|
CowOnCrack posted:Not only spying on the German Chancellor but also evidence that Obama knew in 2010 and did nothing. I can't bear to watch the news anymore. Obama stopped being a defender of civil liberties the minute the intelligence community fed him mountains of classified data that was probably put together for that express purpose. Eight years of appointments by the Bush administration and the massive expansion of staff after 9/11, which was controlled by Bush appointees, means that the intelligence agencies are filled with people who don't respect the Constitution. It would take a stronger President than Obama, surrounding himself with experts who have rock-solid principles, in order to not be swayed when all those people are waging a massive fear campaign aimed at him. Even with such a person as President, I don't think anything short of a total purge and rebuilding from the ground up would fix the institutional culture permeating these agencies.
|
#
¿
Oct 27, 2013 17:57
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 19:45 |
|
|
i am harry posted:We also have these sort of surveillance systems being sold. As I look out of the door-window of my second floor apartment into one of the many parking lots of this lovely "gated community" I cannot help but envision a time in the not to distant future when places like this become "gated corporate compounds" with their own behavior rules, security force, and the occasional knock on the door or email from the office that my online movements or expressed thoughts are a concern as they do not fit in line with encouraged group-think of the neighborhood. The federal government has the pull to keep the telecoms in line, but I doubt we'll get to the point where state or local governments have the level of influence needed to tell huge telecom companies to do anything. Of course, the offline world is entirely different, it wouldn't surprise me if we got to the point where a landlord/neighborhood association could do a search of your living area whenever they wanted because you signed a contract giving your consent to do so (and of course that language will be in virtually every rental/purchase contract in any area that is even remotely desirable).
|
|
#
¿
Nov 28, 2013 15:40
|
|
|
Plus, Wikileaks released the Manning cables over a period of time rather than all at once. If the point is to raise awareness, it's better to release things slowly and keep the issue in the public consciousness rather than release everything at once and have the news organizations forget about it in a week.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 2, 2013 05:09
|
|
|
Anyone who continues to use an email account after using it to send bomb threats to the federal government isn't "adept at covering their tracks online". Assuming they got the proper warrants, the FBI didn't do anything wrong, since this spying was narrowly targeted to a person who actually committed a crime.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 7, 2013 23:43
|
|
|
sectoidman posted:I'm guessing partly because he supports these programs and wants to make an example of Snowden to deter any future whistleblowers, partly because he regards Snowden's leaking as a personal slight, and partly because doing it would piss off the intelligence community and he fears their retaliation. Plus, Obama has been very reluctant to issue pardons in any case, and it is extremely unusual for a President to issue a pardon to someone before they are tried and convicted. I think the only case of that happening was Gerald Ford pardoning Nixon. Pissing off the intelligence community would be a massive understatement, it would be initiating a massive power struggle between them and the Obama administration. Pardoning Snowden would be a point of no return, unless he's prepared to utterly dismantle the intelligence community there is no way that he will even consider it. Edit: Yeah, figure I'd fix it. Konstantin fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Dec 20, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Dec 20, 2013 14:17
|
|
|
Manning did do quite a lot of good, the diplomatic cables he leaked are an important source for a lot of academic work. It can also be argued that the video leaks were a major contributing factor in the Iraqi government's decision not to renew the Status of Forces Agreement, which lead to the complete withdraw of US troops from Iraq.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 21, 2014 21:56
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 19:45 |
|
|
chairface posted:I'm increasingly not ok with anyone who is ok with being a cop or soldier. I agree with you about the "soldier" part, and the general culture associated with being a cop is all wrong, but I think that in principle an ethical cop committed to upholding the Constitution and the law could actually do some good even in America's corrupt police departments. Even low ranking police can usually exercise a large amount of discretion, there's no reason they can't use that discretion to make ethical decisions rather than unethical ones. Plus, unless you're an anarchist you have to concede that some form of law enforcement is needed, so the focus should be on creating a good system rather than just saying "gently caress the police".
|
|
#
¿
Jun 26, 2014 21:17
|
|