12 years ago, when the Patriot Act was past, there were already wise voices who told us, "terrorism" was just a way to get a foot in the door, that in a few short years, its draconian, unconstitutional provisions, including torture and detention without charge, would be aimed at dissidents, organizers and political opposition. Today, it's even worse: journalists are being imprisoned for doing their job, for shining a public light on criminal acti ...

::::::::

12 years ago, when the Patriot Act was past, there were already wise voices who told us, "terrorism" was just a way to get a foot in the door, that in a few short years, its draconian, unconstitutional provisions, including torture and detention without charge, would be aimed at dissidents, organizers and political opposition. Today, it's even worse: journalists are being imprisoned for doing their job, for shining a public light on criminal activities of government officials and corporate fat cats. Webb was shot. Al Jazeera journalists are targeted with drones. Assange is a refugee in asylum. Swartz was hounded to death. Manning has endured 3 years of torture. The present article is about Barrett Brown, a journalist who served as conduit to that loose web of hactivists that remain Anonymous. He publicized a link to documents others had leaked. Now he is in prison awaiting trial.

Authors Bio:

Josh Mitteldorf, de-platformed senior editor at OpEdNews, blogs on aging at http://JoshMitteldorf.ScienceBlog.com. Read how to stay young at http://AgingAdvice.org.

Educated to be an astrophysicist, he has branched out from there to mathematical modeling in a variety of areas, including evolutionary ecology and economics. He has taught mathematics, statistics, and physics at several universities. He is an avid amateur pianist, and father of two adopted Chinese girls, now grown. He travels to Beijing each year to work with a lab studying the biology of aging. His book on the subject is "Cracking the Aging Code", http://tinyurl.com/y7yovp87.