“Free Flow of Information Act” Targets Independent Journalism

James Tracy


Activist Post

The fact that the US Senate is now defining what a journalist actually is sets a dangerous precedent threatening the present marketplace of ideas that in recent history has been greatly expanded by the internet.

According to the text of an amendment sponsored by Senators Diane Feinstein and Dick Durbin to the proposed “Free Flow of Information Act” (PDF) that passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 12, only salaried journalists will be given the free press protections guaranteed to all US citizens by the Constitution.

Under such a law presumably only the news reporters and analysts employed by moderate-to-substantial revenue-generating news entities are regarded as “legitimate” journalists. This is because the Feinstein-Durbin amendment’s wording is especially vague on exactly what type of news organization the writer needs to be affiliated with to be able to comment and report freely.


The major concern with this move is twofold. First, it is fundamentally unconstitutional. The First Amendment unambiguously states that

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

If such legislation achieves passage free speech will be diminished as thousands of independent journalists conducting valid research into a variety of malfeasance and corruption by major institutions may be open to government subpoenas and legal action by those they investigate and report on. Further, such a law paves the way for Congress to formally license journalists, which is close to happening in the United Kingdom.

Secondly, this measure involves more than an oblique targeting of alternative news media and the extremely important work they do. As their coverage and analysis of incidents such as the Boston Marathon bombings and the unfolding Syrian crisis suggests, independent news websites have played significant roles in helping the public to better comprehend the underlying political dynamics and import of such events.

With this Constitutional framework in mind, acts of journalism indeed extend to all forms of political speech, for humans are by their very nature political beings. The ability to accurately observe our world and its many confusing facets can only be arrived at through an often discordant multitude of voices, information, and perspectives that comprise a free marketplace of ideas.

Notes
Boehm, Eric. “Feinstein Wants to Limit Who Can Be a Journalist,”Watchdog.org, August 12, 2013.

Huff, Ethan A. “Diane Feinstein is Trying to Eliminate Protections for Alternative Media with Amended ‘Free Flow of Information Act,’”NaturalNews.com, September 14, 2013.

This article first appeared at MemoryHoleBlog.com, the official blog of Dr. James Tracy.

Obama's Taxpayer funded Beer Binge, Martha's Vineyard

Text with below video:

A 5th or so generation, or so, native to Matha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, gave us the scoop on Barack Obama's golf and other vacations to Martha's Vineyard. Would you sit and drink beer after beer while helicopters were hovering, boats were kept from coming ashore, traffic was blocked, people could not get into their homes, were stuck on the road, and security people had their thumbs up you know where? If an official is so arrogant that his wanting to sit and drink beer cost millions, what else is this "person" capable of?
The incident allegedly occurred around July 4th and at a "local residents only" festivity on Martha's Vineyard.
If Obama treats his own staff like this, what can we as a nation expect? Do you think there is any truth to the rumors that Obama is building a Saddam Hussein type palace for himself in Hawaii for the tune of 30 million dollars? That would be a long way from a guy in his 40's who had barely made any payments on his school loans to be where he is now.
What does this one incident as described in the video say about Barack Obama. Obama invited himself where he was not invited, and shows us again, what a complete bleephole he is. Is this "person" acting on our behalf, or those offshore, in banks, and who are international corporate organized crime who funded Obama? 

[more from my 9/11/13 trip to Martha's Vineyard]

Telling elected officials my opposition with Warring on Syria

Barack Obama may have 9% approval for any initial classification of war with Syria. Americans are sick of the lies. Americans are sick of having taxes used to enrich international bankers and corporate organized crime. UN Agenda 21 should not be Obama's main priority, it should be we the people. If Obama can't honorably protect and serve the US population and honor the US Constitution, obeying his oath, then we the people should act accordingly.

The Government putting radioactive industrial waste in our water, calling it fluoridation, is just one of my gripes. Another is the Dairy Mafia, or Corporate Interest, is in cahoots with the FDA to put Aspartame sweetener in milk and to consider Aspartame, a chemical ingredient, as the "definition" of milk, so it need not be listed as an added ingredient on the label. Aspartame causes seizures, allergic reactions, nerve damage, memory loss, organ failure, and even death.

I have been asking everyone I run into if they support and want to pay for a war in Syria. So far, 0% of all those I have talked to support a war with Syria. I talk to a lot of people. More people are questioning the legitimacy of wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and in having over 1000 bases of UN corporate occupation all over the world. Why do we pay taxes to support the biggest criminals in the world committing the biggest crimes ever. Is the missing 2.3 trillion dollars that Donald Rumsfeld had his head on the carpet for in official hearing on September 10, 2001, one of the biggest Pentagon thefts in the history of world?

My mailed a letter just ahead of the Anthrax Hoax of 2001, so my letter got to the White House. I mailed [this text, click actual letter] on September 15, 2001, about the self-employed being under siege in America. Apparently he had nothing better to do around that time, so I got  response that he actually read the letter! Click on link in this paragraph for that actual letter back to me. I no longer have that mailing address. I was attacked on my property 10-11-01 by a police informant wielding a knife, at night, after I had returned from work. He told me if I did not hand over my wallet, he'd kill me. I fought back and was able to take out pepper spray ending the attack. I got a year in prison for this "offense", losing my home, my family, my contracting business built over 2 decades. You pay taxes in the US, or to the UN, to have made that happen. All average Americans are, or will be, victims of this same abuse.
[My blog]

Check out more videos on [my channel]

My yet unanswered gripe to Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy, [text here]

Text of my correspondence with Vermont US Senator Patrick Leahy and/or his staff, [text here]

If Connecticut State Police are [up to this brutality and misconduct] would officers or their police informants actually perpetrate the Sandyhook Newtown Connecticut schoolyard shooting to blame a patsy to end the 2nd Amendment?

Make an email from:
stevengerickson At yahoo.com

video to go in place of this text when it is available

* * * *

Barack Obama Water Bottle Incident, Hartford, Connecticut, 2008 (shot by Steven G. Erickson)


Full Video:


-

Text with below video:

Barack Obama may have 9% approval for any initial classification of war with Syria. Americans are sick of the lies. Americans are sick of having taxes used to enrich international bankers and corporate organized crime. UN Agenda 21 should not be Obama's main priority, it should be we the people. If Obama can't honorably protect and serve the US population and honor the US Constitution, obeying his oath, then we the people should act accordingly.

The Government putting radioactive industrial waste in our water, calling it fluoridation, is just one of my gripes. Another is the Dairy Mafia, or Corporate Interest, is in cahoots with the FDA to put Aspartame sweetener in milk and to consider Aspartame, a chemical ingredient, as the "definition" of milk, so it need not be listed as an added ingredient on the label. Aspartame causes seizures, allergic reactions, nerve damage, memory loss, organ failure, and even death.

I have been asking everyone I run into if they support and want to pay for a war in Syria. So far, 0% of all those I have talked to support a war with Syria. I talk to a lot of people. More people are questioning the legitimacy of wars in Vietnam, Iraq,

Afghanistan, Libya, and in having over 1000 bases of UN corporate occupation all over the world. Why do we pay taxes to support the biggest criminals in the world committing the biggest crimes ever. Is the missing 2.3 trillion dollars that Donald Rumsfeld had his head on the carpet for in official hearing on September 10, 2001, one of the biggest Pentagon thefts in the history of world?

Text of my correspondence with Vermont US Senator Patrick Leahy and/or his staff, [text here]

[My blog] and [the post with my links to go with this video]

Check out more videos on [my channel]

My mailed a letter just ahead of the Anthrax Hoax of 2001, so my letter got to the White House. I mailed [this text, click actual letter] on September 15, 2001, about the self-employed being under siege in America. Apparently he had nothing better to do around that time, so I got response that he actually read the letter! Click on link in this paragraph for that actual letter back to me. I no longer have that mailing address. I was attacked on my property 10-11-01 by a police informant wielding a knife, at night, after I had returned from work. He told me if I did not hand over my wallet, he'd kill me. I fought back and was able to take out pepper spray ending the attack. I got a year in prison for this "offense", losing my home, my family, my contracting business built over 2 decades. You pay taxes in the US, or to the UN, to have made that happen. All average Americans are, or will be, victims of this same abuse.

stevengerickson At yahoo.com