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German NSA Critic Denied Entry To the US
An anonymous reader writes "Major newspapers in Germany (FAZ, Die Welt, SZ, ...) and the Huffington Post report that the author Ilja Trojanow has been prevented from boarding a plane from Salvador da Bahia to the U.S. where he was invited to attend a conference. He had ESTA documents showing that his visit was approved as part of the Visa Waiver Program and was last year given a visa to teach at the university of Saint Louis. Trojanow was one of the initiators of an open letter (Google translation to English) urging Chancellor Merkel to take actions against NSA surveillance in Germany."
Nothing you can do will bring about a faster or harsher reaction from Government than challenging their power. This is true of any Government. Though the US seems to be getting harsher and harsher about it.
You still think you actually have free speech over there? Read this.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Because, in the late 1940s, it was basically the only industrial power not deeply into reconstructing their torn economy and infrastructure. Not because any other country recognized the moral supremacy of the USA's national definitions, not because the USA grants anybody guarantees to dissent.
The United Nations is juridically akin to the various embassies. It is international territory, not USA territory. It might be phisically located in Manhattan, New York, but is not because New York is (or ever was) the hippest place to talk freely about the evil bad guys.
Once again, Obama proves he's a worse President for civil liberties than Bush ever was.
I had to Godwin this thread, but that's like saying Hitler wasn't so bad because Stalin killed millions more people. Obama, for the most part, has lost my support, but that certainly doesn't mean I wish Bush Jr. were still president. If I could choose any politician to appoint to the presidency, it would probably be Ron Wyden. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll probably be stuck voting for Rand Paul next election, despite the fact that I vehemently disagree with his economic beliefs, because civil liberties in this country have eroded so much and I don't think Wyden will be in the running (fucking Democrats will probably nominate another jackass who toes the establishment line similar to Obama).
"From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
IF GWB was president, the Democrats would pretend to care about civil liberties, there would be some real hearings on the NSA, Nixon's healthcare plan with the liberal parts stripped out wouldn't be the law, there would be blowback for spying on the press and prosecuting whistleblowers under the Espionage Act at a rate 3x that of all other presidents since it's enactment in the early 1900s, the president might still feel the need to trick or lie his way to getting Congress to approve a war but Libya basically killed the War Powers Act ... on and on and on.
What Obama has done, is take what was considered an abusive extension/usurpation of power by the Executive branch, and made it the bipartisan consensus. So yeah, Obama is worse than GWB because instead of rolling back the abuse, he embraced it, extended it, and with the silence of his supporters and party, cemented it forever as the new normal.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
Ahh yes, exactly what we need. A dead document on delivery that lays out whats allowed and what's not, whatever happends next be damned.
The constitution was written the way it was for some very good reasons. What do you suppose is going to exist, say 100 years from now? Do you think 100 years ago anyone forsaw 3d printing? The Internet? Cell Phones? Nuclear weapons? Jet Fighters that can exceed the speed of sound?
If you write a document like that, ridged, unforgiving, you end up with something that works for about 10 years then needs to be rewritten. Abstract interpretation is very important. Its also clearly a huge problem when people take things like "secure in your papers in effects" to not cover things like Email and IM conversations, but thats more because we're a bunch of corrupt jerks than anything else.
We're just experiencing the very thing they forsaw when they wrote this thing, eventually people will corrupt anything you give them. Eventually, you're left with little choice than to take over and redo large parts of the goverment. The nice part is we have legal, non-lethal means to do that, right now. The problem is they're not being used, yet. It remains to be seen if they ever will be.