Since he's always been unafraid to speak truth to power, I fully expected his swift, succinct and no-nonsense response to the detention and questioning of his partner, David Miranda at London's Heathrow airport. And in his, Detaining my partner: a failed attempt at intimidation, he doesn't disappoint:
If the UK and US governments believe that tactics like this are going to deter or intimidate us in any way from continuing to report aggressively on what these documents reveal, they are beyond deluded. If anything, it will have only the opposite effect: to embolden us even further. Beyond that, every time the US and UK governments show their true character to the world - when they prevent the Bolivian President's plane from flying safely home, when they threaten journalists with prosecution, when they engage in behavior like what they did today - all they do is helpfully underscore why it's so dangerous to allow them to exercise vast, unchecked spying power in the dark.I also expected this:
You'd think the UK would know by now, that the US will always quickly and most certainly throw them under the bus, particularly when it comes to anything Snowden (gotta keep up the appearance of steady, clean hands, even as they franticly flail about trying to catch this guy with hands not even approaching anything resembling "clean"). It's not like there isn't recent precedent to remind them.
When FUKUS et al., forced down the plane of a sitting president of a sovereign nation, the US said, "It wasn't me," then too, leaving its lackeys scrambling to make up lame excuses and having to apologize. Why in the world would the UK give the US a "heads up" that they'd be detaining Glenn's partner if they'd not already colluded to do so? Please. And I guess we're to believe the US had nothing to do with this either: UK ordered Guardian to destroy hard drives in effort to stop Snowden revelations:
UK authorities reportedly raided the Guardian’s office in London to destroy hard drives in an effort to stop future publications of leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden...
The Changeling will go to great lengths to serve white supremacy -- and himself (forget about all those folk, who thought "Change You Can Believe In" meant just that). Mr. "To know him, is to love him" over there, is more than okay with allowing Shrub & Co. to skate, totally free from prosecution for all the murderous atrocities and attacks on civil liberties they committed during their administration yet he's pulling out all the stops to not only capture Snowden, but to intimidate anyone else associated with him? How crazy is that?Certainly his other motivation is the fact that anything leaked, will implicate him even more horribly since he chose to sell his soul to be the first Black deus ex machina. Now, the real powers-that-be can continue to perpetuate the aforementioned atrocities and attacks at an even higher level through him. And when the shit hits the fan, he'll be left holding the proverbial bag. It's already happening. He will suffer the repercussions of all these world-dominating actions for a lifetime -- and so will his daughters (but they'll be rich, that's all that matters I guess). There's just something really insecure or worse, megalomaniacal about that to me. He reminds me of the power-lusting, Martin Sheen character, Stilson, bent on creating "his destiny" by destroying the world in the movie "Dead Zone." It didn't end well for him.
Like the others before him, he raised his right hand and took the following oath and didn't mean one word of it:
Presidential Oath of OfficeIn stark contrast, Snowden, Poitras and Greenwald, like Bradley Manning and others before them, are doing way more preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution than those who routinely raise that right hand. Knowing this government's reach however, my prayers are with them.
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
New York Times reporter, Pete Maass recently published a comprehensive, day-late-and-dollar-short account of how it all got to this point. His, How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets reads like a spy thriller (he is, according to the piece, working on a book about surveillance and privacy, after all) -- you should check it out.
Related:
- NSA collected non-terrorism related emails
- What NSA Transparency Looks Like
- Miranda threatens legal action over detention, confiscation
- ‘More aggressive': Greenwald vows to publish more secrets after UK detains partner
- Latin America Condemns US Espionage at United Nations Security Council
- Email service used by Snowden shuts itself down, warns against using US-based companies
15 comments:
Sistah Deb they actually meant and believed every word they said when taking this oath:
"Presidential Oath of Office
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States"
We have been led to believe that the United States (UNITED STATES) and United States of America are the same entities and they are not. This is why each and all of them work to serve the UNITED STATES, and not the actual people like us. The UNITED STATES must answer to its masters and these I call the Banksters (its not original) I could be wrong but these are the people I imagine you are speaking of when you write of white supremacy? The youngstahs refer to them as the Illuminati. who has unleashed another level of deception on them via Lil Wayne and his ilk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNihE3McnRk
BTW I am not a member of the Moorish Science Temple of America or any other such group.
Deb, I am troubled by the complacency in our response to the very real threat of what has become that ole cliche: a sign of the times. How many signs do we need? And, yet I know I can't even be sure I understand fully the actions that need to begin...happening...asap but I know that our present mis-leadership class is not even close to addressing the many crises among us. I am sometimes depressingly fearful but believe in justice over darkness because my children, their children (and so on) deserve more than re-enslavement.
I am grateful for your blog. I feel comfortable in this space and I know you honor truth. Thank you.
Amenta..."The UNITED STATES must answer to its masters and these I call the Banksters (its not original) I could be wrong but these are the people I imagine you are speaking of when you write of white supremacy? The youngstahs refer to them as the Illuminati..."
I am not a member of the Moorish Science Temple of America or any other such group either, which is why, I guess, it took my old head awhile to figure out what you were telling me about the US vs the USA -- even after I watched the video and read the treaty!
I've read quite a few articles over time though, about the Moorish Science Temple of America invoking that 1787 treaty to take over vacant properties as their own under sovereignty rights. I can't really speak on it though because I don't know enough about it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you believe in the temple's precepts, you denounce the whole idea of us being brought here during slavery and instead, believe we were already here, right?
As I said, I don't know enough about it to speak on it, but based on my genealogical work to date, my people were brought here.
I think I get the US vs USA difference and if I do, I agree with you that they do have to answer to their masters who, yes, are the "Banksters" and real powers-that-be. Yes, when I write of white supremacy I am talking about them, as well as those who subscribe to the beliefs perpetuated by them for their own profits and purposes. My sons talk about the illuminati a lot and it seems we're partially talking about the same folk (those families you turned me onto awhile back), but as I said, white supremacy isn't only them in my understanding.
When I talk about the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy, the circle widens even more to include others who are not white, but are influenced by those politically, institutionalized beliefs. My sister bell hooks explains it way better than I can towards the end here (but watch the whole thing, it touches on Lil Wayne's "issues" too): http://youtu.be/OQ-XVTzBMvQ -- **WARNING, DEFINITELY FOR GROWN FOLK! :-)
Actually I began to reverse my thinking when I attended a lecture and further from Rev. Radine Amen Ra, not from the MSTA. I understand where they are coming from but personally don't care about using the term to describe all "Black" people on this planet Moorish as I have an issue with calling all "Black" people of the planet Africans.
I do subscribe to the idea that we were already here and not forcibly brought here by white Europeans.
I believe the vast majority of Africans arrived on American shores of their own volition and not as enslaved beings. This could explain your ancestry and not forcible migration. I believe there are things that we Americans (look up the definition of American in the 1828 Webster's dictionary you can find online) eat, food we cultivated that are not native to Africa or Asia, corn for instance and Collaloo, and the sweet potato.
There is proof that the geneological/DNA work is not really accurate. There is archeological evidence that shows the majority of us in the Americas comes from the South Pacific and not across the Bering Strait, which is a falsified story to satisfy the Vatican to try and explain humans in this part of the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHjJJfhfRgs
Amenta..."I have an issue with calling all "Black" people of the planet Africans."
That, my Brother is obvious. I, however, do not.
"I do subscribe to the idea that we were already here and not forcibly brought here by white Europeans.
I believe the vast majority of Africans arrived on American shores of their own volition and not as enslaved beings."
Again, obvious -- and again, i do not.
"This could explain your ancestry and not forcible migration. I believe there are things that we Americans (look up the definition of American in the 1828 Webster's dictionary you can find online) eat, food we cultivated that are not native to Africa or Asia, corn for instance and Collaloo, and the sweet potato."
I need no explanation for my ancestry Amenta. I have no problem with having been brought here as you do. You have a right to your opinion, as do I. As for whether foods we eat are indigenous to Africa, I know from my own lived experiences on the SC Sea Islands -- corn, called maize by the Native Americans who also inhabited the Island, was here. As for what my grandmother called, Callaloo, it is indigenous to West Africa and is still vey much cultivated there in abundance. I saw it with my own eyes, nobody told me -- same for sweet potatoes. I'm sure you have an explanation for how they got over there, from here, but I'll stick to what my own eyes showed me and what I believe based on that, and what my grandmother taught me in her fields.
I watched the video, Brother. The DNA test I took did not narrow my ancestry down to a specific tribe but to a region in West Africa (the Senegambia area as well as Sierra Leone among them -- which is why I am PROUD to be able to go back as often as I can to personally connect the cultural dots).
Additionally, I had the privilege of spending a large chunk of my life with my maternal grandmother who was born in 1909 and died in 2002, and unfortunately, much less with my paternal great-grandmother, born in 1895 and died in 1962 -- their oral histories are amazing and fulfilling for me and I will never dishonor what they shared by calling them liars. My hometown of Charleston, SC is home to one of the oldest Slave Markets in this country, there are paper trails disproving your hypothesis. Here is one of them: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0608_050608_slavegirl.html
I don't know what compels you to disavow your connection to slavery, Brother. Many young folk I've met are the same way and I think it's unfortunate. As I've said more times than I can count, I do not have that issue. I am proud of my descendants whose struggles made it possible for me to be here. My ONLY issue is that I do not know enough -- and may not have enough time to, given I'm 57 years old. But I will gather as much as I can so my sons will know, and be proud of those, "from whence they came."
Let me be clear, Amenta. You will never convince me to believe what you believe on this subject. We can just agree to disagree and be done with it, because I have way too many lived experiences to the contrary.
I am in no way attempting to convince you to change your viewpoint by giving you a tiny drop of information that has opened my eyes to what I believe are the false numbers of Africans that were brought over to be enslaved. I am only conveying what I have come to learn not attempting to convince you or anyone else. I was and am under the impression the exchange of ideas and information can be carried on without us feeling as if one's knowledge, belief and understanding is somehow superior than another's or that one is being attacked because of their viewpoint. I am not attempting to do this.
Additionally, I am not disavowing the slavery business by not holding to the story of a massive Trans Atlantic slave trade from Africa to the Americas. In fact I have been able to learn just how deeply it ran involving more people than just African. There is far too much information that is available that is not popular, but valid to the contrary of that well known story. I contend the mass of enslaved people in the Americas were bought and sold right here in the Americas, who were the Black people already present here whether originating in the Americas or Africa. Abu Bakari travled to the Americas from Mali almost 200 years earliar than any white European ever did.
I have written before that many of us don't know if our familys were enslaved or not but, too many people are motivated on slavery without knowing, just assuming based on the time period. In your case you know who in your family were enslaved, but most Black people only believe their ancestors were enslaved.
Because you have seen callaloo in Africa, because you have seen sweet potatos in Africa, because you may have seen cassava, because you may have seen cocoa in Africa does not mean that these plants are native to that contenent.
Con't
I have no problem with Black people claiming or in your case knowing that your ancestors come from Africa. The problem is with us who do not believe that or no longer make that claim. It's unfortunate that there seems to come forth from those that do believe or know their ancestry is African a certain level of mild to strong vitriol. For me to say that the majority of people enslaved in the Americas were the Aboriginal Americans is NOT to deny Blackness. But, only to give credibility to the fact that the WHOLE WORLD was populated with Black people alone for hundreds of thousands of years before a Black woman ever produced what would become white people. And, that the Americas are NOT excluded from this fact.
On the MSTA. I do not have personal contact with anyone that is an active member of any Moorish organization. I don't know how what laws they use to invoke the Adverse Possesion law, nor do I agree with it. However, they are a source of very good information that I have gleaned and learned quite a few things. The lady that I studied with, was very much disliked by the Moorish brothas and sistas because she would not take on the moniker Moor. I have been over the last 2-3 years following Yaffa Bey closley.
Oh I did in fact watch the whole Bell Hooks video and I agree with here accessment, because racism and white supremacy alone are NOT our PRIMARY enemy. Because I say this does not mean I do not know they exist and that I am not faced with it. I am not in denial of this fact.
I know, we, Black people, have so many rudimentary issues to deal with. We have too many of us not having a bank acct and could get one but, don't believe they can. This opens the door for ecploiters like Russell Simmons and his Rush card to step in and kill them financially with fees. We have waaaay too many people who feel, believe and know the white man is a wicked racist beast but, will not do anything about their health on their own, and run to buy and take the white supremacists/Racists pharmaceutical drugs daily, and become afraid when they run out of the racist's drug. Yet, we have sooo many Black people that are healers we can go to.
Anyway, I mean no harm by expressing my thoughts. Again, I am in no way attempting to change you or anyone else. If a change of thought comes to anyone it will be of their own will. I was not convinced by anyone to start to view His-Story in another way, I began to seek out and read information that led to another trail that I followed.
Amenta..."I am in no way attempting to convince you to change your viewpoint by giving you a tiny drop of information that has opened my eyes to what I believe are the false numbers of Africans that were brought over to be enslaved.
Were we not having the exact same conversation every time and place we discuss this, I'd probably not feel like you were. But we do, which is why I said, let's agree to disagree and be done with it. When I asked -- "Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you believe in the temple's precepts, you denounce the whole idea of us being brought here during slavery and instead, believe we were already here, right?" -- upthread, it was not the singular "you" I was using, it was the plural "you." I was asking if that's what they believe, trying to understand what you were telling me about MSTA. My, "As I said, I don't know enough about it to speak on it, but based on my genealogical work to date, my people were brought here" was simply my commentary on their beliefs if you responded in the affirmative to that question and then I moved on.
Maybe if I'd used "one" instead, of "you," you wouldn't have spent your entire 10:37 a.m. comment telling me what I already know you believe. I'm never averse to receiving new information, but what you shared there about how you felt was not new. My, "You will never convince me to believe what you believe on this subject. We can just agree to disagree and be done with it, because I have way too many lived experiences to the contrary" was in response to that fact.
I was and am under the impression the exchange of ideas and information can be carried on without us feeling as if one's knowledge, belief and understanding is somehow superior than another's or that one is being attacked because of their viewpoint. I am not attempting to do this.
You'd be under the correct impression. I, in no way feel my knowledge, belief and understanding is somehow superior to yours -- nor yours to mine; nor do I attack, or feel I'm being attacked because of my viewpoint and neither should you.
As I said, given my age, my journey now is to drill down as much of who I am, not only for myself, but for my sons and that, first and foremost, is my main objective because that knowledge has been routinely denied me and others like me for ages. I'm not "motivated on slavery," I'm motivated on Africa -- enslavement is the indisputable and concrete means by which I am able to connect to it. I know plenty of people who would prefer not to do so, even if it is their truth. That, like colorism IMHO, is not only disingenuous, it encourages and perpetuates divide and conquer behavior among a people who sorely need to stand together in this country in order to have our needs met just as others do.
"Because you have seen callaloo in Africa, because you have seen sweet potatos in Africa, because you may have seen cassava, because you may have seen cocoa in Africa does not mean that these plants are native to that contenent. "
Regarding callaloo, there are other sources outside of my grandmother and what I saw that attribute its origins to West Africa. I said sweet potatoes because the young lady who grows them on my friends land in West Africa calls them that. My family calls them yams (as in candied?) and they, too, are of West African origin. Even though my grandmother's not written any books, I prefer to believe the woman whose farming methods were was passed down to her by folk who grew the food to feed their families. I saw cassava, but I don't recall saying anything about it. I saw no cocoa and didn't mention that either.
Cont.
"It's unfortunate that there seems to come forth from those that do believe or know their ancestry is African a certain level of mild to strong vitriol."
It's unfortunate that you saw my response as mild to strong vitriol. Trust me, particularly since it wasn't peppered with expletives -- it was not! :-) If anything, it was frustration in rehashing what we always do instead of my getting an answer to the MSTA question -- something I admitted I new nothing about, but you seemed to. I appreciate your addressing it in your latest comment.
"For me to say that the majority of people enslaved in the Americas were the Aboriginal Americans is NOT to deny Blackness. But, only to give credibility to the fact that the WHOLE WORLD was populated with Black people alone for hundreds of thousands of years before a Black woman ever produced what would become white people. And, that the Americas are NOT excluded from this fact."
Now had you given it to me like his from he jump, I probably wouldn't have seen it as a disavowal and probably would have asked you, as I have before, to refer me to some more reading material!
"Oh I did in fact watch the whole Bell Hooks video and I agree with here accessment..."
Good! I do too.
"We have waaaay too many people who feel, believe and know the white man is a wicked racist beast but, will not do anything about their health on their own..."
Prior to finding out about the hole in my heart after the stroke, the only pharmaceutical drugs I took was Lunesta for my menopause-induced insomnia so I could get some sleep (apologies for the TMI)! Got any remedies for that?
I'm on a low-dose high blood pressure medicine and a baby aspirin a day they said to prevent another clot forming and being thrown up through the hole and traveling up to my brain like it did before. Intellectually, I know if I stop smoking I would decrease the chances of a clot forming, but emotionally, being under an inordinate amount of stress in the last few years -- I still lean on the cigarettes regardless. So yes, I'd be one of the people you're talking about.
"Yet, we have sooo many Black people that are healers we can go to."
I agree with everything you said before this but I pulled this one out especially because again, I used to have first-hand knowledge of this fact through my maternal grandmother for many years before she died. Mama would take us to her before going o a doctor!
My screw-up was taking it for granted and not paying close attention to what she was doing for all of us. Most of the old folks on the Island are dead and gone now and like me, most of their children and grands were also not paying attention. As a result, now, most of us don't know where to go for the kind of healing you're talking about.
"Anyway, I mean no harm by expressing my thoughts."
Same here and no harm done, Brother. Also, know that I appreciate YOUR being clear as well.
Peace...
LOL...I appreciate you and you response. When I spoke about vitriol, I was not directing this at you because I didn't truly feel that way. But, this just does happen from others. When I mentioned Cassava and Cocoa I know you didn't mention those, but these are some of the foods that have been moved to Africa that we think are African and are not. Whem I spoke of pharmaceutical meds, really didn't know that you are one that took their drugs daily, but I was thinking of my mother on my last visit with her and how afraid she was becasue her Asthma meds had not arrived. Yet, she never got ill the whole week she was without them. I was pointing this out, since she in her words "can't stand them sap suckas half the time."
I agreed with Bell Hooks in that I believe she sees that Racism/White Supremacy is really one of many tools used by the Bankster families to control and enslave the world. If racism/white supremacy ended right this minute we would have still such a problem. The Federal Reserve Notes we use as currency would still continue to buy less and less every day. I believe this is the reason Dr. King moved for the race issue to understanding the world poverty issue. He learned that in Viet Nam all these large tire companies were actually enslaving the people of Viet Nam to work on their rubber plantations.
As far as the MSTA goes I think they are onto something but not. I understand that Noble Drew Ali was attempting to educate the people to the power we hold and not to feel so helpless by teaching them how to use the law for our advantage. As with most of our people, the secret interlopers seek to destroy and have co-opted the idea behind his movement. Today, sure they teach that the slave trade did not exist to the levels that we have been taught to believe. I do not hold to changing Nationality from U.S. citizen to Morocco. I don't believe America was once Morocco as they do lol stands to reason based on my belief we were here already. Anyway, they have good info, but I would never join them too many shysters taking money from Black folk just like your boy Russell Simmons.
Here are some links. Take the good and toss the bones so to speak.
http://stewartsynopsis.com/washitaw.htm
Check how white folk deny the Matriarchy practiced here by our people by making the Black female Aboriginal American chief look like an efemiized male. But, knowing these are Black people of the Americas the information is great.
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/english-trade-deerskins-and-indian-slaves
"As the pieces of the puzzle come together in the scholarship, historians note that nowhere is there more documentation than in South Carolina, what was the original English colony of Carolina, established in 1670. It is estimated that between 1650 and 1730 at least 50,000 Indians (and likely more due to transactions hidden to avoid paying government tariffs and taxes) were exported by the English alone to their Caribbean outposts. Between 1670 and 1717 far more Indians were exported than Africans were imported. In southern coastal regions entire tribes were exterminated through slavery compared to disease or war. In a law passed in 1704, Indian slaves were conscripted to fight in wars for the colony long before the American Revolution."
http://nativeamericanhistory.about.com/od/controversies/a/The-Untold-History-Of-American-Indian-Slavery.htm
Hey Amenta!
"LOL...I appreciate you and you response. When I spoke about vitriol, I was not directing this at you because I didn't truly feel that way. But, this just does happen from others.
Let me tell you Brother, our mutual admiration society is exactly what I need to hear right about now! :-) But I feel you on those "others" who no doubt, result from not seeking out further information to either confirm or deny. I get the need to hold onto some sense of history (dictated, yet unexplored) -- but I get so frustrated that not only do they not use whatever means necessary to find out the truth, but that there are not enough of US helping them to learn -- especially the kids.
"When I mentioned Cassava and Cocoa I know you didn't mention those, but these are some of the foods that have been moved to Africa that we think are African and are not. "
I'm the first to admit that I don't know, trust me. But regarding Cocoa, all I know is, my dear friend from Côte d’Ivoire who braids my hair here in TX, can never remember a time when harvesting cocoa was not in her life. Also, when the family joined me in The Gambia last year, we watched a CNN (of all news agencies!) presentation of "Chocolate's Child Slaves" (http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/category/chocolates-child-slaves/) which elicited such a visceral response from all of us, we felt we knew about the exploitation in the environment in which we were.
"Whem I spoke of pharmaceutical meds, really didn't know that you are one that took their drugs daily, but I was thinking of my mother on my last visit with her and how afraid she was becasue her Asthma meds had not arrived. Yet, she never got ill the whole week she was without them. I was pointing this out, since she in her words "can't stand them sap suckas half the time."
I absolutely love your Mom's response on the not trusting them, believe me! :-) I've been without my Lunesta for some time now because their asses required I make and pay for an appointment before they'd renew the Rx, even though the doctor was gone on vacation. Don't get me wrong, I get the potential for prescription drug abuse, but seeing as they'd not required and appointment for years before now, I found it just a bit exploitative. I've not slept more than 3 hours a night since -- which is why I asked if you had any "natural remedies" for the situation! :-)
"I agreed with Bell Hooks in that I believe she sees that Racism/White Supremacy is really one of many tools used by the Bankster families to control and enslave the world. If racism/white supremacy ended right this minute we would have still such a problem. The Federal Reserve Notes we use as currency would still continue to buy less and less every day. I believe this is the reason Dr. King moved for the race issue to understanding the world poverty issue. He learned that in Viet Nam all these large tire companies were actually enslaving the people of Viet Nam to work on their rubber plantations. "
I'm glad we agree on bell (she prefers the lower case "b") -- THAT sister is a critical-thinking genius, IMHO! But it wasn't until many years later, that I really understood Dr. King's focus -- I certainly do now.
"Anyway, they have good info, but I would never join them too many shysters taking money from Black folk just like your boy Russell Simmons."
Agreed, but know that he ain't my damned boy! :-)
"Here are some links. Take the good and toss the bones so to speak."
Now THAT'S the Amenta I've come to know and love!! :-) Thanks, I promise to read them and learn a damned thing or two!
Brother, thanks for the discourse. It's sorely needed in a time and situation that for me, requires it.
Peace...
Hey Deb, sorry for the delay. I don't know of a herbal remedy for insomnia. But, I will give a number for you to a healer here in the Atlanta area. She may be able to assist via phone or refer you to a healer in your area.
Her name is Sister Adama. Her number is 678-760-9299. She will answer her phone to anyone and she will be able to give you some information/aide you.
Peace!
Amenta...No problem, Brother! Heading home this week, maybe I'll give her a call on the way! Thanks, Man...
Peace back atcha...
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