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U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

washingtonpost.com

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Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#171
post #106
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think putting pressure on the government to fire the prosecutor who filed the petition is likely to work. A poll earlier this week found that the majority of Americans want Snowden charged and disapprove of what he has done. You need to start with petitioning your fellow Americans.

Majority is not how criminal issues are decided, so that's not an appropriate bar for public opinion. For example (similar, but exactly the same angle), a conviction requires a unanimous vote, not a majority vote.

I was replying to someone who wanted to pressure the administration into firing a prosecutor for prosecuting Snowden. It seems unlikely that they will be swayed when the majority of Americans want Snowden prosecuted.

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#172

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…

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Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#173
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going to NSA IG or the PSCI's in Congress are protected (the whole point of NSA IG is internal malfeasance, it's not just for stealing cafeteria trays...). The problem is that route of reporting may be ineffective, and once you start, you'll lose all future access, come under suspicion, and may actually still be charged (the whistleblower stuff helps more with not getting convicted). I was originally thinking "he sho…

"Going to NSA IG or the PSCI's in Congress are protected" Protected and utterly pointless . Congress already knew what was happening. The NSA's IG is not an unbiased observer . Unfortunately, the official channels are broken here. You have members of Congress talking about how these revelations are just the tip of the iceberg . That means that they know more , that they know details that will shock people, and that t…

Not everyone in Congress knows everything; nor do all federal judges.

I agree the NSA IG and PSCI's are essentially insiders, but "deal with this or I will go public" would give the minority members some cover.

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#174

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.

Reddit is planning on doing some 4th of July protesting:

http://www.reddit.com/r/restorethefourth

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#175
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But he didn't do that. Are you a whistleblower if what you reveal isn't illegal?

It would be (relatively) trivial for congress to decide to make it so that "rounding up every red haired and freckled person and putting them in a concentration camp" would be legal. The question isn't legality, per se - it's whether we believe that it follows the values and principles that we want our country to have.

.. and it's not like it hasn't been done before, to Japanese Americans in WWII.

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#176
More and more over the past several years, I've wondered what has become of this country. I mean, in my 39 years of life in the U.S., I don't think there was ever a time where I thought, this country has gone to the pits. And, not only is it the the government, it's the U.S. Citizens. These people are placated to the point that if you don't take away their celebrities and entertainment, you could literally shit on their mothers and they probably would just take it.

Pretty disturbing times we're living in.

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#179

Let's assume this charge is legal and correct for a moment. Why aren't the newspapers (guardian and the post?) and their writers/editors also being charged? Why aren't the newspapers having their paypal and all their bank accounts frozen? We live in very scary times as far as I'm concerned. The US is prosecuting its own citizens for standing up and saying "what you're doing to the rest of the world is not OK". But if…

Snowden presumably signed some contract or took some oath when he got his clearance, which he violated when he leaked info. The newspapers never made such promises. I don't think Snowden should be punished, but I can see why there might be a distinction with respect to prosecution.

Re: U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage

#180
I hope Hongkong will be protecting him, or he can live in Iceland peacefully afterwards. He is doing that for all of us ordinary people in my opinion. This is also extremely embarrassing for US gov and the president, who were blaming Chinese for network attacks and acting as the innocent victim. I now doubt the integrity of our leaders, they're simply liars in this regard, how can I trust them in the future for whatever they're going to say.
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