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In reply to the discussion: Former Top NSA Official: “We Are Now In A Police State” [View all]randome
(34,845 posts)148. Why would I discount this since there is clear evidence it is occurring?
Is the NSA using the metadata to blackmail people around the world, as some of the DU conspiracy theorists posit? I don't see that it's happening.
And if the metadata collection is stopped, it will be clear that they are NOT blackmailing the world, so where does that leave the conspiracy theorists? Having vanquished a phantom foe?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]
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Looks to me that he has an axe to grind. And he has been gone from NSA for 12 years.
Tx4obama
Dec 2013
#3
He is a person of prinicple and is widely regarded as such. He knows what he is talking about
sabrina 1
Dec 2013
#22
Yes, let's grind that ax and hone it perfectly. How many people are illegally imprisoned?
Coyotl
Dec 2013
#26
I am sure Congress will be working diligently to find that out, how many have been illegally
sabrina 1
Dec 2013
#91
Yes. He has an ax to grind against the police state that GWB created. Apparently, you support
Luminous Animal
Dec 2013
#30
Funny how those who value civil liberties more than their own jobs have axes to grind
EOTE
Dec 2013
#86
Some attorneys focus on a particular area of the law not to protect it but to defeat it.
JimDandy
Dec 2013
#10
He was NEVER what could be called a "Professor of Constitutional Law, as if it was his speciality.
savannah43
Dec 2013
#15
He's not thinking of a police state, he's thinking of a slave state like Ancient Rome.
sibelian
Dec 2013
#36
I think it's call a "straw man" argument when you misrepresent an argument then argue against it.
rhett o rick
Dec 2013
#111
The posts shows that there is a market for personal data. The NSA has the capability to get
rhett o rick
Dec 2013
#149
With respect, you dont know what data Snowden got his hands on any more than I. You dont know what
rhett o rick
Dec 2013
#160
When you have to start an argument with "if this were a totalitarian state," you're in denial. n/t
winter is coming
Dec 2013
#66
Thanks. I was a little surprised (and grateful) than no one else had already claimed it. n/t
winter is coming
Dec 2013
#132
That would not be surprising at all. It was one of the first such forums to ask for so much personal
sabrina 1
Dec 2013
#47
Your professor had better hope they don't decide to take down the stage setting
tavalon
Dec 2013
#98
Technically he is correct. We are not yet in a totalitarian state per the definition. We may be
rhett o rick
Dec 2013
#114
Like he thinks we haven't known that!! Why is it that no one can quite grasp a reality until some
ancianita
Dec 2013
#9
I did not know WHAT they were using this data for. I did not know they were passing it along to
sabrina 1
Dec 2013
#49
Thank you, yes I remember that, that they were using the info to funnel to the DEA, but I did not
sabrina 1
Dec 2013
#157
Great! Details! That are impossible to investigate with the PPPP in place, even for judges.
ancianita
Dec 2013
#153
Are you familiar with Binney at all? Binney is an NSA Whistle Blower who did NOT wait 'all this
sabrina 1
Dec 2013
#156
Thank you. I'm not familiar with him. I'm now enlightened that he's been a crucial whistleblower.
ancianita
Dec 2013
#158
No problem, and I agree with you that people get tired of seeing the crimes exposed only to see
sabrina 1
Dec 2013
#161
OK, mine is a stupid little anecdote, but I'm sure there are many more where like it so here goes...
Snarkoleptic
Dec 2013
#18
They're spying on us (and, everybody else) to protect us from tyranny where everybody is spied on.
Tierra_y_Libertad
Dec 2013
#23
All of the information gained by the NSA through spying is then shared with federal, state and local
Coyotl
Dec 2013
#24
Now let's ask our totalitarian police state to provide Nationalized Health care.
JoePhilly
Dec 2013
#42
So long as they don't exercise their first Amendment rights to protest, or become active in trying
sabrina 1
Dec 2013
#51
Railing against an imaginary police state is easier than dealing with the real problems we face.
randome
Dec 2013
#74
Not every single activist has to be brutalized for the police to make their point.
NuclearDem
Dec 2013
#73
I think one of the recommendations for the NSA is to have a 'defendant advocate'.
randome
Dec 2013
#75
Well, they got 'caught' using a legal warrant. I guess we won't agree on how important that is.
randome
Dec 2013
#82
It's only hyperbole to those who believe they are safe from being targeted. But to the thousands
sabrina 1
Dec 2013
#90
Thousands of OWS protesters were falsely arrested and jailed. Are you calling facts 'hyperbole' now?
sabrina 1
Dec 2013
#94
Here in Portland the FBI raided a house and arrested squatters involved in anti-corporate protests.
Maedhros
Dec 2013
#118
There doesn't seem to be a lot of remorse from Binney, considering he was one of the architects...
Blue_Tires
Dec 2013
#96
Looks like the 0.0001% couldn't care less about neither 'our' liberty or security.
Amonester
Dec 2013
#126
I'm going to do myself a favor and bypass the nauseating pro-tolalitarian responses K&R
whatchamacallit
Dec 2013
#133