Great Depression of 2016

[Dwkuska]

You don't think other countries are doing the same as our NSA? Our everyday electronic conversations were captured because it is a huge net. The government does not want nor care about Aunt Minnie's recipes or uncle Al's operation. That stuff is just incidental catch.

When people take jobs in sensitive positions, they sign papers and take oaths. It is not up to the individual to apply his own ideas and judgements. If that were the case, nothing would get done.

which is exaclty how the Nazi's got as far as they did... because everybody just wanted to obey the rules and not stand up for whats right. Kudo's to you rufus... kudos

 

[hemet dennis]

Snowden must have all these stolen documents on his "person" be it on flash drives, whatever. He may have saved it on a "cloud" but you can bet the second he attempts to retrieve info from the "cloud" the rooskies will then have full knowledge of everything snowden has. It has been mentioned snowden actually is a Russian spy. I highly doubt this but if it were me,in his shoes with the information he acquired, I don't think living outside the USA for the rest of my life by leaking this info out bit by bit would be worth it. This country has issues for sure but there is many places much worse to call home. Rufus,if snowden had secrets of new weaponry and the like I think he may deserve punishment but he is exposing how our Govt is actively spying on everyone, be it's own citizens or diplomats of other countries, within their own country. He may not know exactly how all this spying is being done technology wise but to me what he has done does not compare to when the USA was building the atomic bomb in New Mexico and a few years after we had successfully detonated an atomic device,Russia did the same because of all the spies that infiltrated the New Mexico facilities and documents was then in Russian hands. This is a much more damaging form of spying and giving up secrets about who the USA is spying on in my opinion.

You really don't understand that intelligence gathering is a weapon ?

 

[Dwkuska]

SNIPIT
I don't think living outside the USA for the rest of my life by leaking this info out bit by bit would be worth it. This country has issues for sure but there is many places much worse to call home.

As I previously stated the federal govt made laws protecting whistleblowers. I suspect he left the country to avoid "disappearing" and thought as soon as the media started a frenzy he would be pardoned. My guess would be his next chance at coming home is 2016 elections... sadly (to get back on the point) he will come home to a country in financial ruin.

 

[rufus]

I understand your position. We went through the personal responsibility issue in the Nuremberg trials, but we cannot have everyone in the government and the military applying their own
standards and judgements. Government and the military need obedient people. Intelligence is absolutely necessary for the continued existence of a nation.

Sometimes you just have do what you are told.

Now, I see Jack Lew says he is out of bookkeeping tricks to keep the government afloat. We will be seeing another debt ceiling fight in February. The Republicans will demand some spending cuts. The Democrats will cut some minor project, but will increase spending in other areas. It is all window dressing. Barack and Michelle will take another multi million dollar vacation.

The State of the Nation speech on the 28th will be something to behold. The Republicans, the rich, and Christians will probably be drawn through the knot hole backwards. The speech last year was so vile and divisive some of the Justices vowed they would not attend the next one.

I can't wait.

 

[Dwkuska]

SNIPIT
Now, I see Jack Lew says he is out of bookkeeping tricks to keep the government afloat. We will be seeing another debt ceiling fight in February. The Republicans will demand some spending cuts. The Democrats will cut some minor project, but will increase spending in other areas. It is all window dressing. Barack and Michelle will take another multi million dollar vacation.

The State of the Nation speech on the 28th will be something to behold. The Republicans, the rich, and Christians will probably be drawn through the knot hole backwards. The speech last year was so vile and divisive some of the Justices vowed they would not attend the next one.

I think we all know what the speech will be. How the last few years have been rough, and how the economy is growing. I am sure he will say how we added 1million jobs in 2013(of course he will forget to mention the 7million we lost). He will prolly make some cheap shot blaming the countries problems on congress and senate(making certain to aim it more at republicans so his party wont blast him). So all in all I am not planning on watching as I am sure it will be nothing more then a well versed hoax.

Sadly I worried for the next president whomever they may be. They will get into office as the country takes a turn for the worse and will no doubt be blamed for it. Being the president has to be tough... not having any real power, but expected to change the country and blamed when something goes wrong.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

You really don't understand that intelligence gathering is a weapon ?

Intelligence gathering of my e-mails to other family members is of National Importance? Listening to my cell phone conversations telling my daughter what to bring home from the grocery store constitutes spending of my tax dollars wisely? Spying on citizens like me and you is not worthy of what NSA and the Govt is doing,I havn't had so much as a parking ticket in my life,,I don't give a crapola about NSA spying on the Taliban,Russia,ect,,you seemed to have missed my point altogether. To give the "OKAY" for NSA to have access to anyones personal information-conversations under the ruse of the Patriot Act is going too far.

 

[hemet dennis]

Quote: Sorry that you missed the point.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

"You really don't understand that Intelligence gathering is a weapon",,,of course it is. But please draw me a map with directional arrows so I don't go down the wrong path,as how the NSA uses my e-mail correspondence between family members,(or anyone for that matter),watches live off any home PC that has a camera,purposely has tracking bugs installed on computers before they are sold,,,,,,,,,,,how can any of the above examples constitute "a weapon"? If I had a PhD on Nuclear Physics and corresponded with Iranians constantly via e-mail-phone calls,ect I can see the justification in being hounded and scrutinized,But thats not the case This invasion of law abiding US Citizens privacy is not right. There needs to be specific reasons that are made public if your a possible candidate to be put under NSA's sights. If you fit their characteristics as being a "hostile" so be it.But to have an open door to invade anyone for any reason is how the NSA has been operating. Much like everything else our president has done,anything he wants to regardless if it's constitutional or not. Our president was just a fixture on the wall in Illinois before he was elected.He never introduced a bill in the state senate,never negotiated state contracts,tried to bring jobs to Illinois,,he's far from a legislator,,negotiator,let alone being elected as President.

 

[Dwkuska]

"You really don't understand that Intelligence gathering is a weapon",,,of course it is. But please draw me a map with directional arrows so I don't go down the wrong path,as how the NSA uses my e-mail correspondence between family members,(or anyone for that matter),watches live off any home PC that has a camera,purposely has tracking bugs installed on computers before they are sold,,,,,,,,,,,how can any of the above examples constitute "a weapon"? If I had a PhD on Nuclear Physics and corresponded with Iranians constantly via e-mail-phone calls,ect I can see the justification in being hounded and scrutinized,But thats not the case This invasion of law abiding US Citizens privacy is not right. There needs to be specific reasons that are made public if your a possible candidate to be put under NSA's sights. If you fit their characteristics as being a "hostile" so be it.But to have an open door to invade anyone for any reason is how the NSA has been operating. Much like everything else our president has done,anything he wants to regardless if it's constitutional or not. Our president was just a fixture on the wall in Illinois before he was elected.He never introduced a bill in the state senate,never negotiated state contracts,tried to bring jobs to Illinois,,he's far from a legislator,,negotiator,let alone being elected as President.

I think the statement was in general. But relevant none the less. If your emailing your family about how your AR-15 collection is growing the NSA now knows you have weapons and are likely going to resist should a firearm ban take place. If your emailing your friends in the pasifist convention... the govt. knows your of little threat to anyone. If the govt wanted to make profiles of everyone what better way to get an updated pic then if they could take it from your PC or phone. I think you are thinking more of directly critical threats. The govt likes to plan things and waste millions on spreadsheets. PRISM lets them do that for every man, woman, and child on the planet practically.

 

[rufus]

I read that HSBC in Britain is refusing to let depositors withdraw more than 3,000 pounds per day. If a customer wants to withdraw more than that amount they will have to declare just what they need the money for and provide documentation. This sounds a lot like what went down in Cyprus.

I guess it serves the depositors right for using a Chinese bank. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC_Bank_(China)