omnibus PRISM/NSA/free Edward Snowden/encryption tutorial thread

In Los Angeles, I don't recall there being enough black people for them to stand out in my memory.

― c21m50nh3x460n, Wednesday, August 7, 2013 7:14 PM

it's one thing to link to a bunch of articles about TSA employees being corrupt/whatever

it's another to say you can guess what "type" of people they are just by looking at them. i mean what do you glean by looking at them other than gender/race/weight and the fact that they are working a shitty, low-paying job? i mean, yeah, you can probably surmise that they weren't born with silver spoons in their mouths b/c they are, after all, working a shitty job. but beyond that...?

(Actually, I wouldn't be able to tell you the race of the last TSA screener who checked my stuff.)

― c21m50nh3x460n, Wednesday, August 7, 2013 7:19 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh wow you don't see color how enlightened

i think we've piled on enough... time to move on to the next article detailing the newest revelation about which government agency is trampling on the constitution...

NASA trying to get to mars just bc there's no constitution there, and they would sure enjoy that

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114234/lawrence-odonnell-yells-julia-ioffe-about-putin-and-snowden

there's a weird thing afoot of ppl wanting to boycott olympics over their truly horrifying ott homophobic policies, ppl wanting to boycott olympics over snowden/syria/'romney was right', and ppl decidedly opposed to any boycott of olympics cuz hey russia is right to bash gays/harbor snowden/arm assad. very skeptical a boycott is possible or likely (by and large history hasn't looked favorably at carter's boycott as far as i can tell), it's really not obama's style (though i could see him wanting to fuck over the olympics for personal reasons), and i'm not even sure the using russia's anti-gay policies as cover for a boycott actually motivated by realpolitik motivations would work (doubt the concerns over russia's anti-gay policies has registered at all for putin tbh, certainly not to any degree he remotely takes seriously, esp since the activism so far has taken the form of boycotting a vodka bottled in latvia by a company hq'ed in luxembourg. dan savage, genius, strikes again.), if americans were mixed over boycotting olympics over russia invading another country when russia was the proverbial boogeyman and an actual existential threat i kinda doubt they're gonna be more on board w/ an issue they know little about (and hence would definitely see as cover for snowden motivated boycott)(syria so far off the radar for average american no way would that occur as actual reason) and would probably only read as 'o so they're like chik-fil-a' if they did find out about it.

We should poll these bullet points:

Vladimir Putin is not omnipotent. He does not control everything that happens in the Russian Federation, a vast and often inhospitable landmass that spans 10 time zones.

Similarly, Barack Obama does not have total control over the minutiae of the United States of America.

Putin does not orchestrate, he reacts. Putin is no chess player. He is a knee-jerk, short-sighted little tyrant. Don't give him credit where credit isn't due.

Americans, especially Americans who have never been to Russia, overestimate the abilities of both Putin and the Russians. Because, I mean, come on. Tank!

The Russians did not create the Snowden situation; Julian Assange and the U.S. government did. Assange insinuated himself into the situation and sent Snowden to Ecuador (the country granting him asylum) through Russia (his great friend).

would be so pissed if we boycoted the olympics, i love the olympics

Tank!

max otm

would be so pissed if we boycoted the olympics, i love the olympics

― max, Thursday, August 8, 2013 7:46 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

at least you could watch it online w/o all those constant "let's take a look this american athlete's life story" interludes

The genuine calls for a boycott are definitely being capitalised on by those wanting to isolate Russia over Snowdon.

haha my commie ass is all 'as long as we don't boycott the world cup', the fuck has happened to me

It's a tough one for people to square, i think. People (often legitimately) want to send a message to Russia, a country where homosexuality is legal for anyone over the age of 16, but wouldn't dream of doing the same for Qatar or Texas where it's prohibited by law.

obama on leno -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5ARGYMxmaY

balls otm up there.

would be so orgasmic if we boycotted the Olympics, I hate the Olympics.

(But no TV too, plz)

what do you have against spectacles of human accomplishment?

oh wait, you hate everything. except some spielberg movies IIRC.

national anthems + curious standard of "accomplishment." xp

I love lots of things where people in unitards don't get point scores from judges.

if only there were sports in the olympics that werent gymnastics

the olympics are the worst but the winter olympics are fine

We're good at curling

k max, I consider frilly dresses and other skating outfits to be in the unitard "family"

national anthems + curious standard of "accomplishment."

same standard humanity's had since the dawn of civilization: tests of endurance, strength, flexibility, strategy...

i mean the olympics are a lot of BS in many ways but when you break it down to the essentials it's hard not to be fascinated, unless you are completely numbed/deadened i guess

the winter olympics is preferable to summer because its less of the 'lets just show butts' festival that nbc puts on in the summer

humans have enjoyed butts since even before the dawn of civilization, tho

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view2/1178116/stupid-sexy-flanders-o.gif

it's easy not to be fascinated by a quadrennial tarted-up clusterfuck that has room for ppl jumping over things on horses, but not baseball.

"deadened," man, better than being wished dead i guess

i thought baseball was in?

if it's not, i can see why not tho. not enough countries! cricket ain't in there either.

They voted it out in 2005.

people jumping over things on horses is pretty cool, wish they would speed it up a bit tho

TANK!

lol you got caught being a straight republican instead of just a libertarian, just own up and move on already

― balls, Wednesday, August 7, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

In Los Angeles, I don't recall there being enough black people for them to stand out in my memory.

― c21m50nh3x460n, Wednesday, August 7, 2013 7:14 PM

― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, August 7, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's one thing to link to a bunch of articles about TSA employees being corrupt/whatever

it's another to say you can guess what "type" of people they are just by looking at them. i mean what do you glean by looking at them other than gender/race/weight and the fact that they are working a shitty, low-paying job? i mean, yeah, you can probably surmise that they weren't born with silver spoons in their mouths b/c they are, after all, working a shitty job. but beyond that...?

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, August 7, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

First, let me make sure I understand what you're saying. You're criticising me for making an assumption about these people, but by doing so, you yourself are making an assumption about me with just a couple of lines over an Internet forum. Um...is this some type of joke? Let's put that aside for now, though.

I am not judging the TSA by "looking at them". I am judging them by how they treat me, their approach, their tone, demeanour, mannerisms. Do I really have to say that this is a human element all of us do? And when I say "type", I mean "poor work ethic". I'm in the strange position of being able to offer negative anecdotal experience but cannot because it is too personal. But suffice it to say that I know people who have been treated poorly by the TSA, including myself, on various occasions, including some who were involved in getting banned from the US, and another who flies twice a week for two years. All of us have experience flying into or through the US. And actually, I wouldn't even be able to surmise that these people weren't born with silver spoons. You seem determined to make this about race, which I'll get to in a minute. My comment was a reference to their attitude and professional work ethic. You can have poor work ethic regardless of the colour of your skin. I would never make a comment like the one I did were it not for strong evidence of the TSA's corruption. But with first-hand and anecdotal experience plus the numbers, I feel I can do so.

With regard to US race issues, I can only view it from the perspective of a foreigner who has travelled in and through the US. Notice this isn't the race thread. I do not pretend to understand the nuances of race in American life. In fact, a lot of it leaves me perplexed, to be honest with you. I am not American and do not think I have the acuteness or sensitivity to speak to racism in America, because I have not lived here all my life.

I feel like we're talking across from each other. Or we're having separate arguments.

I love your country and multiculturalism. It is one of many things I love about living in Los Angeles. Each city/country has its pros and cons, though, and I was simply highlighting something that had already been proven to be the case. I was not trying to make a controversial commentary on race in doublespeak. Again, I don't think I understand enough of race dynamics in the US to do so, so if I ever do talk about it, I'd probably tread carefully and approach it from a "learner's/beginner's" point of view, if that makes sense.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9287652/images/gifs/getout.gif

But anyway, the reason I came in looking for this thread, was because of this little gem:

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/05/technology/social/snowden-vkontakte/

So, Snowden has been offered a job at VKontakte, the Russian social networking site.

i will say i scanned past all those paragraphs and then my eyes fell on "I love your country" and I lol'd irl

^

Sorry, it sounds trite, but it is true :)

"mansplain"

http://iusbvision.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/yakov-smirnoff.jpg

otm

the olympics are incredible, good grief

and i don't even like sports

EXACTLY

haha

otm

hahaha love the olympics (though yeah fuck american coverage and not just cuz dumb time delays and bio sketches) but if we boycott one definitely let it be a winter olympics, some real sketchy symbolism w/ the winter olympics period.

here we go

lol this georgia shit again