To attempt to blame Washington or any other officials is not a defense of Snowden's actions as you would like for the world to believe. Theft is wrong and having read other posts here the attempt to "blame" illegal activity of collecting data is all wrong. You know warrants have been obtained to gather the phone records and the Fourth Amendment is not based on feelings of a few of the citizens. The Fourth amendment is being followed, Snowden should have followed the Code of Ethics as he had signed on to do. Ignorance of the law is not a defense, unless Snowden was under a trance of others he is the one responsible for his actions. Blaming Washington using "there are other offenses occurring" still does not excuse Snowden's actions.

You need to go get him. Go man, go.

him.

(and you can't deny the existence of such a law since there are a bunch of secret laws now), and you get fucked up the ass, is that right? The constitution might have something in it that says the government can't fuck you up the ass, but they're fucking you up the ass! If you blow the whistle on you (and pretty much everybody else) being fucked up the ass, is it entirely your fault? Are you to blame for not following the correct channels? Given that the people in Washington fucked the constitution up the ass in order to make it legal for them to fuck you up the ass, is it still entirely your fault?

There's some good, recent history on someone blowing the whistle on being fucked up the ass, and his punishment was to get fucked up the ass more, big time. That was against international law, but did little to sooth his bunghole. See Manning.

there are a lot of people around here who apparently enjoy being fucked up the ass (metaphorically speaking, of course!)

But yeah, there is a group of people who like the whole cornholing part. And they hate the guy who pointed out the cornholing, which is really weird.

So is murder, spying, torture, secret laws and the men and women that enable these practices and keep them ongoing.

Cheer leading for these same individuals is also wrong.

Look past the messenger and see what the message reveals if you dare.

You're arguing to let the baby burn in the burning baby scenario.

the treasury flat out lose trillions and cannot find it, then they run around Congress demanding nothing work on purpose. Is it any wonder that they completely miss that really obvious fact? That they believe bullshit and let corporations write laws? It is all personal imo.

Who is going to admit that they suck at their job and will tell the entire nation so? Nobody. They only thing they can do is try and get back to resembling some kind of capitalist system that won't keep pushing us through these 'cyclical economic crisis' mode that shrink the middle class and put all the weight on the working poor.

This is a reflection of how far down the rabbit hole they are in denial. Take your pick which Branch you want to talk about.

And a K & R for the thread.

They know who the paymasters are because they know who the paymasters are. Wall St works for the same group that the NSA leaves alone. They all work for that small group that owns most of the country.

It is the same as social and corporate welfare; economic terrorism is different than physical terrorism.

They only investigate one type. Can you guess which one? They LOVE the other!

Economic terrorism seems to mean a yearly bonus for GFS or perhaps a cabinet seat?

Dare I say senate run?

Just look at Rick Scott in Florida, a shining example of how crime pays on an enormous scale.

We have a winner!

K&R

.... and appoint the great ones to public office." ~~Aesop

And Wall Street is a greater security risk than just about any institution. It isn't the concept of a stock market. It isn't even the idea of Wall Street. It is the way it is being managed and run. It's totally corrupt.

And of course, the message of Wall Street being just hunky-dory, nothing to see there, is one of the many things that our government wants spin with its propaganda and its information on our metadata.

The WH issued recent statements accusing Snowden of propaganda.

It backfired badly at the Press Conference

&feature=youtu.be (see the second minute of the clip, where the WH spokesperson is called out)

Snowden's statement on June12th

Statement by Edward Snowden to human rights groups at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport

Friday July 12, 15:00 UTC

Edward Joseph Snowden delivered a statement to human rights organizations and individuals at Sheremetyevo airport at 5pm Moscow time today, Friday 12th July. The meeting lasted 45 minutes. The human rights organizations included Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and were given the opportunity afterwards to ask Mr Snowden questions. The Human Rights Watch representative used this opportunity to tell Mr Snowden that on her way to the airport she had received a call from the US Ambassador to Russia, who asked her to relay to Mr Snowden that the US Government does not categorise Mr Snowden as a whistleblower and that he has broken United States law. This further proves the United States Government’s persecution of Mr Snowden and therefore that his right to seek and accept asylum should be upheld. Seated to the left of Mr. Snowden was Sarah Harrison, a legal advisor in this matter from WikiLeaks and to Mr. Snowden’s right, a translator.
Transcript of Edward Joseph Snowden statement, given at 5pm Moscow time on Friday 12th July 2013. (Transcript corrected to delivery)
Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone’s communications at any time. That is the power to change people’s fates.
It is also a serious violation of the law. The 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution of my country, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and numerous statutes and treaties forbid such systems of massive, pervasive surveillance. While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice – that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law.
I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."
Accordingly, I did what I believed right and began a campaign to correct this wrongdoing. I did not seek to enrich myself. I did not seek to sell US secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. Instead, I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice.
That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets.
Since that time, the government and intelligence services of the United States of America have attempted to make an example of me, a warning to all others who might speak out as I have. I have been made stateless and hounded for my act of political expression. The United States Government has placed me on no-fly lists. It demanded Hong Kong return me outside of the framework of its laws, in direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement – the Law of Nations. It has threatened with sanctions countries who would stand up for my human rights and the UN asylum system. It has even taken the unprecedented step of ordering military allies to ground a Latin American president’s plane in search for a political refugee. These dangerous escalations represent a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America, but to the basic rights shared by every person, every nation, to live free from persecution, and to seek and enjoy asylum.
Yet even in the face of this historically disproportionate aggression, countries around the world have offered support and asylum. These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless. By refusing to compromise their principles in the face of intimidation, they have earned the respect of the world. It is my intention to travel to each of these countries to extend my personal thanks to their people and leaders.
I announce today my formal acceptance of all offers of support or asylum I have been extended and all others that may be offered in the future. With, for example, the grant of asylum provided by Venezuela’s President Maduro, my asylee status is now formal, and no state has a basis by which to limit or interfere with my right to enjoy that asylum. As we have seen, however, some governments in Western European and North American states have demonstrated a willingness to act outside the law, and this behavior persists today. This unlawful threat makes it impossible for me to travel to Latin America and enjoy the asylum granted there in accordance with our shared rights.
This willingness by powerful states to act extra-legally represents a threat to all of us, and must not be allowed to succeed. Accordingly, I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel to Latin America, as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law and my legal travel is permitted. I will be submitting my request to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably.
If you have any questions, I will answer what I can.
Thank you.

http://wikileaks.org/Statement-by-Edward-Snowden-to.html

That is BIG! As in the past, with nothing out there to document who has actually been spied upon, no one was allowed to sue the government to find out about these spying programs as they didn't have "standing" (know that they were a target and therefore involved in the spying) to do so! Now, the court cases can proceed, provided the government doesn't play the "state secrets" card to continue to hide things. If they do the latter, it will be a huge red flag on how this "state secrets" crap is unconstitutional in its usage to over the years do many coverups of other things that haven't been as visible to the public as having affected all of us. If the public now all see this crap being used to keep court cases from being heard, there will be that much more pressure on elected government officials to either demand that the state secrets privilege crap be stopped, or have them get voted out of office if they show themselves "complicit" in its usage against all of us.

If more documents released give even more people "standing" to sue the government, that will create that much more fires that will be harder to put out too. This is why they want to shut down Snowden and Greenwald now!