Showing posts with label democrat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label democrat. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Edward Snowden and the Chinese Phoenix

photo phoenix.jpg

Previous Posts:
Edward Snowden Releases NSA Secrets
Edward Snowden: Hero or Villain?
Author Naomi Wolf Becomes Snowden Truther

I think he's a Traitor, and he's committed crimes in effect by violating agreements due to the contracts he had.
. . . I’m deeply suspicious because he went to China. That’s not a place where you would ordinarily want to go if you are interested in freedom, liberty and so forth. It raises questions whether or not he had that kind of connection before he did this.
I'm also concerned that he had help from inside the agency. Was there somebody else at NSA who had access to a lot of this stuff and passed it?
~ Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Fox News

I hope, I pray and I ask that you will not release any secrets that could constitute treason. I sense that you're under much stress [from] what I've read recently, and [ask] that you not succumb to that stress ... and make a bad decision.
. . . I would like to see Ed come home and face this. I shared that with the government when I spoke with them. I love my son.
~ Lonnie Snowden, father of Edward Snowden, on Fox News

I feel for the guy, and for what his life is going to become. I pity him.
He's in for a world of hurt, for the rest of his life. I feel sorry for him. He's going to go through life not being able to trust anybody. And I think that in the end, it'll end badly for him -- one way or another, they'll get their hands on him. He's going to pay for it. He's doomed.
. . . I don't know if he has an arrangement with the Chinese government. If he doesn't, I would be worried that the Chinese may deport him to the United States to gain some concession in return. I'd be terrified of that, if I were him. Who would trust the Chinese government? He is utterly vulnerable and knows that there are a lot of people who really want to hurt him now. If I were him, I would at this point probably be having second thoughts. Asking myself "What did I do? What have I brought down upon my head? Did I really do this?"
The fact is, he can never come back home.
~ Christopher Boyce, jailed and convicted Spy known as "Falcon" in the book and movie "Falcon and the Snowman" in an interview with CNN



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpts from Edward Snowden's Question and Answer via Guardian UK, Moderated by Glenn Greenwald, June 18, 2013

. . . I'm being called a traitor by men like former Vice President Dick Cheney. This is a man who gave us the warrantless wiretapping scheme as a kind of atrocity warm-up on the way to deceitfully engineering a conflict that has killed over 4,400 and maimed nearly 32,000 Americans, as well as leaving over 100,000 Iraqis dead. Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him, Feinstein, and King, the better off we all are. If they had taught a class on how to be the kind of citizen Dick Cheney worries about, I would have finished high school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snowden: . . . the US media has a knee-jerk "RED CHINA!" reaction to anything involving HK or the PRC, and is intended to distract from the issue of US government misconduct. Ask yourself: if I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn't I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snowden: . . . the US Government, just as they did with other whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason and that the disclosure of secret, criminal, and even unconstitutional acts is an unforgivable crime. That's not justice, and it would be foolish to volunteer yourself to it if you can do more good outside of prison than in it.

Second, let's be clear: I did not reveal any US operations against legitimate military targets. I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private businesses because it is dangerous. These nakedly, aggressively criminal acts are wrong no matter the target

All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~


Snowden: I was debriefed by Glenn and his peers over a number of days, and not all of those conversations were recorded. The statement I made about earnings was that $200,000 was my "career high" salary. I had to take pay cuts in the course of pursuing specific work. Booz was not the most I've been paid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snowden: More detail on how direct NSA's accesses are is coming, but in general, the reality is this: if an NSA, FBI, CIA, DIA, etc analyst has access to query raw SIGINT databases, they can enter and get results for anything they want. Phone number, email, user id, cell phone handset id (IMEI), and so on - it's all the same. The restrictions against this are policy based, not technically based, and can change at any time. Additionally, audits are cursory, incomplete, and easily fooled by fake justifications. For at least GCHQ, the number of audited queries is only 5% of those performed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Question: MonaHol
17 June 2013 4:37pm
Ed Snowden, I thank you for your brave service to our country.
Some skepticism exists about certain of your claims, including this:
I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you, or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the President if I had a personal email.
Do you stand by that, and if so, could you elaborate?

Snowden : Yes, I stand by it. US Persons do enjoy limited policy protections (and again, it's important to understand that policy protection is no protection - policy is a one-way ratchet that only loosens) and one very weak technical protection - a near-the-front-end filter at our ingestion points. The filter is constantly out of date, is set at what is euphemistically referred to as the "widest allowable aperture," and can be stripped out at any time.

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Friday, September 28, 2012

Doofus Todd Akin Versus "Wildcat" McCaskill

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I think we have a very clear path to victory, and apparently Claire McCaskill thinks we do, too, because she was very aggressive at the debate, which was quite different than it was when she ran against Jim Talent. She had a confidence and was much more ladylike (in 2006), but in the debate on Friday she came out swinging, and I think that's because she feels threatened."
~ Todd Akin in Jefferson City, Missouri

The first two minutes, wow, it's like somebody let a wildcat out of the cage. She was just furious and attacking in every different direction, which was a little bit of a surprise to us.
~ Todd Akin talking with supporters in Rolla, Missouri


If you look at some of the things that Todd Akin has said over the years, I mean, he's said things like in the heart of liberalism is a hatred of God. He has been a handful of votes against things like the sex offender registry, and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. I mean, this is somebody who kind of makes Michele Bachmann look like a hippie.
. . . I don't know exactly what his accusation that I'm not ladylike means. I think the debate was tough for Todd because I went through the list of his very, very extreme positions and I think he maybe wasn't prepared to answer some of that.
~ Claire McCaskill on Morning Joe

Todd Akin is at it again with another comment that's demeaning to women and offensive to all. What's truly astonishing is that the national party embraced Todd Akin yesterday and now refuses to repudiate his statement. Unless the national party condemns Todd Akin and his latest comments, every Republican candidate in the country will be held accountable for their support of of Akin's beliefs and sentiments.
~ Senator Patty Murray of Washington


TPM: Akin Suggests Employers Should Pay Women Less
AUDIENCE MEMBER: You voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Why do you think it is okay for a woman to be paid less for doing the same work as a man?

AKIN: Well, first of all, the premise of your question is that I'm making that particular distinction. I believe in free enterprise. I don't think the government should be telling people what you pay and what you don't pay. I think it's about freedom. If someone what’s to hire somebody and they agree on a salary, that's fine, however it wants to work. So, the government sticking its nose into all kinds of things has gotten us into huge trouble.

First, Todd Akin said Claire's not 'ladylike' because she's standing up for working families, now he's opposed to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay act because he believes employers should have the freedom to discriminate against their female employees. Once again, it's clear that the problem isn't what Todd Akin says, the problem is what Todd Akin believes.
~ McCaskill spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki, via TPM

Wow. Aiken's on fire this week. Party like it's 1905!
~ comment by Joshua Z. on Talking Points Memo

Todd Akin's mind is like a book of Mad Libs, except everything he says revolves around hating vajayjays.
~ comment by 365 Days of Horror on Talking Points Memo

His ignorant comments to date reflect that not only does he have no clue about female anatomy, he also has no clue about our brains. I would say that his comments are very unmasculine, but I think the sad truth is they aren't. They are very "masculine." They reflect a stereotype of the typical, misogynistic attitude of men of a certain age and value system.
The fact is, men like Akin had their turn. This is a new time for men, and as angry as I am on behalf of my daughter because obviously his comments hurt all girls, I am also mad on behalf of my son. I don't want my son thinking that the only way to be a man is to keep women in a box.
~ Sasha Brown-Worsham on The Stir

I just think that this is not a winnable race. We have to make tough calculations based on limited resources and where to allocate it, where it will have the best likelihood of electing a Republican senator.
~ Senator John Cornyn of Texas, Head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, saying he doesn't think Akin can win, via Politico

All of this – the belief that some rape victims are more legitimate than others, the hostility toward women who are "aggressive" and "unladylike", the refusal to protect women from violence if those women are immigrants or lesbians – reflects the GOP's fundamental view that women are not equal citizens. The entire Republican social platform is structured around the idea of the "traditional family", where men are in the public sphere as breadwinners and heads of households, and women stay in private, taking care of children and serving as helpmeets to their husbands. The conservative worldview sees men as naturally in charge, and women as naturally nurturing and supportive of male authority.
~ Jill Filipovik on Guardian UK

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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Romney Dog Whistles: Foreign, Anglo-Saxon, Atlanticist




romney-foreign


From Telegraph UK
Mitt Romney would restore "Anglo-Saxon" understanding to the special relationship between the US and Britain, and return Sir Winston Churchill's bust to the White House, according to advisers.

. . . In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”.

. . . The two advisers said Mr Romney would seek to reinstate the Churchill bust displayed in the Oval Office by George W. Bush but returned to British diplomats by Mr Obama when he took office in 2009. One said Mr Romney viewed the move as “symbolically important” while the other said it was “just for starters”, adding:

“He is naturally more Atlanticist”.


From MSNBC 7-24-2012

MITT ROMNEY: It's a very strange, and in some respects, foreign to the American experience type of philosophy. If you have a business and you started it, you did build it, and you deserve credit for that. It was not built for you by government.

MITCHELL: Without getting into the argument as to whether he is taking the President out of context over the "build it" business, he is still using the term "foreign" and I'm telling you, this is happening every day, it is a dog whistle.

CHUCK TODD: No, I've gotten a lot of – a lot of tweets about this, a lot of e-mails. People saying, "What's he doing? Why does he keep doing that? Is he dog whistling?"

MITCHELL: Well, what do you think he's doing?

TODD: And it is about – to take him at face value – it's about trying to paint the President as out of touch, that he doesn't have the experience, that it's all about...

MITCHELL: Out of touch is out of touch. Foreign is...

TODD: ...out of touch about the American economy, that he doesn't understand how capitalism works.

MITCHELL: Foreign is suggesting somebody who grew up in Indonesia, who's...

TODD: Look, I hear you.

MITCHELL: I'm telling you...

CHRIS CILLIZZA: Here's the problem, Andrea, from my perspective...

TODD: I think people hear what they want to hear on this.

MITCHELL: ...words matter.

(Starts at about minute 4.00)

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


With all that money hidden Overseas....He should be careful using the term "foreigner".
~ comment by Roots Rock Reggae on Think Progress

it is stunning that repubs think that this is a path to the white house....perhaps more stunning is that voters do too.
~ comment by Bruce J on Think Progress

I seek a more perfect union. When I read the Preamble, I see the WHOLE thing. It is about everyone, not a select few. And when you make it about a chosen few, it is YOU who is Un-American.
~ TexDude50 in an essay on Daily Kos

Ummm I think they just omitted the racist dog whistle and went straight for the bullhorn.
~ comment by Raphael on ThinkProgress

Didn't this guy's family love "our" Anglo-Saxon heritage so much that they fled to Mexico?
~ comment by Sanjiv on ThinkProgress

The racist code is strong in this one.
~ comment by Charlie B. in Telegraph UK

Let's be honest, this whole Anglo-Saxon dog whistle is the gentile version of "birtherism" For any one knowledgeable in history, this is purely unabashed racism. What they are saying is that only a president who is white can fully appreciate the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.
~ comment by nathkatun7 on Telegraph UK

I have a fairly comprehensive knowledge of contempary Anglo-Saxon expletives and I'd like to tell him to just f*ck off
~ comment by Monster Mash on Telegraph UK


















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