Judging by the huge amount of bile that various Europeans have spewed in recent days about the sentencing of that puff-pastry scumball Bradley Manning, the greatest danger to the United States lies in Europe. There are far more fervent America-haters among our allies than all the Muslim world put together.
We would do well to tighten visa procedures.
Several commenters under newspaper articles in Dutch, German, French, and Danish -- and probably other languages which I have never bothered to learn, as I was never interested in what those people think -- have opined that Bradley Manning is a hero, who deserves a statue and the Nobel Peace Prize, and that the United States is a fascist country that should be destroyed; we're worse than Russia, China, and North Korea, where citizens who do what he did get rewarded.
Additionally, all of us Americans are the rejected scum of Europe, hypocrites, ignorant and savage, and should be exterminated.
No, not all of them have said that. There are still humans in Europe. But there are far too many weasels and quislings there, and much of their society is more rotten and verminous than you can imagine.
I lived there for sixteen years. I have no desire to ever live there again. The hatred that so many people so openly radiate towards America and Americans is more than enough reason to only visit occasionally, and then only briefly.
Jazeker, beste Nederlanders, ik wens volstrekt nooit weer temidden van ulieden te wonen. Ik kan mij zelfs niets onplezanter en onmenselijker voorstellen dan omringd te zijn door dat nietswetende begriploze droogkloterij dat velen onder u allen met zo'n kotsneigingverwekkende verwaandheid uitstralen.
[Note: basically the preceding text encapsulated.]
I too am rather appalled at the thirty-five year sentence.
Bradley Manning should be stood against a wall and shot.
Same for Edward Snowden. As well as Julian Assange.
And several people in Europe.
Readers, feel free to disagree.
Please, no spelling errors.
You can do it if you try.
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Often while at work I get to hear the sour old dingbats in the backroom spouting Republican drivel and venom. Which does not leave me positi...
9 comments:
Scumball?
Firing squad?
Even Julian Assange?
Surely you don't believe that general domestic spying is a good thing, and if you don't you must not think that making americans aware of what's going on in their name is a bad thing?
Of course I don't believe that domestic spying is a good thing. But it's a fact of life, and arguably necessary.
Both Manning and Snowden had access to classified material, and betrayed their trust. Both of them, by releasing so much and so randomly, endangered lives.
EVEN IF that were not the case -- so please don't even think of debating the point -- their massive betrayal makes them enemies. Given the nature of the work they were involved in, that they were legally and morally obligated to keep confidential, what they did does indeed merit a firing squad.
As for Assange, he's just a sleazy foreign Yank-hating a-moral opportunist, who deliberately harmed the United States. Why should I approve of anything that that miserably cretin did? Why should he not be lined up and shot?
I am incredulous that so many otherwise semi-rational people in the rest of the world consider him a saint beyond reproach. I can only chalk that up to the selective blindness of their societies, the inculcated hatred of America that exists in much of the rest of the world, and the ethical deficits of their media and their cultures.
All three of those men are attention-starved egomaniacs pandering to the foreign mob. Saboteurs, thieves, and spies.
That last often gets the death penalty in other countries, by the way. Justifiably so.
In what way is domestic spying a fact of life, or necessary? Remember here, with the current infrastructure, the government still has "lawful intercept" points, where they can spy on someone if they have a warrant.
Your implication about classification is that the government a) has your best interest in mind when it chooses to keep information secret, and b) that everything that is classified is because of "national security"; neither of which I believe.
To consider what Snowden did a "betrayal" seems like a joke. I have to ask whom Snowden betrayed, certainly not the american people who were unaware of this going on, perhaps the government… I should ask if you believe that whatever terrorists this system is supposed to detect were actually unaware of such things going on, and are now deciding to hide themselves, or something like that.
Perhaps they were legally obligated, but I don't see how they were morally, please explain this.
If by yank-hating you mean hating the us government, sure, but I seriously doubt he hates americans. Remember, if governments are doing things that their people do not approve of, and without the knowledge of the people, there is no reason why they should be protected in any way. Also remember that harming the us government does not necessarily harm american citizens in general.
The most important question is, do you think that whatever real enemies of the us that may exist have been helped by either three, other than increasing popular disillusionment with the government?
Note to both anonymous and other readers: from now until Monday morning I'll be too busy to do anything other than sputter.
And quite likely not fully rational to boot. Weekends are always like that nowadays.
I'll try to address your points in the days that will follow.
I have to disagree with you Sir. Domestic spying is way out of control and I'm glad that the extent of the program has been brought to light, very glad. Maybe now we can begin the process of reforming the policy's of the IRS & Homeland Security. In short keep you creepy eyes off of my life. It's nunya business.
To Anonymous at 7:22 AM,
Two separate issues.
Three, even.
The domestic spying was indeed horrendous, and it's good that it has been brought to light -- although I have to wonder whether an excess of information doesn't make it that much harder for the Keystone Cops to put two and two together and get an even number.
The released data, however, also includes much that there was valid interest in discovering without it being an issue of the rights of citizens being violated, that the U.S. should know, and should pursue -- and that it is harmful for the other side to know that we know.
Some things that were released should have been brought to light long ago, and never should have been hidden or covered-up. We have a complete failure of our elected representatives to do their job, and even willful collusion in obscuring the extent of their failure to do so, as well as crimes committed in our name. That is by far the greater scandal, and I'm surprised it has barely been mentioned so far. It should instead be the primary reason for massive outrage.
The other issue is that neither Snowden nor Manning were entitled to release any information at all, were in fact tasked to keep in confidence, and we the people have a right to expect them to maintain that confidentiality as well as other confidentialities; the American people must insist on reliability from its servants and employees whose function is to be reliable, secrecy from those required to keep secrets.
Our servants must be tight-lipped; not so unreliable as to be fountains and tidal waves of disclosure.
Nor were they in any way able to make judgments as to the sensitivity of the information they released, or who would benefit if they did release it -- the very fact of their themselves being involved in that data and its handling presupposes that their perspective and motivations must be questioned.
They spilled everything, and at seeming random, irrespective of all considerations.
It is not because of what was said that they should be shot, it is because they said it.
But you are right that domestic spying is out of control. And the big question is why our elected officials allowed it to get this way -- or were asleep at the wheel -- and why they are not being called to task by the press and public.
This is more than the predictable apathy, laziness, and self-impressed bloated disdain we can expect from our public parasites. This speaks of a fundamental rot in the system.
I agree with your last comments. I agree as a country need to be aware of as much as possible. I agree the guys that told our secrets are technically guilty of treason.
That being said I do want to maintain a reasonable amount of privacy. I.e. don't listen or record my phone calls, don't track or read my emails and don't record my internet activity. I've done nothing to warrant such an intrusion and never will.
The whole thing is a perfect example of unreasonable search & seizure and counter to law abiding American’s constitutional rights. And you are quite correct to lay the blame at the feet of our corrupted political system and the politicians therein.
Oh sure you can blame the current administration, it’s an easy target and g-d knows I have no respect for Obama or his henchman Eric Holder. But this specific problem started with GW Bush and the trend has been ongoing for decades. Politicians are more interested in picking the pockets of the people and little interest serving them so we are not protected from this non-sense. Perhaps we should throw some tea in the harbor...for a start? - K
Can't disagree with what you wrote.
Nor will I blame just the current administration either. This tendency to invade our electronic privacy probably started in the nineties.
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