Statement by Edward Snowden to human rights groups at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, posted by WikiLeaks:
Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone’s communications at any time. That is the power to change people’s fates.
It is also a serious violation of the law. The 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution of my country, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and numerous statutes and treaties forbid such systems of massive, pervasive surveillance. While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice – that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law.
I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: “Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring.”
Accordingly, I did what I believed right and began a campaign to correct this wrongdoing. I did not seek to enrich myself. I did not seek to sell US secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. Instead, I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice.
That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets.
Since that time, the government and intelligence services of the United States of America have attempted to make an example of me, a warning to all others who might speak out as I have. I have been made stateless and hounded for my act of political expression. The United States Government has placed me on no-fly lists. It demanded Hong Kong return me outside of the framework of its laws, in direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement – the Law of Nations. It has threatened with sanctions countries who would stand up for my human rights and the UN asylum system. It has even taken the unprecedented step of ordering military allies to ground a Latin American president’s plane in search for a political refugee. These dangerous escalations represent a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America, but to the basic rights shared by every person, every nation, to live free from persecution, and to seek and enjoy asylum.
Yet even in the face of this historically disproportionate aggression, countries around the world have offered support and asylum. These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless. By refusing to compromise their principles in the face of intimidation, they have earned the respect of the world. It is my intention to travel to each of these countries to extend my personal thanks to their people and leaders.
I announce today my formal acceptance of all offers of support or asylum I have been extended and all others that may be offered in the future. With, for example, the grant of asylum provided by Venezuela’s President Maduro, my asylee status is now formal, and no state has a basis by which to limit or interfere with my right to enjoy that asylum. As we have seen, however, some governments in Western European and North American states have demonstrated a willingness to act outside the law, and this behavior persists today. This unlawful threat makes it impossible for me to travel to Latin America and enjoy the asylum granted there in accordance with our shared rights.
This willingness by powerful states to act extra-legally represents a threat to all of us, and must not be allowed to succeed. Accordingly, I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel to Latin America, as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law and my legal travel is permitted. I will be submitting my request to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably.
If you have any questions, I will answer what I can.
Thank you.

Was Stanley Kubrick trying to expose secret societies behind the scenes running the world?  Hell if I know but this is an interesting documentary on the topic. 

Lawrence o’donnell may be a  socialist but he is right on the constitution on this one.

Hell yea he is.  Apparently some people in Ireland think so as well.  When a government violates its own laws it takes a courageous person like Snowden to stand up to the power structure.  It is nice to see that he has some international support.

Needless to say after watching these two videos I have been much more suspicious when I hear about a plane crash. 

 
TWA flight 800

 
PLF 101
 

 

Former FBI agent Sibel Edmonds talks about some of the revelations from another NSA whistler blower Rice Tice.  The NSA goes much deeper than what people are being told on the main stream media.

The two original interviews with Russ Tice are here and here

People in the Austrian Libertarian community need little introduction to Peter Schiff.  He is how I first heard of Austrian economics.  After the crash of 2008, I started searching on the internet to find out who, if anyone, predicted the economic crash of 2008. At the time I just finished Alan Greenspan’s autobiography that summer.  I thought I had a good understanding of economics.  According to Mr. Greenspan, we were in a new age where the Federal Reserve through its monetary policy could make America permanently prosperous. Well, that was proved wrong real quick.  In the search for who predicted the crash of 2008 I found this video.  Soon after this I learned about the Austrian School of Economics.  It was as if a whole new world was opening up to me and I guess intellectually it kind of has.  The Austrian School of Economics has literally completely changed the way I view the universe around me and has in turn changed me as well.  All my previous cherished beliefs were called into question but I could not stop reading Austrian Economics and Austrian libertarianism.  Its explanatory powers were so powerful I could not turn away even when it was contradicting what I thought I previously knew.  Everything was explained in a way that was so simple it is almost as if everything I new before was worded and presented in a way to deliberately confuse.  As I read it turned out that the Austrians have predicted every major economic crash since the great depression.  They have always been right when everyone else seems to be wrong.   Not only did they predict every crash but they also explained why crashes happen in very simple and easily understood language. A little hint, it is not a free market phenomenon but it is always due to central banking policy.

Well, anyway, back to Peter Schiff.  He always has great insight for both new learners and those who have been part of the libertarian community for years.

Once again Schiff has great foresight in this “age of turbulence“.

I guess a lot of people have not seen this yet. It is a great interview and well worth watching.  He will be pursued for his entire life and will never be able to set his foot in his native country again unless the American people force massive changes upon their government.  I hope that I would have the courage to follow my convictions in the way that Snowden has. It is truly a story of one good and brave man against all the intelligence agencies of the mightiest country in the world.