I don’t see a thread regarding the deep state and if not, there should be
An appellate federal court ruled that basically all Snowden did was expose unconstitutional activities by the NSA. This should all but exonerate him. Yet, he can’t come back to stand trial due to an obscure and very old espionage law, which won’t allow him to use a proper defense
I’m not sure if a president can pardon someone before they’ve been convicted, but Snowden’s actions has certainly been vindicated by the court
Assange has been charged with violating the same 1917 espionage act
I’m hoping this thread can serve as other deep state news and conversation. Its power to keep us in wars, violate our rights, and commit war crimes under the guise of protecting against terrorism. I find it disturbing that even a supposed liberal democrat such as president Obama, called Snowden a traitor and that every administration (certainly from George W to current) could easily be prosecuted for war crimes
There’s so much more to talk about regarding our deep state heads who aren’t voted in, but likely to serve under multiple administrations. Hopefully, this gets the ball rolling
My understanding is that deep state refers to especially any of the 3 executive branches of federal government where non-elected personnel are entrenched, but may include other branches of government as well
Non-elected, entrenched personnel in the legislative branch? Like you think the staff at the Capital are calling some shots on the NSA? The Librarian of Congress?
Do you think the non-political appointees in the non-military/intelligence/state departments have anything to do with this?
I like “The Security State” because most of the people involved in these programs probably think they’re keeping us safe. For every psychopath in charge of a program that directly spies on us, there’s hundreds of workers helping that think they’re doing good.
DOJ is in the executive branch and the executive is full of entrenched positions.
I think it would be the DOJ that would have to charge Snowden, though that decision would surely be made by a Presidential appointee of not the President him/herself. Unappointed people at the DOJ surely decide on most low profile cases.
If you take issue with the term “deep state” then call it what you want. My point is only that there are powerful dark areas within government responsible for not only carrying out unconstitutional acts, but literal war crimes
That would be the executive branch then, right? Apologies to those offended by the term “deep state”, but it should take nothing away from the outrage that should be felt by how our government chose to treat whistle blowers like Snowden, Manning, Assange, et.al., and the unconstitutional acts they exposed
Of course. About 99% of everything is in the executive branch. All the alphabet soup mentioned ITT so far are in the executive branch: DOD (including NSA), DOJ (including the USAs that charge people), DOS. That’s just how our government is organized, and is by Constitutional design.
Well, they’re not really dark areas. Like we know about an absurd amount of the crimes that occurred on the run up to and during the Iraq war and we know who’s responsible for them. This includes all the domestic spying programs that refused to use the FISA court.
Well, if they’re not really dark areas, then why are they still trying to put people like Snowden and Assange in jail while continuing to let Clapper and so many others off the hook for lying under oath, violating the constitution, and committing war crimes?
I don’t want to speak for others, but why Deep State annoys me is because it implies it’s a hidden facet of government that most people would want to see gone. What I take people to be pointing out to you is that it is not hidden and the political mainstream do not want to see it gone.
Why are some made examples of and others let off? The only reason that might be confusing is if one thought there was principle involved somewhere, but there isn’t. The people made examples of are seen as enemies, those ‘let off’ are not, but that’s the point of the system.
As a suggestion for how to make this thread somethjng other than a place for half-informed conspiratorial nonsense, how about you provide a link to the opinion you mentioned in the OP cactus. That would at least give those of us who have a little more knowledge about career government employees A chance to contribute something useful to the thread other than jokes.
I have no problem with your description, but don’t understand why the term annoys you. There IS a hidden facet of government that many, if not most, would like to see gone. Such as being lied to by their own government. Having their privacy invaded. And against their country engaging in war crimes and other unconstitutional acts. I guess I still don’t see what the problem is. All these things perfectly fit your description