211–220 of 349 posts
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.
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>8-year-old girls shouldn't be assassinated, but in the scope of things, that's not a reason to get rid of an entire agency. Really? That seems exactly like the kind of thing that should get an agency canned, especially because its not an aberration. In fact, I'd say virtually any other agency that did so would be canned in short order. Why doesn't the CIA have to play by the same rules as everyone else? Especially w…
Fun fact, your life has a monetary value. So does an 8-year old child. So does each and every body part. This is how insurance companies work. If your child is killed, even in the most horrifically tragic of circumstances, you might think you're morally entitled to everything the killers have and more, but under any civilized legal system in the world, you aren't. You might get a few hundred-thousand dollars, maybe e…
We say: Hey, the police are killing us, could you please stop that. No, we need to be tough on crime. It's just too bad that some people die, but I need to feel secure. We say: Hey, the police are still killing us, could you please stop that. It looks like we need to reboot the justice system. No, we need to be tough on crime. Why do you want the crime rate to go up? We say: Hey, the police are still killing us, we n…
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Oh, the irony is delicious, you delusional fascist.
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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?
I do generally trust Snowden, but I can't deny that Russia would likely do everything they could to leverage the information he has against the US. Has he given them NatSec secrets in return for asylum? Unlikely I think, but possible.
IMO, Russia is just keeping Snowden around as a general anti-US voice in the global conversation to air credible dirty laundry of their biggest rival. As an honest patriot, I welcome the tough criticism and aspire to fix the problems he highlights. But it's a fair concern that some of that is potentially embellished or selectively censored for Russian propoganda purposes.
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That wasn’t just a photo — and it was intentional. US markets had the red backdrop dictator scene, while international markets had a blue-and-red shot. The Biden PR team intentionally broadcast a dictator speech, while broadcasting a different look internationally — an act meant to provoke and intimidate political rivals. Edit: I’m not sure your point? The speech following that brief crowd segment is the red with mar…
Stop being a joker, what you're saying isn't true. CSPAN's coverage is right on YouTube and anyone can look it up and make you look like a fool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JemWkV2Vcic&t=967s
Did any American read this without alarm? If so, why not?
The CIA being a nasty organization that does nasty things has been well-known for decades. What makes (most) Americans tolerate this is the same reason anyone tolerates such nasty things -- they're being done to other people. Drone strikes in particular have been discussed since the Obama administration. It's not okay, but as Snowden himself points out, it is normal. What did alarm me was Snowden mischaracterizing Bi…
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.
In his situation, it's not like he's free to write and publish anything he wants.
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Yes, he was wrong, can happen. It’s also unrelated to his claims about US agencies and US democracy. Why must he be a saint? He did more than most will do their entire lives already.
Personally, the only people I believe are those who are always right. For instance, Kernighan and Ritchie talk about the 'register' keyword in C. All very well, but I heard that one day Brian Kernighan said he'd brew a pot of coffee and just forgot. I'm not sure I can trust him so I never use that keyword. Too risky. Maybe if they would annotate who did which section. I bet Ritchie would never have done this.
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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…
Assange has been a Russian asset for a long time. Snowden is a spokesman for Putin now. What a coincidence.