Glenn Greenwald Gets Into Huge Fight About Snowden On 'Real Time With Bill Maher'

a reply to: Willtell

I find Glenn Greenwald a very intelligent journalist. What I like about him, he's a lawyer and he knows the law. So while other journalists take the side of the government like when the NSA justifies wire tapping because of terrorism, or when there is too much government secrecy, or Snowden being declared a traitor, Glenn easily rebuttals their accusations with references to constitutional law and the purpose of journalists to keep the government in check. He handles himself well and emphasizes the reason why we have a free press. More American journalists should have a back bone like Glenn and always question our government's actions. Ben Swann is another journalist that gets my respect.

I can't stand Bill Maher. This guy built his career pretending to be a libertarian and now he shows himself for what he is. This man has always been as obnoxious as they come. He's creative with his jokes and some of them are actually funny but this is serious business. This isn't a joke. This is no place for a standup comedian who's spent most of his adult life pretending to be something he wasn't.

Go Glenn! Too much secrecy, not enough transparency.
But he's helping the terrorists!

MEGA FACEPALM

Trust the security state who installed Saddam Hussein, who overthrew Mossadegh leading to the Iranian Islamic Republic, who lied about WMD'S in Iraq and chemical weapons from Assad - TRUST THEM??!!

If you can't see how right Greenwald is on this you're not getting the full thrust of WHAT the US security apparatus has done to bring 50 years of wars and revolutions and not only in the Middle east but worldwide. If suffering and death are what you like then by all means, support your government.

originally posted by: BrianFlanders
I can't stand Bill Maher. This guy built his career pretending to be a libertarian and now he shows himself for what he is. This man has always been as obnoxious as they come. He's creative with his jokes and some of them are actually funny but this is serious business. This isn't a joke. This is no place for a standup comedian who's spent most of his adult life pretending to be something he wasn't.

I feel like Bill sold out big time.
He was great on his old show.

"A lot of what we thanked him for initially leaking was really already public knowledge to an extent. Do average people really think the government is listening in to their phone calls? I mean c'mon you aren't important enough. Sure the amount of data that store and can access via specific algorithms is scary and could be used nefariously, but anyone with a tiny bit of logic already knew this was happening.

What you do online is, and has never been private. Companies like google know more about you than the government does in a lot of cases.

So sure he made it a national topic regarding the spying which was a good thing that everyone knew about, but that information was available to the public without Snowden."


You have only a tiny idea about the content of Snowden's leaks. Keep up with the documents released, go over the ones already out, then tell us what he did isn't a big deal in terms of what we now know. For instance, the release this past week of specifics regarding the fiberoptic cables the US taps into with permission of host countries, in exchange for information. The amount of data each minute is something like 3500 HD movies.
Regarding your "Google knows more about you than the government does" comment: Thanks to Snowden we know that WHATEVER GOOGLE or other major companies know, SO DOES THE NSA. Remember that reporting?

And the fact thatANY action was taken by congress, at all, is directly due to Snowden's patriotism. I'm talking about the vote 2 days ago in which a large majority of Representatives voted to curtail the NSA's M.O. (don't get me weong, the bill was not strong enough at all, but would not have happened without Snowden's leaks).

Finally, this can't be the 1st time you've heard the argument that "IT'S THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING" which makes the NSA's techniques & scope unacceptAble. "The principle" meaning WHAT AMERICA IS MEANT TO BE, as guided by the Constitution, and guarded by the people. Although if it isn't the 1st time you've heard it, I cannot fathom how A REASONABLE person would make the comment ypu did. It is a crumbling feeling, to think that people do not care if their government abuses power like this, and yet they have enough of an opinion on ONE individual like Snowden, that they'll post it here as if it's got a leg to stand on.
a reply to: Euphem

a reply to: babybunnies

And if you believe that the Government that spends almost $70 billion a year on their military - industrial - intelligence complex allows one badly screened system analyst to take down their entire intelligence gathering apparatus, you're as big a fool as anyone.

The NSA has been severely curtailed in their intelligence gathering ability, and had all their dirty laundry aired in public. Meanwhile America's enemies are laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

I'm sorry. Which one was it that you agreed with again?

Saw this "live," and it was a pretty good volley. They were both relatively polite, and actually both made some very good points. It's a pretty fine line we tread here.

Maher, though, man. For the most part he's aight, but sometimes he really does drink the Kool-Aid. Guess we all do to one extent or another.

a reply to: Willtell

Good exchange and fair points... thanks for the thread Willtell.

The one thing that sticks to me like old oatmeal is Snowden's
almost constant comment of "I still work for the US
government! Maybe you do, Ed..

There have been a few Pied Piper pundits exposing the op as
a limited hangout. I'll reserve judgment one way or the other--
except for the fact there's nothing new coming out of the big
bag of allegedly stolen secrets. What's the earth shaking stuff
that's supposed to have compromised our assets, much less
shed light on any ongoing mysteries?

Back to the clip, I sympathize with Glenn's noting the TLC
about releasing anything sensitive to buried assets; but a lack
of beef altogether when you supposedly split with the whole store?
Nothin' to see here, but we'll see you next week on.....
Where's the Whistleblower?

I'll join in with 'Dead soldiers as a result of nothing public yet?'
Was there a conduit before anything happened in the diplomatic
community that allowed Snowden to duck into Hong Kong
first? If there was anything critical leaked, one would normally see
some nasty consequences.. not just hurt egos in the Estab.

Case in point, maybe a clue toward the hangout-- as public as this
guy was in his movements; if he was that much of a threat do
you believe The Company would let him get to a plane, much less
BBC have him take a dump? You don't get that kind of curb service
unless they let you. OK flame away, but it still smells funny.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Willtell

He doesn't get smacked down at all...
I think he makes great points, especially when the guy brings up american deaths caused by snowden. Seems like a straw man to me. No proof either way that he did or did not cause deaths so what is the point of bringing it up but to just try to appeal to emotion?
And I would be on the side that says he didn't cause any deaths, how could releasing the info about the the surveillance state cause deaths?
Correct me if I am wrong but he didn't give out names of our agents out in the field right?

That's just it, Sremmos-- all Snowden really did was provide
verification from 'the inside' that we were getting spied on.

We already knew there was enough hard drive space in Utah
alone to archive every byte on the planet for a seven year
stretch... the assumption of [more than] metadata and
nothing else was a no-brainer with seven football fields of
floor space.
Q: was it to give him credibility when/if the other stuff gets
released? Hot or not, will it be true? It's looking more all the
time and again like an intel striptease; with the promoters
assuming the whole crowd in the club's at the drink limit.

Busy weekend, can't wait for Beat the Press.
And I can't account for two hours yesterday afternoon.
When I noticed what time it was my tax docs were gone.
I'll have to blame the Reptilians for this one, sorry Mr. Issa.

a reply to: derfreebie

He may just be controlled opposition too, but he still isn't/was a direct harm to any us citizen or service member.
Especially if all he is saying is common/ public knowledge.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: derfreebie

He may just be controlled opposition too, but he still isn't/was a direct harm to any us citizen or service member.
Especially if all he is saying is common/ public knowledge.

Exactly and in a nutshell. The less dangerous this guy seems,
the more he looks like a flute player than a whistleblower.

How could the exposure of prism have cost American lives ? If anything he might have cost some gov jobs and made things awqward for those in power. We are talking about Edward Snowden, when did he become Bradley Manning ? And even with Manning there is no proof to show he caused loss of life of our troops.


"Why is Snowden hiding in Russia" lol

Same reason Barry Soetoro is hiding his real BC


This argument is a red herring , they gave Manning 30 years and threw him in a hole in solitary until trial why would Snowden want to join him derr.

Snowden will be my hero too someday soon I hope.....


right after I hear those three magic words that people so long to hear.....



readyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy aimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm fireeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

a reply to: Willtell

Even if CIA lives were sacrificed by Snowden, he is STILL a hero. Why? It is worth it to sacrifice CIA lives it means exposing their crimes against the constitution. If they are behaving criminally and exposing their crimes costs some of their lives, so be it. If you see a crime of that scale you have a duty as an American to release the details. Crimes against the constitution by government officials are grave matters that should be dealt with immediately, swiftly, and decisively. Snowden did what he had to do to insure the matters would be dealt with.

If you commit a crime you have to deal with the consequences. Therefore, Snowden is a hero.

a reply to: Willtell

Bill Maher... "I respect Richard Clarke" ...and Richard Clarke claiming that Snowden leaked things that helped Putin and the terrorists?

1. You mean the terrorists that we are funding and supporting?

I don't even need anymore arguments. This "Snowden hurt us by helping the terrorists" s#!t falls FLAT on it's face. Logical impossibility and fallacy. Snowden CAN NOT hurt us anymore than our own f@$king government that is supporting and training these raging lunatics.

Greenwald held his own for the most part BUT (big but) he's arguing against retard logic.

a reply to: wayforward

I agree with you... to a point. Any CIA that would potentially be hurt, or worse, would likely be the ones in the field.

The real issue here are the ones pulling the strings and sitting behind a desk. Don't say CIA agents deserve to die, because a great majority of them do indeed work for the people. Don't let the false shadow fog your thinking brother! This comes straight from the top of the business hierarchy!

a reply to: kkrattiger

Where in my comment did I say I do not care if my government abuses their power? Where did I say anything bad about Snowden?

I said that a lot of what he leaked was already available to the public, and most of the rest are just common sense.

How naive are people to not think that the government isn't spying on them and the rest of the world? Governments have ALWAYS done this in every country all throughout history.

Do I have a problem with it? Yes.

Is there anything we can do about it? Not really, other than using security/encryption techniques on your own to hide your actions if you care that much.