41–50 of 311 posts
Snowmen did two things: 1. Exposed the tools and techniques of domestic surveillance. 2. Exposed the tools and techniques of foreign surveillance. The idea of not prosecuting Snowden seems to focus on the commendable exposure of the full extent of the domestic program. I just don't see how one can ignore his exposure of the perfectly legal foreign intelligence gathering.
Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right.
Snowmen did two things: 1. Exposed the tools and techniques of domestic surveillance. 2. Exposed the tools and techniques of foreign surveillance. The idea of not prosecuting Snowden seems to focus on the commendable exposure of the full extent of the domestic program. I just don't see how one can ignore his exposure of the perfectly legal foreign intelligence gathering.
Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right.
I mean, in an ideal world we wouldn't have spies... But we also wouldn't have police or military.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
But the full quote would mitigate the raging hate-on the grandparent is sporting. Yes, the USA Freedom Act is limited. Yes, it doesn't change all the things we'd all like to see changed. "The perfect is the enemy of the good." It's at least movement in the right direction. Let's try celebrating that, instead of (or at least along with) bitching that it's not movement far enough .
And bad is brother of worse. Slogans are easy, what's hard is recognizing the difference between political theater and meaningful change. America is tumbling into the abyss of tyranny and people celebrate.
I'm saying, "Ooh, look: teeny, tiny step back from the level of tyranny we had yesterday. Nice!" I would hope anyone who hates tyranny would see merit in that.
Now, yes, if that's all we get, then being pissed and — more importantly, doing something about it — is warranted. But I choose to look at this as a first step, while you and others appear to regard it as appeasement and a pat on the head.
Not much I can do for you there.
If he were to come back to the USA and then subsequently be detained, I would join the hopefully overwhelming protests in favor of his release. I am hoping if such a time comes, that there will be a historic level of demonstration advocating for his freedom.
Perhaps a minority opinion, but I believe the NSA vastly overstepped and that they need to be reined in (much further than what the USA Freedom Act contains)... but also that Snowden probably should face charges. Snowden is charged with "willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person," which -- I think sensibly -- is illegal even if the unauthorized person is a r…
You should know that he would be legally barred from doing so under an Espionage Act prosecution.
https://freedom.press/blog/2013/12/if-snowden-returned-us-tr...
https://freedom.press/blog/2014/01/sen-schumer-wrong-snowden...
It is infuriating to see SO many articles, even from publications that can usually be trusted, referring to this legislation as "commendable" or "significant reform". It is far from it, and we can't expect the couch-dwellers to pay attention while the dying gasps of the 4th estate trumpet this kind of non-change.
And let's assume for a second that they did introduce actual reform. All that would happen is that they would go back to pre-9/11 spying on Americans. Let me explain how that worked... So pre-9/11 the NSA wasn't allowed to spy on Americans (in most cases), so instead they paid the UK's GCHQ to spy on Americans for them and then relayed the intelligence to the NSA for analysis. This was and still is a perfectly legal…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/11/04...
Was he hired to secure them, but then stole them?
Isn't this treason?
Let him come back. If there is enough evidence against him, then he can stand trial.
If he is innocent; then the government won't be able to prove a case against him.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I would join the hopefully overwhelming protests in favor of his release. All 12 of us would be fired up! More seriously, did you see the bit on John Oliver about Snowden? The majority of the US population have no idea who Snowden is. Be careful not to get caught up in our tech news bubble.
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If he were to come back to the USA and then subsequently be detained, I would join the hopefully overwhelming protests in favor of his release. I am hoping if such a time comes, that there will be a historic level of demonstration advocating for his freedom.
>I would join the hopefully overwhelming protests in favor of his release. All 12 of us would be fired up! More seriously, did you see the bit on John Oliver about Snowden? The majority of the US population have no idea who Snowden is. Be careful not to get caught up in our tech news bubble.