Portside

"New York Times, November 14, 2016 -- Chelsea Manning, who confessed to disclosing archives of secret diplomatic and military documents to WikiLeaks in 2010 and has been incarcerated longer than any other convicted leaker in American history, has formally petitioned President Obama to reduce the remainder of her 35-year sentence to the more than six years she has already served."

Chelsea Manning went before a three-member disciplinary board at Fort Leavenworth on September 22 and was punished with 14 days of solitary confinement. and Chelsea Manning ended her hunger strike Sept 13 after the Army finally agreed to treatment for her gender dysphoria. "This is all that I wanted – for them to let me be me,” said Chelsea Manning. and Julian Assange to Accept Time in US Prison If Chelsea Manning Granted Clemency

On August 10, Army Secretary Eric Fanning received a petition with 115,000 signatures, part of an ongoing effort by activists to ensure Chelsea Manning's additional suicide-related charges are dropped. Although public pressure has mounted, there has been no sign that the charges will be dropped any time soon.

July 28 Chelsea Manning found out she is yet again being threatened with the possibility of indefinite solitary confinement. In a jarringly callous move, Army officials are charging Chelsea with “offenses” related to her suicide attempt earlier this month. If convicted, her punishment could be indefinite solitary confinement, reclassification into maximum security, and an additional nine years in medium custody. Her chance of parole may be negated.

Update about Chelsea Manning and one of her recent blogs.

Forty years ago, the US Senate’s Church Committee conducted a massive investigation into the intelligence community and expressed concerns that the privacy rights of US citizens had been violated by activities conducted under pretenses of foreign intelligence collection. The Secret Fisa courts were supposed to solve the problem -- however, they have made the problem worse.

Aside from her 35-year prison sentence, Chelsea Manning is now facing indefinite solitary confinement to be determined in a closed hearing August 18th.

Reader Comments - California Oil Spill; Baltimore; Bernie Sanders Campaign; Waco and White Riot; Freedom for Oscar López Rivera - New York March May 30; Why Libraries Matter; Cold War Modernist; Announcements - Last Cold War Spycase - film showing - Washington - June 7; National Healthcare Strategy Conference in Chicago Oct. 30 Today in History - The Paris Commune - 144 Years Ago; Today Marks 5 Years in Confinement for Chelsea Manning

Manning’s latest Guardian op-ed: We're citizens, not subjects. We have the right to criticize government without fear. The American public needs more access to what the government is doing in its name. That requires increasing freedom of information and transparency.

Torture and the mistreatment of detainees in the custody of intelligence personnel is, was and shall continue to be unethical and morally wrong. Under US law, torture and mistreatment of detainees is also very illegal. Even the most junior level intelligence officials know that this is, and has been, the case for decades. US torture programs were authorized at the highest levels of government knowingly violating US law.