The key to the "This Isn't News" argument is willfull ignorance.

[Vinnie From Indy]

There are several versions of the "this is not news" argument in regard to the Greenwald story about surveillance programs that are alleged to be capable of total access to and permanent storage of all digital communication of every American.

This is news because for the first time there are copies of legal documents that authorize such activity. In the past, these programs were reported on without much beyond heresay and anecdotal information. Greenwald and the Guardian published a copy of one such document which was a first in regard to these programs. That is news!

Snowden alleges that he has copies of other similar documents that will be revealed as well. We shall see what develops, but to deny that this is a legitimate news story and shrug it off as nothing new is nonsense.

Cheers!

[ProSense]

1. Oh

"The key to the "This Isn't News" argument is willfull ignorance."

...really?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022975102

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2978388

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. FYI - quit reading your links years ago

After the fifth or sixth time of reading your links and discovering they have very little if anything at all to do with the discussion, I gave up. I felt as though you were Lucy with the football and I was Charlie Brown trying to kick it after taking time to read your linkies. I know it took me a half dozen times to understand your modus operandi, but I am a little slow and too trusting sometimes.

If you have something to say directly, have at it!

Cheers!

PS I actually admire your tenacious spirit. It provides frequent amusement.

[ProSense]

4. Guess you'll never know what's at the links.

Oh well.

[Cha]

10. Talk about "willful ignorance".. thanks for the LINK, PS..

At the NSA, thousands of analysts who once eavesdropped on troop movements of enemy soldiers in distant countries were now listening in on the bedroom conversations of innocent Americans in nearby states.

“We were told that we were to listen to all conversations that were intercepted, to include those of Americans,” Adrienne Kinne, a former NSA “voice interceptor,” told me. She was recalled to active duty after Sept. 11.

“Some of those conversations are personal,” she said. “Some even intimate. … I had a real problem with the fact that people were listening to it and that I was listening to it. … When I was on active duty in ’94 to ’98, we would never collect on an American.”

Despite his hollow campaign protests, President Barack Obama has greatly expanded what President George W. Bush began. And through amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Congress largely ratified the secret Bush program.

Great addition to the thread.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Obama thought it was news enough to make a CYA statement about it.

[jazzimov]

6. Link?

[treestar]

8. Your objectivity is gone

Obama can't even have a side of the story. Hearing both sides before deciding is the usual way to go.

[Life Long Dem]

9. I guess that's a "cover your ass" by supporting and defending NSA

Read Obama's Entire Speech Defending NSA Spying

http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/07/read-obamas-entire-speech-defending-nsa

[jazzimov]

5. Wrong!

There is nothing new here.

There was a FISC order that was leaked but we all knew that would be ordered. There was a PowerPoint slide that was leaked that basically told us nothing new.

But Greenwald's shoddy reporting has told us nothing new that we didn't know about.

At least, if we haven't been sleeping for the last 12 years.

[jeff47]

7. You thought people were lying before?

This is news because for the first time there are copies of legal documents that authorize such activity. In the past, these programs were reported on without much beyond heresay and anecdotal information.

So you thought people were lying when they discussed these programs?

Snowden alleges that he has copies of other similar documents that will be revealed as well.

Of course. There's other budget bills to be voted on in the near future, and we can't have people paying attention to those.