I was not pleased with Snowden given the initial reports. But I eventually had reservations about condemning the guy. My ultimate position concerned safe return and Congressional hearings.
Given the varying FReeper reports and opinions over the following years, I began to suspect his intentions were Constitutionally sound.
We have an interesting pool of intelligence here at FR — intelligence in the sense of data gathering and analysis. Assuming a high percentage of honest players, we manage to grind through the details pretty much exploring the realistic possibilities without individual reservations (although frequently contentious). In a way, FR is an undisciplined thinktank.
You mean an undisciplined FRAND? Overall, i see two types of conservatives on FR.
1. Pro-Christian social conservatives whose main priority is morality, and 1st amendment right to free exercise of their faith, and who support a limited government - opposing its overreach (and thus oppose Climate-Change scientism) but not as being anti-authority in general and support a strong military and 2nd amendment right to bear arms, but oppose Jan. 6 militant protest. And who voted for Trump as a general (albeit with personal faults) a culture war gone hot due to his policies, including draining the swamp and restricting immigration. Yet they tend to oppose Putin as one who opposes freedom of religion and its speech, while supporting his anti-LGBTQ stand.
2. Anti-government libertarians whose main priority is the 2nd amendment right to their arms collection, and who tend to support Putin as well as Snowden due to "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" principle, such being rebels against liberal authority. This class supports Jan. 6 militant protest but tends to have little use for Christian conservatives, as they mainly want to be left alone. But they also voted for Trump as one who promised to drain the swamp and restrict immigration.
As for Snowden, aside from other debatable aspects, while exposing violations of the Constitution is noble, the way it was done invited more control of the CIA by liberals, which, as seen with the FBI, would not be a positive result.