Posted on 08/11/2013 6:30:03 PM PDT by chessplayer
Does President Barack Obama think we’re stupid?
That’s the only conclusion possible after watching Friday’s bravura performance in which the president announced a set of proposals meant to bring more transparency to the National Security Agency — and claimed he would have done it anyway, even if Edward Snowden had never decided to leak thousands of highly sensitive documents to The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald.
But even as he grudgingly admitted that the timing, at least, of his suggestions was a consequence of Snowden’s actions, the president declared, “I don’t think Mr. Snowden was a patriot.” When you look at what has changed over the past two months, though, it’s hard not to wonder, “What could be more patriotic than what Snowden did?”
First, the results: More than a dozen bills have already been introduced to put a stop to the NSA’s mass phone record collection program and to overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has reinterpreted the Fourth Amendment in secret, creating a body of privacy law that the public has never read. A half-dozen new privacy lawsuits have been filed against the NSA. The Pentagon is undergoing an unprecedented secrecy audit. U.S. officials have been caught deceiving or lying to Congress. The list goes on.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
You sir are deliberately blind to the crimes of this government against it’s own people and crimes against those in military units who defend this country.
Bump you post!
“We live in an age of terrorism, with mass murder being able to be stopped by listening into cell phone data...then that makes sense. How is that hurting any law abiding citizen? If we have a city go up in an nuclear explosion, don’t worry, we are all going to lose far far more rights! The very fact that Snowden went to our enemies speaks volumes, does it not?”
http://www.captainsjournal.com/2013/08/11/counterinsurgency-cops/
Your government has declared that YOU are the enemy, and has been gearing up to “COIN” you for some time now. What Snowden illuminated was just one element in the construction materials for your incarceration, 21st century style:
[from the link]:
The so-called war on drugs was the casus belli for the militarization of the local police forces in the U.S., although it took time to effect the evolution far and wide. Near the end of the campaign in Iraq, the favorite think tank of the left, the RAND Corporation, published a report in 2009 entitled Does The United States Need A New Police Force For Stability Operations? In it, Seth Jones, et. al., conclude:
Weighing all considerations, the researchers concluded that the best option would be a 6,000-person hybrid force headquartered in the U.S. Marshals Service. The personnel in reserve status could be employed in state and local police forces so they would be able to exercise police functions in a civilian population daily and could be called up as needed.
The Marshals Service was deemed to have many of the requisite skills. However, its training and management capabilities would need to be expanded to take on this large mission, and it would have to recruit additional personnel as well. The annual cost, $637 million, is reasonable given the capability it buys. The cost savings in relieving military forces of these duties could be greater than required to create the SPF.
The Military Police option was attractive for a number of reasons, especially its capacity, training, and logistical capabilities, but its inability to engage in policing activities when not deployed was a major stumbling block. The Posse Comitatus Act precludes military personnel from exercising police functions in a civilian setting, and legislative relief might be difficult to get.
Not to be outdone or left behind, the military establishment has weighed in with papers advocating the use of U.S. troops for a similar mission on American soil. One example, causing me forever to lose any respect for Small Wars Journal, was entitled Full Spectrum Operations In The Homeland: A Vision Of The Future, and SWJ followed this up later with Political Violence Prevention: Profiling Domestic Terrorists. The former paper advocated the use of U.S. military troops for stability operations in America, while the later paper advocated the use of human terrain systems for profiling “domestic terrorists” (I discussed these papers here).
Just to ensure that we all knew that the full force of the think tanks was behind this effort, the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point published Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far Right (via Western Rifle Shooters Association). Several observations may be made at this point. First, while the seeds for military operations on American soil by police and/or U.S. troops had been planted long ago, watching war occur for a decade across our television screens caused a change in those whose predilections would point them in the direction of waring on American soil.
This is how it is to be done, it was easy to conclude. Social science with a gun: community involvement, town meetings, law enforcement knowledge of everyone all of the time, biometrics to track people (and especially men of military age), door kicking and killing as punitive measures, all sanctioned by the authorities and fully approved. A new mission. No longer will we merely perform constabulary duties. We must rebuild our cities, bring stability, and ensure that the centralized planners work with the military leaders to guide us all. The example has been set, and we’ve watched it unfold before our eyes for ten years. It has been paraded across our television screens for years, and now we know how to do it.
Second, in order to effect this revised mission, they must have the same tactics, same military hardware, and the same doctrine. Police involving the community sounds warm and acceptable to the uninitiated, but it has a dark underbelly. The carrot and stick approach requires that they perform as COIN troops, as forces of occupation, to enforce their will. War is, after all is said and done, the use of violence to enforce your will.
And this history of COIN in America has indeed been violent, partly because of the paradigm which guides the mission. I know something about the mission because my son is a former Marine and conducted operations in Fallujah in 2007. He performed counter-sniper operations, cleared rooms with an M4, cleared rooms with his Squad Automatic Weapon, performed satellite patrols, and operated an M2 aboard a helicopter targeting insurgents as they crossed over the Euphrates River into Fallujah after checkpoints had locked down the city. Marine Corps 2/6 went into Fallujah hard in the summer of 2007, but there’s an interesting instance that demonstrates how SWAT teams operate in America. [ more at the link]
If you think Russia is still a “commie” country you are a special kind of stupid. The world has changed in the last 25 years. Perhaps you hadn’t noticed.
Nor can anyone in good conscience call Washington the center of the free world, if one exists anymore.
We have live in an “age of terrorism” since the 1960’s. Only now do they seek to take our private communications openly and freely in violation of our constitutional rights. Grow up and read a book. Terrorism has existed for as long as man has had the ability to attack his neighbor.
Russia is not exactly “free” either.
The mass media is state controlled and opposition leaders have a tendency to get radioactive poisoning or suddenly die or get thrown into prison.
It might be going in the right direction but its not there yet
Reading through your posts and up until this one I have given it a pass, but you sir seem to be all for enabling this administration. What is your tipping point regarding the decimation of your freedom sir?
More than half... count me as one.
I remember Reagan doing that... thanks for sharing real history.
Bump you post SW....
It’s those EYES man ;)
Snowden’s intel was gathered by America’s greatest enemy, the no longer bound by the Constitution federal government.
Wake up and open your eyes. The traitors sit in congress where they bow down to the Usurper in the White House.
Russia is not exactly “free” either.
The mass media is state controlled and opposition leaders have a tendency to get radioactive poisoning or suddenly die or get thrown into prison.
It might be going in the right direction but its not there yet
True, but at least they are headed in the right direction. Here, we are taking a nose dive into totalitarianism. We’re not there yet either but it seems we are past the point of being able to fix things within the system.
He had a choice - flee to a friendlier country or be "Brietbarted". He chose life.
And Russia is not our enemy.
We ALL win when the planned global electronic prison is revealed and delayed. Even if some people in this world currently live under “enemy” regimes.
We will soon realize there is ONE global enemy and everything else is a distraction. The enemy are the elites worldwide pushing for a global surveillance work camp.
If we don’t stop it, we will ALL be very sorry.
Then stop and think. Why do you suppose China and Russia have bent over backwards to help Snowden? Just because he embarrassed Obama? Because they are free societies who believe in the right to privacy of people everywhere? Not bloody likely. Neither is going to stick their necks out for free. China and Russia were compensated for their help. And what currency did Snowden have to compensate them with except information on our intelligence activities against them? Snowden sold us out big time, and gave aid and comfort to our potential enemies.
You really think that?
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