Right, Loren, so: * even though Congress was lied to/mislead about the scope of the NSA's programs, by none other than the Director of National Intelligence [1

Right, Loren, so: * even though Congress was lied to/mislead about the scope of the NSA's programs, by none other than the Director of National Intelligence [1] * despite the fact that the NSA hastily rushed to justify an invasion of Syria with misleading data [2] * despite the fact that the NSA helped produce evidence to justify the false invasion of Iraq [3] * despite the fact that the NSA helps to subvert crypto software and backdoor services, which makes people and businesses less safe against electronic warfare (despite the fact that al-Qaeda is at least aware of the need for building their own crypto, even if what we've seen so far is possibly crippled by stupidity) [4] [5] * even though the NSA were unable to catch the Boston bombers (even though the ФСБ warned the US multiple times about the brothers, they were tied to Chechnya, had jihadi content on their social media profiles and were already tied by association to a homicide) [6] [7] [8] [9] * despite the testaments from former Intel folks that mass data collection doesn't work and that Gen. Keith Alexander is incompetent [10] * despite Alexander being unable to come up with problems the NSA's mass surveillance has solved without lying [11] * despite the fact that Alexander is a monumental douche who used taxpayer money to have a Hollywood set designer make his office into a re-creation of the Starship Enterprise [10] ...we should be "reassured to know how capable and thorough your cyber spy agency and military command are." We should rest assured that our electronic communications being scooped up and stored couldn't ever possibly be used for nefarious purposes against a citizen of the US, that it isn't a gross violation of a person's right to privacy and dignity and that even the majority of the NSA are kind-hearted people looking out for America's best interests in the big, scary world full of North Korea's and Muslim radicals and that my virgin, uninitiated mind just doesn't understand. This isn't all just a big, dumb, out-of-control bureaucratic freak-out or an attempt to instate a Stasi-esque intelligence regime. Fuck you and your condescension, Loren. You are a coward and a liar, unless there is some grand plot the NSA has helped unravel, Clancy-style, that you just can't tell us about (I will apologize and retract my statements when it comes to light). sources: [1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/13/james-clapper_n_3748431.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/13/james-clapper_n_374... [2] http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n24/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n24/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin [3] http://www.thenation.com/blog/174744/remember-when-nsa-surveillance-was-used-help-launch-iraq-war http://www.thenation.com/blog/174744/remember-when-nsa-surve... [4] http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/05/nsa-subverts-most-encryption-works-with-tech-companies-for-back-door-access-report-says/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/05/nsa-subverts-most-encryptio... [5] https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/02/mujahideen_secr_1.html https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/02/mujahideen_se... [6] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/russian-official-us-ignored-boston-bombers-warning-8644560.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/russian-off... [7] http://www.thenation.com/article/174026/there-chechen-connection-boston-bombings http://www.thenation.com/article/174026/there-chechen-connec... [8] http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/20/us/brother-religious-language/ http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/20/us/brother-religious-language/ [9] http://articles.latimes.com/2013/oct/23/nation/la-na-nn-boston-triple-homicide-20131023 http://articles.latimes.com/2013/oct/23/nation/la-na-nn-bost... [10] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/09/08/the_cowboy_of_the_nsa_keith_alexander http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/09/08/the_cowboy_... [11] http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/15/1247400/-NSA-Director-Admits-He-Lied-About-Surveillance-Thwarting-54-Terror-Plots http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/15/1247400/-NSA-Direct...