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Petition to Pardon Edward Snowden

petitions.whitehouse.gov

1–10 of 184 posts

Re: Petition to Pardon Edward Snowden

#2
It may as well read:

Sign here to admit you are treasonous terrorist-loving scum who should be under constant surveillance by the NSA for the protection of all fine, upstanding, compliant 'merican citizens.

Re: Petition to Pardon Edward Snowden

#4
post #2

It may as well read: Sign here to admit you are treasonous terrorist-loving scum who should be under constant surveillance by the NSA for the protection of all fine, upstanding, compliant 'merican citizens.

They apparently already think that about us, so why not put it on the line.

When we say "put your John Hancock" on it, there's a reason...

Re: Petition to Pardon Edward Snowden

#5
post #3

Isn't it a bit soon for this? We don't even know if he's released anything of substantial value. As I understand it Glenn Greenwald is retaining the "best" for later.

If his leak was not of particular value, then he is more deserving of punishment?

This would have a chilling effect on leaking, to say the least. Miscalculating the public's capacity to care should not increase your sentence.

Re: Petition to Pardon Edward Snowden

#8
post #5
post #3

Isn't it a bit soon for this? We don't even know if he's released anything of substantial value. As I understand it Glenn Greenwald is retaining the "best" for later.

If his leak was not of particular value, then he is more deserving of punishment? This would have a chilling effect on leaking, to say the least. Miscalculating the public's capacity to care should not increase your sentence.

You're right that there is a certain paradox in what I wrote.

"If he has leaked something of value to America and the world then he should not be punished. But if he has leaked nothing of value then there was no need for it to be secret, and he should not be punished!"

I dunno. At the very least it would be nice to have the evidence out in full before jumping to conclusions.

Re: Petition to Pardon Edward Snowden

#9
This seems like a bit much. Why not a petition not to prosecute him, or not to extradite him?

A blanket free-ride for any and all crimes just won't ever happen. What if he murdered several people along the way, let's say they weren't government employees or involved in PRISM at all, does that mean he should be pardoned for that? The language on this petition needs serious work to get real support, or to have a reasonable chance of being addressed.

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