Secrets led the news this week: Secret keepers like CalPers pensioners to secret leakers like David Miranda, and Private Manning, whose stories dominated the headlines this week and often on matters having little to do with state secrets.
Andrew Bacevich brings us back to the matter at hand in his eloquent essay asking us to consider to whom those state secrets really belong.
All that and more in FAC’s Friday roundup:
1st Amendment links:
“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it,” Blaise Pascal, on truth via Quote of the Day, The First Amendment Blog
Steven Greenhut: The Secrecy Lobby
CalPERS had pledged to provide a database of public pensions, but after the Retired Public Employees Association of California (RPEA) objected, CalPERS quickly pulled back from this pledge. RPEA leaders made what amounted to a novel and troubling argument about why vital public records should remain private…
via City Journal
Andrew Bacevich: Manning and Snowden made secrecy impossible
“To whom do Army privates and intelligence contractors owe their loyalty? To state or to country? To the national security apparatus that employs them or to the people that the apparatus is said to protect?”…
via Carroll County Times
Howard Kurtz: NSA fallout: A CNN pundit’s war on Glenn Greenwald
“CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin is a former prosecutor and very smart guy whose judgment is really clouded when it comes to Glenn Greenwald.” via Fox News
Bradley Manning comes out as transgender: ‘I am a female’
Bradley Manning, the Army private who was sentenced to 35 years in military prison for giving classified documents to WikiLeaks, has identified as female since childhood and wants to live life as a woman, according to a statement released by Manning’s lawyer. By Aaron Blake and Julie Tate, via The Washington Post
Media Wrestles with How to Refer to Manning
“Is he or isn’t he a he? The news media wrestled with pronouns Thursday after Bradley Manning declared that he is a woman and intends to seek hormone treatment to complete his gender transition.” via Paul Farhi, The Washington Post
What’s next for Assange, and the First Amendment, after the Manning sentencing?
At the time, Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged there were potential First Amendment issues charging a newspaper like the Times, for publishing information from Assange, but the same may not be true for Assange. … via Philly.com
Lawrence Lessig Strikes Back Against Bogus Copyright Takedown
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit against Liberation Music for misusing copyright law to remove a lecture by Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig from YouTube. and to award damages. via EFF
Habits-of-Highly-Effective-Social-Movements
What makes a movement work in the first place? Why do some movements like the struggle for civil rights take off while others like Occupy Wall Street wilt? via CNN