Re: CDC Foundation Data Collection Opportunity

Do you know how badly I wish I could participate in this unfortunately my devices were all infected while I was in the hospital and on since I used to work with the CDC collecting data concerns me that there's a virus about the virus

 I am absolutely unable to get a secure connection to my physician or even to 911 Eno red zone

 I have complains about this multiple times I don't have filed official reports with Aaron and start however my medical devices on my iPhone and from now on about eight of them carry my medical data with that I will no longer reading the data so it does not record my biometrics and Fred's bed it to my physician or to the emergency as staff and I wake up and I am just dumbfounded at how this went and reported and I've noticed when I've been fighting about it and other people then Friday about it for years 

I was a member of the Obama transition team and we built the database as we knew it was going to bring me neither was this risk I never dreamed in 1 million years that I would be the one at the end of the day he sitting here still waiting for emergency surgery I hear a year after they took me to the emergency room and they still can't get me in and they can't get my labs because there was a mixup and they lost them

Every single check my tire I wake up and I don't know where I'm going to bed because I wear device that transmits information to my physician and then I go to sleep and something else tells you not to short in the wire and actually you know I wake up to a two weeks three weeks and it's terrifying to me that as much as it is I have documented not only in myself but in my clients as well that I would still be sitting here and I'm down I planned surgery they may have on each end of June it is now and December and I have not seen a physician other than just one

Every single check my tire I wake up and I don't know where I'm going to bed because I wear device that transmits information to my physician and then I go to sleep and something else tells you not to short in the wire and actually you know I wake up to a two weeks three weeks and it's terrifying to me that as much as it is I have documented not only in myself but in my clients as well that I would still be sitting here and I'm down I planned surgery they may have on each end of June it is now and December and I Still cannot get my labs from quest diagnostics because they had a mixup at the lab which is the day the bridge now I've been telling people about this for for five years and people laugh at me it's in the newspaper there doing the Covid test and they have a contract contract with the health department said if you're wondering why Florida ?? is so bad I have 1,000,001 reasons to tell you because it's now Friday afternoon I have no medication I have no way to get to get medication or and I haven't had medication since I left the hospital and then the hospital gave me the wrong medication

 We are nowhere near the end of the crisis  I was studying the stuff for 25 years OK where is this could happen I didn't think I didn't know about that you'll be a deadly virus but we need to be a problem but you have to understand we also anticipating that this would be a problem with genetic testing and eugenics and so forth so of course there's a problem because quest diagnostics wants to make sure that the babies up here and don't have the splitter that blood so maybe it's a good thing it was a mixup but needless to say right now I am extremely extremely sick and I keep going to the emergency room when all I need is three steady and not to be in a literally in a locked zone with no fresh air and your freshwater I mean everything is as bad as it could 

 But there are a few people who have been really really good today and he worked really hard to make me laugh so it takes me about 3 to 5 days that they have to cleanse my blood but I can't get out of my building to do it and when they take them out of the year it away in the ambulance by the time they get here I'm already unconscious and by then they just did Feres leave me there instead of long-term care facility on lockdown had no telephone no call but I had no medication no water I was going to two people who walked out of there alive

XBut there are a few people who have been really really good today and he worked really hard to make me laugh so it takes me about 3 to 5 days that they have to cleanse my blood but I can't get out of my building to do it and when they take them out of the year it away in the ambulance by the time they get here I'm already unconscious and by then they just did Feres leave me there instead of long-term care facility on lockdown had no telephone no call but I had no medication no water I was going to two people who walked out of there alive there aliveNow I'm using voice activation right now but I've been hacked so bad that my voice activation doesn't have no TV F address and I've had no connection for him from before the surgery since I did actually since I did a documentary about what it's like to live next to Donald Trump has to be surrounded by Russian 70s and Chinese spies I did a documentary and I look up 10 days later paralyze and they fixed it was that I walked fixed it twice but I still I still haven't received any treatment or medication since I left for that by my everything and my doctor is an a fabulous so how can you guys let this go so long without saying he does something is there something broke it in the system 

i've always always had an interest in coding adding a new technology because I knew  we needed to find a way to transmit information to people who speak different languages or maybe just have different abilities such as autism so I learn to speak sign language balance of her and learn to speak gently and I learn to scream

And even though people are tired of hearing me say the same thing over and over again I am tired of saying the same thing over and over again and what's worse is every time I documented by email he has hacked and I can't respond so I can't get in touch with my sellers I can't get in touch with my doctor I literally can't get out of my building because they are unlocked I said no and they won't ever take the limes don't let me through that is so serious and it's so serious it's even more serious now but yeah I'm sorry to talk to speak up about it I've always just been a quiet observer knowing that you know what was going on and Mom doing for other people but I'm the one who stuck

 I don't want to worry anyone I said this had I was I don't want to cause that they make a mess and I had to clean it up but I watch it I've been I've been screaming about that this is it that it was a crisis in January I literally need surgery immediately it's now you know in my forte the first appointment they had to see me is December 29 to test my blood to see if FIY my legs are so swollen and why am dehydrated and why there's a problem with my kidneys and what an awesome way to start at the first appointment is at December 29 and you know what it is it's a zoom conference and my zoom account was hacked and I have already gone through for iPhones for a android and another one that is in my family it is it it was back to work they were kind ofcI don't want to worry anyone I said this had I was I don't want to cause that they make a mess and I had to clean it up but I watch it I've been I've been screaming about that this is it that it was a crisis in January I literally need surgery immediately it's now you know in my forte the first appointment they had to see me is December 29 to test my blood to see if FIY my legs are so swollen and why am dehydrated and why there's a problem with my kidneys and what an awesome way to start at the first appointment is at December 29 and you know what it is it's a zoom conference and my zoom account was hacked and I have already gone through for iPhones for a android and another one that is in my family it is Not only concerned but they're furious because people are worrying unnecessarily and I can't communicate with them in a way that they understand because I kick it it's late but the doctors don't know how to code either so they don't know how to read that so I'm trying to find a common language that we can all speak it and I think this is a critical critical aspect of her talking about a worldwide pandemic

 We have to be able to measure I do the contact tracing and affectively precisely because when they say oh it's a little low it's a little house not that big of a deal well if that's the deal when I'm in the hospital I've attached Luis but when I'm home and now it's happening over and over and over again I mean eight and I know because I've gone through it myself so I've been documenting it and fill him in writing and they're quite a few people who follow and it this point I'm literally I have I don't know what else to do because I've already short circuited three devices Safe4 I have a new Sim card for second I touch a second I can find my DNA is the same thing it's in the DNA I have had the Killswitch have a virus

We have to be able to measure I do the contact tracing and affectively precisely because when they say oh it's a little low it's a little house not that big of a deal well if that's the deal when I'm in the hospital I've attached Luis but when I'm home and now it's happening over and over and over again I mean eight and I know because I've gone through it myself so I've been documenting it and fill him in writing and they're quite a few people who follow and it this point I'm literally I have I don't know what else to do because I've already short circuited three devices Safe4 I have a new Sim card for second I touch a second I can find my DNA is the same thing it's in the DNA I have had the Killswitch have a virus how are we going to fix this? 

Just to give you a perfect example of why am freaking out again it's just a Friday afternoon time is 2 PM had a fire in my first physical therapy evaluation was done supposed to be done yesterday that's like 23 bucks form it's too late I've already fallen multiple times I've already broken Editor asking if you times why are you spying bleeding and there's nothing I can do that because no one didn't want in my building seems to care about anything other than you don't keep in the building looking good for her to that they can impress the Trump people when they come down to YardSale and rented this app the

Just to give you a perfect example of why am freaking out again it's just a Friday afternoon time is 2 PM had a fire in my first physical therapy evaluation was done supposed to be done yesterday that's like 23 bucks form it's too late I've already fallen multiple times I've already broken Editor asking if you times why are you spying bleeding and there's nothing I can do that because no one didn't want in my building seems to care about anything other than you don't keep in the building looking good for her to that they can impress the Trump people when they come down to YardSale and rented this appSo I was able to vote because I anticipated that I might not be able to get to the election is in the hospital on election day is my birthday and it was the best birthday of my life so everyone's upset that they can't be with the family but you know what I'm just trying to let you know that a lot of us are going through the same thing as some of us want to get stronger and some of us why don't you just being one of the outline of the bullies to add their two week trust me I know the difference I know who's there for me I know who's not and if he's contacted me just to pretend like there is such an asshole

So I was able to vote because I anticipated that I might not be able to get to the election is in the hospital on election day is my birthday and it was the best birthday of my life so everyone's upset that they can't be with the family but you know what I'm just trying to let you know that a lot of us are going through the same thing as some of us want to get stronger and some of us why don't you just being one of the outline of the bullies to add their two week trust me I know the difference I know who's there for me I know who's not and if he's contacted me just to pretend like there is such an assholet

 Please help me so that I can help others because I went through this for nothing and no one hears about the kids and the clients that I had who actually called me it was the first that I saw when I woke up I didn't know where I was when I was contemplating taking my own life 

The bottom line is that Everett, was talking to Robbie but I couldn't speak and write out I couldn't write a house that didn't work and they were talking around me and they were separated was asking for certain things they said that they just said it was crazy I said I need water I need certain things and they try to give me medicine it was the wrong medicine and they kept doing it and I don't know I didn't even pay your medical ID badge and they didn't even scan it into the into the machine so I said I'm sitting here they discharge me OK here's the badger a shit and I'm sending this far in life because it's another Friday and I don't care what I have to do but I need people to know that this is what went wrong in 2020 and why so many people are dying 

The bottom line is that Everett, was talking to Robbie but I couldn't speak and write out I couldn't write a house that didn't work and they were talking around me and they were separated was asking for certain things they said that they just said it was crazy I said I need water I need certain things and they try to give me medicine it was the wrong medicine and they kept doing it and I don't know I didn't even pay your medical ID badge and they didn't even scan it into the into the machine so I said I'm sitting here they discharge me OK here's the badger a shit and I'm sending this far in life because it's another Friday and I don't care what I have to do but I need people to know that this is what went wrong in 2020 and why so many people are dyingI've been to the game live in flying Tiger lI fear the game aligned long time and it said Ava stuff since I was like 19 or 2022 as well I officially start now I come home to a house apartment where they throw my bike documents and my diploma and all of my original research because I have all of that stuff and all the data and all the desks from the CDC because we wrote it and I don't have to brag about that be someone special I just want to give the information forward to the people who need it so that because this is not gonna end up well for Ray either way I'm here and I'm broken and I can maybe I'll write again maybe I'll break it out alive but if I don't I'm OK with that too. 

I live in an area where they literally nicked the building next-door to me and they are now building 29 story Tower I come home I am right in the middle of it and all of the bagging at the electric customer apartment I can't get a radius is too much interference and I can't my body can't handle it and people keep coming in my neighbors don't want ice cream for three days three days and I passed out I woke up 10 days later to different hospitals I didn't know where I was at Goshi no ID no medical records they did not even tell me what my diagnosis was until after I got released from a lock down the nursing home in a Covid unit at That was over a month ago so basically every time they discharge me I'm supposed to immediate care and immediate follow up but no one gets here don't worry it's not an emergency well everyone say it's not an emergency it's not an emergency but if it's a Friday fit in it becomes an emergency because now and I have to wait till Monday or Tuesday so now I'm trying to make peace in my head that we're doing this again and I'll do it the hard way and it's gonna hurt but I'll sit there in my bag feet were bleeding and they're infected and I caught a staff and I go to every couple of weeks that they every time there's a holiday or a weekend and I had to be end and this is been going on for years for a couple years now the system is overwhelmed And so am I because as hard as I am trying to get people the information that they need to know what went wrong with the original test or that we knew what happened or how it spread this is the place to science it applies to both Tauruses play some medicine reply :-) it's all the same thing so the fact that I come home I get no signal so Aivri via justice I had to order a pad to order parts from China but he has a problem I can't feel my hands so I have moments where I'm very sturdy and the next thing you know I'm on the phone so I have a seizure and I I don't even have a phone here I don't have a phone I don't have a TV and it comes with the building so now that I am in so I can't make enough noise because I don't have anybody left I've been paying everything out of pocket 

And so am I because as hard as I am trying to get people the information that they need to know what went wrong with the original test or that we knew what happened or how it spread this is the place to science it applies to both Tauruses play some medicine reply :-) it's all the same thing so the fact that I come home I get no signal so Aivri via justice I had to order a pad to order parts from China but he has a problem I can't feel my hands so I have moments where I'm very sturdy and the next thing you know I'm on the phone so I have a seizure and I I don't even have a phone here I don't have a phone I don't have a TV and it comes with the building so now that I am in so I can't make enough noise because I don't have anybody left I've been paying everything out of pocket pocket

I've been denied Medicaid and Medicare because I was a government employee without with a passion and if you were charging your family administration not eligible for any covet relief so basically one way or another I'm stuck here so I'm going to make the most of it and if I'm taking too much of your time guess what I've been sitting here walking in circles I walked 3 miles out of bed and what else nothing but time so put this into a time capsule because I'm sure I'll get in trouble for it anyway someone could help me everyone yells me shut up you're crazy I don't care nothing but time

Via

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

On Wednesday, October 21, 2020, 2:14 PM, U.S. Department of Homeland Security <departmentofhomelandsecurity@messages.dhs.gov> wrote:

CDC Foundation Data Collection Opportunity On behalf of the CDC Foundation and supported by Deloitte Consulting, in consultation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we would like to welcome school administrators to be a part of a modern and ground-breaking data collection opportunity. We are seeking real-time insights from you to identify practical solutions and strategies that can help schools during this COVID-19 pandemic. As part of this effort, we are inviting administrators to join a community of your peers for up to 3 surveys, all 15-20 minutes in length. For community participation, you will be asked to complete 3 surveys over the course of a few months. For your time and 100% completion, you will receive a $20 gift card for completing each of the (3) surveys, for a total of $60.00. Results will be used to both improve and inform technical assistance as is relates to school mitigation strategies, and thus, improve our future products to serve you better. For any questions, please reach out to Kate Brouse, kbrouse@deloitte.com.   School administrators, click here: https://bit.ly/mitigationsurveys Update your subscriptions, modify your password or e-mail address, or stop subscriptions at any time on your Subscriber Preferences Page. You will need to use your e-mail address to log in. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact subscriberhelp.govdelivery.com. This service is provided to you at no charge by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Privacy Policy | GovDelivery is providing this information on behalf of U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and may not use the information for any other purposes.     U.S. Department of Homeland Security · www.dhs.gov · 202-282-8000

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations | The NSA files | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations

17 Jan 2014

This article is more than 7 years old

Tue 11 Jun 2013 09.00 EDT

The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.

The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," he said.

Snowden will go down in history as one of America's most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world's most secretive organisations – the NSA.

In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions," but "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant."

Despite his determination to be publicly unveiled, he repeatedly insisted that he wants to avoid the media spotlight. "I don't want public attention because I don't want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing."

He does not fear the consequences of going public, he said, only that doing so will distract attention from the issues raised by his disclosures. "I know the media likes to personalise political debates, and I know the government will demonise me."

Despite these fears, he remained hopeful his outing will not divert attention from the substance of his disclosures. "I really want the focus to be on these documents and the debate which I hope this will trigger among citizens around the globe about what kind of world we want to live in." He added: "My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."

He has had "a very comfortable life" that included a salary of roughly $200,000, a girlfriend with whom he shared a home in Hawaii, a stable career, and a family he loves. "I'm willing to sacrifice all of that because I can't in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building."

'I am not afraid, because this is the choice I've made'

Three weeks ago, Snowden made final preparations that resulted in last week's series of blockbuster news stories. At the NSA office in Hawaii where he was working, he copied the last set of documents he intended to disclose.

He then advised his NSA supervisor that he needed to be away from work for "a couple of weeks" in order to receive treatment for epilepsy, a condition he learned he suffers from after a series of seizures last year.

As he packed his bags, he told his girlfriend that he had to be away for a few weeks, though he said he was vague about the reason. "That is not an uncommon occurrence for someone who has spent the last decade working in the intelligence world."

On May 20, he boarded a flight to Hong Kong, where he has remained ever since. He chose the city because "they have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent", and because he believed that it was one of the few places in the world that both could and would resist the dictates of the US government.

In the three weeks since he arrived, he has been ensconced in a hotel room. "I've left the room maybe a total of three times during my entire stay," he said. It is a plush hotel and, what with eating meals in his room too, he has run up big bills.

He is deeply worried about being spied on. He lines the door of his hotel room with pillows to prevent eavesdropping. He puts a large red hood over his head and laptop when entering his passwords to prevent any hidden cameras from detecting them.

Though that may sound like paranoia to some, Snowden has good reason for such fears. He worked in the US intelligence world for almost a decade. He knows that the biggest and most secretive surveillance organisation in America, the NSA, along with the most powerful government on the planet, is looking for him.

Since the disclosures began to emerge, he has watched television and monitored the internet, hearing all the threats and vows of prosecution emanating from Washington.

And he knows only too well the sophisticated technology available to them and how easy it will be for them to find him. The NSA police and other law enforcement officers have twice visited his home in Hawaii and already contacted his girlfriend, though he believes that may have been prompted by his absence from work, and not because of suspicions of any connection to the leaks.

"All my options are bad," he said. The US could begin extradition proceedings against him, a potentially problematic, lengthy and unpredictable course for Washington. Or the Chinese government might whisk him away for questioning, viewing him as a useful source of information. Or he might end up being grabbed and bundled into a plane bound for US territory.

"Yes, I could be rendered by the CIA. I could have people come after me. Or any of the third-party partners. They work closely with a number of other nations. Or they could pay off the Triads. Any of their agents or assets," he said.

"We have got a CIA station just up the road – the consulate here in Hong Kong – and I am sure they are going to be busy for the next week. And that is a concern I will live with for the rest of my life, however long that happens to be."

Having watched the Obama administration prosecute whistleblowers at a historically unprecedented rate, he fully expects the US government to attempt to use all its weight to punish him. "I am not afraid," he said calmly, "because this is the choice I've made."

He predicts the government will launch an investigation and "say I have broken the Espionage Act and helped our enemies, but that can be used against anyone who points out how massive and invasive the system has become".

The only time he became emotional during the many hours of interviews was when he pondered the impact his choices would have on his family, many of whom work for the US government. "The only thing I fear is the harmful effects on my family, who I won't be able to help any more. That's what keeps me up at night," he said, his eyes welling up with tears.

'You can't wait around for someone else to act'

Snowden did not always believe the US government posed a threat to his political values. He was brought up originally in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. His family moved later to Maryland, near the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade.

By his own admission, he was not a stellar student. In order to get the credits necessary to obtain a high school diploma, he attended a community college in Maryland, studying computing, but never completed the coursework. (He later obtained his GED.)

In 2003, he enlisted in the US army and began a training program to join the Special Forces. Invoking the same principles that he now cites to justify his leaks, he said: "I wanted to fight in the Iraq war because I felt like I had an obligation as a human being to help free people from oppression".

He recounted how his beliefs about the war's purpose were quickly dispelled. "Most of the people training us seemed pumped up about killing Arabs, not helping anyone," he said. After he broke both his legs in a training accident, he was discharged.

After that, he got his first job in an NSA facility, working as a security guard for one of the agency's covert facilities at the University of Maryland. From there, he went to the CIA, where he worked on IT security. His understanding of the internet and his talent for computer programming enabled him to rise fairly quickly for someone who lacked even a high school diploma.

By 2007, the CIA stationed him with diplomatic cover in Geneva, Switzerland. His responsibility for maintaining computer network security meant he had clearance to access a wide array of classified documents.

That access, along with the almost three years he spent around CIA officers, led him to begin seriously questioning the rightness of what he saw.

He described as formative an incident in which he claimed CIA operatives were attempting to recruit a Swiss banker to obtain secret banking information. Snowden said they achieved this by purposely getting the banker drunk and encouraging him to drive home in his car. When the banker was arrested for drunk driving, the undercover agent seeking to befriend him offered to help, and a bond was formed that led to successful recruitment.

"Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world," he says. "I realised that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than good."

He said it was during his CIA stint in Geneva that he thought for the first time about exposing government secrets. But, at the time, he chose not to for two reasons.

First, he said: "Most of the secrets the CIA has are about people, not machines and systems, so I didn't feel comfortable with disclosures that I thought could endanger anyone". Secondly, the election of Barack Obama in 2008 gave him hope that there would be real reforms, rendering disclosures unnecessary.

He left the CIA in 2009 in order to take his first job working for a private contractor that assigned him to a functioning NSA facility, stationed on a military base in Japan. It was then, he said, that he "watched as Obama advanced the very policies that I thought would be reined in", and as a result, "I got hardened."

The primary lesson from this experience was that "you can't wait around for someone else to act. I had been looking for leaders, but I realised that leadership is about being the first to act."

Over the next three years, he learned just how all-consuming the NSA's surveillance activities were, claiming "they are intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them".

He described how he once viewed the internet as "the most important invention in all of human history". As an adolescent, he spent days at a time "speaking to people with all sorts of views that I would never have encountered on my own".

But he believed that the value of the internet, along with basic privacy, is being rapidly destroyed by ubiquitous surveillance. "I don't see myself as a hero," he said, "because what I'm doing is self-interested: I don't want to live in a world where there's no privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity."

Once he reached the conclusion that the NSA's surveillance net would soon be irrevocable, he said it was just a matter of time before he chose to act. "What they're doing" poses "an existential threat to democracy", he said.

A matter of principle

As strong as those beliefs are, there still remains the question: why did he do it? Giving up his freedom and a privileged lifestyle? "There are more important things than money. If I were motivated by money, I could have sold these documents to any number of countries and gotten very rich."

For him, it is a matter of principle. "The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to," he said.

His allegiance to internet freedom is reflected in the stickers on his laptop: "I support Online Rights: Electronic Frontier Foundation," reads one. Another hails the online organisation offering anonymity, the Tor Project.

Asked by reporters to establish his authenticity to ensure he is not some fantasist, he laid bare, without hesitation, his personal details, from his social security number to his CIA ID and his expired diplomatic passport. There is no shiftiness. Ask him about anything in his personal life and he will answer.

He is quiet, smart, easy-going and self-effacing. A master on computers, he seemed happiest when talking about the technical side of surveillance, at a level of detail comprehensible probably only to fellow communication specialists. But he showed intense passion when talking about the value of privacy and how he felt it was being steadily eroded by the behaviour of the intelligence services.

His manner was calm and relaxed but he has been understandably twitchy since he went into hiding, waiting for the knock on the hotel door. A fire alarm goes off. "That has not happened before," he said, betraying anxiety wondering if was real, a test or a CIA ploy to get him out onto the street.

Strewn about the side of his bed are his suitcase, a plate with the remains of room-service breakfast, and a copy of Angler, the biography of former vice-president Dick Cheney.

Ever since last week's news stories began to appear in the Guardian, Snowden has vigilantly watched TV and read the internet to see the effects of his choices. He seemed satisfied that the debate he longed to provoke was finally taking place.

He lay, propped up against pillows, watching CNN's Wolf Blitzer ask a discussion panel about government intrusion if they had any idea who the leaker was. From 8,000 miles away, the leaker looked on impassively, not even indulging in a wry smile.

Snowden said that he admires both Ellsberg and Manning, but argues that there is one important distinction between himself and the army private, whose trial coincidentally began the week Snowden's leaks began to make news.

"I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest," he said. "There are all sorts of documents that would have made a big impact that I didn't turn over, because harming people isn't my goal. Transparency is."

He purposely chose, he said, to give the documents to journalists whose judgment he trusted about what should be public and what should remain concealed.

As for his future, he is vague. He hoped the publicity the leaks have generated will offer him some protection, making it "harder for them to get dirty".

He views his best hope as the possibility of asylum, with Iceland – with its reputation of a champion of internet freedom – at the top of his list. He knows that may prove a wish unfulfilled.

But after the intense political controversy he has already created with just the first week's haul of stories, "I feel satisfied that this was all worth it. I have no regrets."

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/ed70

Nice and Clean!!

My new nurse came today and she is very lovely.

She brushed my hair, washed and conditioned it and put it into braids the way I like it.

As you can see my scars are healing well, no infection so everything is going well.

Lots of pain still and I have a few oxy left for emergencies but every little thing takes a lot of energy.

She also did a few household chores and I am VERY happy to be all nice and clean.

Love,

Liz 🐧

Update December 1, 2020

/4

If you know anyone in a wheelchair or who is paralyzed... being "transferable" is a mayor issue.

They literally measure everything to make sure I can stand up safely and transfer my body from bed, to wheelchair, to toilet to shower etc.

Karen disrupted the whole system

/5

It's literally like rearranging the furniture on a blind person without telling them first.

So everything was measured carefully so I would be okay for 24-48 hours but she disrupted the whole arrangement

/6

The nurse didn't show up as ordered by my neurosurgeon and it wasn't long before I fell and wound up back in the hospital with a very serious diagnosis: rhabdomyolysis https://g.co/kgs/51tMJ3

/6

I woke up in the hospital with no ID, no phone, no clothing and no memory of how I got there.

The last memory I have is of my mother walking up to the ambulance carrying a designer purse and some Starbucks and that was the last time I saw her.

/8

One of the symptoms of my spinal cord injury is that I have episodes of violent shaking that resemble a seizure.

I saw the neurologist on Monday; but they still haven't determined whether it is epilepsy or spinal cord related.

/9

So in the nightmare, my sorority sister and I took our mew pledges over to the "unofficial" graduate school lounge for faculty so the young ones could see what they COULD have access to if they worked really hard.

/10

In the dream someone had a seizure and Karen (my mother) was standing at the door blocking the door as she often does IN REAL LIFE.

She's sick, but that's unconscionable.

/11

The pledges became very frightened and concerned and I called the police to have her removed.

I had to calmly de-escalate the situation and explain to the police that she was my biological mother and that she did need to be removed.



Back to the real world; it's 2:44am.

Woke up to this horrendous nightmare. Don't think you need to hear anymore.

I had physical therapy earlier and nearly fell out of my wheelchair. My abilities are very fluid. Things o can do one day I can't do the next.

As you can see, Karen rearranging the furniture and disposing of DME (durable medical equipment) such as my hip kit so I can reach items I drop so I DON'T fall out of my wheelchair are really important.

I won't rest until Karen tells me where those items are along with my cell phone; my jewelry box which has my SIM card in it, my laptop cable or comes over and finds it herself.

These are my precious items. They may not be family heirlooms made of diamonds and gold but they carry my most treasured memories and gifts.

The good news is that Ray and Adrienne are back in town and have agreed to come over and help fung shui my apartment like they did in the first one and hopefully help me pick out a desk to replace the 3 tables I had set up (she sold them) and help me navigate this death trap.

I think Ray can take me to AT&T, he knows about the hacking situation and was actually HERE with me in my apartment when Karen installed the internet so he fully understands the insanity that is factual and documented both with the police and several attorneys since it involved Russian and North Korean hacking.

Just knowing they are here makes me feel infinitely safer.

Karen can bully, strike and violate my broken, disabled body in its current form but she wouldn't dare raise a hand to Adrienne and Ray would just knock her out with a quick 1-2.

Two nurses are coming over tomorrow so I took some time to clean up and make sure all my meds are in the right bottles so they can count them out safely and make sure I don't spill any more like I often do due to the weakness and lack of mobility, dexterity and sensation in my hands which is currently at about 30%.

Hopefully, I can see them in a week or two when they are settled and a bit stronger.

That's all for now.

Love you all,

🐧



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/ed70

The Obama-Biden Transition Project

The Obama-Biden Transition Project 

by Elyssa D. Durant, Ed.M. 

"We're often asked how we plan to take this unique moment in history - when a grassroots movement for change elected a president - and turn it into a force that can build stronger communities, block by block." -The Obama-Biden Transition Project http://change.gov
As I was thinking about how to respond to the numerous requests the Obama Transition Team that has been sending out to community organizers, political activists, advocates and non-profits across the country, I am reminded of the days I spent living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

At the time, in the mid to late 1990's, the American Sociological Association (ASA) held its annual conference in New York City. Prior to that meeting, they sent out a fact sheet that may be of interest to ASA members. In this sheet, they too described the same social conditions and asked their members to take note of the changes that occur at 96th Street.
Oddly enough, the very same area was undergoing rapid transformation and gentrification at the time Mayor Rudolph Giuliani took office. As described by the ASA and other political sociologists, the South Bronx is one of the most severely segregated and poorest Congressional Districts in the United States. 

The members of this community have been segregated into a hell plagued with sickness, violence and despair. Kozol argues that this strategic placement serves to isolate the rich from the realities they have thrust upon their fellow man. 
New Yorkers do not stroll through the streets of Mott Haven, and taxicabs take no short cuts through Beekman Avenue. Many taxicabs will not even venture past East 96th Street. Out of sight is out of mind.

There is no excuse for the living conditions of these children and their families. No person should be forced into an apartment that has a higher ratio of cockroaches and rats than to human beings.

These children are desperately in need of the best schools, yet we give them the worst. They have few libraries, few safe havens, few doctors, and few role models. 
They have every reason to believe that they are throwaway children and we have certainly not shown them anything else. The social services we have provided are a bureaucratic nightmare. People in need are treated as sub-human, and made to feel ashamed of being poor.
These are among the sickest children in the world. Americans claim to be dedicated to the children and fool ourselves into believing that we are doing them a favor by providing them with medical care, public education, and public housing. Yet, the quality of their neighborhoods speaks volumes of our sentiment and intentions.

Shortly after the publication of Amazing Grace, managed care rapidly moved onto the New York scene. Around the same time, the Mayor announced he would be closing some of the hospitals that served the poorest of the poor because of financial problems associated with payment and large trauma departments.

Kozol makes the point that people could attempt to gain admissions at a better hospital than Bronx-Lebanon; yet, the privatization of Medicaid made this completely impossible. 
Further restrictions on medical care are inevitable as a direct result of Medicaid managed care plans. The law is not designed to protect the poor, the fragile, and the disenfranchised.
This was made obvious in a recent conversation I had with a friend who practices emergency medicine on the elite Upper East Side of Manhattan. My friend works as a board certified trauma physician at a private hospital on the Upper East Side. The last black patient he treated at Beth Israel was famed rock singer Michael Jackson.

This is the reality. The best doctors treat the healthy and wealthy instead of the people who have the greatest need. They give no thought to the equitable distribution of services; they just file insurance claims and billing statements. Doctors should consider who stands to could benefit the most from their skill and experience. Perhaps we should invert the payment schedule so physicians and other health care providers should receive a higher rate of reimbursement for treating the most vulnerable populations.

Patients with the greatest need get the worst care. Great teachers teach great students in great neighborhoods.

This makes no sense!

And we wonder why the division between the have and the have-nots continues to grow?
People often ask me why I am so angry about the living conditions of poor urban minorities. 
My response-Why aren't you? I cannot be the only one who places human kindness, dignity, and integrity above the lure of the almighty dollar!

We should feel enraged by the way we treat our own citizens. Children who did not ask to be born into poverty and substandard living conditions.

I have thought for many years that the system is upside down, and I become more and more convinced of that as I grow older.

To paraphrase the message of the new Windows Vista commercial, The Mayor's of Nashville's winning campaign.... it is all connected....

Clearly there is a level of inter-connectedness that exists between the various sectors of the American marketplace and economy otherwise Washington would not be at a complete standstill trying to figure out what to tweak, where, and just how much...

Did it really take a $700 Billion wake up call for our citizens to realize that that all is not well in America. It is time to get real about healthcare. It is time to get real about education. 
It is time to get real about the cost of education. It is time to get real about this god-forsaken war that we are still in! This country is in desperate need of a wake-up call, and we must develop a course of action that embraces a multi-dimensional approach and vast restructuring of the laissez faire way of regulating healthcare in the past.

Similarly, many different things influence the human condition by upsetting the delicate balance between those who can and those who do. We need to focus on improving the lives of those who might... People who can and do amazing things when given the chance. 

People who can excel under the right set of circumstances given the right support, the right guidance, the right tools, and the right opportunities. People who may not have the monetary (financial) resources to invest in themselves, their families, or their communities.

If we are to find some resolution to the unprecedented, simultaneous collapse of the economy, the market place and/or government and the collapsing housing market in United States, it seems obvious that people, the economy, healthcare, education confidence and faith in the American people it is time to take drastic efforts to strengthen our greatest asset and hope for the future: Our children! 

We must take action on a number of fronts to create some type of stability in our country, our economy, and the international marketplace. We need to start here, now, in our own communities, schools, and invest in ourselves.

Look at the facts; if we get healthy, they go broke! So let's shake it up a bit, and turn this sad state of affairs upside down!

I am not for sale, yet my healthcare company pimps me out based upon their ability to negotiate with fat cat for profit healthcare giants like HCA and First Health who are by no means the business to make people well! 

It does not take a rocket scientist to see the perverse incentive to keep people sick and dependent upon costly medications and treatment protocols.

Education:
Next year, I want Harvard to take in the worst students. Take the worst students who would not have made it past the front door of the admissions office. Take the worst students. Students who did not break a thousand on their SATs and barely made it through watered-down high school curriculum. Let them benefit from a first class education.

Guess what Harvard? The smart kids don't need you! They are already ahead of the game. 
We can sit them in a corner for a year or two because they do not need the Ivy League to succeed. By definition, they are already streamlined for success and they will no doubt be great with or without you!

There is no doubt that the prevalence of violence in urban neighborhoods affects the ability of children to perform well in school. There is a large body of empirical evidence that demonstrates the effects of chronic stress on memory and the learning process. 

Rather than taking the children out of these communities, we have constructed prison like buildings for them to attend school. They routinely have gunfire drills reminding them that danger is never far behind.

Children cannot learn in this environment. This constant stress triggers "hot-memory." Hot memory can be thought of as learning with your heart and not your mind. It is no wonder children perform inadequately in this environment. 

It is bad enough that children live in such conditions, must we educate in them too. If we want underprivileged children to learn and grow spiritually, we must create an environment that allows their cool memory systems to take over. 

It is only under these conditions that children will permit themselves to learn and develop their intellectual strengths.

We have failed to create a safe home environment for urban children, but we can give serious thought to creating a school environment outside of the community so they have fewer fear-driven hours each day.

It is any wonder that these children perform poorly in school. By every measure, these children are destined for failure.

 
Their home life is less than enchanting, and they do not benefit from enriched environments and educated parents. Certainly, there are many dedicated parents who care about their children, but is that enough? 

When I was in school, children frequently asked the teacher, how this would help later in life. As a young girl in a suburban classroom, there was an unequivocal reply, but it could be argued that what children in the South Bronx need to learn cannot be taught in the classroom.
Studies consistently report lower academic achievement in urban neighborhoods like Mott Haven in the South Bronx. Children growing up in urban neighborhoods have a much higher incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

Most researchers believe this to be the direct result of living in stressed communities plagued with street crime and violence. 

The potential impact of chronic stress on academic performance and achievement is not known, but reading scores in neighborhoods like Mott Haven certainly seem to indicate some type of causal relationship. 

There is virtually no research on looking at the long-term effects of this inflated incidence of PTSD among urban populations. 

It is important to develop an understanding of the effects of fear on the academic performance of urban adolescents so we can begin to dismantle the myths regarding school performance and minority children.

Under these conditions, it is not surprising to learn that students also report pervasive feelings of fear and do not feel secure despite the added presence of security personnel on school grounds. 

For these students, school is a mere extension of the violent communities in which they live.
Since urban communities have many different sources of stress, it is important to examine how school policies contribute to the learning environment in public schools. 

The quick response has been to install weapons detectors and hire school security for urban schools. The presence of school security certainly affects the climate of American public schools and sends a symbolic message to members of the community, the world, and especially the students themselves regarding the role they are expected to play as they mature into adolescents and young adulthood.

The school rules mimic are not unlike those one might expect to find in a state prison. Students are rewarded for obedience and they are taught to follow the rules rather than to think critically. 
On the back of the No Child Left Behind legislation, we indoctrinate our youngest members of society with "core curriculum" and "Back to Basics." Students across the country are judged on their ability to regurgitate facts on high-stakes standardized tests.

Lesson plans are filled with repetition exercises and workbook pages rather than student projects or classroom discussion. We teach conformity, rules, and limits. 
We teach kids to be blind followers. The skills we are teaching are better suited for prison rather than the real world. Teachers are teaching the kids to follow rules, to conform, and to reward obedience rather than creativity.

The secured environment is an indication of the roles students are expected to play later in life. This is a lesson they will not soon forget. 

School rules and core curriculum makes classroom silencing an everyday event in the urban classroom. And as my list of "off-limit" subject matter grows longer each term, the need to bring such things into the dialogue becomes more and more apparent. 

I actually have a printed list of topics that I am forbidden to discuss in the classroom: The election, politics, race, religion, suicide, pregnancy. 

The more topics they add, the more relevant they become. The unspoken truth has becomes louder and louder the more we are silenced. There is a big pink elephant standing in the middle of my classroom! There is a big pink elephant in the middle of our community!

By focusing on student behavior rather than student skills, knowledge, and achievement, we are showing all members of the school, the community, and the children themselves that we have already given up. 

Together, the urban public school and the community it serves are a constant reminder of the perpetual cycle of poverty and the poor living conditions and social reality that continue to plague urban America.

Kozol makes it quite clear that there are several exceptional children in this community. There are probably as many exceptional children here as every other community around the country, yet, so few of them will make it out of the South Bronx. Kozol is careful not to dwell on the exceptional cases of children who successfully navigate their way into the main stream of society. 

Kozol does this so we do not develop a false sense of hope. If we cling to a few exceptional cases, we may come to believe that what we are giving enough to children like Anthony or Annabelle. 

Clearly, we can do more. Failure should be the exception-not the rule. Success should be the norm, and until it is, we should not give up hope for these children.

This is our time to let our voices be heard. Any number of social justice agencies from moveon.org, to Cover the Uninsured, to Families USA, Center for Community Change, Health Care for America Now; have opened the blogosphere so that everyday common folk like you and I can submit our opinions to the Transition Team in Washington.

They are begging us to participate, to give our opinions, to let our voices be heard. They need our help. Let us make this the country we are proud to call home. Let this be a new beginning for us all, and let us make this a land of real opportunity.

America claims to be dedicated to equal opportunity, yet equality is not sufficient in a urban communities. These kids need more. We need to think about equity, not equality. It is not enough to hide them away. Be silenced no more!

SUBMIT YOUR VIEWS ONLINE: The Obama-Biden Transition Project http://change.gov

Elyssa D. Durant, Ed.M.
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