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Leaders Call for Snowden’s Prosecution As CNN’s Toobin Calls Him A “Clown”

200px-national_security_agencysvgEdward Snowden, 29, is now a hunted man. The media this morning has moved from the shock over the massive surveillance of citizens to attacking Snowden as a leaker. Indeed, this morning, CNN’s Senior Legal Analyst Jeff Toobin denounced Snowden as a “clown” and someone who should be denounced. Toobin and I have been disagreeing a great deal lately. While I respect Jeff Toobin, I was surprised last week when he defended aspects of the investigation of journalists and later the massive surveillance programs. However, I was taken aback by the attack on Snowden. There certainly is a basis for criminal investigation — a point no one denies. He will have to answer for any violation of his clearance agreement and national security laws. However, it is the tenor and shift of the comments this morning that so surprised me. Rather than continue the debate of the loss of privacy, political and media figures are focusing on Snowden rather than the programs. You can disagree with his methods just as you can disagree with Julian Assange. However, there is an obvious effort to (like Assange) make him look unbalanced and dangerous. The story appears more complex. This is a man who gave up a $200,000 a year job and his likely freedom to reveal something that he felt the public should know about in the interest of privacy. You can disagree with his method, but few of his critics would even consider such a sacrifice for principle. Yet, the coverage this morning is largely on how to catch him and punish him. Over the weekend, the White House said it would find the person responsible and punish him. Snowden then self-disclosed his identity.

Ironically, President Barack Obama told the public that he was happy that we could have this debate over the balancing of privacy and security. However, he wants the person responsible for that debate to be prosecuted. Without Snowden, the program would have remained secret and no debate would likely have occurred. While aspects of these programs were previously discussed in 2006, this was the first confirmation of the programs from the government.

U.S. Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, called Snowden “a defector” and said “this person is dangerous to the country.” That is the new spin: the “high school dropout” and “clown” who fled to Hong Kong. Indeed, many news outlets are focusing on the fact that he allegedly had a $300 night hotel in Hong Kong before checking out.  (Anyone who has traveled to Hong Kong will tell you that this expense for a room is not uncommon and it is certainly not “one of the priciest” rooms for the city).  Much of the focus will be on Snowden and his case as opposed to the massive surveillance program. Many believe, like Snowden, that the greater danger to the country is the loss of privacy — as discussed in my column today in USA Today. What is clear is that this massive security state, and its contractors, are irate about these leaks, which have given critical information to the public that has long been denied to it by its elected representatives. It is a closed system that is represented vividly by Booz Allen. The current head of national intelligence (Clapper) is a former company executive. The prior intelligence head is now leading the company. It is part of a security state that generates hundreds of billions of dollars and we are the subject of their work under these and other programs. They do not like people causing the public to ask questions.

Snowden acted from within this closed system. We have a democratic system that seems entirely unconnected to the public. From the continuation of our fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan to warrantless surveillance, the views of the public seem entirely immaterial to our leaders. They offer rhetorical responses but largely act within a system controlled by two parties and their leaders. Congress itself has proven, yet again, to be entirely disinterested in civil liberties or privacy values. The courts have refused to hear dozens of public interest lawsuits seeking review of such programs. In this environment, whistleblowers often feel that they have no recourse but to go to the media. Of course, this Administration has not only attacked privacy but the free press in the recent scandals.

What is striking is the anger directed at Snowden from the media. He will be held accountable for any crime, but he is also someone who acted at great peril to himself. I do not believe that that makes him a “clown” and I hope that some attention will remain on the attack on privacy represented by these programs.

What do you think?

170 thoughts on “Leaders Call for Snowden’s Prosecution As CNN’s Toobin Calls Him A “Clown””

  1. I can understand why Obama did not pursue the war criminals at the CIA and other agencies who acted on the legal advice of the White House. There are political and institutional reasons that I think are obvious to all concerned. So if Obama can be so charitable to those who carried out torture under the color of law, I think that he most certainly can forgive this slight transgression on the part of Snowden. While he may have technically broken the law, he most certainly acted within the SPIRIT of the US Constitution. In fact, he did a great service to the US and let us into the secret world that has been hidden for far too long.

    I hardly think that the US government keeping track of who calls who is a threat to civil liberties, it does raise severe questions about how far we and the Congress wish to go down this path. This disclosure was an act of patriotism and without it we would not be having this discussion. He did not endanger others lives, nor stop the collection of intel. So as far as I can see and think, there is little or no damage to our security. I also have to note that this was being done before Congress voted to authorize this. At least Obama has not violated the law as all previous administrations have done.

  2. Saturday Night Live. Twenty plus years ago. Rosann: “Oh, Jeffrey!….”

  3. {music] Haven’t you heard about the Clown, known as The Toobin?
    He’ll set you up and let you down..
    Then jump on his scooter.

  5. CNN is going downhill. First tyou have that fast talking schtick best done by Jon King. They are all prompted to talk fast. Then you have the know it all and smug Piers Morgan who thinks that the Brits know everything and Americans are too tied to handguns. Jeff Toobin is the worst of the so called experts. Sdmug as a bug. Never tried a jury trial case in his life. Harvard this and Clerk for judge that. Cheated on his wife. Now we have him throwing rocks on behalf of the Obama Administration and Big Corp at this whistleblower. “Clown”? How bout you Brown? I liked the song posted by BarkinDog called The Cheater. It fits Toobin perfectly: A two hearted clown.

  6. The “War on terror”, like the “War on drugs”, dances between metaphor and actual war. Robert McNamera raises some interesting questions about “proportionality” in this clip (from a great movie, “The Fog of War”). There are obviously many who consider data-mining and extra-legal surveillance (I’m sure the term extra-legal just landed this post in a file at the NSA) to never/always be proper/improper, or legal/illegal. The reality is it’s going to happen. Period. If you’re reading this blog you are not of the class that makes these decisions and you do not get to play by there rules. I hate it when events such as these make “the crazies” seem prophetic. Yeah, I have an NPR umbrella and I don’t have NRA sticker on my car. I go to the farmers’ market and not gun shows on the weekend. But I’m keeping my guns oiled just the same (another blip at NSA).

  7. The reason the co workers sing the song about Toobin is because he is a two faced astardBay and cheated on his wife and has a child out of wedlock with Jeff Greenfields daughter. So, the name The Cheater has some legs.

  8. I have a dog pal who is guide dog for a guy who works at CNN. At CNN they call Jeffrey Toobin “The Cheater” and “The Two Hearted Clown”. They sing a song about him written by Bob Kuban and The In Men. Here arte the lyrics to The Cheater:

    [music] Bob Kuban and The In Men. The Cheater:

    Haven’t you heard about the guy known as the cheater
    he’ll take your girl and then he’ll lie and he’ll mistreat her
    it seems every day now
    you hear people say now
    Look out for the cheater
    make way for the fool-hearted clown
    look out for the cheater
    he’s gonna build you up just to let you down
    All of you girls had better stay inside your door now
    he’ll hurt you once, then turn around and hurt you some more now
    while he’s out betrayin’
    you’ll hear people sayin’
    [repeat chorus]
    That cheater took my baby
    away from me
    yes, and now, i don’t mean maybe
    i’ll get her back, just wait and see
    wait and see

    one of these days he’ll find a girl who knows all about him
    she’s gonna break his carefree heart and go on without him
    and you’ll hear thereafter
    above all the laughter
    Tough luck for the cheater
    too bad for the fool-hearted clown
    tough break for the cheater
    who used to build you up just to let you down
    Tough luck for the cheater
    too bad for the fool-hearted clown
    tough break for the cheater
    who used to build you up just to let you down .

  9. Snowden ’16. As to the high school education thing. Go out and speak to a group of college grads. 50% of them cannot put a sentence together and the other half have the attention spans of sugared-up kindergarteners.

  10. ** lottakatz 1, June 10, 2013 at 4:21 pm

    Oky1, SWM should put on the Nazi armband? Callin’ a penalty on that one, you’re out of bounds. WAY out of bounds. WAY. and your subsequent postings are no better. You say you won’t “willingly put up (sic) this Nazi takeover of the US by the Obama’s, Lindsey Grahams, McCains etc.” but what did you do for your country when these totalitarian policies were sown during the Bush years? Were you calling for his Impeachment? If you and the millions you cite are serious how come I didn’t hear about your movement making a difference between 2002 and 2008? While you may think you’re serious I suspect you just don’t know how the world works and place too much importance on presidents and other national figureheads. They are of limited independent effectiveness. **

    lottakatz 1,

    Yes, I was calling for the Nazi GW Bush’s impeachment years back, etc.,etc…..

    And oh ya, besides GW Bush’s own criminal actions, his dad & it’s a matter of New York Federal Court records GW’s grand dad was a convicted Nazi.

    Ya, now we know Joe Kennedy before WW2, IBM, JP Morgan Chase through out the war, etc., all helped aid/abet/finance the Nazis. I forget some of the details but they are out there in public.

    And just a bit about Gene H’s Godwin’s Law.

    I’m not going to call a dog a cat or a horse a pile of 2x4s, I’m call them as I see them.

    Years back there were some guys here that went & robbed a chicken restaurant. They herded everyone into the back & killed them. In court the lawyer argued the driver stayed in the car & had no part in the murders. But the jury found him guilt as the rest & also gave him the death penalty.

    Some of the Nuremberg trials earlier were decide along that same concept.

    Point being if any of us aid/abet those Nazis, before or after the fact they will be at least guilt of aiding/abeting. Just how culpable, I’m not sure at the moment, but that’s what DAs & courts are for.

    In fairness I should have went back & dug up some of her quotes before I posted.

    If you’re looking for the body count of these modern day Nazis many of the records are public all one has to do is a small bit of research

    IE: Poindexter & Ollie North govt audio of them laughing at murders they were a party to by their friends in Central America. It’s still out there I’d bet.

    Note: the Romney startup money.

    Reagan/Red Cross & the case of knowingly distributing blood in the US that was contaminated with AIDS.

    How far back or forward in history do you wish to go?

    On another topic of interest now that everyone knows of the extent of the govt’s Gestapo spying programs, one question that needs to be answered is how many Supreme Court rulings, such as Obama Care or Bush vs Gore were decided because of Blackmail of certain SC justices?

    That more then enough for me now.

    **
    From Wiki

    John Marlan Poindexter (born August 12, 1936) is a retired United States naval officer and Department of Defense official. He was Deputy National Security Advisor and National Security Advisor for the Reagan administration. He was convicted in April 1990 of multiple felonies as a result of his actions in the Iran-Contra affair, but his convictions were reversed on appeal in 1991. More recently, he served a brief stint as the director of the DARPA Information Awareness Office for the George W. Bush administration. He is the father of NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy Captain Alan Poindexter. **

  11. do you think the people would be listened to if we only had a double barrel shotgun and 2 boxes of shells available to us?

    Well, It seems like nonviolence worked pretty well in India, the Women’s Suffrage movement, and it looks to doing an o.k. job with GLBT rights. I’m pretty sure that the Prohibitionists were non-violent, and they got the Constitution amended. On the other hand, the Civil war didn’t seem to end too well for the South, and most people don’t look towards violent organizations on either end of the political spectrum too kindly.

    So, on the balance, I’d say that yes, the people get listened too when they don’t rely on violence as a fall back point.

  13. WOW !! five minutes ago the link I sourced above had in its 2nd paragraph Woolseys work history at booz allen. There is no longer a 2nd paragraph.
    WooHoo I have something to do now. :o)

  15. Our nations leaders and Toobin are traitors.
    They willing expose the Bill of Rights to attack. THEY should be charged with Treason.
    The American people must not allow these fascists to win.

  16. I spent an hour or so looking trough the blawg archives to see how long we have been discussing Prism and NSA spying (on the massive scale needed to implement Total Information Awareness). I figured it would have reached back to 2008-2009. 2009 it was. The media started to take some notice then because of some court challenges and there were a couple of good investigative reports about the explosion of the nations security infrastructure including this one:

    http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world-growing-beyond-control/

    If you like the first page just keep reading, there’s another 6 pages that’s dense with information to feast on, an excellent investigation. So why are we getting all upset now?

    It seems to me that with the eminent opening of the NSA Utah Data Center we the US, are reaching a critical mass, like watching Skynet come on line- and it’s freaking us out. They’re building another one in Maryland- these are massive facilities, 1 mllion sq.feet in Utah and mostly for their server rooms and a lot of room to expand outward, a projected 40 million dollar electricity bill yearly, also mostly for the servers.

    Even though the plan was known about for years (and that knowledge informed comments on this blawg for years) it’s coming to fruition now. It’s one of those things that at some future time will be seen as a demarcation between the way things were and the way they are in the future-now. For years I and others have said that once the technology is in place and the infrastructure is in place and coordinated the real transformation into a security state can take place. This is a major component and it’s ready. This is the Big Brother machine. It should, and seems to be, making our heads ‘splode.

    How it works and what it will do by someone that wrote the code:

    “Under the covers of the NSA’s big data effort”
    http://gigaom.com/2013/06/07/under-the-covers-of-the-nsas-big-data-effort/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%3A+Tech%29

  17. We here at Booz Allen are mortified that a person we hired had a conscience. Rest assured, that will never happen again!

    Thanks for the link to the info anon posted.

  19. Oky1, SWM should put on the Nazi armband? Callin’ a penalty on that one, you’re out of bounds. WAY out of bounds. WAY. and your subsequent postings are no better. You say you won’t “willingly put up (sic) this Nazi takeover of the US by the Obama’s, Lindsey Grahams, McCains etc.” but what did you do for your country when these totalitarian policies were sown during the Bush years? Were you calling for his Impeachment? If you and the millions you cite are serious how come I didn’t hear about your movement making a difference between 2002 and 2008? While you may think you’re serious I suspect you just don’t know how the world works and place too much importance on presidents and other national figureheads. They are of limited independent effectiveness.

    Presidents come and go but there is a superstructure of people (representing monied interests) cycling through the government/military/corporate machine that persists for generations. They run governments and they run the world and they control the money/wealth and the worlds resources.

    Have you not been paying attention. You know those yearly meetings of the Bilderbergers and G-pick-a-numbers when government officials and titans of commerce (the titles change as the revolving door spins but the names and faces seldom change) get together in absolute secrecy? What do you think they do? They decide how the world will work, who gets what, and the nature of national and international reality in 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 year timetables and programs.

    Unless the come to the office as a program member presidents and prime ministers are little more than lavatory attendants in that world. Then they better get with the program. Get with the program or stay well away from grassy knolls. If they get with the program they are allowed to be facilitators for programs and trends, some of which are near and dear to their own hearts, but always in the best interest of the real power elite.

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