Slashdot Mirror
US Charges Edward Snowden With Espionage
cold fjord writes "Further developments in the controversy engulfing Edward Snowden and the NSA. From the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors have filed a sealed criminal complaint against Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked a trove of documents about top-secret surveillance programs, and the United States has asked Hong Kong to detain him on a provisional arrest warrant,... Snowden was charged with espionage, theft and conversion of government property ... The complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, a jurisdiction where Snowden's former employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered, and a district with a long track record in prosecuting cases with national security implications...it is thought that he is still in the Chinese territory. Hong Kong has its own legislative and legal systems but ultimately answers to Beijing, under the so-called "one country, two systems" arrangement. The leaks have sparked national and international debates about the secret powers of the NSA to infringe on the privacy of both Americans and foreigners. Officials from President Obama down have said they welcomed the opportunity to explain the importance of the programs, and the safeguards they say are built into them. Skeptics, including some in Congress, have said the NSA has assumed power to soak up data about Americans that were never intended under the law."""
To know that's what was going to happen.
I thought that only those with something to hide needed privacy?
With the trial of Private Manning underway, and Snowden now indicted, it looks like it will be a summer full of heated discussion.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
We were no expecting USA to hail him as a hero obviously. It is hilarious though how he exposed Obama's lies today about the NSA not being capable of spying on citizens though.
I hope if in this country Zimmerman can get a public and (hopefully) fair trial, then Snowden should as well.
The reason prosecutors charged him with espionage is because its a much easier case to make, but this realy is a textbook case of treason. Just look at the damn US Constitution
"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." If Snowden hasn't committed treason using this definition, I don't know what is then.
We knew this was going to happen, since I don't think they could have done otherwise. The question is what the punishment is likely to be and how is the public going to react to the sentence given?
Legally what Snowden did was wrong, but from time to time the government needs its dirty laundry aired, so that is can be kept accountable. The matter is not a question of whether the government needed to do what it did, but whether it was in line with what the constitution permits. By having a general idea of the actions of the government, we can at least have a healthy debate to know whether they are approaching things in the right way. Knowing the details of each case is not needed, on the condition someone is holding the watchers accountable.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
What, no computer fraud? I wonder how the prosecutor missed that - he could have accused him of HACKING and CYBERTERRORISM!!!!11111!
FYI, the petition to pardon Snowden is just a few thousand short of the 100,000 mark as of midday on Friday. There is still time to sign. Probably a waste of time, but it might be worth it. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-snowden/Dp03vGYD
I was going to politely ask the feds to get the fuck off my lawn but it seems they have already bugged it.
What bull shit, they agreed to it and have done so every year since 2001.
Typical politicking now, trying to distance themselves from any controversy so they get re-elected. They should be the ones charged and throw in front of a firing squad.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Just in case you weren't aware, there is a White House petition to pardon Snowden that is almost at the 100K signature threshold:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-snowden/Dp03vGYD
Obama has openly admitting to planning to arm Al-Queda associated rebels in Syria. That is the DEFINITION of treason. Edward Snowden has not given anyone weapons. He has merely aired Obama's dirty laundry. If this country was run by the people rather than a bunch of plutocrats, Obama, Bush, Cheney, et. al would be on trial for crimes against humanity.
How people voted for this guy is beyond me. I knew Obama was a liar from day one. Democrats and republicans work for the same causes and the same people; any perceived differences are merely staged for the benefit of the American voters and never go deeper than the surface. It is classic divide and conquer and the end result is that this country is effectively run by a two-party dictatorship that stays in power by manipulating and rigging the elections to exclude competition and creating staged conflicts on trivial issues like gay marriage (which *IS* a trivial issue compared to the fact that this country is descending into a police state). When it comes to the things that matter, both parties act in lockstep and it is NOT to the benefit of the American people or to the cause of freedom. The only people the Republicrat party answers to is their corporate masters.
In the empire of lies, truth is treason.
-Ron Paul
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
With the trial of Private Manning underway, and Snowden now indicted, it looks like it will be a summer full of heated discussion.
Here is a discussion topic that seems to be somewhat overlooked at the moment.
Why did a low ranking army private like Manning have access to the high level info that he leaked? Why did a low level private contractor like Snowden have access to the high level info that he leaked? Sure an army private or low level contractor may need access to some secret info to do their jobs but both seem to have had access to or knowledge of way too much.
Report a crime, go to jail.
"The entire world charges US Government with espionage". Is time to UN and world organizations to show that have pants and stop being US government/corporations puppets. Or just everyone stop pretending, nothing of this have anything to do with justice, is just a wrong sign put on top of things that had nothing to do with that word.
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2773253&cid=39629001 ..."
"To start with the bottom line: the very computers that make the new NSA facilities possible mean that the NSA's formal purpose is essentially soon to be at an end. Nothing you or I say here will reverse that trend. The only issue is how soon the NSA as a whole recognizes that fact, and then how people there choose to deal with that reality.
A further elaboration on that theme:
http://www.pdfernhout.net/on-dealing-with-social-hurricanes.html
The increase in global spying is only one technology-driven trend of many going on right now. Other ones have all sorts of implications. That is why we need better open source tools to help figure things out and make better decisions about what health is and how to shape healthy behavior with (as Lawrence Lessig said in Code 2.0) rules, norms, prices and architecture.
http://pcast.ideascale.com/a/dtd/The-need-for-FOSS-intelligence-tools-for-sensemaking-etc./76207-8319
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
They are going for the big stuff and things that let the bypass some rights and parts of the courts system.
He should gladly take the bullet for treason, then have a medal pinned on his chest for both dying for his country and outing the individuals involved. Who in turn should recieve the same punishment sans the medal.
But we all know that isn't going to happen.
cute: Captcha was 'sainted'. Rather fitting for one dying for a cause.
Somebody is secretly suspected
of breaking a secret law,
conceived in secret
by persons whose identities are largely kept secret.
Brought into law by a secret court,
comprising secret judges and secret attorneys,
the secret law
is now secretly applied
and a secret decision is made
to add a name to a secret list,
by a secret committee
- based on secret information
gathered by secret organisations
using secret rooms inside large corporations
with secret personnel and secret rooms full of equipment
while the boss says it's been secret from their 20,000 minions -
- or perhaps the secretly obtained information,
from secret informants,
secretly kidnapped
by secret agents
to be secretly tortured
in more secret locations
then secretly dumped back into civilisation -
to secretly send
a machine designed to fly in secret
operated by a secret young thug
who remains safely secreted away
and they secretly kill
a person who's identity is kept secret by pixels
for knowing that they are not killing in secret makes them
depressed and cry secretly to mum
When questioned, they just shrug and say: “Sorry, it's a secret”
or say it never happened, and if it did “Wow! This was a secret!”
then try to tell you their non existing secrets
that they never secretly had, (or maybe just a little on a Sunday afternoon)
foiled secret master plans
often created by their own secret clans
or secretly convene to create obvious lies
handily written by secret advisers
and secretly screened by secret psychologists
the secretive coward screams “I'm an apologist!”
“It's all necessarily secret, though I know not what nor why”
“Maybe I'm secretly payed to spew bile”
“Or perhaps I secretly posted to the world: I'm a hypocritical idiot!”
My nickname gives secrecy to post:
“I've no secrets to hide, see? So, you shouldn't have any of those”
“You who harbour secrets should be exposed,
Or it's obvious you've secretly done something wrong”
All for secret reasons
whose very existence is kept secret
for yet more reasons that must be kept secret
by politicians who claim to have secret relations with gods
willing to kill, maim or imprison the exposers of secrets
using secret juries
to secretly convict
with yet more invented secret accusations
that are kept secret from the accused within the courts!
And when the keepers of secrets have been proven to be liars
they say they'll secretly give a stern telling-off
to someone sworn to secrecy
by someone sworn to secrecy
in yet another secret location
and swear now they'll be good with the secrets, because of the laws they'll create
to stop themselves acting improperly in secret
Apparently, this is a reasonable level of transparency and judicial oversight in the year 2013.
He'll live out the rest of his days in relative comfort and obscurity in a more enlightened corner of the world. Iceland already said they'd take him.
If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
Does it make a sound?
Officials from President Obama down can all suck my dick
Regardless of whether you agree with his motives or not, I still think it's an idiot.
1) He told us something that everyone who cares already knows
2) Absolutely no important change will come as a result of his disclosure, except for perhaps the police state getting worse than it already is.
Essentially, he threw his entire life away for absolutely no reason. It's hard to get much more moronic than that.
Don't be such a pessimist. Although this isn't the first such incident, it hits closer to home than most and people are getting fed up. There is such a thing as a boiling point.
This nation was founded by people who were willing to throw their entire lives away for "no reason". Some of them were successful businessmen and leaders and had far more to lose than a low-level contractor. They did it because they had come to the conclusion that letting things slide was no longer tenable and enough was enough.
Edward Snowden charges the US Govt with espionage.
The American People? Are we the enemy?
Only if you consider American citizens enemies of the American government.
Well, if you look back at history all US governments have fallen because of American citizens. Is it any wonder they are worried about you? Votes are lethal weapons to a democratic government and they need to know that yours are pointing in the right direction.
to this traitor, right along with Manning and the rest of them
for the crimes it's committed?
The NSA is charging Snowden with spying?
I suppose " the logic of their position demanded it."
May the Maths Be with you!
I was waiting for a shoe to drop.
He revealed the illegal activity the NSA is up to. The NSA is not America. General Alexander is not America. Just look at the damn US Constitution.
Was Daniel Ellsberg a SPY when he published the Pentagon Papers?
Does 'spy' mean 'embarrassing to the government'?
And they're going to enforce it how? China's going to extradite him? Riiiiight...
The main problem is all this data will be misused. Sure they say it is for terrorism, crime, etc only. But just like everything else, corrupt people (politicians) will gain access and then abuse it for their own gain.
"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery..."
- Frank Zappa
He'll get exactly what he deserves. All of the political rhetoric, bigotry, hyperbole and fanaticism aside, Snowden knew what he did was going to have live altering serious repercussions. He's not a hero nor is he the anti-Christ, but he dang sure is going to be made to pay a high price for what he did and he gets no sympathy from me.
You are a sheep and an idiot and your kind is the real enemy in this discussion.
Do us all a favor and kill yourself.
The NSA intercepts all electronic data, storing it on computer systems that have the same design as Google's own computer facilities (the so-called shadow-Google installations found in all major Western nations), and mines this data with algorithms mostly derived from those used by Google.
The main purpose for this intelligence operation is two-fold:
1) to gather 'intelligence' on people in significant positions within society, allowing these individuals to be subject to coercion if and when such actions become useful (like getting 'support' for Obama's wars in Syria and Iran).
2) to read the 'mind' of the general population, so that the effectiveness of propaganda messages in the mainstream media can be tested, and the feedback used to improve the effectiveness of these messages, or give up and try a different tack.
Take the fact that the war-mongering depravity, Obama, is about to hand formal control of Afghanistan to the Taliban. Lots of lower ranking 'important' politicians think that America went into Afghanistan to 'defeat' Islamic extremists. Most of the dumb Yanks in the US think the same. Intelligence gathered by the NSA, as described above, allows Team Obama to manipulate both sets of problem people.
PS Pakistan = Taliban (the Taliban came from extremist Islamic school set up by the USA in Pakistan in anticipation of the proxy war against the USSR in Afghanistan back in the day). Iran = the people currently in the stooge government of Afghanistan working with America. Giving Afghanistan to the Taliban is preparation for Obama's massive strikes against Iran. The Taliban success will destroy moderate secular rule within Pakistan (a nuclear weapons owning nation, remember).
Obama needs the American turkeys to give an overwhelming vote for Xmas. Obama's people control all the mass media outlets, especially those owned by Tony Blair's personal propagandist, Rupert Murdoch. Every one of these outlets is going to be telling the American people how wonderful it is to have the Taliban win their ultimate victory. And you Yanks, being that thick, are going to cheer Obama simply because he is bringing the troops 'home'. Of course, by 'home', Obama means his new, vastly greater war in Iran.
I knew the usa was monitorying storing copying listening etc.. to the whole planet in 1990.
Whats new...
Take whats fact in 1950, and multiply it in 1000x.
Did you really think the usa wasnt monitoring anyone?
And btw, Russia has more spies in USA today than the cold war, so if your local IT shop or workplace has a russian working that claims to love USA, but owns a house and has money, and appears well off, then he most likely has a second pay check paid somewhere, and he picks up his cash via 'bogus ebay' sales or cash pick ups at the baths.
Yeah those Babushka dolls really arent worth $7900 on ebay.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
No; by voting for Obama, I was simply trying to make sure that Romney didn't become president.
It wasn't about believing Obama (though I can name you quite a few things he has done well on), it was about being no less than horrified that Romney might somehow get in and roofrack the whitehouse dog on his first day in office.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Domestic spying is the ultimate tool for coercion and of corruption and it is made possible by the blessing of the telcos. The remedy of all this spying will be "net neutrality". To prevent "net neutrality" telcos have made a deal with the devil.
Dude, spying on iraq before the war is different to spying on people in UK or Singapore, ok.
The USA isnt going to do a full invasion of the UK.
And no one cares if the USA spies like hell on iraq or iran etc...
But dont spy on top tier trading countries the same way.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
So who sold computers, punch cards, boots, oil, etc.. to Germany during and before ww2?
Even if it was via 3rd parties which shipped it to Germany.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
http://cryptome.org/2013/06/snowden-complaint.pdf
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
so shut the fuck up
I wanted to make a joke about the terrorists winning but I'm just not sure it's funny anymore.
Game On.
I think the 2014 & 2016 fate of our current congresspeople and senators is sealed if they don't stop and reverse this travesty.
That's step one sorted, next comes character defamation. Expect to see rape allegations and the like against Snowden in the coming weeks.
Also, why is this story not tagged "irony"?
If i were him, i'd appear before court via a video feed. If they actually say he committed a crime, he would simply need to say he was a whistle blower. Lets see them counter that.
you're right to take issue with this:
but you left out one glaring option that would have allowed him to keep his (IMHO fictional/hired) girlfriend and sweet Booze/Allen job and...AND write a bestseller and be on TV news spouting his opinions...
anonymous leak
too late now...his best bet is to prove he was being defrauded and manipulated to do this by criminals/chinese/illuminati...otherwise he should anticipate Federal Prison
why do people think he's going to get waterboarded at a black site like Kalid Shake Mohammed or w/e? There really is no reason to assume the current admin will do the worst of what the *previous* admin did...especially when the current admin has allowed so much to become public and eliminated torture practices...
Thank you Dave Raggett
They did, really? Then I suppose they're really grateful to Snowden for giving them that opportunity, and not angry at him at all.
But wait, if they welcomed that opportunity so much, then why didn't they tell us of the programs in the first place?
Conversion of government property - so he didn't just take the data, he took it to Hong Kong that uses metric, and converted it to kilograms and metres. The bastard! Makes it harder to put him six feet under!
I wondered if the Secret Court judges' identities are secret, but a couple of names popped up in my initial search, so apparently not. So, the opportunity is there to judge their integrity from their general histories in civil-rights cases. Are they protectors or not?
Re 1) He told us something that everyone who cares already knows
When commenters on the net would talk of using encryption would result in interest by the US gov - now confirmed.
When commenters on the net would talk of US software and hardware firms helping the NSA voluntary or under colour or letter of the US law - now confirmed.
When commenters on the net would talk of US international telcos helping the NSA voluntary or under colour or letter of the US law - now confirmed.
When commenters on the net would talk of US domestic telcos helping the NSA voluntary or under colour or letter of the US law - now confirmed.
When commenters on the net would talk of a flood of contractors been of much more importance within the NSA - now confirmed.
2) Absolutely no important change will come as a result of his disclosure, except for perhaps the police state getting worse than it already is.
The NSA will have to double up on staff doing routine admin work, hire in outside psychological testing for all staff. Long term the NSA will be filled with smart, patriotic individuals who can only obey orders. Less academic creativity will be a great loss to the USA. Self censorship will start to take a toll on any NSA projects. The NSA will fall in the the state of self doubt that filled the UK in the 1970-80s re internal staff trust issues
Re Essentially, he threw his entire life away for absolutely no reason.
He was a technical assistant for the CIA and the CIA knows how to play long term. A limited hangout over NSA issues most academics, CS, telco workers and protesters knew to be technical possible?
A list of US brands helping their gov. A list of domestic capabilities that expand from http://cryptome.org/jya/nsa-elint.htm August, 1972.
A lot is now confirmed by the US gov by having to make an example of this leak.
I wonder what the US gov could spun if they said its photoshopped and asked for the ID card back?
Recall how the Former British intelligence officer Katharine Gun (GCHQ Oriental languages/Mandarin translator) was treated after her “obtain results favorable to US goals” re UN/Iraq day in court?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Gun
Charges against her were dropped the day her trial opened at the Old Bailey. The UK had nothing confirmed in court.
As for the NSA terms like "Texas Cryptologic Center" re the former chip plant at San Antonio are now more public.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa
...instead of arresting the criminals, who were illegally spying on their own people, the Americans arrest the poor chap, who exposed this criminal wrongdoing.
America is in severe need of democratic reform. I am just so glad that I don't live there.
Spying on that many innocent people is an act of war on the innocent people.
The americas should be happy that he exposed this horror, so they can change their politics.
Same will be said about other countries when information about them is leaked.
Last thing: my friends don't spy on me.
Those who spy one me are terrorists.
Privacy is terrorism.
Leaking information isn't espionage.
Hell, intending to go in and take information to leak isn't espionage.
You need to be spying for that, and that requires you to be spying for someone.
This is, at most, spying for the US public.
And, since the vote was IIRC 53/47, that means 6% of the 53% remaining voted Obama and only they could be said to have voted because they "believed" "hope and change".
Man keeps the girl and keeps it up. Good for males. They get the young pretty girls.
Alot of people say young girls are nice.
.. because WRONG.
John Eadie [JE46] http://www.c-art.com `one of these days the dogs aren't going to eat the dog food' - Bill Joy
"I’m cold," Snowden said. "I’m cold."
"There, there," said Yossarian. "There, there," He pulled the rip cord of Snowden’s parachute and covered his body with the white nylon sheets.
"I’m cold."
"There, there."
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
Given what kind of data those guys get, maybe they used some of it to blackmail Nobel comitee to give "Peace" Prize to Obama?
Yes, extremely wild shot, but don't kid yourselves that such machinations aren't done. Power tripping is uncontrollable, from a street policeman up to the highest ranks.
Welcome to the land of free*
*) void where prohibited by law, or security agency.
Espionage is an over charging, clearly. You've committed espionage when you've divulged state secrets FOR ANOTHER COUNTRY. So even though Israel is a friendly nation, we still kick their spies out and or jail them.
http://definitions.uslegal.com/e/espionage/
But Snowden didn't release state secrets to and for a foreign country. He did it for Americans.
It's prosecutorial overreach and worse for the prosecution, is likely to be perceived as such by potential juries. I feel an acquittal on the espionage charge forthcoming, even in absentia.
So the question arises at least in my mind- is this a dog and pony show, with Snowden perhaps unwittingly playing the role of a dog?
Is the government using Snowden to leak this information and if so, why?
To acclimate citizens to this level of scrutiny? To see if we'll swallow it? Maybe.
Or is it a bid on the part of , possibly some subset of, the intelligence community to get the program revised and toned down because they're afraid of the corrupting power unlimited access to the most personal secrets of lawmakers and other power players could put into the hands of a Cheney or a set of true believers like the neocons?
It's not that far fetched. Consider that the neocons twice now have attempted, once successfully, to foment wars based on false intelligence they produced through Team B efforts, efforts which the intelligence community deeply resented and still resent especially since many Americans wrongly cite the CIA as the producer of faulty intelligence in the run up to the war in Iraq.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/military/news/2004/08/18/988/its-time-to-bench-team-b/
http://www.proudprimate.com/Placards/teamb-cahn.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_B
What this means is they're liars who will play WAY out of bounds to get their way, where WAY out of bounds includes LYING and DISTORTING intelligence and using intelligence to destroy domestic political opponents including exposing the identities of covert operators working for the CIA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame
see: Plamegate.
Historically, that didn't and can't now sit well with people at the CIA who consider accurate, unbiased intelligence assessments to be the crown jewel of nation's defense capability.
So is has the level of invasiveness which this program makes possible been gamed out somewhere at Langley, with one side playing the neocons and Cheney and using the techniques of deception, lying, distortion of information and targeting of dissenters through any means, legal or illegal, short (we think) of murder and the other side the CIA and other intelligence agencies upholding the letter and spirit of the law?
Perhaps such games revealed a gaping strategic disadvantage through which a coup by a Cheney and the neocons would be successful 100% of the time.
After all, we game out scenarios against all enemies foreign and domestic, if it's a threat to the US, it gets considered.
Perhaps one of the conclusions was- this intelligence program is a serious, mortal threat to the Republic.
Perhaps they took the result of this gaming to the President, who agreed with their conclusions. Perhaps a plan was hatched to subvert it, all the while making it look like they're only and intensely interested in doing the opposite.
I know it sounds too weird to be true, but this IS how intelligence agencies and covert missions work on a good day. This is the games they play.
If Obama tried to unilaterally quietly retire the program, it would just come back for the next administration who wanted it, and we know what admin would want it. Without the p
In the '70s, in Latin America, Chili under Pinochet made an agreement with its neighbours: Chili would torture and kill Argentinian, Paraguayan etc. dissidents (pointed out by Argentina etc.), Argentina would torture and kill Chilean, Bolivian etc. dissidents (pointed out by Chili etc.), and the dissidents had nowhere to go to. All perfectly legal under their own country's constitution, probably. It was called Operation Condor.
Maybe the NSA didn't spy so much on Americans; maybe they rented out a massive data center to the UK's GCHQ, in exchange for UK's mutual help. All they both did was then spying on foreigners (and giving the resulting data back to each other). All perfectly legal. And nowhere to go if you're either in the USA or UK or another participating country.
Knock the edge off all you square pegs and you will fit in the round holes we intended you for. Saying danger danger doesnt even work any more.
He is accused of doing his job ?
strong words!
first off, I thank you for agreeing with my other contentions in my post...good to know you're not a troll
to the point...
what part of what I typed makes me a 'blind fool' and **what is your evidence**?
let's see it
Thank you Dave Raggett
evidence?
not even one link...and one link to one incident means nothing...Obama has been cleaning up Bush's mess...mostly by **making it public** what the government has been doing SINCE 9/11....BECAUSE OF THE PATRIOT ACT
I want evidence and logic that takes historical fact into account...current policy and what came before it and who changed it...
let me repeat: identify current policy, identify previous policy, note who changed the policy and allowed it to become public
methinks you are a snowdentroll
Thank you Dave Raggett
The US government has officially invoked the Espionage Act in response to whistleblower Edward Snowden’s leaks of the massive and continuing violation by the NSA of the National Security Act, plus federal court rulings over the last few years, as well as portions of the onerous USA PATRIOT Act.
We are constantly bombarded with the disingenuous drivel about our country being “a nation of laws,” yet consistently we see that the laws are selectively applied against the enemies of the plutocrats or overclass!
Under existing laws, and after both the public admissions and public lies uttered by the Director of National Intelligence, Gen. James Clapper and the NSA Director Gen. Alexander, the immediate arrests of these two culprits should be undertaken.
Not to arrest Clapper and Alexander is in complete contradistinction of existing law.
To fully uphold the aforementioned laws, impeachment proceedings should commence against President Obama, Vice President Biden and Attorney General Holder, along with the arrests of previous federal lawbreakers, Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Roberto Gonsales.
Obviously, as these actions aren’t underway, America is not a nation of laws, and any such proclamation is blatantly fictional!
Just as President Obama has repeatedly stood before the American people and brazenly and falsely proclaimed that the banksters broke no laws (perhaps one should say his banksters, since he is in their pocket?), his administration once again flaunts those very laws he has sworn an oath to uphold (and claims to understand).
Lawlessness rules across America, with the overclass making the rules.
Since the passage of the national defense legislation in 2006, during the Bush administration, which exempted the Department of Defense (Pentagon) from Freedom of Information Requests (FOIA), and the NSA comes under the purview and provenance of the DoD, the only possible way to ascertain when the NSA is breaking federal laws is when a whistleblower, such as Mr. Snowden, comes forward.
Obama’s holy war on whistleblowers continues unabated!
There is something about the US television coverage of this story that i find... odd. Ive seen coverage on several networks, and the anti-Snowden bias of the coverage is almost universal. Honestly Jon Stewart's daily show seems to be the only one NOT taking the "He's a traitor" stance. CNN, Fox ... Even Letterman seem to be treading very lightly and no one wants to side with Snowden even though he presents a reasonably logical and convincing case against the government. It's like the expected righty, lefty bias is out the door and there is now universal pro government bias. I find this really unsettling.
Snowden did the exact same thing over a week ago.
Bush and Obama are vastly different.
No I do not think the Obama admin 'planned' these leaks...they released it...mostly in boring reports that only boring news reports on because when a problem gets fixed or info revealed it isn't headline news...if it bleeds it leads...
I really won't continue asking for evidence and being told 'it's right there blind fool'...you're trolling and you can try to somehow present actual evidence of 'bush and obama are the same scum' but policy and history are dead against you
You really need to accept that the world is **NOT BINARY**...Obama may not make every decision how you would want but he's the best option. That's fscking called **LIFE**...everyone has to make comprimises in decisions...even dork/trolls like you and Snowden
Supporting the best option vocally and fully doesn't make you a fucking sell out...that's more binary thinking...
I know it's easy to just embrace your angst and lump all people in power as 'them' but you're just wrong and you know it...
You are taking the cowards way out...
If you expect another response you had better have some evidence and logic to your 'Obama = Bush' claim
Thank you Dave Raggett
...you should see the laundry list of constitutional violations that the NSA should be charged with. And that's just the ones that have been leaked.
In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!