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Pardon Snowden
291–300 of 814 posts
Re: Pardon Snowden
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
Okay, not to break up the tinfoil hat party here, but you're not going to get dragged off to US prison for following Birgitta Jónsdóttir (Icelandic, not Swedish) on Twitter.
The U.S. border security has been monitoring social media for years. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093796/Emily-Buntin... https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/28/us-custom...
Yeah, if you post threats on your Twitter account immediately before visiting a country that could be an issue. So don't do that. Threats against persons or property are reasonable things for public officials to be concerned about.
I repeat: you're not going to get dragged off to US prison for following Birgitta Jónsdóttir on Twitter.
I strongly agree that Ed should be pardoned and that the US government has a lot of problems (like any country), but let's not go completely overboard here and write off the entire country as North Korea meets McCarthyism with a heaping side of Turkey. You can't and won't be prosecuted here for having a political opinion or for following people that do on Twitter.
Re: Pardon Snowden
#293Also don't forget about Manning who actually went to prison and is not getting any publicity now.
I'm for a pardon for Snowden, but not Manning. Snowden released info on a deeply classified and unethical program, targeted to dismantle the programs in question. Manning carte blanche released TONS of data about TONS of things, trusting only Wikileaks to filter out sensitive data.
Snowden carte blanche stole and gave up "TONS of data about TONS of things", trusting only Greenwald, et al to filter out sensitive data.
Re: Pardon Snowden
#294Snowden is a traitor. He gave up diplomatic cables that hurt our alliances all over the world and most of what he released ended up in Osama Bin Ladens hands. I can't name one good thing that has come from his whistleblowing. Perhaps, you didn't read the Patriot Act? It's pretty easy to see this guy basically said hey they are using the Patriot Act... Silly.
Re: Pardon Snowden
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
And you know what's also awful? We expect neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump to pardon Snowden in the future. In this sense, Democrats and Republicans are not all that different. It's still all about the interest of the powerful.
The if Hilary claimed she would pardon Snowden I'd vote for her in a heartbeat. I hate her because to me she seems to want to expand the surveillance state. I hate Trump because with a surveillance state anyone who makes fun of his hands would/could be arrested... Hence, at the moment I'm voting Gary Johnson, who I actually think is the most qualified, but also made it clear he wants to downsize the NSA
Gary Johnson wants to get rid of the Department of Education[0] and is against mandatory vaccinations[1].
[0]: https://www.johnsonweld.com/education [1]: https://twitter.com/govgaryjohnson/status/113419678730301440
Re: Pardon Snowden
#296I think the problem is, people do not care anymore. The scandal is over, business as usual. Only a small percentage of the population still cares about Snowden. I think the image of the NSA has been hurt and a change in legislation might get you some positive press in the future, but I do not think that pardoning Snowden would be worth the effort for a politician. On the other hand: Obama probably does not have to ca…
Snowden's actions were effectively an attack on the mechanisms of governance: if they let him off the hook, they fear they will encourage more people to act like him, and that affects the solidity of the lever of governmental power. If government is a tool, it's a rare politician that votes to make the tool less reliable. Note that this is distinct from changing the scope of what the tool can affect: this is about th…
One could argue, that it was really the press acting here, which as the 4th power is also part of the machine. Also the Nazi trials largely ended legal positivism [0].
Re: Pardon Snowden
#297I think the problem is, people do not care anymore. The scandal is over, business as usual. Only a small percentage of the population still cares about Snowden. I think the image of the NSA has been hurt and a change in legislation might get you some positive press in the future, but I do not think that pardoning Snowden would be worth the effort for a politician. On the other hand: Obama probably does not have to ca…
And then there are people like me, who don't see the situation as black&white, i.e. I am not signing that petition. In my opinion, for the sake of security, it is necessary to "cache" the whole Internet communication to prevent terrorists attacks and other dangers. Like what the Brits are doing and currently they didn't have any big attack after the London bombings. I am not an American and I don't have a motivation…
It doesn't stop terrorist attacks. You undermined your entire comment by implying that it does.
Re: Pardon Snowden
#298Earlier quoted context omitted.
Clinton is "deplorable" for other reasons, she is a Saudi proxy. Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort have connections to Putin.
I'll note for others that you didn't actually answer the question. By the way, Clinton's campaign chairman also has connections to Russia through his consulting group.
I answered it by not answering like you did with Snowden being an Russian agent.
Chelsea hanging with Ivanka is not on the same level as Ivanka hanging with Putin's girlfriend Wendi Deng Murdoch.
Yes, Clinton has also ties to Russia, but not as close as Trump's and not a link to Putin like Paul Manafort. And Clinton having connections to Russia does not exclude Trump having it too. I just makes this election even worse.
And was it not strange that the DNC got hacked by Russian hackers just at the same time as the convention? I guess stars align just for Trump.
Re: Pardon Snowden
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
TIL the United States is a socialist country.
Indirectly it kind of is. The Government, owned by the people determines whether some companies continue to produce, or fail. Under natural capitalism Amtrak would have died years ago.
Actually someone defined the USA situation as Inverted Totalitarianism, where things are as you say but the power relationship is reversed.
Re: Pardon Snowden
#300Might be we should also campaign to give Snowden the peace nobel price.