ORIGINALLY POSTED FIVE YEARS AGO
“Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give to an American.”
“What is right is not always the same as what is legal.”
“I’m neither traitor nor hero. I’m an American.”
“Further, it’s important to bear in mind I’m being called a traitor by men like former Vice President Dick Cheney. This is a man who gave us the warrantless wiretapping scheme as a kind of atrocity warm-up on the way to deceitfully engineering a conflict that has killed over 4,400 and maimed nearly 32,000 Americans, as well as leaving over 100,000 Iraqis dead. Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him, Feinstein, and King, the better off we all are. If they had taught a class on how to be the kind of citizen Dick Cheney worries about, I would have finished high school.”
“…I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building.”
“Under observation, we act less free, which means we effectively are less free.”
“If we can’t understand the policies and the programs of our government, we cannot grant our consent.”
“I believe that at this point in history, the greatest danger to our freedom and way of life comes from the reasonable fear of omniscient State powers kept in check by nothing more than policy documents.”
“I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under.”
“I had been looking for leaders, but I realized that leadership is about being the first to act.”
“We have an executive […] who will stop at nothing to persecute someone who told them the truth.”
“With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your e-mails or your wife’s phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your e-mails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.”
“Even if you’re not doing anything wrong, you’re being watched and recorded. …it’s getting to the point where you don’t have to have done anything wrong, you simply have to eventually fall under suspicion from somebody, even by a wrong call, and then they can use this system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you’ve ever made, every friend you’ve ever discussed something with, and attack you on that basis, to sort of derive suspicion from an innocent life.”
“The great fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. [People] won’t be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things… And in the months ahead, the years ahead, it’s only going to get worse. [The NSA will] say that… because of the crisis, the dangers that we face in the world, some new and unpredicted threat, we need more authority, we need more power, and there will be nothing the people can do at that point to oppose it. And it will be turnkey tyranny.”
“These programs don’t make us more safe. They hurt our economy. They hurt our country. They limit our ability to speak, think, live, and be creative.”
“So many of the things we’re told by the government simply aren’t true.”
“The definition of a security state is one that prioritizes security over all other considerations.”
“The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to.”
“To do that, the NSA specifically targets the communications of everyone. It ingests them by default. It collects them in its system and it filters them and it analyzes them and it measures them and it stores them for periods of time simply because that’s the easiest, most efficient and most valuable way to achieve these ends. So while they may be intending to target someone associated with a foreign government, or someone that they suspect of terrorism, they are collecting YOUR communications to do so.”
“…I believe that at this point in history, the greatest danger to our freedom and way of life comes from the reasonable fear of omniscient State powers kept in check by nothing more than policy documents.”
“The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to.”
“The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything.”
“Any analyst at any time can target anyone. Any selector, anywhere… I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the President…”
“I believe that when [senator Ron] Wyden and [senator Mark] Udall asked about the scale of this, they [the NSA] said it did not have the tools to provide an answer. We do have the tools and I have maps showing where people have been scrutinized most. We collect more digital communications from America than we do from the Russians.”
“Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest.”
“Everyone everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten — and they’re talking about it. They have the power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state.”
“I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions, and that the return of this information to the public marks my end.”
“I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.”
“You can’t come up against the world’s most powerful intelligence agencies and not accept the risk.”
“I know the media likes to personalize political debates, and I know the government will demonize me.”
“I do not expect to see home again.”
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If this ex-mil officer is correct, it may be too late to save this Republic?
“Beware not the enemy from ‘without’ but the enemy from ‘within’.”
– General Douglas Macarthur
“The history of the failure of war can almost be summed up in two words: too late.
* Too late in comprehending the deadly purpose of a potential enemy.
* Too late in realizing the mortal danger.
* Too late in preparedness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov92Fi9NHT4
* Too late in uniting all possible forces for resistance.
* Too late in standing with one’s friends.”
– General Douglas Macarthur
ONE PARTY UNITED AGAINST THE PEOPLE – KNOW YOUR ENEMY
“America is now a less safe place. The world is a less safe place because of what Mr. Snowden unilaterally did. He deserves to be prosecuted. I hope they find him in the hole that he’s hiding in in Hong Kong and bring him home and try him.” – Karl Rove
“I hope we follow Mr. Snowden to the ends of the earth to bring him to justice.” – Lindsey Graham
“For this, some, including my colleague John Cassidy, are hailing him as a hero and a whistle-blower. He is neither. He is, rather, a grandiose narcissist who deserves to be in prison.” – Jeffrey Toobin – The New Yorker
“What he did was an act of treason.” – Diane Feinstein
“He’s a traitor.” – John Boehner
“I think he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I consider him right now to be a defector.” – Peter King
“There is an obligation both moral, but also legal, I believe, against a reporter disclosing something which would so severely compromise national security.” – Peter King
“I can assure you, this is not about spying on the American people.” – Al Franken
“For me it is literally, not figuratively, literally, gut-wrenching to see this happen, because of the huge, grave damage it does to our intelligence capabilities.” – James Clapper (Perjurer)
“We do not see a tradeoff between security and liberty.” – Keith Alexander – NSA Director
“The national security of the United States has been damaged as a result those leaks. The safety of the American people and the safety of people who reside in allied nations have been put at risk as a result of these leaks.” – Eric Holder
“I think he’s a traitor. I’m suspicious because he went to China. That’s not a place where you would ordinarily want to go if you are interested in freedom, liberty and so forth. It raises questions whether or not he had that kind of connection before he did this.” – Dick Cheney – The Dark Lord
“And I hope that he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” – Mitch McConnell
“Now you’ve got this 29-year-old high school dropout whistleblower making foreign policy for our country, our security policy. It’s sad, Brian. We’ve made treason cool. Betraying your country is kind of a fashion statement. He wants to be the national security Kim Kardashian. He cites Bradley Manning as a hero. I mean, we need to get very, very serious about treason. And oh by the way, for treason — as in the case of Bradley Manning or Edwards Snowden — you bring back the death penalty.” – Fox and Friends
“Can intelligence operate effectively if every starry-eyed analyst feels entitled to be a self-appointed whistle-blower?” – Gary Rosen – The Wall Street Journal
“Edward Snowden should go to jail, as quickly and for as long as possible.” – John Yoo – The National Review.
“I think on three scores—that is leaking the Patriot Act section 215, FISA 702, and the president’s classified cyber operations’ directive—on the strength of leaking that, yes, that would be a prosecutable offense. I think that he should be prosecuted.” – Nancy Pelosi
“Who is a journalist is a question we need to ask ourselves. Is any blogger out there saying anything – do they deserve First Amendment protection? These are the issues of our times.” – Lindsey Graham
“This lens makes you more likely to share the distinct strands of libertarianism that are blossoming in this fragmenting age: the deep suspicion of authority, the strong belief that hierarchies and organizations are suspect, the fervent devotion to transparency, the assumption that individual preference should be supreme. You’re more likely to donate to the Ron Paul for president campaign, as Snowden did. But Big Brother is not the only danger facing the country. Another is the rising tide of distrust, the corrosive spread of cynicism, the fraying of the social fabric and the rise of people who are so individualistic in their outlook that they have no real understanding of how to knit others together and look after the common good.” – David Brooks
“We’ve slipped away from a true republic. Now we’re slipping into a fascist system where it’s a combination of government, big business and authoritarian rule, and the suppression of the individual rights of each and every American citizen. When it comes to any significant differences on foreign policy, economic intervention, the Federal Reserve, a strong executive branch, a welfarism mixed with corporatism, both parties are very much alike. The major arguments in hotly contested presidential races are mostly for public consumption to convince the people they actually have a choice.” – Ron Paul
“Perfect safety is not the purpose of government. What we want from government is to enforce the law to protect our liberties. The government does not need to know more about what we are doing. We need to know more about what the government is doing. We need to turn the cameras on the police and on the government, not the other way around. We should be thankful for writers like Glenn Greenwald, who broke last week’s story, for taking risks to let us know what the government is doing. There are calls for the persecution of Greenwald and the other whistle-blowers and reporters. They should be defended, as their work defends our freedom.” – Ron Paul
“Before Sept. 11, the idea that Americans would voluntarily agree to live their lives under the gaze of a network of biometric surveillance cameras, peering at them in government buildings, shopping malls, subways and stadiums, would have seemed unthinkable, a dystopian fantasy of a society that had surrendered privacy and anonymity.” ― Jeffrey Rosen
“The National Security Agency’s capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide. If a dictator ever took over, the N.S.A. could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back.” – Frank Church
“The way things are supposed to work is that we’re supposed to know virtually everything about what they [the government] do: that’s why they’re called public servants. They’re supposed to know virtually nothing about what we do: that’s why we’re called private individuals.” – Glenn Greenwald
“These examples and many others demonstrate an alarming trend whereby the privacy and dignity of our citizens is being whittled away by sometimes imperceptible steps. Taken individually, each step may be of little consequence. But when viewed as a whole, there begins to emerge a society quite unlike any we have seen — a society in which government may intrude into the secret regions of man’s life at will.”
[Osborn v. United States, 385 U.S. 323, 343 (1966) (dissenting)]”
― William O. Douglas
“Big Brother in the form of an increasingly powerful government and in an increasingly powerful private sector will pile the records high with reasons why privacy should give way to national security, to law and order […] and the like.” ― William O. Douglas, Points of Rebellion
“Once the government can demand of a publisher the names of the purchasers of his publications, the free press as we know it disappears. Then the spectre of a government agent will look over the shoulder of everyone who reads. The purchase of a book or pamphlet today may result in a subpoena tomorrow. Fear of criticism goes with every person into the bookstall. The subtle, imponderable pressures of the orthodox lay hold. Some will fear to read what is unpopular, what the powers-that-be dislike. When the light of publicity may reach any student, any teacher, inquiry will be discouraged. The books and pamphlets that are critical of the administration, that preach an unpopular policy in domestic or foreign affairs, that are in disrepute in the orthodox school of thought will be suspect and subject to investigation. The press and its readers will pay a heavy price in harassment. But that will be minor in comparison with the menace of the shadow which government will cast over literature that does not follow the dominant party line. If the lady from Toledo can be required to disclose what she read yesterday and what she will read tomorrow, fear will take the place of freedom in the libraries, book stores, and homes of the land. Through the harassment of hearings, investigations, reports, and subpoenas government will hold a club over speech and over the press.”
[United States v. Rumely, 345 U.S. 41 (1953)]”
― William O. Douglas
“We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times; where there are no secrets from government.”
[Osborn v. United States, 385 U.S. 323, 341 (1966) (dissenting)]”
― William O. Douglas
In essence, Enemy of the State starring Gene Hackman and dummer than a brick Will Smith’s character that is supposed to be a lawyer! LOL!
That was phenomenal! Thanks so much for posting. I will keep an eye on Col. Mc Connell. If he has an ‘accident’ we all need to find some way to respond. This level of heroism demands our support.
I don’t see how anyone could lack faith in the credibility and judgement of those servants of the greater good at the Pentagram in all things concerning national security..
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/26/sponsors-of-pentagons-alarm-raising-climate-study-/?page=all
Retired officers poised to profit after Pentagon’s alarmist climate change report
Urgent Obama call can funnel funds to projects
Retired military officers deeply involved in the climate change movement — and some in companies positioned to profit from it — spearheaded an alarmist global warming report this month that calls on the Defense Department to ramp up spending on what it calls a man-made problem.
http://launch.newsinc.com/embed.html?type=VideoPlayer/Single&widgetId=1&trackingGroup=69016&siteSection=washingtontimes_pp_nws_non_sty_pp&videoId=25952256#ndn-widget-embed-1-player
The report, which the Obama administration immediately hailed as a call to action, was issued not by a private advocacy group but by a Pentagon-financed think tank that trumpets “absolute objectivity.” The research was funded by a climate change group that is also one of the think tank’s main customers.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/26/sponsors-of-pentagons-alarm-raising-climate-study-/
If not murdered, I wonder what the crazy radical JFK’s thoughts on Snowden would have been…but it’s highly likey that if JFK had lived, the demon directed police state apparatus that Snowden exposed would not exist today.
Many times a man is known by his enemies. I think the list of enemies by Admin is a testament to Snowdens character
Flash I think you are deluding yourself when you make a hero of Kennedy. He was the tool of the oligarchs at the time. That was a time when Democrat politicians pretended to be Americans and said the right things.
While I can’t say for certain, 3 years is hardly enough to judge someone by. Words from politicians are just so much bullshit, as they are generally NEVER followup up with supportive or consistent action. The CIA comments are great, but the actions in Vietnam were not. The Silver Certificates were wonderful, but would they have lasted. He was an adulterous member of a well-established crime family, who made their money off laws that violated the rights of all Americans. What principles might have been sacrificed to win re-election in 1964, or what might have an emboldened re-elected president have done knowing he didn’t need to worry about another re-election. We will never know. Looking backwards and forwards from his administration, it is hard to fathom that America actually elected anything close to a freedom-lover.
Admin
Thanks for compiling all those quotes.
The collections you created got me to thinking on many things, one of which is the upcoming election. We the People have more evidence than we have probably ever had of the corruption and machinations in the elite-controlled government. What will we do with this compelling evidence that we are not being served, we are being exploited?
The November election will provide a clear answer. Either we will clean house or we will consent to more of the same, condemning our kids to a miserable future. I have claimed before on this site that I will never again vote for a Republican or Democrat. I think I am going to have to revise my view. In this election, it will be critical to gain Republican control of Senate and increase its majority in the House. The Tea Party/Libertarian factions can then get to work to hold the more mainline Republicans accountable for their objectives.
This would be only a small start’ of course. I am wondering what percentage of the FSA will actually vote. Any stats or predictions available?
overthecliff, I’m not aiming at fostering idolatry of Kennedy, but once a tool does not mean always one.
After refusing to use US military to aid anti-Castro rebels during the BAY of PIgs fiasco and then subsequently attempting his promise to “splinter ” the CIA into a “thousand pieces” by firing Dulles and inspirational cohorts followed up by his directive to bring troops home form Vietnam,one has to wonder how much of a tool under the control of a globalist oligarchy Kennedy really was.
I truly believe Family of Secrets by Russ Baker which covers the Kennedy years quite sufficiently should be required reading for all high school students.If you haven’t read it and posses the slightest interest of how the global oligarchy really works, you won’t be disappointed.
.http://books.google.com/books?id=vGtWWgLaPTAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
BTW, overcliff, I’m not the source of the thumbs down.I never thumb down an honest opinion…it’s the disingenuous and reckless bullshit, I thumb down.
I was the thumbs-downer and I regret it. Your comment is a wise one. That said, it was done primarily because while JFK was no saint, LBJ made him look if not saintly, at least palatable. What politician is without stain? As for the “violating the rights of all Americans” when we’re discussing a bootlegger, well, that seems a bit of a reach.
A 29 year old man without a high school diploma, who is that courageous, thoughtful and erudite– at once gives me hope for the future, that such men exist, and at the same time, shames me, because at that age, the main thing on my mind was my own career and getting laid.
“Where do we get such men?”–Rear Admiral George Tarrant, Bridges at Toko-Ri
Great stuff, and good job admin with the quotes….
It’s all lip service. Boobus obesus Americanus are piling into the buffets today, absolutely oblivious to what is going on. They’ll take their pills and drugs, eat themselves into a food coma, stare at and finger their phones, feel smart and important on Facebook, too disgusted to look in the mirror, they are forever distracted with narcissism, the new “circuses” of the USSA. There isn’t much hope for this country, As long as the fascists and socialists hand out the free shit and cash, they can do whatever they want.
Here’s a suggestion for everyone here who encounters the following situation.
Them. “Edward Snowden is a traitor” or a milder “Edward Snowden damaged the national security of the United States.”
You. “Really, then could you please explain why both Republicans and Democrats in Congress are drafting laws to correct the excesses of the intelligence collection activities which Snowden exposed?”
Stick with that point. Don’t waiver. Don’t get sucked into an off-subject debate. Make THEM answer the question. You will win. Every time.
OK ,LISTEN UP,the bilderburgers are AS WE SPEAK,drawing straws for who gets what in ISRAEL,they are making their plans to divide JERUSALEM,and THAT will bring total destruction on FOUR COUNTRIES,AMERICA will get it the worst,THAT GIANT ASTEROID,thats orbiting earth ,you know the one thats FIVE MILES ACROSS,will come down,NORTHWEST of puerto rico,THE DEATH TOLL will be in the neighborhood of 40,000,000 million people ,and a mag.12 earthquake on the mississippi river fault,killing millions in the gulf and along the river fault,ANYONE in that area SHOULD LEAVE NOW,BIG tidal wave on the east coast,and the plans are about finished,READ JOEL 3 in your BIBLE,its about to happen,asteroid,pause,WAR,..RED DAWN……get ready………………
Arizona
Fuck off.
Greenwald works for Pierre, the eBay founder, who has funded the Ukranian resistance,
Az, your a fool, IMO, I suppose some alien put a probe up your bunghole in which your brain calls home.
Snowden is, and will always be, a spy. He will probably marry Anna Chapman.
Arizona, I wish to add insult to your injury. For you forget to mention Og, Gog and Magog.
http://jandyongenesis.blogspot.com/2007/04/gog-and-magog.html
Carry on o trollip of igmoe
Arizona, I hate to break it to you, but God doesn’t give a flying fuck about Jerusalem.
Arizona, I hate to break it to you, but God doesn’t give a flying fuck about Jerusalem. -Z
Are you to say that God speaks to you?
Care to elaborate Z?
What wonderful quotes you have shared Admin. Of both a true American and the enemies of America.
This one struck me hard, “I think he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I consider him right now to be a defector.” – Peter King
With sales training, human resource too, I was taught to listen to the ACTUAL words someone uses. To pay particular attention to verbiage, it can reveal the true intent of the speaker, it can reveal where the speaker is from, where he studied, where he has traveled.
My friends, what strikes me about Mr. King’s quotes, is that the sunuvabitch already considers us an occupied country. Defectors? Wtf, Mr. King, just wtf?
So there you have it, the powers that be already believe we are a fascist country, ala’ Cuba, Pre-Clinton China and Pre-wall falling Russia. As those are the countries “defectors” came from.
Homeland Security
NSA’s “Skynet” computer system (I kid you not, that is what they have called it)
Defectors
This shit makes my heart hurt. We truly didn’t value freedom, enlightenment, self-awareness and self-determination. And now it is gone.
Dark days, I no longer see much of the light. We are still near the top of this mountain and our entire way of life is sliding down, and I’m already screaming but see how few of us are. The vast majority, maybe at hundreds of millions of corporate indoctrinated sheeple, are just not going to wake up. If history is to be a guide the vast majority sure as hell won’t wake up even after. They will just scream for a doubling down of safety, food and security at the expense of all self-determination.
Being implanted and tracked no longer seems like a conspiracy theory. It now feels fucking, sadly, inevitable after the next in-county terrorist attack more than likely led by one of the guys traded for Bowe.
I’m beyond cynical and depressed about this shit. My daughter and granddaughter may never, ever, understand the true meaning of beginnings of our country. As flawed as they were, the world has never seen such a thing. And probably will never again.
So it goes…
Why the hell has Jerusalem, God and that clusterf*ck been brought into THIS discussion?
Oh, that’s right, well, nevermind. You guys should know better than to feed the mentally unstable/insane trolls. Setting up and knocking down self-righteous, statist, asshats is entertaining and educational, arguing with someone whom is obviously teetering on the fringes of his own sanity is just mean and cruel. Kinda’ like arguing with a drunk, you just piss him off and he most likely won’t remember/understand the gist of the conversation anyway.
God doesn’t “speak” to me, but I do believe he flows everywhere in my life. He has led me to a recent, further, adult-based, re-education, on his existence and the history of Jesus, the time period, and the Christian (and others) church(es).
Personally, I now believe that Jesus was sent to earth to try and save the Jewish peoples and their religion. Once it became apparent that there was no extracting the belief system from the corruption (as historical documents prove), he sacrificed himself to show us we didn’t need the freaking “religion” and its corrupted leaders to reach the side of God.
So the power center moved from the Jewish temple to the Jesus believing church, while the trade off was allowing the Jewish leaders to continue skimming from the governments and people through banking and tons of trade.
Either way, doesn’t matter. Just my opinion, but God was so disgusted by the Jewish religion and its leaders, he created a son on earth to bring the people to the truth. There is great symbolism in the target of Jesus’ wrath in the temple, with the “moneychangers” – whom were Jewish elders.
Not surprisingly, in exchange for “safety” and commerce, we, the beings created in a God’s image, chose the evil of organizations and leaders over self-determination and the Light.
Jerusalem doesn’t matter, nor more than anywhere else. Dark times are coming whether, or not, it remains in Jewish hands.
To believe anything else is to admit to the continued mind control you allow the elite over yourself. I’m glad I’ve moved beyond it.
And I’m not arguing with you Arizona, I’m just sharing my truth and hoping you can find a way to move beyond the propaganda you have been led to believe is reality.
Peace all.
Snowden is a national treasure. His courage will be an inspiration to freedom-loving people for centuries to come. Too bad we live in a time where freedom-loving people are so rare–and a time where such an infinitesimal percentage of people who work for the security state will stand up for what’s right.
Here’s another one from the good doctor,
“…My understanding is that espionage means giving secret or classified information to the enemy. Since Snowden shared information with the American people, his indictment for espionage could reveal (or confirm) that the US Government views you and me as the enemy…” — Ron Paul
And surprise, surprise, Steve C. quoting Robert Heinlein,
”…When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives…” — Robert A. Heinlein
That’s military intelligence talking.
Whistle blowers don’t become celebrities and hang around unless they still work for THE CORPORATION and are presented as a limited hangout.
Snowden = Limited Hangout
“. . .and fuck ever’body but STUCK! STUCK! STUCK! STUCK!”
Snowden . . . just now