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Edward Snowden To Keynote This Weekend's Free State Project Liberty Forum (reason.com)
cold fjord writes: Nick Gillespie at Reason is heading to The Free State Project's annual Liberty Forum being held this weekend in Manchester, New Hampshire. One of the highlights and a big draw this year is the keynote address by Edward Snowden via the Internet. Nick Gillespie will be interviewing Edward Snowden. Snowden is also scheduled to answer questions from participants submitted ahead of time. There are already reported to be 2,000 Free State Project members in the state, and reports from Brian Doherty indicate they are already effecting change: "Over 1,900 Free Staters already are there and we've reported here at Reason on some of what they're already accomplished, from getting 15 of their brethren in the state House, challenging anti-ridehail laws, fighting in court for outre religious liberty, winning legal battles over taping cops, being mocked by Colbert for heroically paying off people's parking meters, hosting cool anything goes festivals for libertarians, nullifying pot juries, and inducing occasional pants-wetting absurd paranoia in local statists."
I wonder who is paying Snowden's bills?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Can I ask,
How is Edward Snowden (and Julian Assange, in a similar situation) kept alive financially? I mean where is the money coming from, rent, food, etc? Are these guys doomed long term?
It's something I don't see discussed much, people talk about their freedom, but regardless of that, what lives do they have now and will they have in 5 or 15 years time?
Can either of them buy stuff on the internet even? If Snowden tried to use his Paypal (US) account would it be shut down? monitored? funds drained? I'm curious about these finer details about these 2 guys.
Sorry, mostly off topic.
Russia is the definition of a totalitarian police state.
Russia is not totalitarian, it is authoritarian. As long as Russians don't challenge the authorities, they are mostly free to go about their lives. They are also free to leave. People in the West may not like Putin, but he was democratically elected in a mostly fair process, and is genuinely popular with the Russian people.
It's hard to take the US seriously when he's freer in that horrible country than the USA.
Learn to love Alaska
It's really hard to take Snowden seriously when he resides in a country run by a Russian version of Donald Trump who assassinates people for talking trash about the him online. Russia is the definition of a totalitarian police state.
Just to be clear, you do know that President Obama ordered the assasination of an American citizen who was outside the arena of war, yes?
And you do know that the his cited legal authority was a secret law (a memo, actually) that the public couldn't access at the time, right?
And his 16-year old son, also a US citizen, and with no connection to terrorism, was killed 2 weeks later by a separate drone strike. In a country we were not at war with, in an outdoor restaurant, killing 8 others as well.
And you do know that all this happened without trial, and without the victim having a chance to defend himself against charges, right?
And you're worried about Donald Trump?
Worry about us. Worry about our children.
When you have the media by the throat, there is no free or fair election.
We start out fairly professional...
"Over 1,900 Free Staters already are there and we've reported here at Reason on some of what they're already accomplished, from getting 15 of their brethren in the state House, challenging anti-ridehail laws, fighting in court for outre religious liberty...
Wait, is that a typo? Is it French for "to go to excess"? I'm not sure religious liberty counts a being particularly "unconventional" in this country
...winning legal battles over taping cops, being mocked by Colbert for heroically...
Well, that's rather subjective.
paying off people's parking meters, hosting cool anything goes festivals for libertarians, nullifying pot juries, and inducing occasional pants-wetting absurd paranoia in local statists."
Ah, yes, well... I'm sure when their pants dry, they'll be quite happy to accept your views as the well-reasoned path toward an ideal civilization.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
As a NH resident I wish they would all stay home. NH is a nice place, and these idiots are trying to change it to their Libertarian Utopia. Take a look at stopfreekeene.com for how us locals feel about them.
I wonder who is paying Snowden's bills?
AFAIK, he's paying them himself. He has a job in Russia.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
American politicians have a lot to learn from the true leader of the free world (Putin).
You know he didn't move there by choice, right? He simply got stuck there when his passport was revoked by the US government before he could catch his connecting flight. After that, Russia decided to grant him temporary asylum.
I am sure he would love to do that, but as you seem unaware that the US government will not let him.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
You do know who forced him to do that, do you?
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I wonder who is paying Snowden's bills?
A fair question. This might suggest where to check for at least a few of the receipts. "Interesting" timeline.
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
Can you be more specific? What are they doing that you object to? They want to repeal laws against pot, which Colorado, Washington, and Alaska have already done with good results. They want to stop persecution of commercial sex workers, which will improve the welfare and safety of the workers and their customers. They want smaller, more efficient, and less intrusive government. Why do you think that is a bad thing?
I can be more specific.
Over at FreeKeene.com, a group of liberty minded people felt that the increase of parking meters in the local area was a waste of time and effort. They wanted to keep Keene a friendly, walk-around area.
So they started putting coins into expired meters, and putting notices on cars saying that a) they had done so and b) encouraging the driver to do the same to another vehicle, next time.
Parking ticket fines plummeted.
Parking revenue plummeted.
This got the town management into an uproar, several "Robin Hooders" (as they were called) were arrested for obstructing... something... the parking police felt "threatened" and demanded a 50-foot buffer zone, and the town management dug its heels into the ground and took the issue all the way to the supreme court...
The city wasted tens of thousands of dollars pursuing something that was patently obvious to everyone:
1) Parking meters are a waste of time,
2) You can't force things on people if they really don't want it, and
3) You shouldn't be taxing something "just because you can"
This is why some NH residents don't like the Free Staters. Revenue... something or other, I'm not quite sure.
Lets peel this apart.
Anwal al Awlaki [...]
Nope.
It's not about Awlaki, it's about not having a trial.
It's perfectly acceptable for the executive branch to kill citizens.
That's not what this is about, it's about the executive branch making the decision to kill people.
That's the issue at hand, that's the point of discussion.
Who Awlaki was, or what he did, is completely irrelevant.
The authority to kill someone rests with the judiciary, not the executive.
As I recall his son had recently pledged allegiance to al Qaida's leadership and was killed in the company of another al Qaida member.
Did you recall his trial?
Given the poor treatment and lack of protection for legal whistleblowers, do you honestly think that would have been the best course?
Though, in hind sight, he should have sent the entire leak to Wikileaks, with the condition that they hold it until the congressional hearing, then blown the whistle officially. He'd have died in prison before any hearings, and then the package would be published by Wikileaks. But Snowden put his life over following the whims of the freedom-haters wanted.
Learn to love Alaska
Are you fucking serious? Several before him tried that route. It wound up being endless harassment, ridicule, and divorce for those people... In some cases death. You are delusional just like the others who subscribe to your train of robotic thought.
Why don't you name some of the people that went directly to Congress? Off the top of my head I can think of maybe one, and it is acknowledged in his case he was mistreated, but that isn't enough to make a rule, is it? It is also not so simple in that case as I recall the media was involved at points.
You're probably thinking of people that went to the media, and yes, that will end badly in many cases.
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
Congress can protect whom it wants.
Handing everything over to Wikileaks directly would have been an unmitigated disaster. Doing that would have aided freedom-haters even more than this debacle already has.
Do you make suggestions like this about your new homeland?
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
The wikileaks handover was to release it to the public when the government had him killed in custody. I guess I could have named other ways to hold/hide the documents to be released only if the whistle blowing was a failure by Congress not following the law.
And I don't have to make as many such suggestions here, as the corruption index is much lower.
Learn to love Alaska
Reading the comments b- it's all talk,talk, blabber. Why is it apprently so difficult for some to acknowledge the absolute selfless integrity, not to mention personal bravery and well-founded sense of moral outrage that led Edward Snowdon to do what he did? We are all benefitting from it - and will continue to do so.To those who sneeringly ask why he didn't go to the relevant US authorities - I suggestr you ask Thomas Drake, Walter Binney et al that question! He did not "choose" to live in Russia -he was compelled to do so when US (illegally) revoked his passport whilst he was en route to Latin America. I wish I had just a quarter of his courage. So stop colluding with US govt by accusing him of having harmed US security - WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE? Devorah Marks
Its really hard to take seriously people who thinks governments are scrupulous ethical in their operation, and expect dissidents to walk on water or perform other miracles.
Russia is the definition of a totalitarian police state, and Snowden's chose his course of action to fight against America's devolution into a totalitarian police state. Snowden now has to "reside" in a foreign totalitarian police state in order to avoid being thown into an American gulag/gitmo.
I could have backed that.
Yes, you could have. But you wouldn't have. Stop pretending.
Ok, then is the POTUS can do all these life ending things, then surely Putin can do similar (not necessarily identical) killings?
Oh, and if you want to be at war, get your congress to declare one. Something you haven't done since WWII
Why don't you name some of the people that went directly to Congress? Off the top of my head I can think of maybe one, and it is acknowledged in his case he was mistreated, but that isn't enough to make a rule, is it? It is also not so simple in that case as I recall the media was involved at points.
So it's not whistleblowing, protected by law, if they use proper channels other than reporting to Congress? There are several people who've been screwed by US intelligence who didn't go to the press. I find it interesting how you're spinning this narrative years after Snowden even though as you note, the person who properly followed the channel you deem correct was punished.
You're probably thinking of people that went to the media, and yes, that will end badly in many cases.
But at least, they'll be heard.
Except they haven't done it.
As always, all IMO. Insert "I think" everywhere grammatically possible.
...when the government had him killed in custody.
That puts you into nutter territory. No way that is going to happen.
I suppose as long as you include imaginary offenses as counting.
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
Yeah, killing someone in custody has never happened. How'd that Lee Harvey Oswald trial go?
As for the corruption index, that's an independent measure done by international organizations I had nothing to do with, and doesn't count imaginary offenses.
Learn to love Alaska