Members of Congress clearly have fault. But keep in mind that not all Members are created equal.

Freshmen Rep’s probably get 7 or 8 staffers and volunteers. Six term Senators who Chair a committee probably have 50 or more dedicated staffers.

If I were a freshman Rep and was offered Snowden’s information, I know I’d be incredibly concerned about all the bs lies that NSA, the WH et al would throw at me to keep it secret. I’d want some level of comfort beyond my hunch that NSA blows a lot of smoke.

I think letting the news media dedicate the time and staff to dissecting the information makes more sense than a frosh Rep who has a few hard-working, but not necessarily knowledgeable, 20-something staffers decide what is properly disseminated to the public.

As the intertubes age and more (older) data comes online, I stumbled across a December 1967 article that ran in the Meriden, CT newspaper. It’s about my dad who blew the whistle on the lies of the military regarding the Gulf of Tonkin and explains how Sen. Fulbright had called my dad to Washington (important, huh?)… but my dad was more concerned with his family.

When my dad wrote the op-ed in the New Haven paper, he simply wanted to tell the truth… probably just like Snowden. Then all hell breaks loose because the PTB are pissed.

I just submitted a comment, but it didn’t post. Anyone else having problems?

Btw, while I vehemently oppose authoritarianism, I’m ok with people voting for it. I just happen to agree with Snowden… until we know the truth… and have that knowledge during the primary & general election cycle… The Aristocrats, such as DiFi, have NO moral authority to force this on us. Legal authority? Yes. But no moral authority.

Then Peter King put on his armband

haha… or should I cry??

I’m glad I wasn’t the only firebagger who saw it. I kinda wish I had been taping it and could’ve uploaded it to youtube. I know such hypocrisies happen all the time, but this one really struck me.

I happen to live in CT and know that Mika has a house here. I was tempted to drive there and picket her driveway. But I seem to recall a CT magazine discussing it as her weekend home.

These Pro-Authoritarian, Obama-can-do-no-wrong types deserve to be picketed at their homes… along with all members of Congress who fail to speak publicly in favor of full investigations… including into the words of Clapper.

I know everyone will ignore him, but Rep. Justin Amash (MI) used FB to call on Clapper to resign.

Both Haass and Mika offered really horrible words today on Morning Joe.

Mika first demanded that Scarborough stop calling Snowden a whistleblower because it was untrue and the MJ team was shaping public opinion.

A minute later, Haass asserted that Clapper had no choice, but to lie.

Huh?

First, Clapper could’ve told Wyden that he wasn’t going to answer.

Second, Haass was the shaping public opinion that Mika claimed to hold dear.

So where is Mika on Haass’ blatant untruth??

One thing that’s really annoying me with all the pols lately… they *all* call for the prosecution of Snowden. Even Bernie Sanders did. (And in theory, I agree… even if innocent… the whole situation needs to be discussed in a very public manner.)

But who among them has said they want to be “fair and equal” and prosecute NSA ee’s who broke the law? (As suggested by Snowden.)

They love to rail against Snowden, but simultaneously show their true colors by not demanding that *everyone* get treated equally under the law. Most of our pols are implicitly stating their contempt for the rule of law. :(

No, he wouldn’t. Glen is the *consummate* professional. But I could see why Lindsay “I’m a hard-nosed, southern conservative” Graham would get so angry… even angrier than McCain.

CTuttle… did I cross the line with that comment? I hope not… maybe I’m getting too personal though… I generally try to avoid that. I’m just upset about this, I may need to bite my tongue a bit.

All the powermongers in DC are asserting this hurts US national security.

But is that a logical conclusion?

In the absence of Snowden’s leak, people may have acted more quickly (sending emails that went initially unnoticed by the NSA) and killed / hurt people.

Post-leak, the terrorists may now be slow to act… and even *not* act.

It’s all hypothetical / counterfactual… or whatever. But an unwillingness to communicate seems to me to also have value in mitigating violence.

But considering the open nature of Glenzilla’s personal life… and the long-rumored nature of Lindsay’s personal life…

If Snowden got records for Graham that were similar to records that may have existed for Vitter…

How interesting it could all be… and nobody could accuse Glen of a “phobia.”

And then there’s the rest of them and their affairs and intimidation and identifying who gets chummy with whom… it could potentially bring the House of Cards down… IF snowden got the goods.

Frankly, I hope such records don’t exist. I just wish my expectations were as high as my hopes. :(

Haven’t read this post yet… been busy today. But keep thinking about Glenzilla’s comment that “there’s more to come.”

How interesting it would be if Snowden used his asserted authorities and actually tracked members of Congress, their staff and high ranking admin officials… and gave those records to Greenwald.

I can’t help but wonder about the phone calls, emails, etc. that Lindsay Graham makes, writes, etc…

And now hitting the sack… while reminding myself how unlikely it is that I’ll get disappeared tonight… while Snowden is not so fortunate.

Thanks CTuttle, I appreciate your trust/support. And yes, I just checked the history and agree… “interloper” is a good description at this point.

llona… “intruder” are you serious? Have you ever seen me here before? I’m fairly regular here and simply linked to something with a reasonable comment… clearly explaining why I did it. It was for general question purposes… more for eCahn than tarheel or anyone else probably. She seems to connect completely random dots all the time, including times when I don’t accept her theory, but still find her comments interesting.

As for whether the “disclosure project” is complete bs, that’s fine with me. I have no idea. But to go accusing me of being an intruder is unnecessarily obnoxious in my opinion.

It was pretty amazing. And if you can see it, I recommend it.

I was shocked. But I also am a true believer that Jefferson was absolutely right when he said governments will always be constituted by individuals who fall into two categories:

Populists (Rand Paul, Ron Wyden)
Authoritarians (DiFi, Lindsay Graham)

And those two groups clearly don’t fall neatly into our two party system.

Perhaps Huckabee is a populist. And with O in the White House, Huckabee is being given an unusually long leash at the moment?

I know this random and probably way OT, but in terms of the grand chess game that’s potentially being played this weekend… my dad’s been a UFO questioner for years… he just sent me this link that he said has real significant (retired) people in it. I recognize former Sen. Mike Gravel, but my dad recognized a few of his personal friends.

Big Data is fascinating.

I stopped by my parents tonight. The Fox Huckabee show had a bunch of whistleblowers discussing their actions. IIRC Huckabee described them as “heroes” in the same vain that young wo/men join the military and risk their lives.