But the federal government does not like to be embarrassed by having its illegal actions brought to light, and they will go to great lengths to severely punish anyone who exposes those misdeeds. And that is what they are trying to do to Snowden -- punish him severely for embarrassing the government.
The government claims he harmed this country by revealing the secret spying on American citizens. That is pure bull. Nobody was harmed -- just some bureaucrats embarrassed. Now they want to throw him in prison for most of the rest of his life. They claim he will get a fair trial, but if anyone believes that then I wish you would contact me -- because I have some nice oceanfront property in Amarillo that I'll give you a great deal on.
Fortunately, Snowden is not stupid enough to think he would be treated fairly by the federal government. He has fled the country, and is currently residing in Russia (the first country that offered him refuge). Some other countries have offered him permanent residence, but the U.S. and its European buddies have refused to let any plane carry him to any of those countries (mostly in South America).
Snowden's permission to stay in Russia expired on August 1st, and for a few days he was in limbo -- not knowing what would happen. But it has now been announced that the permission to stay in Russia (and continue his work in computer technology) has been extended for another three years. And if he chooses to do so, he can apply for Russian citizenship.
This is good news -- but hopefully, someday the U.S. government will come to its senses and allow him to come home without punishment, recognizing that he really has done a great favor to the citizens of this country.
(The caricature of Edward Snowden above is by DonkeyHotey.)
I was sure the US govt was spying on all of us mainly because my dad had a top secret clearance in the USAF and he and I discussed on several occasions that the FBI, CIA, etc knew everything about everything. He wanted me to understand that I needed to keep my 'proverbial' nose clean. That was back in 1969 when I was in college. So it came as no surprise when Mr. Snowden revealed the extent of the NSAs intrusions into US citizens conversations. In fact, there had been a news program several years ago which revealed the same information but somehow it flew under the radar. We are all exposed even more now that the internet makes it so easy to do our banking, social interaction, purchasing, etc. on line. I'm as careful as one can be short of living in a cave without any connection to the 'GRID'. I wish Mr. Snowden the best of luck and hope never to see him back in the US for his own safety. I'm sure 'they' have his ex-girlfriend and his parents and siblings phones bugged right now.
ReplyDeleteI actually believed we have been spied on over 40 yrs ago.
ReplyDeleteBut it is nice to KNOW that the home of the free is actually the home of the spied-upon.
I know that security is important, but it sure did a lot of good with McVeigh or the 9/11!!!
But then they were CIA conspiracies to get more power.
Yeeeeees, Russian citizenship, quite so, he's earned it!
ReplyDeleteI can only assume from your comment, David, that you think it is just fine for the government to spy on you. You right-wingers are weird. You whine about big government being big brother, and then jump to their defense when that view is validated.
ReplyDeleteDavid seems to be a dogmatist so by definition his thoughts are irrational.
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