Half way into that article it suddenly opened another window and loaded another seemingly unrelated article. A way to get more page imoressions?
Time to Pardon Edward Snowden?
61–70 of 131 posts
Re: Time to Pardon Edward Snowden?
#62Edward Snowden is an American patriot. He followed his conscience and acted in good faith to defend the constitutional rights of the American people.
Disagree. I think he’s a tool of Russia and got paid to tarnish America and diplomacy worldwide.
I agree him being in Russia currently isn't a good look... but I don't think he was a Russian asset. To me, he always seemed like a really good person who followed his conscience.
I think where he messed up was he got help from Assange when he was at his neediest, took it, and ended up in Moscow.
Re: Time to Pardon Edward Snowden?
#63If Assange isn't being pardoned for the nonsensical "crime" of exposing war crimes by the US Government, there is no chance that Snowden will be pardoned. Snowden willingly stole state secrets whereas Assange only published. Still, when you consider that Snowden is living in Russia, essentially free, and Assange is in a 3.5x2m cell, I don't think Snowden has anything to worry about, except that the royalties from his…
They should both be pardoned. They committed no crime. The public has the right to know what their governments are doing using their money.
> They have committed no crime
Not true. Assange hasn't committed a crime but Snowden has committed a crime of theft from the NSA; unlawfully retaining a National Security Agency (NSA) documents containing information classified at the TOP SECRET/SENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION (TS/SCI) level.
Let me clarify. What he did in exposing PRISM was fantastic, the people had a right to know, absolutely, but, the act in itself was still stealing. It's no different to any other theft. When you work for a company and you steal, you can be prosecuted.
We can argue from two points; moral and legal. Morally he did the right thing. Legally he did not.
The difference between Assange and Snowden is vast. Assange is a published of information, no different to The Guardian. He did not steal the data he published. Snowden did, as did Chelsea Manning when he stole the known as Cable Gate.
The point in the article is that the OP thinks Snowden should receive a pardon. My point, is that Assange hasn't even been pardoned for his supposed crime of publishing. If Assange hasn't been pardoned for a lesser crime, then what hope does Snowden have of being pardoned for an actual crime of data theft from the NSA?
Another lady stole data from the NSA. SHe is now facing prosecution and 10 years.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/west-virginia-woman-admits-wi...
Re: Time to Pardon Edward Snowden?
#64If Assange isn't being pardoned for the nonsensical "crime" of exposing war crimes by the US Government, there is no chance that Snowden will be pardoned. Snowden willingly stole state secrets whereas Assange only published. Still, when you consider that Snowden is living in Russia, essentially free, and Assange is in a 3.5x2m cell, I don't think Snowden has anything to worry about, except that the royalties from his…
He sort of has his freedom, if you consider life within Putin's Russia containing freedom.
Re: Time to Pardon Edward Snowden?
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
And those of the rest of the world. Especially those of us in X eyes countries.
Hey may have defended the rights of people in the rest of the world, but only American citizens have rights protected by the US constitution.
Is that so? Could Congress pass a law establishing an official religion for permanent residents?
Re: Time to Pardon Edward Snowden?
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
It sounds like you're confusing Assange and Snowden.
Something about Snowden fleeing to Russia makes that confusion difficult to accept.
Why is it confusing that he would flee to somewhere where the US couldn’t easily extradite him, throw him in a “detention center,” give him an unfair trial, or assassinate him?
Re: Time to Pardon Edward Snowden?
#67the cia snitch deserves to get stitches. the nsa should never hire from the cia. the cia is the human resources department of america. they are boring and nosy people, but we keep making movies about them for some reason. they are dishonest unlike the nsa.
Re: Time to Pardon Edward Snowden?
#68The reason he will never be pardoned has nothing to do with if his leaks were merited or not merited (they clearly were as the activities of the govt were proven illegal). Its because then you green light a govt leaker in critical programs you open pandoras box for govt secrets spilling out and you can lose control. Keeping employees/contractors in fear that they will never stop chasing you is a good way to stop peop…
> Keeping employees/contractors in fear that they will never stop chasing you is a good way to stop people from doing this. This is contradicting to the idea of government existing for people and serving people. If government uses fear to reduce accountability, it needs to be changed.
It does contradict that idea, but that idea has long been a farce, so contradictions are not surprising.
Re: Time to Pardon Edward Snowden?
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
"it needs to be changed", as in, someone else should change it but not you (I am merely pointing out the paradox of inaction. Enacting change is a lot of work, so one must first decide to contribute actual work, then figure out what actual work needs to be done, then do the work and measure the result. Work = force * displacement and if nothing is displaced, no work has been achieved. Rosa Parks wanted change so she…
One of the best levers many of us have is public forums, so this commenter is doing something great - enforcing the idea that the government should be changed in thousands of readers' minds. Once an idea gets enough traction, it often can turn into actual change. You are only reenforcing the fatalism you seem to criticize.
You’re both right.
Colordrops is correct: comments matter because they help shape public opinion.
Dustingertz is also correct: governments & political parties have published processes for changing & enforcing policy. Citizens who read the docs & use those processes can achieve a lot.
Re: Time to Pardon Edward Snowden?
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hey may have defended the rights of people in the rest of the world, but only American citizens have rights protected by the US constitution.
Is that so? Could Congress pass a law establishing an official religion for permanent residents?
I don't know if residents have a special status. But the DOJ appears to claim that Congress could pass a law establishing religion for foreigners, demand other countries extradite all their citizens, and sentence them in the US for not following this law.