Source: BBC

Edward Snowden has dismissed a report by the House of Representatives intelligence committee that heavily criticised his activities.

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The report comes a day after two right groups launched a campaign for President Obama to pardon Mr Snowden.

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The release of the report, two years in the making, also coincides with that of the film "Snowden", directed by Oliver Stone.

In a series of tweets, Mr Snowden dismissed the report's findings, writing: "Their report is so artlessly distorted that it would be amusing if it weren't such a serious act of bad faith."

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Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union launched their 'Pardon Snowden' campaign on Wednesday, urging President Obama to do so before he leaves office in January 2017.

Amnesty said no-one should be prosecuted for exposing human rights violations, which, it claimed, is what "indiscriminate mass surveillance of communications" amounts to.

The ACLU acts as Snowden's legal adviser, and called him "a great American who deserves clemency for his patriotic acts".

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37380274

Source: Democracy Now!

The American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights organizations have launched a campaign asking President Obama to pardon NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden before Obama leaves office. Among those who have signed onto the campaign are Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak; actors Martin Sheen, Danny Glover and Susan Sarandon; writers Rebecca Solnit and Terry Tempest Williams; and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. At an event in New York City, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero called for a pardon for Snowden.

Anthony Romero: "Edward Snowden’s case presents one for President Obama to use the presidential power of pardon proudly and unequivocally, in recognition of one of the most important acts of whistleblowing in modern history. By standing up for the privacy rights of his fellow citizens—individuals who had no idea that the government had assumed such extraordinary and invasive powers in secret—Edward Snowden should be thanked, and not punished."

Full-page ads calling for the pardon also ran Wednesday in The Washington Post and Politico. Edward Snowden himself also appeared via video stream at the event in New York City Wednesday.

Edward Snowden: "I love my country, I love my family, and I have dedicated my life to both of them. These risks, these burdens that I took on, I knew were coming. And no one should be in a position to make these kind of decisions. That’s not the kind of place that we’re supposed to be. But it doesn’t have to be. Of course I look forward to coming home, but I cannot support the persecution of those charged under an Espionage Act, when they have committed no espionage."

Read more: http://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/15/headlines/new_campaign_asks_obama_to_pardon_edward_snowden

Source: Guardian

Exclusive: Whistleblower says citizens have benefited from his disclosure in 2013 of US and UK government surveillance

Edward Snowden has set out the case for Barack Obama granting him a pardon before the US president leaves office in January, arguing that the disclosure of the scale of surveillance by US and British intelligence agencies was not only morally right but had left citizens better off.

The US whistleblower’s comments, made in an interview with the Guardian, came as supporters, including his US lawyer, stepped up a campaign for a presidential pardon. Snowden is wanted in the US, where he is accused of violating the Espionage Act and faces at least 30 years in jail.

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Obama’s former attorney general Eric Holder, however, gave an unexpected boost to the campaign for a pardon in May when he said Snowden had performed a public service.

The campaign could receive a further lift from Oliver Stone’s film, Snowden, scheduled for release in the US on Friday. Over the weekend the director said he hoped the film would help shift opinion behind the whistleblower, and added his voice to the plea for a pardon.

Ahead of general release, the film will be shown in 700 cinemas across the US on Wednesday, with plans for Stone and Snowden to join in a discussion afterwards via a video link.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/13/edward-snowden-why-barack-obama-should-grant-me-a-pardon

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He deserves a full pardon and a heroes welcome.

Videos posted after it are on the home page, but not this one.

"North Dakota v. Amy Goodman: Arrest Warrant Issued After Pipeline Coverage"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017400475

Here's the current video forum, sorted by time:


Here's the current home page videos column:

WE LOVE YOU AMY!

Source: Guardian

Christine Todd Whitman, who as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under George W Bush at the time of the 9/11 attacks told the public the air around Ground Zero in New York was safe to breathe, has admitted for the first time she was wrong.

Among those who were exposed to toxins released when the World Trade Center collapsed, the toll of illness and death continues to rise.

Speaking to the Guardian for a report on the growing health crisis to be published on Sunday, the 15th anniversary of the attacks, Whitman made an unprecedented apology to those affected but denied she had ever lied about the air quality or known at the time it was dangerous.

“Whatever we got wrong, we should acknowledge and people should be helped,” she said, adding that she still “feels awful” about the tragedy and its aftermath.

“I’m very sorry that people are sick,” she said. “I’m very sorry that people are dying and if the EPA and I in any way contributed to that, I’m sorry. We did the very best we could at the time with the knowledge we had.”

She added: “Every time it comes around to the anniversary I cringe, because I know people will bring up my name, they blame me, they say that I lied and that people died because I lied, [they say] people have died because I made a mistake.”

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/10/epa-head-wrong-911-air-safe-new-york-christine-todd-whitman

The explosion is at 1 minute 10 seconds in,
several secondary explosions can be heard.