruples.

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4. Our police should do something like this!

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   1. +12

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5. Everyone please go like this page.

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6. Done.

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