Glenn Greenwald's Blog, page 70

The Israel Lobby's smear campaign against Hagel and Zero Dark Thirty | Glenn Greenwald

Discussing the potential new Defense Secretary and the highly-celebrated pro-torture film, on MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes"

Extensive travel the last couple of days has prevented me from writing. This morning I was on MSNBC's "Up With Chris Hayes" to discuss the possible nomination of Chuck Hagel as Defense Secretary (and the predictable though still disgusting "pro-Israel" smear campaign against him), as well Zero Dark Thirty. Those segments can be viewed below (or, for those who have difficu...

Newtown kids v Yemenis and Pakistanis: what explains the disparate reactions? | Glenn Greenwald

Numerous commentators have rightly lamented the difference in how these childrens' deaths are perceived. What explains it?

Over the last several days, numerous commentators have lamented the vastly different reactions in the US to the heinous shooting of children in Newtown, Connecticut as compared to the continuous killing of (far more) children and innocent adults by the US government in Pakistan and Yemen, among other places. The blogger Atrios this week succinctly observed:

"I do wish more...

New press freedom group is launched to block US government attacks | Glenn Greenwald

Nothing is more vital than enabling true transparency and adversarial journalism, and preventing further assaults on them

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the steps taken by the US government to pressure large corporations to choke off the finances and other means of support for WikiLeaks in retaliation for the group's exposure of substantial government deceit, wrongdoing and illegality. Because WikiLeaks has never been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime, I wrote: "that the US gov...

New York's top court highlights the meaninglessness and menace of the term 'terrorism' | Glenn Greenwald

A fascinating new ruling unwittingly illustrates the separate system of 'justice' invented for Muslims in the US after 9/11

(updated below)

Valuable revelations are often found in unlikely places. Such is the case with a fascinating ruling released last week by the New York Court of Appeals, that state's highest court, in the criminal case of People v. Edgar Morales. The facts of the case are quite simple, but the implications of the ruling are profound.

The defendant, Morales, was a member of a...

Zero Dark Thirty: CIA hagiography, pernicious propaganda | Glenn Greenwald

As it turns out, the film as a political statement is worse than even its harshest early critics warned

(updated below)

I've now seen "Zero Dark Thirty". Before getting to that: the controversy triggered this week by my commentary on the debate over that film was one of the most ridiculous in which I've ever been involved. It was astounding to watch critics of what I wrote just pretend that I had simply invented or "guessed at" the only point of the film I discussed - that it falsely depicted t...

HSBC, too big to jail, is the new poster child for US two-tiered justice system | Glenn Greenwald

DOJ officials unblinkingly insist that the banking giant is too powerful and important to subject to the rule of law

The US is the world's largest prison state, imprisoning more of its citizens than any nation on earth, both in absolute numbers and proportionally. It imprisons people for longer periods of time, more mercilessly, and for more trivial transgressions than any nation in the west. This sprawling penal state has been constructed over decades, by both political parties, and it punish...

The revealingly substance-free fight over Susan Rice | Glenn Greenwald

Her record of war advocacy and close ties to tyrants is notably missing from the debate over whether she should be Secretary of State

(updated below - Update II)

Over the last months, Democrats and Republicans have been engaged in an intense fight over the suitability of UN Ambassador Susan Rice to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Democratic Party institutions and pundits have steadfastly devoted themselves to defending her from GOP criticisms.

Virtually all of this debate has conc...

Zero Dark Thirty: new torture-glorifying film wins raves | Glenn Greenwald

Can a movie that relies on fabrications to generate support for war crimes still be considered great?

(updated below - Update II [Tues.])

Earlier this year, the film "Zero Dark Thirty", which purports to dramatize the hunt for and killing of Osama bin Laden, generated substantial political controversy. It was discovered that CIA and White House officials had met with its filmmakers and passed non-public information to them - at exactly the same time that DOJ officials were in federal court res...

The PSY scandal: singing about killing people v. constantly doing it | Glenn Greenwald

Americans would benefit from less outrage at anti-US sentiment and more energy toward understanding why it's so widespread

(updated below)

Which of these two stories is causing more controversy and outrage in the US?

New York Daily News, Friday:

"Fiercely anti-American lyrics from Korean rapper Psy have been unearthed just two weeks before the star is scheduled to perform for President Obama.

"The 'Gangnam Style' singer calls for US soldiers to be killed in one song, prompting a short-lived petit...

Obamacare architect leaves White House for pharmaceutical industry job | Glenn Greenwald

Few people embody the corporatist revolving door greasing Washington as purely as Elizabeth Fowler

When the legislation that became known as "Obamacare" was first drafted, the key legislator was the Democratic Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, whose committee took the lead in drafting the legislation. As Baucus himself repeatedly boasted, the architect of that legislation was Elizabeth Folwer, his chief health policy counsel; indeed, as Marcy Wheeler discovered, it was Fowl...