Jill Stein Pledges To Pardon Snowden and Appoint Him To Her Cabinet (zerohedge.com)

Iamthecheese writes: Trump hates him. Clinton misrepresented him. Most mainstream media outlets call him a traitor and worse. But if you vote Stein, Snowden will be in the presidential Cabinet. "The presumptive Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein promises to grant NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden -- who many describe as a true American hero -- not just a full pardon, but a promotion to the upper echelons of government should she win the White House," reports Zero Hedge. "[Snowden] has done an incredible service to our country at great cost to himself for having to live away from his family, his friends, his job, his network, to basically live as an expatriate," Stein asserted during a town hall live-streamed to supporters on her Facebook page, US Uncut reported. "I would say not only bring Snowden back, but bring him into my administration as a member of the Cabinet," she continued, "because we need people who are part of our national security administration who are really, very patriotic. If we're really going to protect our American security, we also have to protect our Constitutional rights, and that includes our right to privacy." Her pardons would also extend to CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou and Chelsea Manning. Kiriakou first revealed proof of waterboarding and various other torture tactics employed by the government, while Manning leaked the Afghan War Diary and Iraq War Logs, which included footage of U.S. helicopter airmen deliberately gunning down journalists, to Wikileaks. Reddit co-founder and MIT student, Aaron Swartz, who leaked academic research to the public, would also receive a pardon under her presidency. "[Swartz] was a proponent of free and liberated internet and for sharing our resources on that internet, who was basically hounded into suicide by a very oppressive Department of Justice. So, he -- in my mind -- is another one of these heroes that we need to remember and be very thankful for."

Comments

Re:So much for rule of law

[0100010001010011]

He could have reported the problem to his corporate managers,

That worked so well for Thomas Drake.

the process for intelligence oversight mostly works really well

Citation Needed

Well, I _wanted_ to like her.

[Anonymous Coward]

Pardon Snowden... Stein got off on the right foot there. Sounds good so far...

Unfortunately, she shoved the other one in her mouth. She's in favor of "homeopathic medicine", and says that nuclear energy is, "dirty, dangerous and expensive, and should be precluded on all of those counts", when the actual data shows just the opposite. Furthermore, she wants "a moratorium on GMOs", which wikipedia states, "There is a scientific consensus[147][148][149][150] that currently available food derived from GM crops poses no greater risk to human health than conventional food".

I REALLY want to vote third party, but we need some third party candidates who are not anti-science crackpots. I thought she might be pro-science, but apparently not.

It's really too bad. I'd be totally on the side of a pro-environment and pro-civil rights party, something akin to a blend of green and libertarian. Bring Snowden back, stop spying on everyone, and don't trash the environment. Could be so good! However, they keep putting up unelectable nutcases :-/. This election could be THE golden opportunity for third parties, because the D and R candidates are both strongly disliked across the political spectrum. It's not that they would be likely to win, but they could become a force to be reckoned with and position themselves to gain mindshare in the future. But not by being "pro homeopathy" and generally come across like crackpots.

Sigh. We need some real alternatives to Republicans and Democrats. "Real" being the key word.

Re:Well, I _wanted_ to like her.

[Kjella]

But not by being "pro homeopathy" and generally come across like crackpots. Sigh. We need some real alternatives to Republicans and Democrats. "Real" being the key word.

The more I read about US politics, the more I realize that what would ordinarily be normal parties here in Norway are the factions within the democrats and republicans, while the fringe crackpots are the same. Imagine a system with:

Democratic Party
Liberal Party
Socialist Party
Republican Party
Tea Party
Christian Party
Libertarian Party
Green Party
Constitution Party

It would be not entirely unlike our parliament. Anything above 4% nationally gets proportional representation (19/169 representatives are held in a pool for this purpose), under 4% you'd have to get a direct vote from your area (the other 150/169). Coalitions are common and usually center around the main "left" or "right" party but who is in and who is out varies. In the US you have the same factions but first they make a red and blue coalition that they call a party, then they put it to a vote.

As long as you got a "first past the post" system, nothing matters unless you get a majority so first you must become part of something that could get a majority, then you can try pulling it in the direction you want. That's why we see candidates like Sanders, Trump, Ron Paul etc. join the main parties even if they're way on the fringes. Nobody's going to be able to change that without changing the electorate system and the keys to that is firmly locked up by the two parties that like their pseudo-monopoly on being the red and blue pill.

Re:Well, I _wanted_ to like her.

[Halo1]

She's in favor of "homeopathic medicine",

That seems to be a little simplistic, given that she apparently even got the Green Party to remove all mentions of homeopathy from their platform. That said, pure placebo's (such as homeopathy, VR and even the colour of pills) can have their use either separately from (in case of e.g. a hypochondriac) or in combination with regular treatment.

and says that nuclear energy is, "dirty, dangerous and expensive, and should be precluded on all of those counts", when the actual data shows just the opposite.

If you take into account all of the government subsidies, including covering the industry's uninsurable risks, I'm not sure whether at least the cost argument holds.

Furthermore, she wants "a moratorium on GMOs", which wikipedia states, "There is a scientific consensus[147][148][149][150] that currently available food derived from GM crops poses no greater risk to human health than conventional food".

While she indeed argues against it because of safety arguments, there are plenty of other reasons why many people are against GMOs. Just look at the majority of comments on the Slashdot story regarding one of the "GMOs are safe" studies.

I REALLY want to vote third party, but we need some third party candidates who are not anti-science crackpots.

Bashing using arguments that are either easily refuted, or at the very least less clear cut than presented, is anti-science. Name-calling while posting as AC is just silly.

Re:Unfortunately.....

[flopsquad]

EVERYBODY hates Jill Stein...

I doubt most people know enough about her to hate her. Maybe you were thinking of Ben Stein? Or Frankenstein?

Re:So much for rule of law

[Uberbah]

But he cannot claim he shouldn't be served the treatment for such a decision.

Ah, yes, demanding whisteblowers face the law, while flatly ignoring the lawbreaking revealed by those whisteblowers. The penalty for violating FISA is punishable by up to 5 years and prison, and a $10,000 fine. Given the length and scale of NSA wiretapping, that probably means billions of years in collective prison time, and hundreds of trillions in fines, if FISA was enforced. Funny how you fascists are never demanding those laws be applied to the executive branch and the sort of contractor Snowden worked for.

Snowden could have done it otherwise.

No, he couldn't. Just ask John Kiriakou, who was investigating the CIA for torture and had his investigation shut down by "appropriate channels".