On the afternoon of Sunday June 9th the internet was abuzz with news that the person who leaked information on the depths and true nature of the NSA spying apparatus had come forward. We learned it was Edward Snowden. It was one of those moments in history, and I think especially for people who have long been opposing and resisting the crimes of this government in the post 9/11 era, that was one of awe, hope, and fear.

On June 5, an article by Glenn Greenwald in the British newspaper the Guardian revealed that the FBI and the National Security Agency (NSA) used the PATRIOT Act to obtain a secret warrant ordering Verizon—one of the nation's largest phone networks—to turn over data on every single call that went through its system.

That was the tip of an iceberg.

Emergency Forum Wednesday June 19

Through an act of tremendous courage and self-sacrifice, Edward Snowden has revealed the most massive government spying in history into the communications and activities of billions of people on the planet.

If you are outraged by these revelations, by the trampling on fundamental rights, and by the war crimes being carried out in our name--you need to be at Cooper Union this Wednesday night.

Click here to watch recording now.

Many Americans think right now that they “have nothing to hide” and that if the government says that it’s necessary for them to be spying on everyone, then all right then, it must be the truth. After all, my government would not lie to me.

There are multiple dimensions to this issue but I’m going to confine myself to just one for the time being.

NSA Whistle-blower Thomas Drake, Attorney Jesselyn Radack, journalist Kevin Gosztola Discuss National Security State, Hours Before Edward Snowden Went Public

Watch video from the presentations and discussion:

It is hard to overestimate the significance of this moment.

As I wrote at the end of my last article on June 7,

The revelations that the NYT is reporting about come from an unidentified U.S. intelligence individual who is whistleblowing. Despite Obama’s vicious and vindictive retaliation against the heroic Bradley Manning in order to try to stem the tide of whistleblowers, Obama’s efforts based on this week’s fresh revelations have not worked in intimidating others from speaking the truth about the horrid lies and practices that this government and Obama in particular are committing.

This afternoon we learned that Edward Snowden, an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton (a private contractor for the National Security Agency), claimed responsibility for the biggest intelligence leak in U.S. history. In an interview with The Guardian, Snowden said,

The lead paragraph of this morning’s NYT (June 7, 2013) states as follows:

The federal government has been secretly collecting information on foreigners overseas for nearly six years from the nation’s largest Internet companies like Google, Facebook and, most recently, Apple, in search of national security threats, the director of national intelligence confirmed Thursday night.

I received a call from Lynne Stewart's husband, Ralph Poynter, that the warden at FMC Carswell prison in Fort Worth Texas has recommended immediate compassionate release for government frame-up victim and renown attorney for the damned, Lynne Stewart.

Stewart was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of conspiracy to aid and abet terrorism because she issued a press release on behalf of her client the "blind" sheik, Omar Abdel Rachman.

At this writing, many thousands have signed an online petition to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons demanding a compassionate release for imprisoned people's lawyer Lynne Stewart. Stewart was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2009 for allegedly aiding a terrorist—this "aid" consisting of releasing a public statement by her client!

Three ominous events in the news last week show just how sharply fundamental rights are under attack:

Bradley Manning: Torture and Persecution of Whistleblowers

Bradley Manning, a 25-year-old U.S. Army private and intelligence analyst, was arrested in May 2010 in Iraq, accused of leaking classified documents that were published by WikiLeaks, and held for nine months under conditions amounting to torture. One of those leaked documents is a video showing U.S. troops in an Apache helicopter firing on and killing civilians in the streets in Iraq.