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U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

washingtonpost.com

71–80 of 363 posts

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#71

I think we have to march on this one and be loud. For San Francisco, we should show up in force somewhere - is Tuesday too soon to plan something - say show up in force at Union Square at 8pm?

What about on the 4th? Not ridiculously soon, but seems appropriate, gives us a little time to plan something, and this case isn't moving at a breakneck speed anyway.

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#72
> The anti-secrecy group Wikileaks has held some discussions ...

What is an anti-secrecy group? It sound like something out of Discworld series, where a group is tired of being discovered changed the door sign from "secret group" to "not-secret group". In the world of Discworld, it would likely work too.

Is it so hard to write a group behind the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, or the more correct term: A group that runs a publishing website for whistleblowers called WikiLeaks?

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#73
post #60
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually don't think charging him is inherently bad. If he in fact took 4 government property laptops with him, that's a crime, at the very least. Ideally, pre-trial investigation and a trial would be fair way to find facts. It's entirely possible minor crimes (violating classified NDA, taking laptops, etc.) would be non-conviction based on other information, but on its face, I don't really have a problem with init…

[deleted]

> Someone needs to be charged with a crime before a pardon can occur.

Incorrect, see Gerald Ford's preemptive pardon of Richard Nixon in 1974.

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#74

So now is the time to identify the federal prosecutors who filed this and petition the government to have them fired. In addition, of course, to asking for a complete pardon for Snowden. It also should be noted that any of the Congressional investigations into this mess are perfectly capable of giving Snowden a grant of immunity from prosecution. People ask what to do. There are at least two avenues open to nip this…

These are political charges, and as the governed we should stand up to the people who are supposed to be working for us and demand that they be dropped. Immediately.

Did or did not Edward Snowden leak classified material to the press?

Does or does not the government have a duty to attempt to prosecute him?

You make it sound like he didn't actually break any laws, when he actually did break a couple. Whether the charges brought can be proven remains to be seen, but let's not assume this is a sham and a kangaroo court because you consider what Snowden did to be heroic. It may have been, but that still doesn't make it legal.

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#75
post #11

It looks like this charge can carry the death penalty because it involves "communications intelligence". From http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/794 : "(a) Whoever, with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation, communicates, delivers, or transmits, or attempts to communicate, deliver, or transmit, to any foreign government, or…

If they didn't give Robert Hanssen the death penalty, I highly doubt Snowden is going to get it

The federal government pursued the death penalty against Brian Patrick Regan in 2003. The jury decided against the punishment, however, and is now serving a life sentence without parole.

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#76
"The same night two prominent Kadet leaders, Professor F. Kokoshkin, and Dr. A. Shingarev, were murdered in a hospital by a group of Bolshevik sailors. When Lenin heard of the ensuing protest meetings held by the Social Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, he said cynically: 'Let them protest, let them bubble over with rage, let them rave some, sigh some, drink a lot of tea and talk until dawn; then they will surely soon fall asleep.'" - A history of Soviet Russia, George Von Rauch, Fifth Revised Edition, 1967

I can't help but think of that every time I read one of these threads. Especially when people ask for things like the dismissal of the prosecutors, in complete disregard that this agenda comes straight from the White House.

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#78
post #26

I have a feeling we're never going to see the rest of the data Greenwald supposedly has.

Edward Snowden recently said on a live Q&A that:

"All I can say right now is the US government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/18/edward-snowden-l...

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#79
post #63

Why is he being charged in the Eastern District of Virginia when the alleged crime was perpetrated in Hawaii? Shouldn't any prosecution be under the original jurisdiction of the District of Hawaii/9th Circuit? Amendment VI In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed[...]

From the article: The complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, a jurisdiction where Snowden’s former employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered and a district with a long track record of prosecuting cases with national security implications.

Yes, I read that part. But the Sixth amendment says nothing about where the defendant's employer is headquartered or the convenience of the prosecutors, judges, etc.

To me, the choice of Virginia as the original jurisdiction is clearly unconstitutional.

Also, Rule 18 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure states:

    Unless a statute or these rules permit otherwise, the government must 
    prosecute an offense in a district where the offense was committed.

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#80
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they didn't give Robert Hanssen the death penalty, I highly doubt Snowden is going to get it

The federal government pursued the death penalty against Brian Patrick Regan in 2003. The jury decided against the punishment, however, and is now serving a life sentence without parole.

Him or the Jury?
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