The whistleblower who leaked the NSA surveillance program to the press has gone public.
The whistleblower who leaked the NSA surveillance program to the press has gone public and is talking. Key quote:
Q: Does your family know you are planning this?
A: “No. My family does not know what is happening … My primary fear is that they will come after my family, my friends, my partner. Anyone I have a relationship with …
I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. I am not going to be able to communicate with them. They [the authorities] will act aggressively against anyone who has known me. That keeps me up at night.” [emphasis mine]
It tells us how far the United States has fallen if this man fears our government so much he thinks that government will go after his family.
Read the whole interview. It is quite horrifying, especially now that we know there are federal agents willing to use their power to target specific people solely because of their politics.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The whistleblower who leaked the NSA surveillance program to the press has gone public and is talking. Key quote:
Q: Does your family know you are planning this?
A: “No. My family does not know what is happening … My primary fear is that they will come after my family, my friends, my partner. Anyone I have a relationship with …
I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. I am not going to be able to communicate with them. They [the authorities] will act aggressively against anyone who has known me. That keeps me up at night.” [emphasis mine]
It tells us how far the United States has fallen if this man fears our government so much he thinks that government will go after his family.
Read the whole interview. It is quite horrifying, especially now that we know there are federal agents willing to use their power to target specific people solely because of their politics.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
They read our e-mail, they probably could listen to our phone calls, they trample all over the constitution, what is to stop them from showing up at your door to take your guns and freedoms? low level academia( and high level) censor graduation speeches and indoctrinate instead of educate, I think Eric Blair had it right all along.
There might be one small glimmer in all of this. It should cause us to rethink all of the powers we accede to the federal government, even with all the best intentions, because this administration has shown it cannot be trusted with those powers, and therefore future administrations may follow suit. As I keep pointing out to liberals — so far without cogent response — if you acquiesce to what this administration is doing, then you invite conservative administrations to turn tables. And this is just the beginning of the revelations. What we are seeing is a portrait of the most corrupt federal government this country has ever had. The conclusion is obvious, if only half of the public would shake themselves out of their five-year stupor and confront what is right in front of their eyes.
Please think to remember that this is not just a result of the Obama administration, this goes deep into the modern past and all of the previous past administrations for about 50 years. The nature of power is for it to be abused, Americans must choose, if that is even a possibility now, we may all be captive by our own size and power and don’t even know it.
How valid is this man’s concern that the government will go after his family? What evidence do we have that the US government goes after the family members of someone that they oppose? For example, I have heard nothing about Assange’s family being targeted. I’m not necessarily calling into doubt the premise, just honestly asking.
Also, I think that there is an asymmetry between liberals and conservatives. Liberals often use the “the ends justify the means” approach to justify actions which they wouldn’t want conservatives to do if they had the power. But when conservatives actually get the power, they restrain themselves from doing the same things because their own morals prevent themselves from taking advantage. For example, it has been claimed that liberals reinterpreting the Constitution in their liberal direction is dangerous because, if conservatives get power, they will likewise abuse the intent of the framers. The thing is, the conservatives couldn’t live with themselves if they violated their own principles and so they use their power to limit the power of government rather than taking advantage of their power.
I don’t expect the government to come after this man’s family. However, that he even thinks it possible tells us how far our government’s reputation, and our country, has fallen.
I also do not think this problem is a conservative or liberal one. Anyone who has read this website for the past three years knows I dislike Obama intensively. However, I consider George Bush just as bad.
Bush was an utter failure as a president. He allowed the federal debt to skyrocket. He did not fight the war on Islamofacism with steady determination. And he allowed the power of the federal government to grow uncontrolled. Worse, he did this after coming to power with a Republican Congress.
As I said, an utter failure.
“Edward Snowden: I mistakenly believed in Obama’s promises”
This statement by Snowden reflects the naïve interpretation by the young of the Marxist ideologue Obama. Obama and his handlers depended on this ignorance and need it to be perpetuated to continue their reinterpretation of America and the Constitution.
Is it reasonable for him to be concerned for others? Its reasonable I suppose.
As far as the asymmetry between the party’s, yes there are fundamental differences in their philosophies, but both party’s have become what they are because they both have chosen to push and test the parameters of the Constitution beyond where they know it should be pushed.
The Constitution is designed to be stressed in this way but the people must express their extreme displeasure with how things are through their representatives for it to properly work. And if they do not respond to their displeasure they need to be removed and replaced without hesitation.
I think the real question might be: Has the machine been allowed to get too big and powerful and are we just here to now serve it?
And; Will the people do their part as they are required?
> What evidence do we have that the US government goes after the family members of someone that they oppose?
As an example: James Rosen’s family was targeted after he angered the Obama administration.
Will they do that to Snowden’s family? I don’t know, but based upon recent history, they could be reviewing their phone records or there could already be an IRS audit notice in the mail to them even as you read this comment. Do we trust, anymore, that today’s government would not do this?
A friend of a friend of mine – a liberal, posted on Facebook that she doesn’t mind the government listening on her phone calls, it makes her feel safe. This is a BIG problem for our republic when the average citizen makes statements like this. It demonstrates how bad our education system has been corrupted and how willfully people overlook the criminal activities of their liberal politicians.
The FISA courts need to be shut down and the Justice Department reined in immediately. Add the IRS, the EPA, and the Department of Health to the list as well. Obviously, the power and scope of the Federal Government has expanded at an alarming rate, for political purposes. The TSA in another great example of the abuse of our liberties.
It’s both parties…it’s unchecked growing government…
SUBSIDIARITY
It not just the fact that he thinks the US government will come after his family and friends that is disturbing.
The thing that is more disturbing to me is that he didn’t think he would get anything out of following the normal channels like reporting his beliefs to the FISA court or even his elected representatives in Washington.
The different government offices give out and post the legal and legally protected ways to inform on fellow workers and bosses. He must have believed that going that rout would have produced nothing but trouble for him and not resulted in changed behavior in the office or government.
You could have all the laws and oversight committees in the world but if you do not believe them to be free of politics and or corruption then you have no place left to go but the public.
As evidenced by the IRS. Even when standards are written out to not be political or partisan and to not favor one group over another. If the workforce is entirely made up of either partisan members or members who are cowed into staying quiet then you have no place to go to stop corruption other than the public.
If a republican was in power now these programs would never had been in effect a week before politicians and government employees were spilling the beans to the MSM. Just look at the hue and cry when Bush pushed for the Patriot Act. The man couldn’t pass gas in private without someone passing it off to the MSM as a government conspiracy.
He could NEVER have taking things this far. No matter what you think of Bush he never could have gone this far. He was watched like a strange mole by a hypochondriac.
This administration is covered by the MSM like a babies butt in soft diaper. They will not even let the thought of stink out, let alone, let people even think it poops.
This administrations evil has not just been allowed to grow but been fertilized into full blossom.