Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/09/14/edward-snowden-sets-out-the-mo.html
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Personally, I’d love to see Obama pardon both Snowden and Manning on his way out the door.
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At the same time there has never been any public evidence that any individual came to harm as a result.”
That will be the basis for his defence if it ever comes to that, I wish him good luck, it’ll be a long slog at any case.
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Pardons are for people who put themselves at the mercy of the Justice system, not fugitives.
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Two words: Marc Rich.
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Actually they’re for whoever the President damn well pleases to pardon. Says so right there in Constitution.
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Pissing into the wind.
Need chapter and verse? Look at any prior public (and, I suppose, private if you had access) statement of President Obama on the Snowden affair.
Look at his statements and actions regarding privacy, and open and honest disclosure. Considering that he vowed to have the most open administration ever, his attitude on the entire thing has been a huge disappointment. That, and his policies on drone use and use of force are the biggest let downs of his terms in office.
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Has Snowden ever said one word in Chelsea Manning’s support?
Snowden is kind of the wrong person to make this case. This is why we have spokesbeings. Some things just sound better if somebody else says them.
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Where do I donate to not pardon him?
I’m inclined to agree with those here who think it’s hopeless. The closest precedent I see is Clinton’s non-pardoning of Pollard, as he decided it’d be too much a slap in the face of the intelligence community. (The cases are of course different, in that Snowden’s a hero for principle and Pollard’s a traitor for money.)
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Is another view.
I’ve heard it said that the German language has a word for everything. And in fact, the German language does have a word that applies to people in Snowden’s position, who, after having witnessed Manning’s fate, put themselves at the mercy of America’s “justice” system. It’s pretty short by German standards, but at least it’s got a capital letter at the beginnning: Look it up.
Maybe. There are two different views that make sense to me:
- Snowden is a hero to the American people and the rest of the world, by exposing the evil machinations of an out of control NSA.
- Snowden is a traitor to the American empire and a hero to the rest of the world, by impeding the glorious mission of the NSA to bring all communication world-wide under American control, whether the citizens of the rest of the world want it or not.
Some more nuanced in-between views might be possible, too.
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your link thingy is b0rken
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Should be fixed now…
thanks. kind of anticlimactic : )
You need some major qualifiers for that statement. He may be a hero to some demographics in some countries but I’ve spoken to a number of Europeans, Israelis, Arabs, South Americans, etc. who had some very colorful things to say about him and here in Japan he’s regarded as a low grade shitbird at best. In short, as you say, “more nuanced in-between views might be possible”.
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