5 ms·

we could elect sane leaders...

by java-man 8y ago

floren 8y ago
Like Obama? I remember how the NSA was shut down entirely during his tenure, man that was great.
- java-man 8y ago
  physicist for president! elect Lisa Randall, or Sean Carroll. provided, of course, that they agree.
  - x3tm 8y ago
    Merkel is a physicist. She's great. But then again many physicists were also convinced Nazi officers.
    - java-man 8y ago
      you mean Heisenberg?
      - andrepd 8y ago
        The name that springs to mind is von Braun.
        java-man 8y ago
        Von Braun was an engineer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun
    - mikejb 8y ago
      > But then again many physicists were also convinced Nazi officers. If the Germans would have won the war, we'd probably celebrate those officers :/ All the torture and killing would be spun as "necessary evil" (if it even came to light), and further investigations would be blocked by the government. How we perceive the past is...complicated.
- MrVitaliy 8y ago
  Where is this love for NSA coming from?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- x3tm 8y ago
  Or how he shutdown the drones gaming unit, and his constant efforts towards peace in the middle east by refusing to destabilize countries, etc. Great man.
- vuln 8y ago
  I also remember his campaign to reign in 'bush era spying' over the next 8 years the knob was turned to 11. I don't expect much from a person that won a Noble piece prize then proceeded to drop 26,000 bombs in 2016 a bomb every 20 minutes. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/america-dropped-26171-bombs-2016-obama-legacy https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/americ...
- Angostura 8y ago
  As a matter of interest, do you believe that the sane option is to shut down the NSA entirely?
LinuxBender 8y ago
leaders are well insulated from such knowledge for their (legal) safety.
- thatcat 8y ago
  The president is immune from legal liability.
  - LinuxBender 8y ago
    I was including all leaders. The president is just one of them. None of them have nearly the level of knowledge we give them credit for.
tomschlick 8y ago
And that's a novel idea when they are on the campaign trail... until they start getting daily national security briefings and learn about the attempted attacks supposedly foiled by good SIGINT. No one wants to be the president who turns that firehose off and "causes the next 9/11". I believe that is what happened with Obama.
- zdragnar 8y ago
  It's more naive than novel, because it assumes that everyone who came before were acting in bad faith.
- merpnderp 8y ago
  Given the bumbling numbskulls who still manage to set off bombs, are we really that sure they're stopping anyone?
  - diminoten 8y ago
    Yeah, we're pretty sure.
794CD01 8y ago
That's a pretty outrageous claim. Do you have any evidence this is possible?

we could elect sane leaders...

floren 8y ago

Like Obama? I remember how the NSA was shut down entirely during his tenure, man that was great.

java-man 8y ago
physicist for president! elect Lisa Randall, or Sean Carroll. provided, of course, that they agree.
- x3tm 8y ago
  Merkel is a physicist. She's great. But then again many physicists were also convinced Nazi officers.
  - java-man 8y ago
    you mean Heisenberg?
    - andrepd 8y ago
      The name that springs to mind is von Braun.
      - java-man 8y ago
        Von Braun was an engineer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun
  - mikejb 8y ago
    > But then again many physicists were also convinced Nazi officers. If the Germans would have won the war, we'd probably celebrate those officers :/ All the torture and killing would be spun as "necessary evil" (if it even came to light), and further investigations would be blocked by the government. How we perceive the past is...complicated.
MrVitaliy 8y ago
Where is this love for NSA coming from?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
x3tm 8y ago
Or how he shutdown the drones gaming unit, and his constant efforts towards peace in the middle east by refusing to destabilize countries, etc. Great man.
vuln 8y ago
I also remember his campaign to reign in 'bush era spying' over the next 8 years the knob was turned to 11. I don't expect much from a person that won a Noble piece prize then proceeded to drop 26,000 bombs in 2016 a bomb every 20 minutes. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/america-dropped-26171-bombs-2016-obama-legacy https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/americ...
Angostura 8y ago
As a matter of interest, do you believe that the sane option is to shut down the NSA entirely?

LinuxBender 8y ago

leaders are well insulated from such knowledge for their (legal) safety.

thatcat 8y ago
The president is immune from legal liability.
- LinuxBender 8y ago
  I was including all leaders. The president is just one of them. None of them have nearly the level of knowledge we give them credit for.

tomschlick 8y ago

And that's a novel idea when they are on the campaign trail... until they start getting daily national security briefings and learn about the attempted attacks supposedly foiled by good SIGINT. No one wants to be the president who turns that firehose off and "causes the next 9/11". I believe that is what happened with Obama.

zdragnar 8y ago
It's more naive than novel, because it assumes that everyone who came before were acting in bad faith.
merpnderp 8y ago
Given the bumbling numbskulls who still manage to set off bombs, are we really that sure they're stopping anyone?
- diminoten 8y ago
  Yeah, we're pretty sure.

794CD01 8y ago

That's a pretty outrageous claim. Do you have any evidence this is possible?