He has opinions about NSA spying, freedom under the Constitution and the leaker Edward Snowden. I find the way he thinks resolutely sensible.
I suspect that Edward Snowden is not, personally, my sort of guy. But I'm grateful for what he has revealed. And since the U.S. government has taken to abusing accused leakers before trial, it's not surprising that Snowden would make a run for it. Hope he makes it to Latin America."I don’t think the NSA has done one thing valuable for us, in this whole ‘Prism’ regard, that couldn’t have been done by following the Constitution and doing it the old way. … The way I was brought up, the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution means you have to have two people testify that this person is likely doing something very wrong just to get a warrant and a court order from a normal court.”
Referring to the secret proceedings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reportedly granted comprehensive warrants for the NSA’s Prism activities, “Why do you set up a little private court? That’s like saying, ‘I need a warrant and I’m going to give one to myself.’ What it leads to is judge, jury, and executioner. It’s the same thing as lynch mobs.”
"I don’t think terrorism is war. I think terrorism is a crime. And by using the word ‘war’ we’ve managed to use all these weird ways to say the Constitution doesn’t apply in the case of a war.
"And I think Edward Snowden is a hero because this came from his heart. And I really believe he was giving up his whole life because he just felt so deeply about honesty, about spying on Americans, and he wanted to tell us.”
This Sunday at the Gay Pride Parade, I'll get to express support for another whistleblower in the government's sites -- a Bradley Manning support contingent will form up at Howard and Beale at 10 am. That shy gay man from Oklahoma has friends in the city by the bay. Definitely the place to be on Sunday.
3 comments:
One of the wisest things you've written recently was an instruction to ignore all the personal stories about Snowden because that was what the media was going to concentrate on even though the real story is what he has revealed. You were completely prescient, and it's a mantra I remember every time there's a new Snowden story spinning through the ether.
See you with the Bradley Manning contingent on Sunday.
Update: Just saw on Lisa Geduldig's FB page that the Manning group has been assigned slot #179 out of 250. No need to get up early, in other words, because it's going to be a late contingent in that seemingly endless parade.
Enjoy your parade. Great news!
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