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 ...
Sure wish you loved America as much as you love Obama.
“at the end of the day, does anyone think that Obama is unhappy with America ‘s priceless secrets, bought with billions of taxpayers dollars, in the hands of Chinese and Russian communists?”
Precisely why Obama made it impossible for Snowden to get asylum in Iceland or any nation except Putin’s Russia
Please tell us which terrorist attacks have been stopped as a result of these programs. I’m looking at this list:
And seeing not much coincidence with electronic intel gathering. I’m seeing lots of low-rent morons being caught by their own bungling or probably a cell being infiltrated with moles.
If you want to prevent a US city from going up in a mushroom cloud, then you need to do something about our borders. Listening in to people won’t do jack. Stopping the materials or people at the borders will. As it stands right now, someone with good operational security and a penchant for using hawala money networks and couriers for messaging could plot to ship a nuke into the US and simply drive it in from Mexico unmolested.
One of the most pernicious lies about this electronic intrusion is that it will make us safer. It won’t. Why? Because our intel agencies have grow fat and lazy. They’re addicted to being able to call up data with a “warrant” and a few keystrokes. The people who would like to do harm to the US know this, and will simply go back to 1800’s levels of communication, which won’t be so easily intercepted. Sure, it might be slower, but they won’t be intercepted. The terrs already knew that using a cell phone was a liability. They’ve known that since 2003.
The simple fact is, I have rights recognized by the Constitution, and I’m not going to waive those, regardless of the “national interest.”
Whew, I feel much better now knowing Snowden gave up his citizenship, family and fortune (as one of your fellow cowardice traitors stated) for basically nothing. Really? You can't be that stupid. I'm thinking you guys are Russian, you gotta be. Right?
Seriously that’s all you got? Go to Hulu or Netflix men are debating here son.
How come Obama prevented (blocked via pressure) Snowden from obtaining asylum everywhere else? So in the end Russia was the only place to go?
Think! This requires some brain cells.
No, I just know how inept our national security system has been in the last, oh, 20 years. Once the Cold War was over (during which, I held a security clearance and we took Russian/Soviet spying quite seriously), it seemed that Washington DC quit thinking strategically and allowed critical industries to start hiring foreign nationals.
Once that happened, the cat was out of the bag forever. For example, cisco off-shored their software bug-fixing, which involved giving the Indians (dot, not feather) access to the IOS source code. Within only a few months, we had positive, verified evidence that the Communist Chinese had the IOS source code and were reverse-engineering it. We also heard from hackers who tipped us off to the Chinese source code theft that the Russians had IOS as well, and were using it to load their version of our code into routers here and there, which sent data back to Russian servers as they wished.
Microsoft’s source code has been stolen by the Russians. Oracle’s code as well.
During the 80’s, even selling a computer to the Russians was a Big Friggin’ Deal, and punishable by felony judgements. Today? Pfah. Sell the Russians as much iron as they want to buy. Same for the Chinese. Thanks to the outpouring of our national engineering treasure to the Chinese, they’re stealing our economy out from underneath us as we wonder why our economy won’t create jobs any longer.
I remember the Cold War and worked in the defense sector. I remember what real security was like. We turned our back on real security the day we started down the road to “free trade.”
Welcome to Free Republic, where you just might be able to get a clue.
The current US government is more communist and totalitarian than the current government of Russia. China still needs more market reforms. But both of these are moving away from communism; while the USA is rapidly going into the darkness.
Assuming the NSA has been storing and analyzing vast amounts of communication data, then someone high-up must know who Obama really is and to whom he gets his financial resources and directions? Maybe the same folks are controlling the NSA higher ups?
Yea, that was another brilliant move by Obama. He could have, through diplomatic channels, maneuvered Snowden into a country where the US had some semblance of co-operation and better relations. Instead, Obama played chess like a checkers player, and the Russians won what was a chess match.
The Russians play a long game. Obama is used to western Europe and the US press bowing and kissing his feet. When the Russians and Putin didn’t give Obama the adoration to which he is accustomed, Obama didn’t know what to do. His refusal to meet with Putin recently looked like a petulant child refusing to do a chore. The Russians responded in a pitch-perfect way on the world stage, making the US (thanks to our current man-child POTUS) look like a child throwing a tantrum.
Even if Snowden gives the Russians nothing, I’m sure Putin is relishing causing Obama to gnash his teeth. The Russians are like that. They like to remind the US that they’re still a force to be reckoned with in little ways that embarrass and annoy.
This, BTW, was Reagan’s big win in this game: Reagan would say things that would wind up the Russians instead of the other way ‘round. The “I’ve outlawed the Soviet Union and we begin bombing in five minutes” quip during a mic check was classic. The Russians went ape, and Reagan smiled and said “Heh. Just joking.” And Reagan did it again and again and again in his public speaking. He never missed a chance to use humor to yank Ivan’s chain.
Today, no one wants to wind up the Russians, and because we’ve been afflicted with four administrations filled with Ivy League dipsticks who take the Russians Oh So Seriously, we’ve returned to the days of detente’ in the 70’s, where the Russians knew they could jerk our chain, and they did so nearly non-stop.
Does it have to be one or the other? Why can’t Obummer and Snowden both be traitors?
+1
I think the word is expatriate.
Ambivalent here
Disturbed by what he knew
Mixed on his motives
Well since you are pretty much a newbie I pretty much don’t give a frick or a frack about what you think.
Great post!
LOL... “Oh Nicky Nicky Nick... you are such a tool” of the NWO.
The real irony is that the inward-looking surveillance state is being built to be used on people like you. The elites and the left aren't afraid of terrorism from Yemen, they're afraid of people who love the original concept of America. People who served the ideals of the Constitution proudly. People who take it all seriously.
When push comes to shove, people in uniform will come looking for anyone who speaks out or stands with the Constitution, and those uniforms will have clean flags with red and white stripes and 50 stars. They'll think you're a traitor for not getting with the program of social justice and redistribution. Your pride for 'the old system' and your prior service will be viewed with suspicion. You'll be the enemy that the new "patriots" train to resist.
They'll probably even tell you to love the new America or leave it.
Snowden may or may not be a traitor, but that word is about to become very, very subjective.
Bump!
Yes they are. Since they like to target people and keep lists, perhaps we should do the same.
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