Politicians cannot be trusted before or after they are elected to office.

Edward Snowden proved Government’s (politicians) cannot be trusted – WAKE UP AND MAKE THEM ACCOUNTABLE TO THE PEOPLE !

What keeps a person passive and compliant is fear of repercussions, but once you let go of your attachment to things that do not ultimately matter – money, career, physical safety – you can overcome that fear. The Internet should allow people to experience freedom and explore fully what freedom in a democratic society is all about. Washington is not allowing that to be possible.

I do not want to live in a world where we have no privacy and no freedom, where “Big Brother” might be watching and listening to everything I say and do. I do not think Edward Snowden ever wanted to destroy the NSA, but he did want the people to know what was going on so that the people could decide if they were willing to give up their freedom of privacy.

After Snowden returned to the NSA he went to Japan until 2011. He then returned again to the Dell Corporation assigned to the CIA office in Maryland. If Edward Snowden was the loser, low tech computer operator as the Obama administration portrayed him to be why did NSA, Dell Corporation, CIA and others keep rehiring him over and over again?

In 2012 he was transferred by Dell from Maryland to Hawaii that is where he started downloading the documents he thought the world should see. He realized there was one set of documents that would only be available to him by having access to NSA files so he applied and got a position with Booz Allen Hamilton  which gave him that access. He took a large pay cut in order to secure the job.

In 2013 Edward Snowden requested a few weeks off to receive treatment for his epilepsy. He went to Hong Kong telling none of his family or his girlfriend because he did not want to get them involved in what he was about to do. 

Edward Snowden was staying at a Five Star Hotel, paying with his own personal credit card, using his legal name and was not in hiding as the media and government said. He did not choose Hong Kong so he would have ties with the Chinese mainland government. He chose Hong Kong because he knew it was part of Chinese territory and he believed American Agents would not be as free to operate against him for fear of China getting involved.  He never contacted the Chinese government. His ultimate plan was to seek refuge in Ecuador or Bolivia.

Hong Kong was also attractive to him because it had an elected Democratic government, and it was use to being at odds with a major power – China Mainland. It was also a place where dissenters formed big street protest against China. He felt the people in Hong Kong would be more sympathetic to his cause.

Obama had pledged to protect whistle blowers when he campaigned for President, but he did the opposite once he took office. Obama actually waged a war against whistle blowers. The Obama administration has prosecuted more government leakers under the Espionage Act of 1917 than ALL previous administration in the history of the U.S.A.  I think Snowden believed he had to leave the U.S.A. in order to accomplish what he wanted to do. The man did not and does not want to go to prison – who does?

Let us not forget what the Obama administration tried to do to James Rosen at Fox News. They would have done far more to Edward Snowden. He would have been arrested immediately without bail.  

It would be hard for anyone to deny that the New York Times is pro Obama, but they even came out and said, “The administration has now lost all credibility. President Obama’s ‘Dragnet’ proves he will use any power given him and most likely will abuse it.”  The New York Times back down somewhat after the story was released and said they were only talking about what Obama would do with this one issue. We know Obama has abused his power on MANY issues.

Whistle blowers have been abused and prosecuted under the Obama administration. Journalists have been threatened with jail by intimidation. Laws , ethics, morality nor the Constitution has stopped the Bush or Obama administration from violating U.S. citizens’ rights to privacy.

 How many times have we  read or heard the media say that Edward Snowden  “FLED TO CHINA”? Media was doing what Washington ask them to do even if it was a lie. They made it sound as if Snowden was a secret agent for China.  The governments goal was to turn the American people and the world against Edward Snowden.

Washington was involved in economic espionage and diplomatic spying while condemning China for doing the same thing.  Documents Edward Snowden released proved NSA was spying on Petrobras, the SWIFT banking system, the
Russian oil company Gazprom and the Russian airline Aeroflot strictly for economic reasons. The surveillance had nothing to do with terrorism or national security. How many times have you read about or heard Obama condemn China for economic surveillance? 

Prior to attending the Latin America, energy companies conferences in Mexico and Venezuela our Washington representatives made sure they had all the surveillance NSA had collected on Latin America energy companies which allowed Washington an advantage during the conferences. We know this thanks to Edward Snowden.

NSA employs about thirty thousand employees and that does not count the private contractors. It is estimated 70% of our national intelligence budget is spent on private contractors. In 2010 AT&T was paid to spy on Brazil, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Venezuela for the U.S.A.  It is a known fact, thanks to Edward Snowden, that the government , telecommunication companies and tech companies all work together to carry out surveillance. They cooperate with each other to rob us of our Fourth Amendment rights.

NSA does not only pay private contractors for surveillance they pay foreign governments as well. In 2012 they paid the governments of Canada, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan, Taiwan and Thailand to carry out surveillance for them.  We know this thanks to Edward Snowden. How can we be assured the information these foreign governments give us is accurate. Is this how the “weapons of mass destruction” got started and was used to start a war?

In 2012 Microsoft was advertising they had the ability to guarantee privacy through their new Outlook program. They promised high levels of encryption to its customers. The government became worried and within a few months Microsoft devised methods so NSA could intercept and decrypt the data on Outlook. We know this thanks to Edward Snowden.

The government even has manufacturers to install malware in individual computers before they are sold to the public giving the government complete control of the computer. China does the same thing and the U.S. officials warned U.S. corporations and individuals not to buy computer equipment manufactured in China because they were installing malware at the factory, but we were doing the same thing.  If you bought Chinese products China could monitor you and the U.S. could not so they wanted you to buy U.S. products with U.S. malware installed in them. We know this thanks to Edward Snowden. At the time Edward Snowden released his documents at least 50,000 computers made in the U.S. had this malware installed in them. The New York Times has reported since more than 100,000 computers have this malware installed in them.

NSA has the ability to alter information in your computer even when the computer is not connected to the Internet. We know this thanks to Edward Snowden.

On June 18, 2013, Obama told Charlie Rose: “What I can say unequivocally is that if you are a U.S. person, the NSA cannot listen to your telephone calls … by law and by rule unless they … go to a court and obtain a warrant and seek probable cause, the same way it has always been.” THIS WAS AN OUT AND OUT LIE.

The GOP chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, around the same time told CNN that the NSA, “…is not listening to Americans phone calls. If it did it would be illegal and they would be breaking the law.” THIS WAS AN OUT AND OUT LIE and Edward Snowden proved it.

To be continued …

Do not take my freedom of privacy from me!

I want to begin this piece with saying I am not against ALL  government surveillance. Some spying in my opinion will always be necessary and all countries do it. I am for targeted surveillance, aimed only at those for whom their is substantial evidence to believe they are engaged in real wrongdoing.

It was decided in the 1970’s when the Church Committee revealed abusive surveillance being carried out by the United States government  that the government must have evidence of probable wrong doing before it can listen in on personal conversations. Unfortunately government officials did not follow the law. On their own without consent or knowledge of the people they began the unlawful practice again.

Until recently I was for hanging Edward Snowden. I bought the government's propaganda and the mainstream media’s line that he was a traitor and that he had put government operatives in danger. A close friend had been telling me for years I was wrong and I finally agreed to research the matter and I was shocked at what I discovered. I am sure there are many citizens just like me that are or were making judgments on Edward Snowden without really looking into the facts for themselves.

Is Edward Snowden a villain or not. That is a decision we each must make, but WE should make the decision based on what we learn from taking a critical look at the situation and not just buy into media and government hype.

Here's one definition of a hero: It's someone who, given a choice between doing the right thing at great personal cost or the wrong thing for great personal benefit, chooses the former. I now believe Snowden did the right thing and no one can dispute that he made a great personal sacrifice to do so. Snowden did not gain personally from what he did, he had to leave the country he loved, he had to leave behind his family and girlfriend and he gave up a potential income of around $200,000 a year.  Edward Snowden risk everything to let the American people know how their Constitutional freedoms were being violated by our government. We would most likely never know if not for Edward Snowden.

Unlike others who've controversially exposed government secrets — WikiLeaks' Julian Assange and Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, the latter facing life in prison — Snowden was at least somewhat more selective in his disclosures, and the journalists who received them. It is not true that Snowden’s disclosure put ANY government operative in danger – no identities were released by Snowden. The government has not shown one definitive examples of someone being put in danger. The only government entity harmed was the NSA and the Bush/ Obama administrations. The world became aware of the lies they have told for years regarding national security.

Edward Snowden has forced a public debate on the sweepingly invasive programs that should have taken place before they were created. If continued indefinitely, a secret government database permanently tracking the actions of every American would, indeed, pose a threat to democracy.

Some in media that are more loyal to the government than to the people did the governments bidding and tried to betray Snowden as a person who liked drama. They said He gave himself the code name "Verax," Latin for truth-teller, and he warned a Washington Post reporter that the U.S. intelligence community would be willing to kill to stop the release of the documents. I to would have taken a code name until I was ready to reveal myself – if ever. Most of us take code names when we use the Internet – Tom1942. If anyone believes someone in government is not capable of killing to keep their illegal actions from coming out they are naive. Why would the majority of mainstream media do the governments bidding - for future access to the politicians.

For years the UK and US governments broke the law. For years, they hid the sheer scale of their spying practices not just from the British and American public, but from other elected officials. I bought into the government line, “nothing to hide, nothing to fear.” There is no such thing as a risk free society. I now realize that  myself and most Americans have been dubbed by the government in allowing them to rob us of our guaranteed Constitution rights in the name of TERRORISM! More people are killed each year in automobile accidents than by terrorist and I do not think anyone is willing to give up their freedom to own a car and drive because of the risk of being killed in an automobile accident.

Snowden, now 32, remains in Russia under temporary political asylum after leaking classified National Security Agency documents in 2013. Former Attorney Gen. Eric Holder said Monday that Snowden has performed a "public service" by releasing the information on the agency's vast data-collection programs. This is the same man that wanted him tried, given life in prison or even executed.  This is the same man that lied about Snowden to make the American people and the world turn against him. This is the same man that said a high school drop out would never have access to such classified intelligence. This is the same man that called Snowden a traitor and a liar. Now this same man says Edward Snowden performed a public service, but still wants him tried in the United States for treason. Why would he want him tried for treason if he committed a public service BECAUSE it would be a deterrent to future whistle-blowers. I say pardon Edward Snowden.

I am going to continue this subject in stages, but I want to give you some things to think about as we go forward in days to come. FBI Director James Comey told a Senate committee on Dec. 9 that the two San Bernardino shooters were radicalized at least two years before the terror attack and had discussed on the Internet and telephone jihad and martyrdom as early as 2013. How does Comey know this? Comey was probably relying on communications intercepted by the National Security Agency (NSA). Whether that’s true or he learned it some other way, the government looks bad. If Comey’s source is the NSA, then it means persons known to have radical sympathies still managed to enter the U.S. unhindered and stage an attack. So what are we taxpayers getting for the trillion dollars we have given these agencies for over a decade?

Edward Snowden, the NSA whistle-blower who fled overseas in 2013, said the NSA was intercepting far more data than it could possibly analyze. It did so as part of General Keith Alexander’s “collect it all” campaign. The result was an intelligence agency drowning in so much intercepted data that it missed what Comey’s agents found in a matter of days – once they knew where to look. By then, 14 people were dead and 22 injured. We spent a trillion dollars and sacrificed hard-fought civil liberties so the FBI could explain a killer’s motive after the victims were already dead.

It may be that Comey uncovered information about the terrorists’ background by non-technical means. FBI agents knocked on doors and talked to people.  It’s old-fashioned, but still effective.

The NSA still looks bad in either scenario. It means that even with every possible legal advantage and a near-unlimited budget, the agency still missed very obvious signs of radical intent by people who then entered the U.S. and attacked us. That’s not basic security, much less “national” security. That proves Americans are not getting what we are paying for.

FBI Director Comey says it is all our fault – the citizens fault. He claims the citizens are at fault because we prefer to keep our private affairs private and in doing so we are endangering national security. You would have thought their government tactics had worked in San Bernardino. Government officials know how to blame others, but not accept responsibility for their failures.

Washington politicians and government employees serve Washington not the people of the United States. We are getting a bad deal!

Too  be continued…