Anonymous

‘How could the unpure possibly be of assistance to the holy?’

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

I admit that my expertise in psychological warfare is limited to good spy novels, better histories, and bad Twitter behavior. Over the last month or so, a campaign to smear and harass a friend of mine has unfolded before my eyes on social media and behind the scenes.

Much as I may want to ignore it, much as I may wish that my words below will bring it to an end and somehow restore his name in the world to the esteem I still hold for him, much as I may want the campaign to end, I am not sufficiently foolish to think my words will have much of an effect. I can not ignore it, though.

I am writing this because I know the human being involved, I know (or I think I know) the desired consequences of the campaign against him, and I know that he will write something similar about me should I ever become important enough in someone’s eyes to attempt to take me down. This is because my friend is a friend and he is loyal.

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Hospitality in Mexico, An Essay by Matt DeHart

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Published exclusively in The Gad About Town.

This is the second article in a series. The first part is here: “‘You don’t act like an American.'”

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In May 2012, Judge Aleta A. Trauger of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee released Matt DeHart on bond. He had spent the previous twenty-one months in prison with two pornography indictments against him.

Judge Trauger had learned that computer materials seized from Matt’s home in Indiana, where he lived with his parents, had not been sent to Tennessee, the proper jurisdiction, but to FBI headquarters in Washington, DC. The judge finally learned from the U.S. Department of Justice that Matt DeHart had been “arrested for questioning in an espionage matter.”

Thus, what she said from the bench that day remains important:
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‘You don’t act like an American,’ An Essay by Matt DeHart

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Published exclusively in The Gad About Town …

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The Courage Foundation supports the legal needs of individuals around the world who are faced with prosecution (and persecution) for whistle-blowing—funds go towards legal fees and the foundation organizes public campaigns on behalf of the whistle-blower.

As the Courage Foundation states in its materials, “Whistle-blowers become the public’s regulators of last resort. Without them, we would know far less about international diplomacy, offshore banking or the excesses of the War on Terror. Because whistleblowers are a vital link in the chain, they are also vulnerable.”

At present, the Courage Foundation supports seven individuals: Edward Snowden, Jeremy Hammond, Matt DeHart, Emin Huseynov, Barrett Brown, Lauri Love, and Chelsea Manning.

Matt DeHart, former U.S. Air National Guard intelligence analyst, is prisoner #06813-036 at the low-security federal correctional institution FCI Ashland in Ashland, Kentucky. The essay published below is one of the few public statements he has made.
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