In the mind of Glenn Greenwald, there is no greater threat to the future of humanity than centrist Democrats. They are surveillance loving, neoliberal shills who have sworn fealty to the overlords of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, and President Obama. No matter how bad ...read more
(Note from the editors: We're going to be sporadically running reader emails that are well written, intelligent and contribute to the engaging debates we have here at the Banter) Dear Sirs, Its Prison, People. It’s not a question of what toilet Bradley Manning uses. Nor ...read more
Bradley Manning was sentenced today to 35 years in prison on Wednesday for sending WikiLeaks sensitive government documents pertaining to America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's what you need to know: From the BBC: The US soldier convicted of handing a trove of ...read more
During an unsworn statement to the court-martial judge presiding over his trial, Bradley Manning delivered the following statement in which he not only apologized, but admitted that he should've pursued his concerns "inside the system." First your Honor. I want to start off ...read more
By Marjorie Cohn In a historic verdict, Judge Denise Lind correctly found Bradley Manning not guilty of aiding the enemy because the evidence failed to establish that Manning knew information he provided to WikiLeaks would reach al-Qaida. A conviction of aiding the enemy would ...read more
For anyone versed in the teachings of America's ultimate dissenter, Noam Chomsky, it is difficult to view Bradley Manning as an evil traitor and worthy of hundreds of years in jail. If you have read anything of Chomsky's powerful analysis of state power and international ...read more
While fleeing from the law in Hong Kong, Edward Snowden encouraged a return to "the rule of law rather than men." In spite of his politically incorrect usage of "men" instead of "men and women," he's right. Generally speaking, individual citizens shouldn't be held above the law ...read more
The fallout from the NSA surveillance revelations has dominated the media on both sides of the Atlantic over the past week. I have been reading the blow-by-blow coverage of the events in The Guardian and as each day further illuminates the depth of this invasion of privacy, the ...read more
Pvt. Bradley Manning. By Dennis J. Bernstein The grassroots activist group, RootsAction.org, has drafted a petition addressed to the Norwegian Nobel Committee calling for the Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded to imprisoned U.S. whistleblower, Pvt. Bradley Manning. According to ...read more
By Ben Cohen: In an incredibly long winded and monotonous rant on his Guardian blog Glenn Greenwald lambasts the progressive media for making hollow promises to hold President Obama more accountable after beating Mitt Romney in the general election. Greenwald makes some ...read more
By Chez Pazienza: So over the past week this site has turned into the "Let's Take a Few Shots at Glenn Greenwald" show, with two of its highest-profile columnists -- Banter founder Ben Cohen and blogging machine Bob Cesca -- penning pieces that take issue with Greenwald's ...read more
Welcome to this week's installment of The Daily Banter mailbag! We discuss Bob's twitter beef with Glenn Greenwald, the scariness of the Sarah Palin movie and the dangers of a Romney Presidency. The questions: Bob, read your piece on Greenwald with interest. I think the dude ...read more
The UN special rapporteur on torture has formally accused the US government of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment towards Bradley Manning, the US soldier who was held in solitary confinement for almost a year on suspicion of being the WikiLeaks source. Juan Mendez has ...read more