201–210 of 349 posts
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No — the US feeds of the speech all had the tight red framing, while international ones did not. That photo is the same framing as his speech broadcast on US networks. Such a market split indicates the framing was intentionally authoritarian and meant to provoke/intimidate political rivals.
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Has everyone on Hacker News lost their minds? I come here to read and sometimes participate in rational discussions. These comments are some of the lowest effort, least rigorous, paranoid bullshit I’ve ever seen on this site. We’re a step above Facebook comments on NPR articles, here. Partisanship, viciousness and lazy conspiracy theories are not a good look for this site.
Or perhaps we don't need HN exceptionalism? Intelligence isn't translated universally onto all subject matters. Just because someone is good at writing code doesn't make them well-suited to understand any non-programming topics to have a well-informed or rational discussion about it. There's no reason why HN should have a higher quality discussion on these subjects than some generic subreddit or FB comment sections.…
He has no special insight into any other aspect of existence.
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'Alarm' is not really the right word; the CIA and its lack of accountability is a problem, but it's not a new problem or a particularly recently-worsening problem. It's one of the bad things about America that needs to be fixed, but Snowden does not provide any new information here. And honestly, while I agree with the gist of what he's saying here, I tend to view his more recent stuff with a bit of a suspicious eye;…
Kind of convenient that Snowden has been pushed into that corner, isn't it?
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??? Killing is one of the CIA's sanctioned duties, so it's a bit different to compare the CIA killing a child to the EPA killing a child. But nonetheless, no, we wouldn't shut down the whole EPA, fire everybody, delete all the databases, and cancel worrying about pollution if the EPA killed a child. I know this is an emotional topic, but imo overreacting proposals actually make less progress toward a concrete improve…
> Killing is one of the CIA's sanctioned duties, so it's a bit different to compare the CIA killing a child to the EPA killing a child. I don't think this is true. Executive Order 12333 states: > No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination. They then go on to note that it was "re-interpreted" to not apply to counterterrorism. Under…
So no, the EPA cannot kill anyone as the law only allows the military to engage in offensive operations. (USC Title 10)
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He's holed up in Russia because the United States stranded him there. He was in Hong Kong for the original reporting. When his identity was revealed the United States charged him under the Espionage Act, & revoked his passport. He was flying to Argentina through countries that didn't have extradition agreements with the United States. When he got off in Russia, his passport was confiscated as it was no-longer valid &…
You're missing a rather interesting step in his adventures: staying at the RU Consulate for several days in Hong Kong. And then he ends up "stuck" in Moscow. Surely a coincidence. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/report-snowden-stayed-a...
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Is it hypocritical? No. Inconsistent? (This is the difference between an act of commission and an lie of omission) Yes, but potentially only temporary. Would Snowden speak out against Russia if the US dropped charges and let him come home? Who can say?
> if the US dropped charges Well, I guess he's just trapped by the practical problems created by his peculiar combination of personal morality and cowardice. If you claim whistle-blowing is justified by the exposed crimes and then run, whoever owns wherever you end up now owns you. If they happen to be worse... eh, you made your choice, now live with it. He made his choice.
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>I’d be surprised to hear that these people even contradict their boss Has Snowden talked about Putin's war on Ukraine yet?
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CIA is bad says FSB spokesman. If you think that's unfair, I invite you to scroll through his Twitter account right before Feb 24th.
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Yes, the amount of hate for Snowden and Assange is dismaying. These men sacrificed their lives to expose the crimes of one of - if not the most -powerful organizations on Earth. And people nitpick that they’re not criticizing the other most powerful entities too. Basically they’re criticizing them for not committing suicide in the name of a people which were impotent of unwilling to do anything with the revelations p…
Hate, or just pointing out that these people, while I think they did the right thing (and they probably did too), certainly did not act in the best interests of the US? That is a motivation I'm sure they carry after being chased around the world for a decade or two.
So many people comment about how Snowden can't say things like this because he is in Russia. I wonder: how does it invalidate the facts? He links to Wikipedia. Maybe you don't want to believe Snowden, him being a traitor. Don't you believe Wikipedia? I don't see how Snowdens identity is even relevant to the subject.
It doesn't. His loyalty is unbounded. His honor, however, is open to interpretation.