Stanford and Virginia Law Professors in the NY Times - "It’s time to call the N.S.A.’s mass surveillance programs what they are: criminal."

Mass surveillance.

Warantless eavesdropping.

Global intrusion of privacy.

This is what America has signed up for.  This is what Americans are allowing.  Taking it lying down.  No protest.  Limited outrage.  Constitution smonstitution. 

Wake the f*ck up America.  

Seriously, wake the f*ck up.

What the Obama regime is doing is a crime.  

The Criminal N.S.A.
By JENNIFER STISA GRANICK and CHRISTOPHER JON SPRIGMAN
Published: June 27, 201

THE twin revelations that telecom carriers have been secretly giving the National Security Agency information about Americans’ phone calls, and that the N.S.A. has been capturing e-mail and other private communications from Internet companies as part of a secret program called Prism, have not enraged most Americans. Lulled, perhaps, by the Obama administration’s claims that these “modest encroachments on privacy” were approved by Congress and by federal judges, public opinion quickly migrated from shock to “meh.”

We may never know all the details of the mass surveillance programs, but we know this: The administration has justified them through abuse of language, intentional evasion of statutory protections, secret, unreviewable investigative procedures and constitutional arguments that make a mockery of the government’s professed concern with protecting Americans’ privacy. It’s time to call the N.S.A.’s mass surveillance programs what they are: criminal.

Steve Wozniak on Edward Snowden - "I think he's a hero. He's a hero to my beliefs about how the Constitution should work". ARE YOU LISTENING OBAMA?

Oh, yeah, I forgot.  Obama IS listening.

Not to us.

Not to the Founders.

No, he's listening.  He's listening to your intimate, private, constitutionally protected calls.  

Shame.

“I think he’s a hero,” said the 62-year-old Wozniak, who co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs and invented the Apple I and Apple II personal computers that launched a technological revolution. “He’s a hero to my beliefs about how the Constitution should work. I don’t think the NSA has done one thing valuable for us, in this whole ‘Prism’ regard, that couldn’t have been done by following the Constitution and doing it the old way.”

Putin Does the Right Thing - Allows Edward Snowden Free Transit from Russia. "I'd prefer not to deal with this issue at all—it's like shearing a pig—too much squeaking, too little wool"

If the shoe was on the other foot, and a Russian whistleblower had fled to America while exposing illegal activity of the Russian government, would America send him back on a plane to Russia?  To face certain prosecution, maybe even death?

No f*cking way.

So we're shocked, SHOCKED, that Putin did what he did today?

Bravo, Putin.  Bravo Russia.  And now for our hero Ed Snowden it's on to Ecuador!

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that he'd rather not intervene in the case of Edward Snowden, who is wanted in the U.S. on charges of espionage for leaking National Security Agency secrets, and likened navigating the diplomacy of the situation to "shearing a pig."

"I'd prefer not to deal with this issue at all—it's like shearing a pig—too much squeaking, too little wool," Putin said during a news conference in Turku, Finland, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

Putin announced Snowden was free to transit out of Russia, adding "the sooner he chooses his final destination, the better it will be for us and for him."

Julian Assange Statement Defending Ed Snowden - "By trying to crush these young whistleblowers with espionage charges, the U.S. government is taking on a generation, and that is a battle it is going to lose."

One day, the Snowdens of the world are going to run America. A generation raised on the internet, with freedom of speech and assembly and the right to privacy deep in their veins. That day can't come soon enough.

I hope all of those demanding Ed Snowden's arrest are still alive. So we can show them how terribly, historically, incredibly wrong they were. They were the traitors, not Snowden.  And they will be shamed.

 Here's Assange, laying it down.

The U.S. government is spying on each and every one of us, but it is Edward Snowden who is charged with espionage for tipping us off. Let’s be very careful about who we call "traitor." Edward Snowden is one of us. Bradley Manning is one of us. They are young, technically minded people from the generation that Barack Obama betrayed. They are the generation that grew up on the internet, and were shaped by it.

 The U.S. government is always going to need intelligence analysts and systems administrators, and they are going to have to hire them from this generation and the ones that follow it. One day, their generation will run the NSA, the CIA, and the FBI. This isn’t a phenomenon that is going away. This is inevitable. And by trying to crush these young whistleblowers with espionage charges, the U.S. government is taking on a generation, and that is a battle it is going to lose.

Putin to Obama - You Want Snowden? Come Get Him! (or something like that)

Hmmm... let's see, a hero from America, a whistleblower on the illegal, evil and shady undertakings of the American government, a beacon of human rights and freedom of speech, a person awaiting jail and possibly something like waterboarding, and the Americans want Russia to hand him over?

No chance.

Bravo Putin.  Bravo Russia.  The world (including most Americans) is on your side.

The White House said it expected the Russian government to send Snowden back to the United States and lodged "strong objections" to Hong Kong and China for letting him go.

But the Russian government ignored the appeal and President Vladimir Putin's press secretary denied any knowledge of Snowden's movements.

Asked if Snowden had spoken to the Russian authorities, Peskov said: "Overall, we have no information about him."

UPDATE - US warns Moscow not to let Edward Snowden escape Russia

Ecuador Foreign Minister bitch slaps the US Security Industrial Complex, defends Ed Snowden - “It should be asked, who betrayed whom? Is this betraying the citizens of the world, or betraying some elites that are in power in a certain country?"

This, I believe, would be called a 'smack down'.

Here's Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino pointing out the blatent hypocracy of the Obama administration and their masters in the US Security Industrial Complex.  

Ed Snowden hasn't betrayed America, or the American people.  He is an American hero, and will be celebrated for decades to come.  No, he hasn't betrayed us.  

He has honored us.

Has Edward Snowden betrayed people of the world or certain elites in a particular country, asked Ecuador Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino as he confirmed that the whistleblower was in Russia following the asylum bid the South American country.

Patino said on Monday that human rights principles were the most important consideration in the case of former CIA contractor.

Ecuador has been in contact with the Russian government over Edward Snowden and has informed Russia that it is considering him asylum appeal, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister said at a press conference in Hanoi on Monday.

He stressed that the Ecuadorian government puts human rights above any other party’s interests. Patino also said it is “paradoxical” the person who revealed alleged rights violations is being “persecuted.” 

“It should be asked, who betrayed whom,” Patino stressed as he questioned the correctness of calling Snowden’s leak a “treason.”

“Is this betraying the citizens of the world, or betraying some elites that are in power in a certain country?” the Minister asked.

Ed Snowden - Hero, Patriot, Whistleblower - and now Fugitive

Ed Snowden, the hero of our story, is now officially on the run.  In America we used to celebrate and protect whistleblowers.  Now we chase them down, maybe even drop a drone on their ass.  

Seriously.  What's become of us?

Snowden has ticket to Cuba, may go to Venezuela: Russian reports

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is booked on a flight from Moscow to Cuba on Monday, Russian news agencies Interfax and Itar-Tass cited sources at Russian airline Aeroflot as saying on Sunday.

Itar-Tass cited its source as saying Snowden w

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things".

Here's Ed talking to the Guardian, with the full transcript here. 

This is what courage looks like folks.  

"But over time that awareness of wrongdoing sort of builds up and you feel compelled to talk about. And the more you talk about the more you're ignored. The more you're told its not a problem until eventually you realize that these things need to be determined by the public and not by somebody who was simply hired by the government."

"Any analyst at any time can target anyone, any selector, anywhere. Where those communications will be picked up depends on the range of the sensor networks and the authorities that analyst is empowered with. Not all analysts have the ability to target everything. But 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 if I had a personal e-mail."

"You can't come forward against the world's most powerful intelligence agencies and be completely free from risk because they're such powerful adversaries. No one can meaningfully oppose them. If they want to get you, they'll get you in time."

"The greatest fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change."

Ed Snowden does live chat with the Guardian. " All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."

Truth.  Is.  Coming.

And it cannot be stopped.

One more time - attention President Obama.  Attention John Boehner.  Attention Dick Cheney.  Attention Diane Feinstein.  Attention all the traitors who are attempting to silence this whistleblower.

Truth is coming.  And it cannot be stopped.

It cannot be stopped.

It cannot be stopped.

Suck on that for awhile.

The US Government, just as they did with other whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason and that the disclosure of secret, criminal, and even unconstitutional acts is an unforgivable crime. That's not justice, and it would be foolish to volunteer yourself to it if you can do more good outside of prison than in it.

Second, let's be clear: I did not reveal any US operations against legitimate military targets. I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private businesses because it is dangerous. These nakedly, aggressively criminal acts are wrong no matter the target. Not only that, when NSA makes a technical mistake during an exploitation operation, critical systems crash. Congress hasn't declared war on the countries - the majority of them are our allies - but without asking for public permission, NSA is running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent people. And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a country we're not even fighting? So we can potentially reveal a potential terrorist with the potential to kill fewer Americans than our own Police? No, the public needs to know the kinds of things a government does in its name, or the "consent of the governed" is meaningless.

All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped.