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It was in fact the one comment I had been about to make. Snowden has chosen to avoid the U.S., explicitly to avoid the legal system. His own father feels he pro
by mpyne 13y ago
It was in fact the one comment I had been about to make. Snowden has chosen to avoid the U.S., explicitly to avoid the legal system. His own father feels he probably technically broke the law so it's hard to claim that the U.S. government has somehow managed to switch all 3 of its branches into a KILL SNOWDEN mode.
If the charges are without merit then one of the very same judges that Snowden feels should be involved in these types of surveillance programs will throw them out.
Snowden's exile may very well be extralegal, but both the exile and the extralegality of it are on Snowden himself.
- sneak 13y ago> Snowden has chosen to avoid the U.S., explicitly to avoid the legal system. No, he's chosen to avoid the US explicitly to avoid torture. There's nothing legal about that.
- mpyne 13y agoAre you saying that the US justice system is by definition torture? If so, I would think Snowden would have made that his moral priority to emphasize. There's no reason to fear "turnkey tyranny" (as he said) when we're already living in a torture regime, is there? In that case there's no key to turn, it's already here!
- sneak 13y ago"turnkey tyranny" describes the future consequence for the median citizen. Torturing those who leak information prior to trial is something that the US government has already demonstrated a willingness to do. It's simply disgraceful - a national shame.
- mpyne 13y agoLike how those other NSA whistleblowers were "tortured"? Their treatment was wrong, I'll admit, but calling it torture is insulting to those who have actually been waterboarded by the U.S.
- foobarbazqux 13y agoSolitary confinement is torture.
- mpyne 13y agoWhich NSA whistleblower was subjected to solitary confinement?
- foobarbazqux 13y agoFair enough, I was thinking of Bradley Manning. I don't know if the other NSA guys were held in solitary. However, I'll be surprised if they capture Snowden and he isn't. Why wouldn't he be?
- mpyne 13y ago> Why wouldn't he be? Because there are no bored, humorless Marines in charge of whatever Federal prison Snowden would end up in. I would surmise he should expect the same treatment as any other civilian accused of a Federal felony.
- foobarbazqux 13y agoMaybe you don't know this, but there are tens of thousands of prisoners living in long-term solitary in supermax prisons in the US. Why wouldn't Snowden end up with them? What percentage chance is there that he might end up there? What percentage chance justifies an asylum request? http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/30/090330fa_fact_gawande http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/30/090330fa_fact_... By the way you might have to click on "link" to reply; I think the thread nesting is too deep.
- mpyne 13y agoI want to say first off, thanks for linking such an informative article (as if I needed more to be depressed about tonight). I hope I haven't given the impression that I think prolonged solitary confinement is acceptable. But I will say that the idea of someone as infamous as Snowden being put in solitary without actually trying to shank someone is implausible IMHO. Manning's supporters managed to get him transferred out of a military brig, after all, and Snowden's is a much more sympathetic case (with much more international attention to boot).
- kpommerenke 13y agoIt has nothing to do with torture. Snowden is, quite reasonably, afraid of going to prison for breaking the law.