Whistleblowers: When Calling Out the Government Goes Wrong

Sometimes being a being a journalist has its downsides. Keeping the public informed is a task that may come with restrictions. For example, lets say the American government has engaged in some shady actions behind the scenes. Perhaps the military has took some actions that you wouldn't see on the news, actions that are unethical and unlawful. A journalist that is bold enough to report on these instances, may be faced with dire consequences. They would be considered whistleblowers, and their actions could result in them being arrested or even killed. But doesn't the public deserve to know what is happening? Aren't all journalist protected by the 1st Amendment?

Australian journalist and computer programmer Julian Assange, is one of the most prominent whistleblowers today. He is the founder of WikiLeaks, a website where confidential information is shared worldwide. Assange is also great at hacking into computers and databases, which of course had gotten him into some trouble on many occasions. Why does he hack into these databases so much? Is it to find some dirt on his ex-girlfriend? Well...maybe, but mainly his goal is to find some dirt on the government and inform people about it.

Julian Assange was arrested in 2019 after planning to hack into the Pentagon's computer network. He is currently in HM Prison Belmarsh in London and is reportedly in bad health and is put in solitary confinement. I do not believe that this treatment of Assange is appropriate at all. It seems that all he was really trying to do is use his knowledge of computers and his profession as a journalist to recognize unlawful actions of the government and let the public know. I do think that putting our nose in others business can go really wrong, but shouldn't governmental actions be "our business"? 

Personally, I do believe in informing the public of "news" that takes place beyond what we see on news channels and what we read in articles. There are many happenings behind the surface that people should know about. I decided to go take a look at WikiLeaks myself and I found some interesting articles. I saw many articles on companies that I buy from such as Amazon, and I learned more information about those companies that you wouldn't find on the site. For example I was reading about AmazonAtlas which shows information and operational details of hundreds of data centers and gives a map of their location. You can check out WikiLeaks here.

I must say, Whistleblowers are very bold...and sort of crazy in my opinion, but they are necessary and important. I think Julian Assange should be released from prison. I don't think he committed any serious crime that requires this magnitude of punishment. This is clearly an attempt of keeping Assange silent and it is a disregard for the first amendment. Sadly, being a whisleblower can result in these circumstances, but hats off to those who are brave enough to speak out.

Sources: https://www.biography.com/activist/julian-assange

The History and Workings of the U.S. Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court is the most powerful judicial branch in the world. It consist of 9 justices who are responsible for enforcing and upholding the Amendments in the Articles of Confederation and what is mentioned in the Constitution. Throughout American history there have been a little over a hundred Supreme Court Justices. The Judicial branch is very important because they determine if a law can get passed by making sure it is constitutional. The Supreme Court is very powerful mainly due to the Marbury v. Madison case (1803), this is when Judicial Review came to be.

Home-Supreme Court of the United States, https://www.supremecourt.gov/

Sometimes the Supreme Court's actions are controversial, and ironically aren't so constitutional themselves. For example the Dred Scott v. Sanford case, when the Supreme Court excluded African-Americans from the Constitution and determined they should not have rights as citizens. This decision was a major blow to the Supreme Court and was even a contributing factor of the Civil War. After the war this court decision was of course done away with. Then the 14th amendment was passed redefining citizenship and it stated that anyone born on American soil is considered a citizen.

The Supreme Court has many decisions to make. They receive thousands of cases a year and very few are considered.  Sometimes their consensus may be controversial, but many times some pretty great laws end up getting passed. The 15th Amendment granted African-American men the right to vote and the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote. I think it is very important that citizens no matter the race or gender, can have a say in who is elected into office. Also I think citizens should have a say in the decisions of the government and should have a right to petition, so the first amendment is also very important in my opinion.