Here is Putin's puppet calling for a government shutdown. Update!

Courtesy of CNN: 

The comment, which came during a White House meeting on the violent MS-13 gang, was not well received in the room. Rep. Barbara Comstock, a Virginia Republican who represents a district with thousands of federal workers, confronted Trump about the remark and urged him to avoid another government shutdown. 

"If we don't change it, let's have a shutdown," Trump said of the nation's immigration laws. "We'll do a shutdown and it's worth it for our country. I'd love to see a shutdown if we don't get this stuff taken care of."

He added: "If we have to shut it down because the Democrats don't want safety, and unrelated but still related, they don't want to take care of our military, then shut it down. We'll go with another shutdown." 

The government will run out of funding Thursday if negotiators can't strike a deal.

Just to remind you, NO president has ever called for a government shutdown before.

The guy in the White House is supposed to make sure that the government continues to run smoothly, not turn off like a light switch.

Do you want to know who DOES want to see a dysfunctional American government?

You got it.

Update: When I wrote this post it did not appear that there was a budget deal on the horizon.

While I was at the gym that seems to have changed.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has announced a deal with Senate Democrats to fund the government and set spending levels for defense and nondefense programs over the next two years. 

The legislation would avert a government shutdown on Friday, when federal funding is due to expire, and boost defense and nondefense programs. 

It also lifts the debt ceiling to March 2019, which White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders hailed as a decision that would move Congress away from "crisis-to-crisis budgeting." 

The deal is backed by McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and will almost certainly be cleared as part of a stopgap funding measure by the Senate before a Feb. 8 deadline to prevent a shutdown.

There are also reports that the House is on board with this as well, which would seem to indicate that it is a done deal. 

Sadly it appears they kicked the DACA can down the road, which is unfortunate, but it looks like Trump has been denied both his wall and the government shutdown that he appeared to be drooling over.

Edward Snowden is being paid as much as $30,000 to speak by satellite, from the comfort of his Moscow apartment, to American college students. And that is WRONG!

Snowden's Russian ID.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

The university paid $30,000 through an American speakers’ bureau to digitally host Snowden, one of his largest known contracts to date, according to documents obtained by Yahoo Finance. The Ohio State event was one of a series of speeches that have netted Snowden — who is still a fugitive in the eyes of the U.S. government — well over $200,000 in the past two years, as Yahoo News first reported last year. He has continued to give paid speeches, including at U.S. colleges, in 2017. 

The ongoing speaking contracts come at a time when Snowden’s fate and influence are more uncertain than ever. A campaign by Snowden’s supporters to win him a pardon was rebuffed by the outgoing Obama White House, and new President Donald Trump previously labeled him a “terrible traitor.” 

Moreover, Snowden’s efforts to present himself as an Internet privacy pioneer are now complicated by an American political environment colored by increasing wariness and hostility toward Snowden’s host since June 2013: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Gee, no shit!

In my opinion Snowden should receive NO funds from American colleges or universities in the wake of the hack of our 2016 election by the Russians.

I think it is now beyond obvious that this the new Russian expertise in hacking American companies, political organizations, and US citizens is due to their access to the materials that Snowden pilfered from the NSA.

In my opinion Snowden is the worst kind of traitor and I believe his actions have undermined our very democracy,

Keep in mind that it was Julian Assange who sent one of his compatriots to assist Edward Snowden and helped him to gain entry into Russia, after dissuading him from going to Latin America.

As we now know it was through Wikileaks that Russia released the information they hacked during the 2016 campaign, leaving no doubt that they are Russian stooges.

And I am 100% certain that when Snowden arrived in Russia, with the NSA tools that he smuggled out of America, that they immediately found their way into the hands of the FSB, Russian Intelligence, and that THAT was the impetus for all of the hacking and manipulations that we have seen since.

Remember, Wikileaks JUST released those CIA hacking tools.

How could they have possibly gotten their hands on that without the information that Snowden carried with him into Russia?

They couldn't have.

It is time for all of these Snowden fan boys to finally recognize that their idol is at best a "useful tool" of the Russian government, and at worst a spy for Vladimir Putin.

More evidence that Edward Snowden is not the selfless patriot that many want him to be.

Courtesy of Forward Progressives:  

For the sake of argument let’s say that everything Snowden stole pertaining to possible illegal activity by the NSA is 100% legit and every last bit of it is proven to be unconstitutional. Then yes, I would agree that he’s a patriot and a hero for risking everything to take that stand. 

Except that’s not all he stole, nor is it all that he’s leaked. 

Telling a newspaper in China that the United States government spied on Chinese computers isn’t “revealing unconstitutional surveillance of Americans” and leaking that classified information is illegal. 

Writing an “open letter” trying to get Brazil to grant him political asylum by offering to help Brazil investigate United States surveillance, because Snowden leaked information about the U.S. spying on the Brazilian government, isn’t “standing up for the Constitutional rights of Americans.” 

Saying that the NSA is “in bed” with Germany and other governments, working together on elaborate surveillance programs, isn’t “protecting the freedom of American citizens.” 

Leaking documents showing that Sweden has helped the United States spy on Russia isn’t “being a patriot.” 

Producing documents that reveal details on how the NSA gets some of its intelligence on the location of dangerous terrorists isn’t “being a passionate supporter of our Bill of Rights.” 

Revealing that the United States uses cyber-attacks as an “intelligence weapon” for overseas targets has nothing to do with our Constitution. 

Neither did producing documents that showed the British government set up surveillance of G20 delegates and phones during the G20 summit in 2009. 

Last I checked, countries in Latin America weren’t protected by our Constitution either – yet Snowden still leaked information about how the NSA listens in on phone calls in many of those nations.

There is actually quite a bit more over at Forward Progressives, but I think you get the drift.

IF Snowden had simply revealed the domestic spying that was going on in this country, then the argument concerning his patriotism, even if he fled the country, might seem valid.

But as the above post lays out Snowden reveaed information that undercuts our ability to protect ourselves from cyber attacks, our ability to gather intelligence, and our reputation with our allies.   

Now recent information suggests that Snowden may have come to the attention of Moscow six years ago.

I know there are still some arguing that he is a misunderstood whistle blower who is being smeared by the United States, but most of the evidence I have seen suggests otherwise.

No longer up for discussion, Edward Snowden is a traitor.

The other day Vladimir Putin did a televised propaganda outreach.

During the carefully manipulated session, there was a "surprise" caller.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

NSA leaker Edward Snowden put a direct question to Vladimir Putin during a live televised question-and-answer session Thursday, asking Russia's president about Moscow's use of mass surveillance on its citizens. 

Speaking via a video link, Snowden asked: "I've seen little public discussion of Russia's own involvement in the policies of mass surveillance, so I'd like to ask you: Does Russia intercept, store or analyze, in any way, the communications of millions of individuals?" 

Putin replied by stating Russia did not carry out mass surveillance on its population, and that its intelligence operations were strictly regulated by court orders. 

"Mr Snowden, you are a former agent, a spy, I used to work for the intelligence service, we are going to talk one professional language," Putin said, according to translation by state-run broadcaster Russia Today. 

"Our intelligence efforts are strictly regulated by our law so...you have to get a court permission to stalk that particular person. 

"We don't have as much money as they have in the States and we don't have these technical devices that they have in the States. Our special services, thank God, are strictly controlled by society and the law and regulated by the law." 

He added: "Of course, we know that terrorists and criminals use technology so we have to use means to respond to these, but we don't have uncontrollable efforts like [in America]." 

One of the call-in program's hosts introduced Snowden's video message by saying: "We've got really sensational, really outrageous video message from a person who revolutionized the world by leaking information about American secret services."

So the Snowden has now completely transformed himself from a "reluctant whistle blower who felt compelled to reveal the NSA's data gathering techniques" to a propaganda tool for an ex-KGB agent turned Russian tyrant, who identified him directly "a former agent, a spy."

There is nothing to take from this except for the fact that Snowden did indeed provide Russia with the material that he took from is time working for Booz Allen Hamilton, and that now he is functioning as fully cooperating operative of the Putin administration.

One who is now allowing Putin to shrug off charges of being a despot by using the NSA scandal to provide cover for his actions, and to paint him as more sympathetic character, while blaming the Ukrainian situation on interference from President Obama. A tactic that is helped in no small way by John McCain and conservatives in this country. 

Earlier there had been speculation that the information Snowden provided Putin might have been what enabled Putin to slip Russian forces into Crimea undetected, and I think this is just one more piece of evidence which supports that contention.

I think for those who are still supporters of Edward Snowden there are some very serious, and very troubling questions you have to ask yourself.

Number one is was Snowden a Russian spy all along?

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:

The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents. 

Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by statute and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls. 

The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance. 

In one of the documents, agency personnel are instructed to remove details and substitute more generic language in reports to the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In one instance, the NSA decided that it need not report the unintended surveillance of Americans. A notable example in 2008 was the interception of a “large number” of calls placed from Washington when a programming error confused the U.S. area code 202 for 20, the international dialing code for Egypt, according to a “quality assurance” review that was not distributed to the NSA’s oversight staff.

These are more disturbing facts that we would not even know about unless Edward Snowden had stolen them, and then disseminated them to journalists. And it cannot be argued that knowing this is NOT important to the American people, or that without Snowden we ever WOULD have known about it.

However, as I have mentioned before, Snowden abdicated his right to be called a heroic whistle blower when he fled to, first China, and then Russia.

It also appears that the relationship between Wiki-leaks, Russia, and Snoweden is convoluted and suspicious at best. 

This from Business Insider: 

Ever since the 30-year-old ex-Booz Allen contractor got on a flight from Hong Kong to Moscow, Russia and WikiLeaks have been working parallel to each other. 

On June 23, after the U.S. voided Snowden's passport while he was in Hong Kong, WikiLeaks tweeted that the organization "assisted Mr. Snowden's political asylum in a democratic country, travel papers ans [sic] safe exit from Hong Kong." 

That was followed by the update that "Mr. Snowden is currently over Russian airspace accompanied by WikiLeaks legal advisors." 

It turned out that Assange convinced Ecuador's consul in London to provide a travel document requesting that authorities allow Snowden to travel to Ecuador "for the purpose of political asylum." The country's president subsequently said the document was "completely invalid." 

When Snowden arrived in Moscow with void travel papers, all signs suggest that Russia's domestic intelligence service (i.e. FSB) took control of him. 

That day a radio host in Moscow "saw about 20 Russian officials, supposedly FSB agents, in suits, crowding around somebody in a restricted area of the airport," according to Anna Nemtsova of Foreign Policy. 

WikiLeaks, meanwhile, insisted that Snowden was "not being 'debriefed' by the FSB." 

Nevertheless, Snowden's FSB-linked Moscow lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, has been speaking for Snowden ever since Snowden accepted all offers for support and asylum on July 12.

You know Snowden COULD have been a real national symbol for privacy concerns in this country. He could have actually been the hero that so many want to believe that he is. 

He could have been those things, but no more.

Among documents stolen by Edward Snowden is the detailed blueprint for how the NSA works. Uh oh!

Courtesy of Boston.com: 

Edward Snowden has very sensitive ‘‘blueprints’’ detailing how the National Security Agency operates that would allow someone who read them to evade or even duplicate NSA surveillance, a journalist close to the intelligence leaker said Sunday. 

Glenn Greenwald, a columnist with The Guardian newspaper who closely communicates with Snowden and first reported on his intelligence leaks, told The Associated Press that the former NSA systems analyst has ‘‘literally thousands of documents’’ that constitute ‘‘basically the instruction manual for how the NSA is built.’’ ‘

‘In order to take documents with him that proved that what he was saying was true he had to take ones that included very sensitive, detailed blueprints of how the NSA does what they do,’’ Greenwald said in Brazil, adding that the interview was taking place about four hours after his last interaction with Snowden.

I swear in my nine years of writing for this blog I have NEVER run across a story for which it was so difficult to form a definite opinion. Is Edward Snowden a champion for the rights of citizens to resist the government's efforts to spy on them? Or is he a traitor to the country and ultimately a dangerous threat to our security?

The article up above certainly reinforces the latter interpretation. Clearly if this "blueprint" falls into the hands of those who wish us harm, or simply want to find a way around our defenses, they would now have the means to do both.

And Greenwald's assurances that the data is encrypted does not exactly put my mind at ease.

Like I said yesterday, and for which I received aggressive blowback from some, IF Snowden's actions result in the end of the NSA data mining programs, or some modifications and assurances that it was no longer scooping up EVERYTHING we post or email online, he could well be ultimately considered a heroic champion for individual privacy.

However if these "blueprints" fall into the wrong hands, and there is some controversial information that it has already happened, then Snowden would rank right up there with Benedict Arnold and Aldrich Ames.

What is clear is that this is a story that is not yet finished, therefore making it impossible to determine how the final chapter will play itself out.

For those who view Snowden as a criminal, there is ample evidence to support that contention.

However there are those on the other side who view him as a hero. In fact heroic enough to have already been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

It looks like Edward Snowden might finally have found somebody who wants him.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:

The rest of the world may not want him, but NSA leaker Edward Snowden has at least one potential taker: Anna Chapman. The ex-spy tweeted yesterday, “Snowden, will you marry me?!” 

The former Russian spy may have sympathy for the man who spilled top-secret documents. Chapman, after all, is no stranger to run-ins with government authorities. 

The 31-year-old had been posing as a real-estate agent in the United States in 2010 when she was accused of gathering intel for Russia. She and nine others were deported back to Russia in a prisoner swap.

Somehow I think this is just a publicity stunt on the part of Chapman, which illustrates the sideshow quality that his situation has taken on.

However if she is at all serious I think this might be the first time since this whole thing began that I was actually jealous of Snowden.

I mean damn!