A small reflection on the coming storm

Glenn Greenwald has a new post today about a lawsuit filed by the ACLU regarding the Obama Administration's refusal to release the legal standards by which the executive will decide whether or not to murder you at any moment the mood strikes him; it can be found here.


He then reiterates an important point that comes now only as an aside (I've changed his emphasis somewhat to highlight it):

In other words, if the President discloses classified information, then it’s inherently legal, even if he does not declassify the information (a slight variation on President Nixon’s infamous if-the-President-does-it-then-it’s-legal decree). But this is exactly the opposite of what President Obama said when he publicly decreed Bradley Manning guilty: “If I was to release stuff, information that I’m not authorized to release, I’m breaking the law.” Clearly, that’s exactly what President Obama did when he discussed drones this week — and what he did before that by boasting of the classified Awlaki killing on The Tonight Show – but that’s the point: secrecy powers (like the law generally) is merely a weapon to protect and advance the interests of government officials. 

 That he mentions this casually, almost as an afterthought, does not exactly reflect poorly on him, but rather reinforces the (entirely correct) notion that that fact is to be readily assumed at all times. That is the state in which we live, not under the rule of law, but the rule of men, of corrupt and evil individuals actively engaging in brutal, human-devouring empire at home and abroad to serve the interests of a small ruling elite.


The law has no other meaning than the will of the powerful, and its application, particularly in the criminal context, is now only to suppress the domestic population or shield ruling class accountability. My only quibble with Greenwald's use here is that he has not fully acknowledge the extensive and dire implications of this fact, including all of its eventualities, most of which are horrifying. I plan to expand on the latter idea much more in the coming weeks--though I make no promise of daily updates--suggesting only that if you would like to read more of my thoughts on the current state of affairs, it encumbrances you not at all to add this to your RSS feed or even give me a full bookmark.


Take care, my first reader(s), these are dangerous times.