2013-06-09, 05:46 | Link #28781 | |||
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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2013-06-09, 07:23 | Link #28782 |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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North Korean defector's "impossible" dream of closing prison camps
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9541BG20130605 Congo conflict masks deadly volcano threat http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9540MW20130605
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2013-06-09, 07:36 | Link #28783 | |||
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2006
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There's been a broad, even alarming, expansion of executive power in the US over the last 100 years. While each political "side" cheers when their guy is doing it and jeering when the other guy is doing it, the overall effect on the health of government is discernible. This guy does a nice job of summing up my concerns. The reality is that abuse of power absolutely exists in our pillared institutions. Ignorance is rampant, too, with people in high level positions going on record as saying some of the dumbest things imaginable. And with the way the typical voter picks a candidate, I hold no faith that they'll always pick the guy (or gal) who won't overreach with power or harm us with stupidity. Quote:
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2013-06-09, 11:47 | Link #28784 | |
AS Oji-kun
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
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What I find most disturbing is the sheer amount of information being sucked up and the computer resources being used for its analysis. Read the Bamford article I cited earlier for details, or this piece in this morning New York Times:
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...d&continuous=1
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2013-06-09, 11:53 | Link #28785 |
Mmmm....
Join Date: Sep 2006
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Well, we knew this day was coming, but it's still sad.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047 Author Iain Banks has died aged 59, two months after announcing he had terminal cancer, his family has said. The Scottish writer revealed in April he was suffering from terminal gall bladder cancer and was unlikely to live for more than a year. I think there'll be many a glass of fine single malt raised in his memory tonight. |
2013-06-09, 12:15 | Link #28786 | |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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2013-06-09, 20:59 | Link #28788 |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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Ex-CIA man says exposed spy scheme for better world
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9580DW20130609
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2013-06-09, 21:53 | Link #28789 | ||
Master of Coin
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Last edited by ArchmageXin; 2013-06-09 at 22:05. |
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2013-06-09, 22:02 | Link #28790 | |
今宵の虎徹は血に飢えている
Join Date: Jan 2009
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2013-06-09, 22:07 | Link #28791 | ||
Le fou, c'est moi
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Las Vegas, NV, USA
Age: 34
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However, you will notice that at least a sizable number of the common American citizens -- to be distinguished from the self-important, hypocritical scums in Washington -- are rightly outraged. I have similar expectations that many a common Chinese internet user is no fan of the Great Firewall, even if they will never admit it publicly. As for Mr. Snowden. He is a hero. May he live long and prosper, or at least, however unlikely it is, may he not get tortured, "questioned," harassed, defamed, dirtied, ruined, poisoned by "decisive" intelligence types because he stands for something more than they will ever stand for. His life is already ruined, but maybe he can take comfort in having had the moral courage to do what is in the best interests of his fellow man. I believe his choice of Hong Kong as first-stop asylum is, in his desperate situation, as well as he could have done. There are few places in the world where the powers that be stand a chance to stick it to the US, while not exactly being a hellhole (if not entirely free and all that lovely). Though it is now up to the PRC if it's willing to block the inevitable extradition request that will come through the US-Hong Kong treaty. Or, hell, if it's going to send its own agents in and "question" Mr. Snowden before the United States' massive intelligence apparatus -- its pride shamed -- gets to him. And of course, his willingness to reveal himself does him credit -- and again, intelligent, since it preempts the inevitable smear campaign that hit previous whistleblowers such as Mr. Assange. It has already begun, with many commentators of the so-called "Progressive" side (I am disgusted by how many partisan "Democrats" are standing with Obama because he's Obama and the Republican Party is hypocritical...or something) calling for his head as a "Chinese spy." Quote:
My fellow citizens don't particularly care about infringing on the nonexistent rights of foreigners, see. That does mean, if you're someone in the government of, oh, Russia, you don't think in terms of outrage and citizens' rights (you don't even care about that), or if the UN really needs to update its Declaration to include "And no, America, you are NOT exempted," but you think in terms of how are you going to route around the American "prism." Though if you're just some dude in Moscow, well, what are you gonna do about it when even the American citizens, technically owners of the US government, frankly have no idea how to get started in pushing this back? |
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2013-06-10, 04:07 | Link #28792 |
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Hamburg
Age: 54
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The sad thing is that this scandal isn't even creating real feedback. It seems that the erosion of privacy rights is deemed irrelevant by the vast majority of people, and even internet-savvy users like those of this board feel bored about it.
Scary. |
2013-06-10, 04:27 | Link #28793 |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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U.S. finds long-lost diary of top Nazi leader, Hitler aide
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9580HL20130609
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2013-06-10, 06:40 | Link #28794 | |
Logician and Romantic
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Within my mind
Age: 43
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The ONLY things that are kept functioning in the US government are bipartisan issues. And PRISM is one such issue. And as such, no voter can oppose it. Am I mad about it? Yes. But in a way we always knew this was happening. We have the Right and the Far Right running America, both want more surveillance. And never-mind what extent of spying they are doing to foreigners who are meant to be allies.
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2013-06-10, 07:47 | Link #28795 | |
Senior Member
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Jeremy Irons 'feels sorry' for those accused of abuse
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BLANKET STITCH |
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2013-06-10, 07:51 | Link #28796 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Age: 38
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Not only that, but you can't really change more than a third of Congress at a time. When it appears to be almost, not entirely unanimous, even replacing a third of it won't help. By the time you can get to the next third, the first third will have been bought and brainwashed.
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2013-06-10, 08:29 | Link #28797 | |
Master of Coin
Join Date: Mar 2008
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I find it funny all those conspiracies theories in the 90s via Hollywood or Video Games, such as the original Deux Ex or Will Smith's enemy of the state, once crackpot jokes, now true predictor of the future. |
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2013-06-10, 15:13 | Link #28798 |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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Iceland may not be the haven U.S. leaker hopes
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9590OK20130610
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2013-06-10, 15:14 | Link #28799 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
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US Seeks To Defend American Officials from UAV Targeted Killings:
"The US government, which has used missile-armed UAVs to kill hundreds in Pakistan and Yemen, is looking for ways to ward off the same kind of attacks on its own officials. After all, several countries now produce unmanned aerial vehicles, including China, Iran and Russia, and they are in the arsenals of as many as 80 nations and even some nonstate actors such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah." See: http://www.defensenews.com/article/2...geted-Killings |
2013-06-10, 22:58 | Link #28800 | |
Banned
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current affairs, discussion, international |
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