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How to trap a whistleblower

salon.com

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Re: How to trap a whistleblower

#41

Post by jup »

pcunite wrote: post #5

Obama could have been special. The symbol, the icon for an America forgiven of its past and now authoring hope for future people of all races. Perhaps it was power that corrupted him or maybe it was his close advisors that stymied his original purer motives. I remember feeling so proud that we had a black President. I knew he was human, I know that skin color does not matter, but it was hard to not hope that given wh…

> For reasons he only knows, he choose to side with abuse.

Obama is a vain, stupid man who believes that he is the president of the United States. In reality he is manipulated by a small inner group of people who have the real power and who play him like a puppet. Do you really believe that a man of such limited capabilities can stage a successful campaign to become president? Obama is the biggest con ever played on the American people.

Re: How to trap a whistleblower

#42

Post by zzzeek »

crusso wrote: post #36
zzzeek wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the alternative was mccain/palin. In the primaries, Hillary was the alternative. Second time around it was Romney. None of these candidates would have had any substantive differences on these particular issues and on almost every other issue would have been far worse. Single issue voting is just as naive as believing rhetoric at face value. we absolutely need to protest Obama's actions in this area but as far as voti…

Of that entire group you just mentioned, the most divisive class warfare big government statist was Obama. At least if McCain had been elected then we would have had opposition party contention between the executive and legislative branches. At least with a Republican in office, the media would have been more likely to do its job by asking tougher questions and analyzing rather than fawning and adulating. Before all…

right, because when we had republicans like Bush/Cheney in office, everything went far better than they are now. Feel free to be a Republican just as I feel free to be a Democrat, but that's not really relevant to this issue. The majority of Obama's support on these issues comes from Republicans.

Re: How to trap a whistleblower

#43

Post by snowden »

graycat wrote: post #31

My guess is that much of Obama's political strategy is mostly just to pretend. So, there he sees a public issue and says something, just something, just says it, to defuse the issue and, then, counts on (1) the mainstream media not getting into the details of what is wrong with the fantasy statement, (2) the voters being busy with other things, and (3) soon something else in the headlines. Except for the fantasy stat…

Unfortunately for the American people, more people will have seen Obama make his remarks on Leno than those who read the Salon article. Getting your news from clowns is dangerous to our liberties.

Re: How to trap a whistleblower

#44

Post by a3n »

lazyjones wrote: post #39
toble wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Misled is a political euphemism for lied. Politics is full of that sort of indirect language.

> Politics is full of that sort of indirect language. Politics may be full of that sort of language, but why are media? This is not North Korea where journalists have to fear punishment for insulting the supreme leader. Or is it?

> Politics may be full of that sort of language, but why are media?

Because they're not an opposing force in a war, they're dance partners.

Re: How to trap a whistleblower

#45

Post by a3n »

danenania wrote: post #9
pcunite wrote: post #5

Obama could have been special. The symbol, the icon for an America forgiven of its past and now authoring hope for future people of all races. Perhaps it was power that corrupted him or maybe it was his close advisors that stymied his original purer motives. I remember feeling so proud that we had a black President. I knew he was human, I know that skin color does not matter, but it was hard to not hope that given wh…

Another explanation that I sadly believe to be much more realistic is that Obama never had pure motives. He was just playing the game (as any candidate must to win the support of either establishment party), and he took many millions of hopeful people along for the ride. It's important for people who believed in Obama's rhetoric to stop making excuses and realize that they were conned. Fool me once, shame on you...

Yes. He had one motive, to get elected. He said whatever would convince money to contribute, and he said whatever would convince people to vote. And none of it meant a thing.

This is true for all politicians. Even the one you think is yours.

There will be no Messiah.

Re: How to trap a whistleblower

#46

Post by SteveGerencser »

lazyjones wrote: post #39
toble wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Misled is a political euphemism for lied. Politics is full of that sort of indirect language.

> Politics is full of that sort of indirect language. Politics may be full of that sort of language, but why are media? This is not North Korea where journalists have to fear punishment for insulting the supreme leader. Or is it?

This may not be entirely true if people like Sen Feinstein have their way - https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/08/why-sen-feinstein-wron...

By changing the definition, or narrowly defining it, they can exclude all of the great new forms a journalism from the protections that 'journalists' provide. The next step would be a government license for 'approved' journalists.

Re: How to trap a whistleblower

#47

Post by dalek_cannes »

twoodfin wrote: post #4
dalek_cannes wrote: post #2

And that's the answer to everyone refusing to call Snowden a whistle blower because he left the country rather than face the legal consequences. The consequences involved were anything but legal.

What non-legal consequences did the counterexamples in this article face? I'm not sure what you mean.

I did not phrase that properly. I meant: technically in the law books and interpreted as such, but violates the spirit of the law and is unconstitutional. At the risk of beating a dead and buried horse, consider the legal definition of "torture".

I doubt he would have had assassins on his trail, but he would have been put through the legal system the same way Manning was.

Also consider the court of public opinion -- there's enough of an uninformed mass who think this is a scumbag who gave American secrets to China and Russia that an administration can bend the laws quite a bit and get away with it.

Re: How to trap a whistleblower

#48

Post by dalek_cannes »

johnchristopher wrote: post #28
snowden wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does reduce the faith in the hope and change that was promised by our president. After all he does not walk the talk. He is the do as I say president not as I do. After all he does send his children to private school while preaching the virtues of public education. He is no different than any other politician in that regard, a hypocrite. Past performance or lack there of is an indicator of future performance. Obam…

I am not defending Obama and I am not saying he's going to change.

I never thought I'd see the day when I'll see a sentence with both "Obama" and "change" in it with a "not" in between.

Re: How to trap a whistleblower

#49

Post by mcphilip »

graycat wrote: post #31

My guess is that much of Obama's political strategy is mostly just to pretend. So, there he sees a public issue and says something, just something, just says it, to defuse the issue and, then, counts on (1) the mainstream media not getting into the details of what is wrong with the fantasy statement, (2) the voters being busy with other things, and (3) soon something else in the headlines. Except for the fantasy stat…

I agree with your assessment of Obama essentially kicking the can down the road via placating sound bites ready for consumption by the masses. However, I'm curious what would lead one to expect any other response from a politician. Are there any examples where an empower has been told he has no clothes and then the emporer agrees and takes corrective actions?

Unfortunately, I suspect the average American prefers a leader who always gives confident, reassuring statements in response to any crisis. It helps reinforce the illusion that intelligent, honest, and benevolent actors are leading the nation in a healthy direction.

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