General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs NSA leaker the same Edward Snowden in Hawaii who is a Ron Paul supporter?
Who is paying for his "plush" hotel room in Hong Kong? How is he going to fund the rest of his life?
http://www.dailypolicyjournal.com/was-nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-a-ron-paul-supporter/
Evidence to that effect can be found in a contribution receipt report filed by the Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee Inc., which shows a $250 contribution received from an Edward Snowden who also has a Hawaii address.
If this is indeed the same Edward Snowden who is behind the leaks reported by The Guardians Glenn Greenwald over the course of the last few days, it would give some additional insight and context to what motivated him to come forward.
SNIP
warrior1
(12,325 posts)Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Damn near choked.
treestar
(82,383 posts)Funny how it will be OK for him to have been a corporate employee.
warrior1
(12,325 posts)LittleBlue
(10,362 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)and just how do YOU fucking know that his hotel room is plush?
BeyondGeography
(39,374 posts)There's no middle class, nor is there a mid-priced tourism market, You're either at a four-star hotel in Central or on the Kowloon side of the harbor, or a fleabag like Chungking Mansion on Nathan Road. Helluva place; they used to have a sign that read, "WHEN there is a fire, descend this staircase."
boston bean
(36,222 posts)Response to boston bean (Reply #8)
emulatorloo This message was self-deleted by its author.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)Really now!?!?! Oh my this is going to get interesting!
YOU DON"T SAY!?!
RainDog
(28,784 posts)wow.
never could've seen THAT ONE coming....
boston bean
(36,222 posts)i don't agree with them much of the time, but they have their place in our democracy.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)The $200K job sounds more like contractor pay, especially for the type of work he seems to have been doing.
Plus he also worked for Dell in the last few years.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)I was just laughing at the reality that a lot of libertarian party supporters may be found within the ranks of computer geeks and have probably contributed to the same.
...sort of like finding out that someone made a contribution to the Democratic Party who works for a non-profit trying to improve the lives of those with disadvantages.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)I am one and he made more than I do, but that is in the ball park. Also living here in Hawaii most contractors get a Cost of Living Adjustment due to the expensive nature of living in paradise. It's funny he worked right down the road from me. I am more on the All source side though........
MNBrewer
(8,462 posts)Ad hominem much?
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Edward Snowden fits the psychological profile of a tea bagger.
former9thward
(32,027 posts)UTUSN
(70,711 posts)(from another thread: )
*************QUOTE*************
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022979420
[font size=5]PRISM was an effective program and a good balance with civil liberties. Snowden should go to jail.[/font]
*************UNQUOTE*************
usGovOwesUs3Trillion
(2,022 posts)Fortunately for us Americans, their are those who are working on the inside willing to show the rest of us what is really going on.
psst... pass the word
leveymg
(36,418 posts)do this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance
First, he said: "Most of the secrets the CIA has are about people, not machines and systems, so I didn't feel comfortable with disclosures that I thought could endanger anyone". Secondly, the election of Barack Obama in 2008 gave him hope that there would be real reforms, rendering disclosures unnecessary.
He left the CIA in 2009 in order to take his first job working for a private contractor that assigned him to a functioning NSA facility, stationed on a military base in Japan. It was then, he said, that he "watched as Obama advanced the very policies that I thought would be reined in", and as a result, "I got hardened."
The primary lesson from this experience was that "you can't wait around for someone else to act. I had been looking for leaders, but I realised that leadership is about being the first to act."
Over the next three years, he learned just how all-consuming the NSA's surveillance activities were, claiming "they are intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them".
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)It's not at all unusual.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Every hard core looneytarian I've ever known hated Obama, and if this is true it makes it hard to believe this guy is anything but a hard core looneytarian.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)There still are. I talked to 4000 voters in a key swing district in VA, a very purple state. The ones who expressed this aren't loons.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Ron Paul is a neoconfederate bigot. How anyone would get that a slavery lover would be a champion of liberty seems to fall well inside the borders of Looneyville.
Just sayin'
struggle4progress
(118,295 posts)because I feel he did not live up to all the hope I invested in him!"
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)ucrdem
(15,512 posts)In other words, he left the Bushler CIA when Obama took office to work for an equally criminal private Bushler CIA. Whose existence I've suspected for a while but didn't really have confirmation of until now. So thanks for this.
p.s. the other post was in the wrong place, sorry.
giftedgirl77
(4,713 posts)describes Dick Cheny's biography sitting next to the bed.
Between that & supporting the Paul asylum , I say good day.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)"I don't want public attention because I don't want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing."
DevonRex
(22,541 posts)with this issue. Pretending to sue, etc. I'm sure it's in preparation for his presidential run in 2016.
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)DevonRex
(22,541 posts)DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)Yes, Rand Paul is a shithead. Yes, Republicans in congress are guilty as sin too. And yes, Rand Paul is making a naked political play. But, at least it sounds like there's some political will to stop this, and raise a discussion of the issue. If it has to be a freaking 'bagger who does it for his own self-aggrandizing reasons, it's better than nothing. Many people here who have been defending this totalitarian spying program have sung the chorus, if you don't like the law, get it changed. Well, they should feel hopeful now, because this may be a vehicle to do exactly that. Obama really shouldn't have let a reptilian teabagger get in front of him on this.
So I'd be very interested in hearing why you plan to keep supporting a secret and totalitarian spy program.
DevonRex
(22,541 posts)DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)deminks
(11,014 posts)nt
cali
(114,904 posts)B2G
(9,766 posts)Libertarians have some very valid points in regards to government intrusion into our lives.
How does who he voted for make an ounce of difference? The reason this shit keeps happening is because we constantly divide ourselves over party affiliation, allowing our masters to run rough-shod over us. It's a great distraction really.
But do go on...
baldguy
(36,649 posts)There is a massive difference between a run-of-the-mill libertarian, who might recognize some legitimate concerns of civil liberties vs. national security, and a coocoo-cloudlander Randian Objectivist, who supports & is supported by the Drs Paul, and who views the exercise of any govt authority or any govt responsibility - legitimate or not, intentional or not, imaginary or not - as a direct physical assault on their person.
He's supposedly worried about the govt gathering metadata on our phone calls & reading our emails. But says nothing about multinational corporations doing the exact same thing.
If his objective is to destroy the govt - and make no mistake, that's exactly what Randians want to do - what better way than to allow the admittedly limited & imperfect security apparatus that helps protect it (and us, BTW) to be dismantled?
B2G
(9,766 posts)Now I know what to expect from the operatives.
leeroysphitz
(10,462 posts)friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)Response to Original message
25. People are harassed, investigated & arrested for their political beliefs.
Edited on Sun Jan-30-05 09:34 PM by baldguy
Held anonymously without charge, trial, or communication with the outside world.
The President's press secretary says that people should watch what they say, or else - and the press is too afraid to say anything.
People are prevented from traveling freely because they are on a gov't list.
During his most recent inauguration, Bush faced the largest number of protesters at such an event in 35 years. People were herded into cages, tear gassed en masse, and arrested for the crime of exercising their 1st Amendment rights.
What do you think?
Has your position evolved, or is this sort of intrusion acceptable under 'one of our guys'?
baldguy
(36,649 posts)Who are Obama's political prisoners? Anyone we're holding now are leftovers from the Bush Regime that Congress won't let him release.
And what does this have to do with NSA spying, anyway?
BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)And they won't listen to anything or anyone no matter the facts. Obama is a dictator, doncha know? Glenn Greenwald is a true Liberal, and Ron and Rand Paul are the messiahs who never lie or do anything that doesn't promote their political careers. I believe these "DUers" are horribly lost.
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)on DU as well.
Bobbie Jo
(14,341 posts)DesMoinesDem
(1,569 posts)Marr
(20,317 posts)The excuses and attempts at distraction I've seen here over the last few days has me honestly *hoping* the apologists are being paid for their efforts. It's actually depressing to me to think of people trying so hard to excuse such violations of their own rights, purely out of loyalty to a politician.
Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)suffragette
(12,232 posts)graham4anything
(11,464 posts)This could go down as the biggest dirty trick of all time
(the thing that always got me about the Paul family, is the location of the district of Ron to Tom DeLay, It was parallel to DeLay
and the thought that if the Paul's were not part of the republican party, he would have been primaried out years and years ago.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)I have made a lot of enemies in a short time here because I called Manning a traitor, and I still stand by that. I am a retired Army Analyst same MOS as Manning and I stand by my opinion on that one.
HOWEVER
This guy is a freaking hero because he exposed real crimes and real threats to our civil liberties and knew exactly what he was releasing. Watching some people here defend the destruction of the civil liberties has been almost as terrifying as this program. Line up like good little Germans and do whatever your government tells you to do. You were born free, as I was born free and now more than ever before our birth right is almost gone. I won't say President Obama (my President and a man I voted for twice is worse than Bush, but he is almost equal to him at this point). And yes for those who are just itching to alert, I am still a Democrat and I will still work my ass off for my party, but I also won't be a part of this madness that excuses collection on American citizens. It seems to have started under Bush, but I don't see my guy doing anything to stop it.
LeftInTX
(25,383 posts)Why didn't he go directly to Iceland?
Why is he in Hong Kong when he says he wants to go to Iceland?
Kinda makes me nervous that he went to China.
I don't really care about the Ron Paul stuff.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)very easy to get to Hong Kong. Iceland is very difficult to get to from Hawaii and most likely would have had to go through Washington D.C. to get there. I know he could have gone through NYC also, but the point is that it is very easy to go to Hong Kong from here. I might have gone the same route if I was in his shoes. Anything that keeps me as far away from Washington D.C. as possible is a good thing in a situation like this.
LeftInTX
(25,383 posts)I don't travel much and have no idea if his computer could be searched if he went through NYC. I kinda didn't think airport security (TSA or whatever) routinely does this, but since he had a security clearance and was going on an international flight, it might be a different scenario.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)what the government did and did not know about him and his plans to leak this information. Why go to the heart of the problem if you can go somewhere else. Any domestic flight to Iceland would have taken him to NYC, or D.C. WAY too close to the flagpole. Besides many, many contractors in Hawaii go to East Asia for vacation all the time, no suspicions would be raised. Hell I have been to Thailand and the Philippines in the year I have worked out here in Hawaii.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)leftstreet
(36,109 posts)graham4anything
(11,464 posts)Rand Paul should do the honorable thing and resign immediately if this is true.
LondonReign2
(5,213 posts)You're really firing on all cylinders today g4a
Berlum
(7,044 posts)DirkGently
(12,151 posts)Please. They're Bush's programs. What kind of thought doughnut does it require to think the inventors of this insidious nonsense want it exposed?
whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)if he gave 500 dollars to Chairman Mao's ghost. This is potentially the biggest scandal in our lifetime. Bigger than Watergate, Watergate was spying on a political party. This is spying on the entire citizenry of this country. And I am no shrinking violet on this subject. I have been incredibly harsh on Bradley Manning calling him a traitor, because he is one. This guy however is a hero, and this guy has exposed real crimes. And it is fucking embarrassing watching Liberals, Democrats, Progressives whatever title you want to call yourselves support tyranny. Spin it however you want, this is tyranny. And if you support it, that is your right, but enjoy being a slave.
villager
(26,001 posts)Life Long Dem
(8,582 posts)kenny blankenship
(15,689 posts)Do you ever think what you SOUND like?
Monkie
(1,301 posts)ElizabethWarren2016
(18 posts)This, the War on Drugs, etc.
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)I guess if you're a white non-union male . . .
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2012/1/28/ron-paul-no-friend-99
SNIP
It gets worse. Paul states that hes against the Civil Rights Act. The Civil Rights Act was one of the greatest victories in the struggle for equality for African-American, Chicano, Asian American and other oppressed nationalities. While it is true that all sorts of discrimination and inequity still exist, it is also a fact that the 1964 Civil Rights Act provided the legal framework that ended Jim Crow - including outlawing separate and unequal schools, banning employment discrimination against oppressed nationalities and women, and desegregating restaurants, buses, and hotels. But Ron Paul says it destroyed privacy - meaning white business owners should be able to discriminate against African-Americans and others, in the privacy of their own businesses.
Ron Paul's views on immigration are sure to appeal to the worst sort of racist. Paul is against any sort of legalization that would fix the problem, even for immigrants who have been in the country for decades. Paul favors tougher enforcement of immigration laws, breaking up families and expelling hardworking people. He even favors eliminating birth right citizenship, which was written into the 14th Amendment to the Constitution in order to guarantee rights to African Americans. This means children born in the U.S. would not automatically be citizens, which was a racist demand by the anti-Chinese movement in the 1880s and is still pushed by those opposed to immigration from Mexico and Central America today. Ron Paul places the blame for what he sees as the immigration problem on the U.S. "welfare state, instead of a system that destroys the economies of other countries and exploits low cost labor. Ron Pauls view flies in the face of the obvious fact that immigrants are among the most hardworking people in the United States. Immigrants often do the most unpleasant, most dangerous and lowest paid jobs in the U.S. and deserve full equality and legalization.
Ron Paul's newsletters were just as offensive to the GLBTQ community. A news article bearing his name said: Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities. Despite claiming to be for civil liberties, his current positions on gay rights are not much better. In 2005, Ron Paul sponsored a bill called the We the People Act, to prevent federal courts from enforcing any civil rights claim relating to sexuality. Ron Paul also supported the Federal Defense of Marriage Act. Until this law was passed in 1996, a marriage that was carried out in one state was valid in any other state. But under this law, that is not true for marriages between two people of the same sex.
On women's rights, Ron Paul's record is also dismal. While claiming to stand for individual freedoms, Paul would take away a womans right to choose. Ron Paul would undo Roe v. Wade and allow states to make abortion illegal again. Paul also says there should be no legal protection against sexual harassment at work, opening the door for an employer to coerce or intimidate an employee to have sex with him or lose their job.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)affect gender? This should be good.
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)But if Obama's waging the war, that's okely dokely!
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)He opposes the Civil rights act, for example. He opposes women's right to choose, and anti-discrimination laws.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)you obfuscate with other shit no one asked about. Nice tactic.
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)Ron Paul is the right-winger politician for pro-drug legalization people.
But his economic policy is the same as any Rethug.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)are on civil liberties issues, of which the war on drugs is an issue on that list of issues. So again, how does the war on drugs affect gender and thus make President Obama better on all civil liberties issues?
This is very entertaining watching you contort yourself into such pretzel logic
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)to control their own bodies and the rights of all humans to be free from discrimination in the workplace.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)so no you will not be honest. Ok I just wanted to be sure. You will spin into infinity rather than be consistent or honest, I understand now.
rastaone
(57 posts)I bet Hitler was better than Obama in some subject. I heard he was big on the arts. Hmmm
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)But we aren't talking about Hitler, a fascist dictator. We are talking about an American President (and man I voted for) and an American Senator (who I also respect for his stance on drones and drugs) And respecting him for those stances in no way shape or form, makes me any less committed to electing Democrats or supporting Democrats.
The point is that some people will stretch into any shape to defend their guy, even when he is dead wrong.
MNBrewer
(8,462 posts)Interesting. How nice of the President to be better on civil liberties issues for women.
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)that Ron and Rand Paul would deny.
And their view of civil liberties protects employers who want to discriminate against women and other groups.
MNBrewer
(8,462 posts)Are women the only people who need the right to control their own bodies??
So, the Pauls are better on SOME issues of civil liberties and the Obamas are better on other issues of civil liberties.
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)MNBrewer
(8,462 posts)Is he against forced circumcision or something?
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)that President Obama is better on some civil liberties issues and the Paul's are better on other civil liberties issues? Or are you going to stick with your current tactic and ignore any facts to the contrary?
boston bean
(36,222 posts)A person who invites infringements on my 4th amendment rights? yeah, I know bush started them, but Obama continued them obviously.
You cannot extrapolate that this guy is a rabid anti choicer because he gave to Ron Paul in 2008.
I can't stand libertarians on most social issues, I do however, agree with them sometimes on government intrusions. What the hell kind of people do you think give money to the ACLU.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)graham4anything
(11,464 posts)what an amazing post you wrote here, simply amazing.
If I am not mistaken the SOP of this site specifically states NO PAULites are welcome here.
Bobbie Jo
(14,341 posts)Explains much of the absolute nonsense that passes for "criticism"'around here.
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)think
(11,641 posts)WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)G_j
(40,367 posts)hilarious post though..
Warpy
(111,277 posts)He's former CIA (so we've been told) and his web presence for casual searchers is zero.
There is one with the same name and close to the same age who has been involved in telecomm companies, but that one doesn't appear to be the right one, either.
This is just something we're going to have to wait and see how it develops.
All I know now is what we see is not what we're actually getting.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)that know what the capabilities are make it very difficult to find them on the internet. Some people especially in the field of Cyber Intelligence erase their digital footprints completely because they know what is going on.
nebenaube
(3,496 posts)Which is why this program fails from the onset...
RobinA
(9,894 posts)Petraus seems not to have had the same ability.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)ananda
(28,866 posts)Well, just sayin ....
TheKentuckian
(25,026 posts)who reported a program that isn't only not disputed but defended?
"None of this matters cause...RON PAUL!...Quick look over there" is not a valid answer here.
appleannie1
(5,067 posts)Now all of a sudden it is such a terrible thing. Somehow I doubt that the loved ones of 9-11 victims or the survivors of the Boston attack think it is such a terrible thing.
Maven
(10,533 posts)dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)So - is the answer yes or no ?
uponit7771
(90,347 posts)AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)on multiple threads now?
Booz Allen made 6 billion for CG last year.....why would they risk all that money to give President Obama a black eye......Be serious please
RetroLounge
(37,250 posts)One of many, and coincidentally, you were OP in several.
RL
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Bonobo
(29,257 posts)whether he was a Libertarian or a Republican.
It is simply irrelevant to the act itself, but I will hasten to point out that if he IS a Paul supporter, it is easy to see why. He has probably seen that both Dems and Repubs are not that far apart on issues like this NSA spying thing.
In that he is demonstrably correct.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)Thank god! I was concerned because between the WH and others telling me that this was a matter of national security and shouldn't have just been leaked, and also telling me this is "old news" that was known for years, I thought they were discussing it as if it was true information. I'm glad to see that this guy donated $250 to Ron Paul, because now I can be sure that none of it is true.
uponit7771
(90,347 posts)GeorgeGist
(25,321 posts)JoeyT
(6,785 posts)Skittles
(153,169 posts)tiffany_willis
(9 posts)That explains a lot.
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)Well well well. So the hidden hand is revealed at last. Thanks pnwmom, uponit7771, and everyone else with enough good sense not to drink the tea.
p.s. what a surprise to find Goldenboy Glenn and the Guardian in the Texas tent. So much for their fake leftist cred.
K/R, bookmarking.
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)on his stainless steel grill while drinking the blood of virgins out of a an ivory glass made from an elephants trunk.
Hangin's too good for him... burnin's too good for him.. he should be torn into little bitsy pieces and buried alive!
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)and will soon, no doubt, be showing it to the government there.