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0 pointsjbooth12y ago0 comments

Sounds great, you should run for the job. I'm sure if we just elected someone who was leader-y enough, they'd be able to turn that ship on a dime.

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4 comments · 1 top-level

ISL12y ago· 3 in thread

A true captain can stop a ship if it's heading into rough waters, even if he can't turn it around. A single executive order could cause everyone at NSA to take a paid furlough, just as a single executive order could close Guantanamo.

Obama has sworn, twice, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. If there's something truly worth defending about bulk collection, something so important that it's worth compromising the Constitution, he should tell us why he's breaching the trust our electors placed in him.

jboothOP12y ago

I'm dissapointed in Obama on this issue too, especially compared to his history of statements before becoming president, but I can't even list the ways that metaphor ran off the rails.

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res0nat0r12y ago

Temporarily laying off the entire NSA staff because they are doing something you don't like is a terrible idea. It would do more harm than good.

blisterpeanuts12y ago

What harm would it do, exactly? Is there any objective evidence that the NSA has predicted anything or prevented anything?

As I understand it, they didn't know the Russians were planning to take Crimea, they didn't have actionable information on the Boston Marathon bombers despite explicit warnings from Russia and Germany, they didn't have a clue about the embassy attack in Benghazi.

Yet, they assert that spying massively on all Americans makes us safer. I remain wholly unconvinced and deeply skeptical.

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