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Petition to pardon Edward Snowden reaches 100,000 signatures

petitions.whitehouse.gov

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Re: Petition to pardon Edward Snowden reaches 100,000 signatures

#61

Post by lignuist »

rantanplan wrote: post #51
lignuist wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You really think that he's pulling the strings? I have absolutely no idea. How could I, if everything is kept in secret? What I can do, is asking Obama, if he likes what he is doing. If his daughters like what he is doing. If he still believes in "change". If he wants to appear in history books in a row with Bush jr., McCarthy and Soviet leaders. I don't expect answers from Obama, but I can say, that I would not li…

You said it all in your last sentence. You could not ever be him. You're a normal human being. Presidents, regardless of country of origin, don't have that prerequisite. Actually it's a bonus point if they don't have it. The history books will find a way to portray him in a good light. As history books have taught us.

Of course he is a normal human being. He might live an extreme life, but this does not make him an exemplar of a different species.

History books tend to be very diverse, depending on where they come from, but they also tend to align more and more as centuries are passing by.

Re: Petition to pardon Edward Snowden reaches 100,000 signatures

#62

Post by pvnick »

rantanplan wrote: post #22
lignuist wrote: post #16

Mr. Obama, stop the madness now! You once have been a civil rights activist and you have been awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. Doesn't it make you feel uncomfortable, to have switched the camp in just a few years? There is nothing wrong with becoming a nice guy again.

You really think that he's pulling the strings? That it's his call?

At the very least he could make a speech such as the following: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhZk8ronces

Re: Petition to pardon Edward Snowden reaches 100,000 signatures

#63

Post by XorNot »

SCAQTony wrote: post #56
kdkdkdkdkdkdk wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go ahead and create another petition that asks for Edward Snowden not to be pardoned and to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and I bet that it hardly gets any signatures. Edit: This is a response to several of the replies. I'm assuming of course that nobody within the government would game the petition system. If we've gotten to the point were they would impersonate people in a petition to the white house…

The NSA, CIA and FBI would game that petition. I think the phrase is "Manufactured Consent."

And people who've already written their own narrative wouldn't care if it was real.

Re: Petition to pardon Edward Snowden reaches 100,000 signatures

#64

Post by soundgecko »

freyrs3 wrote: post #7

Expect a response pretty much like this: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/why-we-cant-commen...

Its sad that it took so long spite of being all over HN, Reddit, /. Etc.

Shows that the tech community is not as big as we think and/or is apathetic to even filling a form, forget about peaceful marches. This is why politicians don't care and don't need to care about things that are important to only the tech crowd.

The numbers are just not there. There are lots of posts, tens of thousands of comments, even more up votes, but when the rubber meets the road, there is nothing. And the people with lots of money in the tech field don't care to part some for social change or to form PAC. We have no one else to blame for this but ourselves for things like the Aarons case and the state of affairs. Politicians have zero reasons to care one bit when a simple online petition can't make 100k votes all over the US in 2 weeks of non stop and over the top coverage in tech circles and going viral.

Re: Petition to pardon Edward Snowden reaches 100,000 signatures

#66

Post by maratd »

austenallred wrote: post #33
meowface wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure he does realize it already, as does the DoJ and NSA. It doesn't matter to them. If you leak Top Secret material it better be something as damning as the assassination of a politician or anything along those lines, else you won't be shown any mercy by the government. It's really just a matter of "50 years, or life without parole" at this point.

Exactly. Which is why the petition matters - it forces a response from the White House. (Obama promised to respond to each petition that reaches 100,000 signatures)

> it forces a response from the White House.

It doesn't force anything. They don't have to respond and they usually don't, when it's not convenient for them. It's just a user-created poll on their website.

Re: Petition to pardon Edward Snowden reaches 100,000 signatures

#67

Post by ashleyblackmore »

austenallred wrote: post #33
meowface wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure he does realize it already, as does the DoJ and NSA. It doesn't matter to them. If you leak Top Secret material it better be something as damning as the assassination of a politician or anything along those lines, else you won't be shown any mercy by the government. It's really just a matter of "50 years, or life without parole" at this point.

Exactly. Which is why the petition matters - it forces a response from the White House. (Obama promised to respond to each petition that reaches 100,000 signatures)

Obama promised a lot of things (and didn't act upon those promises)!

Re: Petition to pardon Edward Snowden reaches 100,000 signatures

#68

Post by melling »

austenallred wrote: post #21
freyrs3 wrote: post #7

Expect a response pretty much like this: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/why-we-cant-commen...

Yes, but honestly that's OK. It's a small step, but for the president to have to come out and say, "I recognize that a significant number of the American people support this man who is convicted of espionage, but..." is a pretty novel thing.

100,000 isn't a significant number of people. You are living in a HN echo chamber. I'm not sure most Americans care.

I'd love to know exactly what the NSA is doing. There needs to be some sort of oversight, of course, but they certainly have a job to do. I recently heard former President Clinton talk about it and he was somewhat convincing that there are certain restrictions.

At any rate, aren't we venturing into politics and opinions?

Re: Petition to pardon Edward Snowden reaches 100,000 signatures

#69

Post by cle »

soundgecko wrote: post #64
freyrs3 wrote: post #7

Expect a response pretty much like this: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/why-we-cant-commen...

Its sad that it took so long spite of being all over HN, Reddit, /. Etc. Shows that the tech community is not as big as we think and/or is apathetic to even filling a form, forget about peaceful marches. This is why politicians don't care and don't need to care about things that are important to only the tech crowd. The numbers are just not there. There are lots of posts, tens of thousands of comments, even more up v…

I wonder...how many people are not apathetic but scared to sign a petition like that?

Also I think many people aren't apathetic about the issue, they're apathetic about the White House's laughable petitioning system.

Re: Petition to pardon Edward Snowden reaches 100,000 signatures

#70

Post by austenallred »

bhauer wrote: post #46

I feel fairly silly hawking my own site whenever subjects like this come up, but here I go anyway. Feel free to tell me to shut up. :) I just simultaneously believe quite strongly in the idea of pairing calls for action with charitable donations. The donations make a clear and measurable message of the idea's importance. Plus, even if nothing happens, the charities benefit. So in any event, to get to the fireworks fa…

Well, I support the cause, but I don't $5 support the cause.
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