Kinja reply list

Read More
bruunoMax Read
6/24/13 3:42pm
I have nothing but respect for you Mr. Read but I find it odd that you are yet to mention the news today (by his own confession) that Snowden took the Booz Allen job with the express purpose of finding information to leak. Your posts today have certainly ben entertaining but leaving out something like this seems sloppy.
Reply
- Read More
  Ricki Spanish Harlembruuno
  6/24/13 3:48pm
  Shh..that would mess up the narrative.
  Reply
- Read More
  gilbertkittensbruuno
  6/24/13 3:53pm
  Right? It's almost as if the entire story is now just about the location of one person as opposed to America's intelligence gathering overreach. What a huge surprise! I wonder what the legislative outcome of all this is going to be? Not.
  Reply
Read More
JohninLAMax Read
6/24/13 3:40pm
I'm all for more transparency and I think the guy has balls in giving up his livelihood to do this — however — something seriously rubs me the wrong way about him divulging information to China.

"The U.S. government has some shady information gathering practices. I think I'll share secrets with (and seek shelter in) a country known for building *The Great Firewall* to keep its citizens in the dark about anything its government doesn't find 'harmonious'".

Makes sense!
Reply
- Read More
  casenJohninLA
  6/24/13 3:50pm
  Did you hear the latest news that he deliberately went to Booz and took that particular job just so he could gain access to NSA stuff? It's one thing if he was working innocently, stumbled across something that conflicted with his principles, and then decided to divulge it. It's another thing when you actively plot to take a position for the sake of stealing information.
  Reply
- Read More
  gilbertkittensJohninLA
  6/24/13 3:54pm
  Agreed.
  Reply
Read More
gilbertkittensMax Read
6/24/13 4:02pm
This is fucking ridiculous. There was a thread here, in the beginning, of a valuable concept: reigning in the war on terror. That is completely gone now. If Snowden were really as selfless as some seem to still believe wouldn't he have sacrificed his freedom and exposed all these secrets while making himself available for trial in the US? That would certainly have done more to expose all the NSA bullshit and maybe, just maybe, resulted in some sort of legislative redress somewhere down the road, than this traveling circus. There is "knowing the truth", which is important and then there is "doing something about it", which is the more important 2nd step. I can't see how all this fixes anything in the end.
Reply
- Read More
  TheOmbudsmangilbertkittens
  6/24/13 4:20pm
  How would him sticking around to get arrested have done "more" to expose the NSA stuff?
  
  It's stupid easy to say what the other guy should do with his life, isn't it?
  Reply
- Read More
  gilbertkittensTheOmbudsman
  6/24/13 4:25pm
  He could have gone to a number of different senators who are outspoken in their opposition to America's security apparatus while at the same time doing the exact same press release that he did. That would have probably guaranteed that he would have gotten something close to resembling a fair trial (obviously that is very speculative). America has a rich history of people doing the right thing, getting punished by the state, but moving the needle in the right direction. This story is now getting so messy, no one is even talking about the bigger picture anymore, just about Snowden, in particular. I don't think the 24 hour news cycle is really going to go back to the important issues now - so basically it was all in vain.
  Reply
Read More
ArdenMax Read
6/24/13 5:05pm
The important issue is that the Government is spying on you.

That's it! That's the issue! That's what we need to be focusing on. I don't care why he leaked it, I don't care why he leaked it. I don't care if it was to intentionally harm or to enlighten the populace. The information he leaked was important information that we needed to know.

Don't get distracted with pictures of his girlfriend, don't get distracted with his plane trip, don't get distracted with his connection to Wikileaks...FOCUS.

Focus on the issue at hand.
Focus on the fact that the United States Government has decided that everything you say and do online is theirs to record, listen to, watch, read, and save.
Focus on the fact that half our elected representatives didn't even bother to go to the meeting that was going to discuss this (a meeting that the US public was barred from hearing.)
Focus on the fact that the sitting president of the United States recently walked on stage and told the American People on national television that sometimes you just gotta have your freedoms taken away to be safe.

The issue is that the government is spying on you. Nothing this man says or does will make that fact okay.
Reply
- Read More
  Pepper_AnnArden
  6/25/13 1:27am
  Amen sir!
  Reply
Read More
GregLucMMax Read
6/24/13 3:37pm
Man, I can't wait for the summer blockbuster spy thriller of this.
Reply
- Read More
  Not A SnortGregLucM
  6/24/13 3:42pm
  The Air-Bourne Identity
  Reply
- Read More
  GregSamsaNot A Snort
  6/24/13 3:49pm
  Not-a-Pussy.
  Reply
Read More
MsxHMax Read
6/24/13 3:45pm
What would you do if you were on the run?

It was smart of him to lie about the flight from Moscow to Havana. (Assuming that was, in fact, the case. He might have had to abandon his plan once he knew that his original plans were discovered.) Good for him. If I were him, I'd leak several bogus options and keep quiet about my true final destination, and I'd wait a good long while, if ever, about stating where I am. There's no reason he needs to announce to the public where he's going. And it would be better for him if he weren't trapped in one place.

Looking at it another way, it took all the king's horses a full decade to hunt down our most hated enemy, Osama Bin Laden. The world is a big place.
Reply
- Read More
  StenchofaburnerMsxH
  6/24/13 3:56pm
  If I was on the run, I'd be planning my exit to Brazil. It's a pleasant place (current riots notwithstanding) and, more importantly, they have a difficult extradition procedure. Moreover, after decades of US intervention (through dictatorships sponsored by the CIA, military interventions, etc), the general sentiment is not exactly pro American which would be easy to exploit in order to garner public support. Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela would also be good alternatives because they currently have the kind of governments that would embrace the opportunity to show some shallow bravado against the US.
  Reply
- Read More
  Pepper_AnnMsxH
  6/25/13 1:26am
  It's really stupid that he came out in the first place. What an idiot. I really don't get why he did that
  Reply
Read More
lethekkMax Read
6/24/13 3:38pm
He'd been in Hong Kong for a couple weeks when the news broke, right? So why didn't he just fly right to Ecuador before the US pressed charges?
Reply
- Read More
  JohninLAlethekk
  6/24/13 3:45pm
  His plan was to stay in HK, under the assumption that HK would continue to harbor him.
  Reply
Read More
Cam/ronMax Read
6/24/13 3:36pm
I don't believe that the Honolulu Airport has a direct connection to HK.
Reply
- Read More
  JohninLACam/ron
  6/24/13 3:49pm
  I believe you're right.
  Reply
Read More
Max ReadMax Read
6/24/13 2:42pm
Hong Kong
Upon arriving in Hong Kong, Snowden checked into the Mira Hotel on the Kowloon side, where he stayed for three weeks. On June 9, a few days after the first series of articles was published, the Guardian ran a videotaped interview with Snowden conducted in the hotel; on June 10, his location having been discovered by the press, he checked out. For the next two weeks, he stayed with a supporter who'd been introduced by a mutual friend Snowden knew from a previous visit to Hong Kong—until, on the advice of his lawyers in the city, and with the apparent help of WikiLeaks, he applied for asylum in Iceland and Ecuador, and booked a flight from Hong Kong to Moscow, leaving June 23.
Reply
- Read More
  dontfeellikerememberingmypasswordMax Read
  6/24/13 3:42pm
  This is dumb and unreadable.
  Reply
- Read More
  BurnerAccountMagicdontfeellikerememberingmypassword
  6/25/13 8:45am
  Your face is dumb and unreadable.
  Reply
Read More
polleMax Read
6/24/13 3:38pm
He's with Carmen Sandiego
Reply
- Read More
  Cam/ronpolle
  6/24/13 3:41pm
  No worries, ACME agents will nail his ass (as long as they have a 1985 copy of the World Almanac).
  Reply