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Edward Snowden

Political Discussion
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  • This is your classic freedom vs security issue. You can't espouse freedom and turn a blind eye to this. You can't damn this and then say we aren't doing enough to combat terrorism. I think he did the right thing and that he will ultimately pay dearly for it.

  • Yup. He's got to prove that he uncovered something illegal though. Some sort of wrongdoing. Then he'd be covered by whistleblower statues.

    But right now, he doesn't seem to have given us anything we didn't already know was happening. He's given us something he didn't like, or didn't approve of. That's different than uncovering wrongdoing.

    His problems are going to stem from the idea that he released details of something that was legal and known to policymakers.

    Unless there's more. And there is more that the WaPo and the Guardian wouldn't print. They thought those parts should remain secret. But he's probably going to be on the hook for everything he turned over, not just the stuff we read about in the paper.

    Unless it's "wrongdoing" he's going to be screwed. Or away from that nice girlfriend for a really long time.

  • He had a government security clearance and had to sign paperwork vowing not to disclose any information either knowingly or unknowingly. He is screwed if he gets caught.

  • He had a government security clearance and had to sign paperwork vowing not to disclose any information either knowingly or unknowingly. He is screwed if he gets caught.

    @diehardbrownsfan said:

    He had a government security clearance and had to sign paperwork vowing not to disclose any information either knowingly or unknowingly. He is screwed if he gets caught.

    Exactly.

    WSS

  • Ron Paul: Fear Snowden Could Be Target of Drone Assassination

    Tuesday, 11 Jun 2013 10:45 PM

    By Paul Scicchitano


    Former GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul insisted on Tuesday that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is not a traitor, but he fears the U.S. government may send drones or a cruise missile to kill the 29-year-old, who has fled the United States.

    “I don’t think for a minute that he’s a traitor,” Paul told Fox Business’ Melissa Francis.

    Urgent: Is Obama Telling the Truth on IRS, Benghazi Scandals?

    “Everybody’s worried about him and what they’re going to do, and how they’re going to convict him of treason, and how they’re going to kill him, but what about the people who destroy our Constitution?” the former Texas Republican congressman asserted. “What kind of penalty for those individuals who just take the Fourth Amendment and destroy it? What do we think about people who assassinate American citizens without trials and assume that that’s the law of the land? That’s where our problem is.”

    Paul said that “our problem isn’t with people who are trying to tell us the truth about what’s happening” as in the case of Snowden, and he fears that the U.S. government may try to kill the former contractor.

    “I’m worried about somebody in our government might kill him with a Cruise missile or a drone missile,” Paul said. “I mean we live in a bad time where American citizens don’t even have rights and that they can be killed, but the gentleman is trying to tell the truth about what’s going on.”

    Paul added that there are no signs Snowden is trying to sell U.S. government secrets to Russia or another foreign government, otherwise he wouldn’t have made himself so vulnerable.

    “He’s not defecting, there are no signs of that happening,” Paul said. “It’s a shame that we are in an age where people who tell the truth about what the government is doing get into trouble.”

    He pointed to the case of a CIA agent who was imprisoned for acknowledging that torture takes place at Guantanamo.

    “This is not good that the American people are spied on and the secrets are kept in government,” he said. “That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s supposed to be the other way around.”
  • What if.... what if indeed

  • Ron Paul is a bit of a kook.

  • If I was a bettin' man, "gas leak" = drone strike.

  • Now that he's dishing hacking secrets, which are probably some of the things he leaked to the Guardian and the Post and they refused to publish them, he's now officially not disclosing wrongdoing against Americans, or possible Constitutional violations, and just disclosing secrets.

    Even though that's hardly a secret.

  • Now Russia set to offer whistleblower asylum: Putin 'considers' giving Edward Snowden refuge as NSA leaker vanishes in Hong Kong

    • Edward Snowden, a former CIA technical assistant fled to Hong Kong
    • Leaked details of Prism, which he says harvests personal data from web
    • U.S. National Intelligence director says surveillance keeps America safe
    • Names Iceland as his destination of choice due to internet freedom
    • Russian MP Robert Schlegel urged the Kremlin to look at a the possibility
    • News has increased pressure on President Barack Obama to act swiftly
    • House Speaker John Boehner called him a 'traitor' who put Americans at risk

    By IAN DRURY and JILL REILLY

    PUBLISHED: 21:38 EST, 10 June 2013 | UPDATED: 07:05 EST, 11 June 2013

    Russia today hinted that Vladimir Putin would grant political asylum to Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower who leaked the secret information about a classified U.S. government surveillance program.

    'We will take action based on what actually happens. If we receive such a request, it will be considered,' said the Russian president's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

    The former CIA undercover operative is on the run after checking out of his luxury Hong Kong hotel on Sunday - his whereabouts is unknown.

    article-0-1A3DAF86000005DC-172_306x423.j
    article-0-1A3BDB57000005DC-522_306x423.j

    Refuge: Russia today hinted that Vladimir Putin would grant political asylum to whistleblower Edward Snowden who leaked the American government's monitoring of phone records and the web

    The news that Putin is considering offering the 29-year-old refuge has increased pressure on President Barack Obama to act swiftly.

    The president is facing an increasing domestic and international backlash as his administration struggles to contain the explosive revelations. He will come face to face with Putin at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland next week.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2339329/Russia-hints-Putin-grant-political-asylum-whistleblower-Edward-Snowden-NSA-leaker-vanishes-Hong-Kong.html#ixzz2VwC3n4tR

    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    @diehardbrownsfan said:

    Now Russia set to offer whistleblower asylum: Putin 'considers' giving Edward Snowden refuge as NSA leaker vanishes in Hong Kong

    • Edward Snowden, a former CIA technical assistant fled to Hong Kong
    • Leaked details of Prism, which he says harvests personal data from web
    • U.S. National Intelligence director says surveillance keeps America safe
    • Names Iceland as his destination of choice due to internet freedom
    • Russian MP Robert Schlegel urged the Kremlin to look at a the possibility
    • News has increased pressure on President Barack Obama to act swiftly
    • House Speaker John Boehner called him a 'traitor' who put Americans at risk

    By IAN DRURY and JILL REILLY

    PUBLISHED: 21:38 EST, 10 June 2013 | UPDATED: 07:05 EST, 11 June 2013

    Russia today hinted that Vladimir Putin would grant political asylum to Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower who leaked the secret information about a classified U.S. government surveillance program.

    'We will take action based on what actually happens. If we receive such a request, it will be considered,' said the Russian president's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

    The former CIA undercover operative is on the run after checking out of his luxury Hong Kong hotel on Sunday - his whereabouts is unknown.

    article-0-1A3DAF86000005DC-172_306x423.j
    article-0-1A3BDB57000005DC-522_306x423.j

    Refuge: Russia today hinted that Vladimir Putin would grant political asylum to whistleblower Edward Snowden who leaked the American government's monitoring of phone records and the web

    The news that Putin is considering offering the 29-year-old refuge has increased pressure on President Barack Obama to act swiftly.

    The president is facing an increasing domestic and international backlash as his administration struggles to contain the explosive revelations. He will come face to face with Putin at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland next week.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2339329/Russia-hints-Putin-grant-political-asylum-whistleblower-Edward-Snowden-NSA-leaker-vanishes-Hong-Kong.html#ixzz2VwC3n4tR

    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    Maybe he is holding out for 70 virgins?

  • Now that he's dishing hacking secrets, which are probably some of the things he leaked to the Guardian and the Post and they refused to publish them, he's now officially not disclosing wrongdoing against Americans, or possible Constitutional violations, and just disclosing secrets.

    Even though that's hardly a secret.

    @heckofajobbrownie said:

    Now that he's dishing hacking secrets, which are probably some of the things he leaked to the Guardian and the Post and they refused to publish them, he's now officially not disclosing wrongdoing against Americans, or possible Constitutional violations, and just disclosing secrets.

    Even though that's hardly a secret.

    Well you posed the question sir. What do you say?

    WSS

  • He'd have to have more information than we currently know about. None of the stuff he's telling us is really new. I don't particularly like it, but it's not new.

  • I heard on the radio this morning that he disappeared in Russia. Was supposed to be on a flight from Moscow to Ecuador for asylum.

  • Just read where Snowden admitted that he accepted to job TO

    HAVE ACCESS TO THAT SURVEILLANCE INFORMATION.

    That's premeditated, as in spying against his own country. = traitor.

    Have we mentioned here, that he is a dumpocrat, and voted for Obamao ?????

    Yep, Snowden is a LIB. And made a terrible, irrational, emotional decision.

    A real American would have gone to a congressman that he figured was trustworthy to acton the information through the system.

    But going public in a foreign country? His lib emotionalism really got the best of him.

    BTW, didn't Obamao release classified information when it suited him? Toss em both in Gitmo on principle.

    Too bad for snowden, that he isn't black, and doesn't look like he could be Obamao's son, eh?

  • I heard on the radio this morning that he disappeared in Russia. Was supposed to be on a flight from Moscow to Ecuador for asylum.

    @vaportrail said:

    I heard on the radio this morning that he disappeared in Russia. Was supposed to be on a flight from Moscow to Ecuador for asylum.

    I heard the second stop was Cuba. Fine young man.

    Still doesn't that picture just make you want to punch him in the face anyway?

    WSS

  • @vaportrail said:

    I heard on the radio this morning that he disappeared in Russia. Was supposed to be on a flight from Moscow to Ecuador for asylum.

    I heard the second stop was Cuba. Fine young man.

    Still doesn't that picture just make you want to punch him in the face anyway?

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    I heard the second stop was Cuba. Fine young man.

    Still doesn't that picture just make you want to punch him in the face anyway?

    WSS

    Sorry, Cuba was what I heard. Anyways, I think the international community needs to step up and defend this guy. I know for a fact that Fox News and Company would be celebrating this guy had he leaked information that the Chinese wanted kept under wraps.

  • Uh yeah that's kind of the difference between a secret agent and a traitor.

    WSS

  • Traitor? Whistleblower? What's the difference? There are international laws that protect people who do what he did.

  • No. He worked as a contractor with a high security clearance. He agreed to terms and went through an extensive investigation. He violated the law and knowingly so. He deserves a severe punishment.

  • Traitor? Whistleblower? What's the difference? There are international laws that protect people who do what he did.

    @vaportrail said:

    Traitor? Whistleblower? What's the difference? There are international laws that protect people who do what he did.

    International law has no basis in this. He violated USA law. And knowingly so. He ran and is still running. Hope they catch his ass and fry him.