4 ms·

"I'll give you just one example, which is press freedom. Under Obama, as I'm sure you know, the Espionage Act of 1917--one of the most pernicious laws we have o

"I'll give you just one example, which is press freedom. Under Obama, as I'm sure you know, the Espionage Act of 1917--one of the most pernicious laws we have on our books; it was enacted under Woodrow Wilson, and it was designed to criminalize dissent from U.S. participation in World War I--was invoked against whistleblowers and sources, like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning and a dozen others, more under Obama than every other prior president combined. It ended up being three times more prosecutions under the Espionage Act for our sources as journalists than all previous presidents, including Nixon or Eisenhower or whoever you want to pick. And the press said almost nothing." I'd like to know what exactly is so "insane" about pointing this out. Glenn Greenwald has always been actually on the left, unlike the milk-toast "leftism" (or really "centrism" or rightism) of outlets like the NYT, CNN, MSNBC, etc.. This is what bothers people, and they can't take people actually on the left pointing out what hypocrites and right-wingers many liberals are. This is why Glenn Greenwald gets censored, but I'm pleased to see that he still has the balls to speak truth to power.

microtherion 6y ago
> Glenn Greenwald has always been actually on the left Over the last couple of years, he has consistently supported Trump, down to echoing Parler administrators' easily disproven talking points that none of their users were involved in the Capitol riots. It's entirely consistent with his earlier positions that Greenwald opposed Obama/Clinton-era drone warfare, but from his writings, you'd have a difficult time learning how much drone strikes have expanded under Trump. And finally, since 2016, Greenwald (as well as Assange and Snowden) have essentially turned into full blown instruments of Putinist propaganda (In Greenwald's case including the denial that Russia engaged in Novichok attacks against critics). This is neither a "leftist" nor an "anti-war" position, he simply favors a different bunch of war mongers.
- pohl 6y ago
  The through line over that whole period, including the present piece, is the pattern of bending over backwards to align with Putin’s messaging goals.
6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago
What’s worse, the last couple years have developed a full on meme of enlIGhTeNed CEnTrisM as an easy dismissal. You call out any hypocrisy and the knee jerk response is “how could you even begin to think both sides are the same, that’s so idiotic” without really caring that pointing out hypocrisy is not saying everyone’s the same. Reaching the level of meme, you don’t even have to think about what you’re responding to! What’s sadly hilarious is that you see the same meme... on both sides. There’s a ton I disagree with Greenwood about. But there’s also a lot I agree with. To dismiss him fully because of what I consider his bad ideas would be to also miss out on a lot of good insights.
dragonwriter 6y ago
> I'd like to know what exactly is so "insane" about pointing this out. Well, it’s both false on some points and misleading in much of the rest, in service of a false narrative, like much of Greenwald’s monomaniacal campaign to drive a wedge between the Left and the Democratic establishment [0]; the Espionage Act was not passed primarily to criminalize dissent, and the aspects that were arguably intended for that purpose and definitely misused for it have been largely neutralized by subsequent court decisions narrowing their applicability on Constitutional grounds (as, also, have other aspects of the law that address what is more commonly understood as spying), and were not, in any case, the provisions of the law under which prosecutions were carried out under the Obama Administration. Now, that's not necessarily insane, if, for one example of a scenario in which it would be perfectly rational, Geenwald’s goal is to advance the interests of common opponents of both the Left and the Democratic Establishment [0] I have no problem with driving a wedge between the Left and the Center-Right Democratic establishment based on the truth, as a Left-leaning pragmatist I recognize that's the only way to get any drive for progress on Left issues. Doing it based on lies and distortion doesn't create pressure for progress, just division and distraction.
- jules-jules 6y ago
  Next time you might want to back up your claims with some actual quotes. Greenwald's assertions about the misuse of the Espionage Act are well documented, cf. causa Assange to just name the latest example, so it would be helpful if you could provide some evidence on why he's wrong. Also his point about Obama having used the Act more than any other president is simple fact.

microtherion 6y ago

> Glenn Greenwald has always been actually on the left Over the last couple of years, he has consistently supported Trump, down to echoing Parler administrators' easily disproven talking points that none of their users were involved in the Capitol riots. It's entirely consistent with his earlier positions that Greenwald opposed Obama/Clinton-era drone warfare, but from his writings, you'd have a difficult time learning how much drone strikes have expanded under Trump. And finally, since 2016, Greenwald (as well as Assange and Snowden) have essentially turned into full blown instruments of Putinist propaganda (In Greenwald's case including the denial that Russia engaged in Novichok attacks against critics). This is neither a "leftist" nor an "anti-war" position, he simply favors a different bunch of war mongers.

pohl 6y ago
The through line over that whole period, including the present piece, is the pattern of bending over backwards to align with Putin’s messaging goals.

6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago

What’s worse, the last couple years have developed a full on meme of enlIGhTeNed CEnTrisM as an easy dismissal. You call out any hypocrisy and the knee jerk response is “how could you even begin to think both sides are the same, that’s so idiotic” without really caring that pointing out hypocrisy is not saying everyone’s the same. Reaching the level of meme, you don’t even have to think about what you’re responding to! What’s sadly hilarious is that you see the same meme... on both sides. There’s a ton I disagree with Greenwood about. But there’s also a lot I agree with. To dismiss him fully because of what I consider his bad ideas would be to also miss out on a lot of good insights.

dragonwriter 6y ago

> I'd like to know what exactly is so "insane" about pointing this out. Well, it’s both false on some points and misleading in much of the rest, in service of a false narrative, like much of Greenwald’s monomaniacal campaign to drive a wedge between the Left and the Democratic establishment [0]; the Espionage Act was not passed primarily to criminalize dissent, and the aspects that were arguably intended for that purpose and definitely misused for it have been largely neutralized by subsequent court decisions narrowing their applicability on Constitutional grounds (as, also, have other aspects of the law that address what is more commonly understood as spying), and were not, in any case, the provisions of the law under which prosecutions were carried out under the Obama Administration. Now, that's not necessarily insane, if, for one example of a scenario in which it would be perfectly rational, Geenwald’s goal is to advance the interests of common opponents of both the Left and the Democratic Establishment [0] I have no problem with driving a wedge between the Left and the Center-Right Democratic establishment based on the truth, as a Left-leaning pragmatist I recognize that's the only way to get any drive for progress on Left issues. Doing it based on lies and distortion doesn't create pressure for progress, just division and distraction.

jules-jules 6y ago
Next time you might want to back up your claims with some actual quotes. Greenwald's assertions about the misuse of the Espionage Act are well documented, cf. causa Assange to just name the latest example, so it would be helpful if you could provide some evidence on why he's wrong. Also his point about Obama having used the Act more than any other president is simple fact.