551
The US Government secretly redefining journalists it doesn't like as "information brokers" in order to attack them with the CIA is horrific crime against the constitution.
It's also braindead branding, because "information broker" sounds waaay cooler than "journalist." twitter.com/ggreenwald/sta…
552
Is this more buffdoge v cheems, or virgin v chad? twitter.com/Snowden/status…
553
It's impossible to replace a default @Windows installation with a Linux distro without feeling better about yourself.
...or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux.
554
This is the best news I've heard in a long, long time. It would not have possible without the generosity of so many of you who made this happen.
We need to bring one more home before we can say we're done, but I cannot thank you enough for bringing us this far. Together, we win! twitter.com/4TheRefugees/s…
555
Below is the latest chapter in the White House's increasingly Soviet refusal to speak of the nation's biggest press freedom case—a case new reports say was only brought to grant legal cover for a CIA rendition op.
They have stone-walled for months.
(cf: mediaite.com/tv/i-emailed-y…) twitter.com/KimberlyHalket…
556
One way to view my life's work is a struggle against the dangers of centralized power, so watching the accelerating adoption of decentralization as a strategy for ensuring fairness—and increasingly, as a source of philanthropy—is tremendously gratifying.
Thank you, @FFDWeb! twitter.com/FFDWeb/status/…
557
BIG:
On Sunday, a new report claimed the US secretly considered killing Julian Assange, and laid criminal charges against him primarily to "legalize" a kidnap operation.
Now the former CIA Director who pushed the scheme has—in a failed damage control effort—confirmed it is true. twitter.com/Isikoff/status…
558
“Secret law prevents the public from understanding and shaping the law and thus inhibits democratic accountability; disables checks on governmental abuses of law; and weakens the quality of the law itself."
Will the Supreme Court hear @ACLU's challenge?
nytimes.com/2021/09/20/us/…
559
@ACLU The Supreme Court once said, "It is difficult for the People to accept what they are prohibited from observing.”
That’s why I blew the whistle in the first place: the public has a right to know decisions that redefine the territory of their rights.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
560
The idea that some overly ambitious staffer thinks they can put Americans' elected representives in phone jail over a glorified *budget meeting* is more than a little offensive.
Just say no. Political bickering is unclassified—they're not going to slap handcuffs on you. twitter.com/pkcapitol/stat…
561
PROTIP:
You can leave the phone from your bag here and forget to do the same with the one in your pocket, or vice versa—an easy mistake for those with two phones, or carrying an aide's phone.
Sometimes this makes it hard to freeze the public out of public policy discussions. twitter.com/christianjhall…
562
"Roughly 4 in 10 (41%) of Biden and half (52%) of Trump voters at least somewhat agree that it’s time to split the country, favoring blue/red states seceding from the union."
🔥🔥🔥🔥
🔥🐶☕🔥
🔥🔥🔥🔥 twitter.com/Mediaite/statu…
564
I'm told by the reporting team this is the biggest offshore-finance leak—and journalistic collaboration—*ever.*
They expose the intentionally concealed finances of 35 world leaders and 300+ other public officials in 90+ countries.
...and they aren't finished. twitter.com/PaulLewis/stat…
565
The humorous side of this very serious story is that even after two apocalyptic offshore finance/law firm leaks, those industries are still compiling vast databases of ruin, and still secure them with a Post-It Note marked "do not leak."
Hats off to the source!
#PandoraPapers
566
Sometimes I think back to this and wonder how many people bought #Bitcoin then.
It's up ~10x since, despite a coordinated global campaign by governments to undermine public understanding of—and support for—cryptocurrency.
China even banned it, but it just made Bitcoin stronger. twitter.com/Snowden/status…
567
Facebook and Instagram go mysteriously offline and, for one shining day, the world becomes a healthier place.
#facebookdown
568
Facebook-owned Whatsapp being down is a reminder that you and your friends should probably be using a more private, non-profit alternative like @signalapp anyway (or another open-source app of your choice).
It's just as free, and takes like 30 seconds to switch.
#facebookdown
569
Imagine if Facebook's infrastructure team decided now was the moment to go on strike. It would be historic: twitter.com/Vagabending/st…
570
Since you actually have time to read something that matters now that Facebook is down, allow me to suggest a quick little piece on the thinking that got us into the mess in the first place:
edwardsnowden.substack.com/p/conspiracy-p…
571
@PlatnumSparkles First line: "The greatest conspiracies are open and notorious — not theories, but practices expressed through law and policy, technology, and finance."
edwardsnowden.substack.com/p/conspiracy-p…
572
The Fourth Amendment exists to forbid the government from trampling the reasonable expectation of privacy.
It is long past time to require the surveillance-advertising industry, at the center of which stand Facebook and Google, to at *least* the same low standard.
#facebookdown twitter.com/evan_greer/sta…
573
We know it's you, Mark. twitter.com/Beno_Hotspur/s…
574
Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram all going down at the same time sure seems like an easily-understandable and publicly-popular example of why breaking up a certain monopoly into at least three pieces might not be a bad idea.
Somebody should tell Elizabeth Warren.
575
cc @SenWarren every cable news show just called and said they want you to come on every night this week and be mean to Facebook.
You can find me on #nostr @ pubkey: #npub1sn0wdenkukak0d9dfczzeacvhkrgz92ak56egt7vdgzn8pv2wfqqhrjdv9. (use Damus on iOS, Amethyst on Android, or snort.social)