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I posted my opinion that taking him out is an option. It was flagged and then removed entirely. Hacker News should reconsider allowing me, an American citizen,

I posted my opinion that taking him out is an option. It was flagged and then removed entirely. Hacker News should reconsider allowing me, an American citizen, to suggest that an international fugitive who admits to committing treason and refuses to come home should be taken out. Snowden’s actions are an ongoing act of war against the United States. It is lawful to consider taking him out, in my opinion. I should be allowed a voice to express that view on hn, without concern about censorship, at least in this case. This comment shouldn’t be censored. Please don’t flag it, moderators. Thanks. Edit: if you’re going to downvote, at least please provide a brief explanation.

ncmncm 7y ago
Talking about "treason" (i.e. execution) for exposing lawbreaking by spooks is enough.
- forgitude 7y ago
  Thanks for replying. His actions certainly seem treasonous. He committed a serious attack against the NSA, the primary SIGINT conduit of the USIC and arguably the crown jewel.
  - ncmncm 7y ago
    No. The NSA committed a serious attack on the American public. No spooks were harmed by Snowden's actions. None of the information illegally collected was destroyed. None of the equipment illegally collecting information was damaged. Even the spooks on the take, using illegally obtained information for criminal extortion, were not exposed.
    - Fnoord 7y ago
      > No. The NSA committed a serious attack on the American public. To which Snowden's action was a direct response. (And I am of the opinion that any post which suggests it is OK to murder another individual should be flagged because such is not lawful.)
ryacko 7y ago
It is unpopular to express opinions that violate the tenets instilled in every American in their civics / social sciences classes in high school. Snowden had the same opinion though: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/exclusive-in-2009-ed-snowden-said-leakers-should-be-shot-then-he-became-one/3/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/exclusive-in-200... I’m of the opinion though that Manning and Snowden leaked under orders from the CIA. Manning wanted assistance from Assange to a degree that would remove any protections Assange would have as a third party, and it is unlikely for Snowden to have obtained such a wide range of documents (allegedly scraping Intellipedia for backup) unless his superiors were totally unobservant. To criticize the actions of either Manning or Snowden would be to criticize the US government.
- forgitude 7y ago
  Indeed, one can interpret the posts of “Q” to support this theory. Going in that direction of that conspiracy theory, however, it appears that the CIA was cleaned out and taken back (or is/was in the process of being taken back) with the appointment of Haspel. Of note is an apparent exchange between “Q” and @snowden on Twitter, where it appeared that “Q” was able to compel @snowden to share a photo of someone from the Middle East while under duress or on the move. The evidence to support this is the garbled tweets from @snowden in response to “Q”’s demand, suggesting that Snowden really was on the move and being hunted, and under pressure to disclose the info. Also of note was “Q” saying to @snowden (at the time) “we can take you anytime” which certainly was ambiguous regarding whether it meant kill, or capture. (“Take you out” would have left zero ambiguity). “Take you anytime” implied the possibility of a kill, at the least.
  - ryacko 7y ago
    Qanon is just a parody of widespread political sentiments. Obviously no one with a Q clearance (which apparently includes Podesta) is a decent person. The actions of various people acting as a result of the Qanon theories is potentially the result of other craziness that no one would acknowledge. It isn’t unthinkable that the person who shot the head of the Gambino crime family was in some fashion harmed by the Gambinos. I hope the FBI agents doing full time surveillance on the Gambino head spat out their coffee when they saw what happened. Edit: If Snowden returns to the US, I wonder if he would become another Lee Harvey Oswald. He did defect twice.

ncmncm 7y ago

Talking about "treason" (i.e. execution) for exposing lawbreaking by spooks is enough.

forgitude 7y ago
Thanks for replying. His actions certainly seem treasonous. He committed a serious attack against the NSA, the primary SIGINT conduit of the USIC and arguably the crown jewel.
- ncmncm 7y ago
  No. The NSA committed a serious attack on the American public. No spooks were harmed by Snowden's actions. None of the information illegally collected was destroyed. None of the equipment illegally collecting information was damaged. Even the spooks on the take, using illegally obtained information for criminal extortion, were not exposed.
  - Fnoord 7y ago
    > No. The NSA committed a serious attack on the American public. To which Snowden's action was a direct response. (And I am of the opinion that any post which suggests it is OK to murder another individual should be flagged because such is not lawful.)

ryacko 7y ago

It is unpopular to express opinions that violate the tenets instilled in every American in their civics / social sciences classes in high school. Snowden had the same opinion though: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/exclusive-in-2009-ed-snowden-said-leakers-should-be-shot-then-he-became-one/3/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/exclusive-in-200... I’m of the opinion though that Manning and Snowden leaked under orders from the CIA. Manning wanted assistance from Assange to a degree that would remove any protections Assange would have as a third party, and it is unlikely for Snowden to have obtained such a wide range of documents (allegedly scraping Intellipedia for backup) unless his superiors were totally unobservant. To criticize the actions of either Manning or Snowden would be to criticize the US government.

forgitude 7y ago
Indeed, one can interpret the posts of “Q” to support this theory. Going in that direction of that conspiracy theory, however, it appears that the CIA was cleaned out and taken back (or is/was in the process of being taken back) with the appointment of Haspel. Of note is an apparent exchange between “Q” and @snowden on Twitter, where it appeared that “Q” was able to compel @snowden to share a photo of someone from the Middle East while under duress or on the move. The evidence to support this is the garbled tweets from @snowden in response to “Q”’s demand, suggesting that Snowden really was on the move and being hunted, and under pressure to disclose the info. Also of note was “Q” saying to @snowden (at the time) “we can take you anytime” which certainly was ambiguous regarding whether it meant kill, or capture. (“Take you out” would have left zero ambiguity). “Take you anytime” implied the possibility of a kill, at the least.
- ryacko 7y ago
  Qanon is just a parody of widespread political sentiments. Obviously no one with a Q clearance (which apparently includes Podesta) is a decent person. The actions of various people acting as a result of the Qanon theories is potentially the result of other craziness that no one would acknowledge. It isn’t unthinkable that the person who shot the head of the Gambino crime family was in some fashion harmed by the Gambinos. I hope the FBI agents doing full time surveillance on the Gambino head spat out their coffee when they saw what happened. Edit: If Snowden returns to the US, I wonder if he would become another Lee Harvey Oswald. He did defect twice.