A long, dark night of the soul

I have the greatest respect for Glenn Greenwald, but the story he broke this week was not really news (here). It’s been widely known for a long time now that just about all electronic communication is recorded by the US security services. That includes all communication via the internet giants – Google, Facebook, Apple, et al – who are, in effect, part of the US security services. There is absolutely nothing you can say or do online that is not monitored.

As further revelations come out about this illegal monitoring (here), there are growing calls for President Obama’s impeachment. Obama should have been impeached on New Year’s Eve 2011, when he signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2012 (here). The NDAA 2012 allowed, for the first time, for the indefinite detention of American citizens without trial (in Section 1021); but Obama got away with such an unconstitutional law, mostly because the corporate controlled mainstream media did not report it. A group of concerned citizens, led by Chris Hedges, filed a lawsuit against Obama and the NDAA 2012 Section 1021, but they still haven’t managed to get this law overturned, and the Supreme Court is refusing to give a final ruling on the case (here). What’s happening in America at the moment is a bit like a re-run of 1930s Germany, and is quite terrifying.

The millionaires on Capitol Hill, on both sides of the political divide, have continued to vote overwhelmingly for these unconstitutional measures since 9/11. These latest revelations, about massive surveilance operations, could be the last chance salon. If ordinary Americans don’t speak out against this, and make their politicians accountable to the law, not just America, but the rest of the world could be in for a long, dark night of the soul.