Posted on 06/10/2013 4:50:52 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
Barack Obama was facing a mounting domestic and international backlash against US surveillance operations on Monday as the administration struggled to contain one of the most explosive national security leaks in US history.
Political opinion in the US was split with some members of Congress calling for the immediate extradition from Hong Kong of the whistleblower, Edward Snowden. But other senior politicians in both main parties questioned whether US surveillance practices had gone too far.
Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the national intelligence committee, has ordered the NSA to review how it limits the exposure of Americans to government surveillance. But she made clear her disapproval of Snowden. "What he did was an act of treason," she said.
Officials in European capitals demanded immediate answers from their US counterparts and denounced the practice of secretly gathering digital information on Europeans as unacceptable, illegal and a serious violation of basic rights. The NSA, meanwhile, has referred Snowden to the Justice Department, and said that it was assessing the damage caused by the disclosures. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
FUBO.
Needs repeating.
Obama may be the only person in history to be in a position he is less qualified for than Feinstein as chariman of anything at all to do with intelligence.
I contacted Verizon today because i lost the number to someone i called last week and needed to call back, and thought they would have a record of outgoing calls they could share with me (a previous phone company did). They said they did not provide this option, though their call assistant (if you opt in for it) would provide a list of all incoming calls. I lightheartedly told the support person that maybe the NSA had a record, and that he could laugh at that, and thanked him for his help.
When the Obama government says they collect and use communications data to facilitate terrorism investigations and uncover possible terrorist threats most people think they mean they are looking for rage filled muslim crazies determined to kill Americans.
But when administration authorities, like Barack Obama, Janet Napolitano speak of potential terrorists they don’t just mean muslim crazies, or maybe they don’t mean muslim crazies at all.
But they do mean military vets, gun owners, patriots, anti-abortion and anti-homo Christians, Constitutionalists, advocates of smaller government, people who oppose socialism and communism, etc. - what Obama calls “Bitter Clingers” but what we think of as solid, loyal, American citizens.
You have it. Rhetoric. For Domestic Consumption Only. And I'm talking France for example. These guys know the ropes. We spy on them. They spy on us.
If any FReeper has not watched the 12.5 minute video of Mr. Snowden explaining what and why he did this, you owe it to yourself to watch here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yB3n9fu-rM
I found him to be:
intelligent
authentic
brave
patriotic
I urge you to watch it and form your own conclusion. What he reveals is downright scary.
The only treasonous acts I’m seeing is our own government spying on innocent citizens under the false pretense of preventing a terrorist attack.
The acts of the NSA itself are terroristic.
Funny thing is, if tomorrow 10 million people started talking and writing about destroying the US, this multi billon dollar system would have to shut down because the data would be corrupt.
I bet Snowden surrenders at some point. He’s got to have thought this out pretty well as to how this would ultimtely go down. Therefore, he will actually DARE the Feds to send him to trial so he can then seek the opportunity plead NOT GUILTY and COMPLETELY talk and show the world about EVERYTHING ELSE HE KNOWS that’s going on.
What’s the point in spying on citizens when the they let through terrorists that have killed over 3000 people in the last 20 years? Something ain’t working here.
I applaud Snowden for an act of Patriotism
Act of treason my butt. The guy deserves a medal.
Really? I'd be interested in that assessment if ever it sees the light of day. And I'd be interested in an honest assessment of the effectiveness of this very comprehensive and expensive program that I pay for. Because right now all the flailing and posturing is being done in a near total absence of hard data.
It's tough to find an honest broker. Congress, populated as it is by people who by definition have a political stake in the game, is as good as we're likely to find, unfortunately, because I'm not entirely confident the lot of them can find their own cars in the parking lot on a regular basis.
On the one hand we have young Mr. Snowden, a fellow of libertarian tendencies if his political contributions are any guide, convinced that the danger is such that it's worth betraying an oath, fleeing his country, and very likely wrecking his life to present to the public. On the other, we have a ruling class populated by political hacks such as Feinstein who are charged with our safety even if they have to put us in straitjackets and chains to effect it, and oh by the way, our safety appears to depend highly on their re-election. And so there we are between Scylla and Charybdis, stuck in a murky whirlpool with no safety or liberty, either one, in sight.
I'm going to keep my peace for now and try to separate the real information from the tremendous smoke screen both of the sides are spouting. That might take awhile, but it's the nature of the beast.
Constitution aside, with all of this technology, they couldn’t stop the Boston Bombers who were all over the net?
Shut the damn thing down and jail those who abused the Constitution.
And actually that is exactly what we have to do...
You see this is also a chilling effect on Freedom of Speech.
No he won’t get the opportunity.
They threw out a big word...Treason.
It is convenient they can now classify him as an enemy combatant. Tuck him away in some foreign jail for who knows how long?
He made the mistake of leaving the country too boot...
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