Today's Random News

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

I get where you are going with that, but I think the military is different, in that, yea, I can see why members of the military working in intelligence should be prosecuted for leaking the information they are working with. Manning was prosecuted through military courts.

Snowden was a private contractor working with a civilian agency, so it's a different situation.

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My very loose research just now into Snowden makes it seem that in fact, would be illegal under current laws. This country disgusts me, I sure hope this starts up the process of changing some laws, and some government agencies. I can't believe how much I dislike obama these days, I'm honestly shocked.

Edit offtopic: Diff you need to make a trip down to NYC someday to grab a beer.

He really is terrible. Would any president in 2013 be as terrible? Doesn't matter, Obama is.

C'mon guys. You should've known better than to trust an Illinois politician. There's too much money in defense spending that laws need to be created justifying the expenditure on the shit that's going on. Money shits all over whatever hope and change you thought was coming. I'm talking about taking a huge, god-what-is-coming-out-of-me, stinking shit.

Random fact: While I never met him, Snowden went to my elementary school, high school, and even attended the same Kung Fu school that I go to. SMALL world.

Sure, what Snowden did was illegal, but on a much smaller scale and it doesn't warrant all the shit that the US is doing to try to get their hands on him.

Personally, I hope he makes it to Venezuela or whatever and sends an autographed picture of his middle finger to Obama.

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Originally Posted by Anthony

My very loose research just now into Snowden makes it seem that in fact, would be illegal under current laws. This country disgusts me, I sure hope this starts up the process of changing some laws, and some government agencies. I can't believe how much I dislike obama these days, I'm honestly shocked.

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Okay yea, I would say that what Snowden did was illegal but okay, and what Manning did was illegal but wrong.

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Originally Posted by Anthony

Edit offtopic: Diff you need to make a trip down to NYC someday to grab a beer.

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yes I do!

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Originally Posted by Anthony

I am joining Icarus and Josh's violent revolution.

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Good. The more the merrier.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

I don't know enough about the details of Snowden's case. The one important difference is that Snowden was a private contractor while Manning was (and is?) a uniformed member of the military. There are clear laws in the service against doing what he did.

That's not to say I think his treatment was justified, or 136 years in jail is justified, but I do believe the crimes he committed are pretty clear cut.

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I agree that cases involving military members should be treated differently when it comes to intelligence leaks. I think when you join the military, you have to understand that you're pretty much signing your life over to the Federal government for a time and that you need to be following the rules that come along with that. Whether you're right or wrong at that point doesn't really matter. You should have had a better understanding of what you were getting involved in or be prepared to accept the consequences of going against the powers that be. A lot of people think serving in the military is some kind of distinguished public duty filled with honor and patriotism. It's really just a bunch of political bullshit in which you get to be an expendable pawn in. Killing people half way across the world in the name of democracy and opium production doesn't have a damn thing to do with "fighting for freedom". I never really worked out with the Marine Corps when I enlisted but I tried to make it work and did a lot of my own leg work trying to get things straightened out with them. They didn't give a damn about me and all the work I did because I wasn't a 17 year old high school senior that could breeze right through medical and be in boot-camp a week after his graduation.

We'll have to see what happens with Manning's sentencing though. I think it's up in the air at this point. My thoughts are that the military and federal government probably want to make an example out of him to deter others in the future.

Probably?

Mostly.

They should both be protected under whistle blower status. I know that they aren't, but new laws should be amended to provide for protection in these cases. Snowden was supposed to go to his superiors first? Give me a break, the story would have never gotten where it needed to go if that was the case.