Along with the stupid shutdown that caused my trip to Sacramento to be cancelled — I planned to testify at a Fish and Wildlife Services hearing to protest the potential delisting of the wolf from the Endangered Species List– now we can add loss of freedom of speech to the many ways our government is no longer for the people, by the people. Right. I am disgusted with everything and everyone political. This country is shameful and heinous to not allow this learned man to enter the good old U.S of A. Just plain stupid.
FROM HuffPost Live | By Erin McDonoughPosted: 10/01/2013 4:29 pm EDT
According to Der Spiegel, German-Bulgarian writer and activist Ilija Trojanow was barred from entering the United States on Monday. Spiegel reports that Congress extended an invitation to Trojanow, who was to speak at a literary conference. HuffPost Live’s Ahmed Shihab-Eldin took a closer look at the story, which has yet to be covered by most major news sources in the U.S.
While U.S. authorities did not provide Trojanow with a formal explanation, he believes he has been banned from the US because of his outspoken criticism of the NSA’s surveillance programs.
In an article published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Trojanow voiced his frustration with the incident. “It is more than ironic if an author who raises his voice against the dangers of surveillance and the secret state within a state for years, will be denied entry into the ‘land of the brave and the free,’” he said.
Trojanow has written an open letter denouncing the NSA in addition to signing a petition that asks German Chancellor Angela Merkel to forcefully oppose NSA surveillance. He is a professor at The European Graduate School and co-author of a book that examines the surveillance state, with fellow German novelist Juli Zeh.
Zeh also expressed outrage following Trojanow’s detainment in an airport in Brazil. A Facebook post by Zeh, loosely translated, reads, “ This is a farce. Pure paranoia. People who stand up for civil rights are treated as enemies of the state.”
News of Trojanow’s denied entry into the U.S. coincided with the announcement that the U.S. government had been shut down by Congress. Shihab-Eldin drew attention to the overlapping stories.
“So there you have it, even an invitation from Congress can’t guarantee you entry into the U.S.,” he said, “’cause we needed another example of Congressional futility today.”
Related articles
- Bulgarian-German Novelist and Privacy Activist Denied Entry into the USA (libertyblitzkrieg.com)
- Author and NSA critic denied entry into US (thelocal.de)
- DerSpiegel – NSA Aftermath: German Firms Scramble To Boost Data Protection (speakerknox.wordpress.com)
- Declassified NSA files show agency spied on Muhammad Ali and MLK (theguardian.com)
- Bullrun And The NSA’s Game of Thrones (veracode.com)
- NSA Can Access Most Smartphone Data, Der Spiegel Reports (huffingtonpost.com)
- NSA Spying Creates a New Data Haven Industry. Government Stimulus at Work! (reason.com)
- Report: NSA can access most smartphone data (news.yahoo.com)
- Report: NSA can access most smartphone data (star-telegram.com)
- The Latest NSA Scandals: Espionage in Germany, the United Nations, and Untold Blackmail to Trap the Messengers (techrights.org)
Enchanted Seashells by Princess Rosebud 
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Too bad we just can’t fire the lot of them and start over from scratch.
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Darn right. Stop all the backroom deals and hurting the people in this country????
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I hope they reschedule so you can give your speech. That suit needs wearing!
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I concur about the speech and your suit. And I can’t really comment on what’s going on in your country because I’m a bit lost about the whole thing.
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LOL we are all lost here too.Deni said it right, we should start over with all new people, maybe model USA after Canada instead of making fun of it all the time. Eh?
On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 3:26 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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LOL we have our own problems.
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But, such corruption and back room deals and not caring about the people who live in this country? We are way worse.
On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 4:19 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Thank you! Hopefully, my hub will be back by then and we’ll go together.
On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 3:03 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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If the Captain is still gone when it gets rescheduled, let me know…
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Wow, I most certainly will. Thank you!
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 8:46 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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I agree – People who stand up for civil rights are treated as enemies of the state.
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I thought that’s what we came here for, what this country is all about-freedom. Guess not. Thank you for your comment, good to know others think the same way!
On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 10:28 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Have you seen this: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/489/539/284/demand-a-pay-freeze-for-congress-during-government-shutdown/?z00m=20639949
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I don’t really understand what’s going on, it seems absolutely bat-crap crazy that a government can just shut down, affecting millions of lives, not paying some workers, shutting down tourist places and losing millions of dollars when they aren’t in the best financial situation.
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You are right, it makes no sense to play around with us when everyone is just trying to survive. I hope it backfires on the government and we get rid of everybody and start over with honest people. But that prob won’t happen. Sad.
On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 11:46 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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It really doesn’t, as I said I don’t really understand it but I can’t understand on what level they thought shutting down the government was okay.
That would be a nice idea wouldn’t it. I imagine there are billions of people the world over who agree with that statement, myself included.
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I didn’t want to advertise this, but my connection with this man is that he was supposed to be the keynote speaker at a literary conference that my son is attending, and he is very upset. I think this is the first time he’s ever experienced a “police state”. (He teaches at Yale)
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 7:21 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Hooray for nonsense… because that’s what all this is. We deny entry to someone because they don’t agree with something we are doing? What? Who made that decision? If anything you let them in specifically to prove that you aren’t afraid of the truths they are spouting, that you aren’t afraid the words of one man can undo what you’ve created… That’s just me though. It is disturbing to see an act of fear like that in our country…
And the shutdown… good grief. And why do they still get paid when they haven’t done their job up to this point? I agree we should fire them all and start from scratch…
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As I said in another comment, he was supposed to be the keynote speaker for a literary conference my son organized, s.o he is very upset, that’s how I heard about it, cos it’s not on lamestream media. As for the shutdown, they have no right to make our childrens’ future insecure
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 8:50 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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I am so upset with what is going on,I can’t even begin to get into it…seriously.
on the other hand, now you will have to find somewhere to wear your outfit
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it is beyond anything rational, I do agree. All of it.
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 8:45 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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