This president has become a tragic figure, more so every day with each new revelation of how far the surveillance state has been developed and implemented under his watch. And how far they will go — detaining the partner of reporter Glen Greenwald, investigating other reporters, smashing the hard drives of a leading newspaper — to intimidate journalists and editors trying to report on it. Big Brother is watching, and cracking down on those who want to reveal the King’s secrets. The U.S. even has bugged European Union offices — supposedly our allies — and world leaders at international conferences of the G-20.
The Obama administration has become a virulent threat to democracy. When even a former president, Jimmy Carter, says “America has no functioning democracy at this moment,” you know things have deteriorated dramatically. The specter of a Democratic president like Obama implementing the security agenda of Dick Cheney and Ronald Reagan’s former NSA chief Admiral John Poindexter is troubling in the extreme.
President Obummer says he’s protecting us, but who’s going to protect us from HIM? Will this song put me on some “watch list” somewhere, Mr. Precedent? I really do wonder…
Have I implicated any of you by sending you this email (given the NSA admission that they extend surveillance to “three-hops” — friends of friends of friends – millions from a single target)?
We have to speak out in whatever ways we can. Thus, this song “President Obummer” — dedicated to the whistleblower Edward Snowden, the Tom Paine of our times. Our country and all true patriots salute you.
To President Obummer – “We will be the stone inside your shoe.”
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy