Blowing the whistle seems great!
Herve Falciani blew the whistle on HSBC, the British bank that allegedly helped clients evade taxes. Switzerland rewarded him with charges of industrial espionage.
We wouldn't do something like that here in America, right?
Thomas Drake, a former National Security Agency official who provided information about mismanagement at the agency to a Baltimore Sun reporter, got the Espionage Act thrown at him.
"I assume you mean the rarely enforced provision of the Espionage Act, that involves rewarding whistleblowers with millions of dollars and unlimited blow jobs," Jon Stewart said on Thursday night's "The Daily Show."
Nope!
Drake ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor in the case, but his life was ruined in the process.
Stewart said the United States' applications of the Espionage Act -- which, we'll remind you, is a World War I-era law to stop people from aiding the enemy -- highlights a terrifying trend.
"Of the 11 times in our entire history that the Espionage Act has been used against government workers sharing information with journalists, seven of them have been under this presidency," he said.
See what else Stewart had to say in the clip above.
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