Is Edward Snowden a Hero? A Debate With Journalist Chris Hedges & Law Scholar Geoffrey Stone 

+tropickman Hell will freeze over before a modern Republican walks that path. The choice of Snowden is to be celebrated.

he is such a Christ figure lol

@@justinguo9984 and you are nothing

@@rodriguerra3639 According to nothing-Rodri - Christ was nothng.

Massimo Bozzi To quote Dr. Martin Luther King, “injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere.”

Massimo Bozzi , you are correct !!!

"It's a crime not to expose crime!" Or should be.

Selling classified information is a crime

@@LunaRose1312 being such an asshole should be a crime too!

Bjarne Soegaard, and Chelsea Manning.

Agree. Both should be pardoned.

@@r.williamcomm7693 Snowden belongs to Fed penitentiary in which Aldridge Aimes resides...

Can’t say weather Snowden is, but Assange, is definitely not….

@@nigellee9824 why?

Yeah sure .... Soon as you peel back the pandering wrapper .... the on going incessant double- message Snowden puts over ... ( Hide his script writers betttr )

@@destroyingangel14 well that's about as vague as you can get

Is it a superior intellect or the "TRUTH" that will crush us!! If we don't walk in "TRUTH"???

Truth b told, 9/11 was an inside job

I've nothing but the deepest respect for this man. Chris Hedges rallied against the Iraq War and, for that, he was fired by the NYT. That says it all.

I have never heard him say something I don't agree with.

He hardly "crushed" Stone. Stone flatly dismissed Hedge's position on purely legal grounds. In my view, the real concern is the ability to question or challenge our government at all. Stone seems to accept MLK's actions as justified because segregation was such a fundamentally unjust policy. Of course that is looking at MLK's actions more than a half century after the fact. Is mass wire-tapping without a warrant any less threatening to justice? Stone holds to the essential necessity of it in the name of national security, but I'm not sure it was or has made us more secure. What I see threatening us the most is endless war. I wonder what Mr. Stone's opinions on that are?

Trump is

Jaime Sandoval well said!

Thats a closed circle. To reveal it you have to violate the law. Otherwise nothing ever changes. People are risking their lives and well being for certain principles that the rest of us take for granted such as accountability, morality, freedom of the press, and personal privacy. We dont have any legal mechanisms to protect people from the wrath of the governmants so called legality.

They do this all the time and all the sheeple simply blindly submit, and obey. Truth is nothing is illegal or legal, laws are social constructs, designed by the elites to dominate the masses. The same ones who make these laws are typically above or beyond them in most regards. A form of hypocritical immunity to what they expect everyone to abide by except themselves. If they can't enforce a social construct or impose the will of such on them, then its a delusion. This is a delusion of power if all the masses simply refused to obey the laws. Then all the laws would be as worthless as the debt notes called fiat currency. Power that requires you to compel others via the usage of violence or delusions isn't power. Nothing more than social conditioning, and dogmatic narrow minded dribble.

Government has many laws that even punish people for committing no crimes nor doing any wrongs. Such as involuntary commitment just by the word of others. Narcissists can and do easily have flying monkey doctor pals among others commit you. The Rosenhan experiment among other legitimate evidence depicts what happens when your falsely imprisoned. In what is the equivalent of a modern concentration camp. For various forms of judicial fiat have continued to erode at individuals constitutional rights. As a stark warning to all what they can do to one of us they can and WILL do to ANY and ALL of us. Those who ignore the plights of others by allowing injustices to be carried out. Invite calamity to their very doorsteps inevitably. Where you undergo forced torture and label slapping. Which takes out of context both normal human behavior as well as reactions someone might have to this. This referencing having people forcefully drag you off to a concentration camp at gun point. Subject you to extreme sleep deprivation. Steal your blood strip you naked in front of camera's. Tie you to a tiny cot deliberately starve you. Deliberately deny you water as well while their at it. Not provide any due process or a trumped up hearing. In which you are unable to attend by design due to them taking your blood every hour on the hour. Not permitted to shower or readily engage in routine hygiene practices. Place you potentially infectious disease rooms. Steal your personal property permanently slap absolutely wrong labels on you. While forcefully shoving toxic chemicals designed for profit and to rot your brain or worse down your throat. While utilizing you as a human guinea pig to conduct various criminally against humanity experimentation upon. Such as the slicing of your tongue down the middle. To cite just one of the more mild ones which can occur. As well as among seemingly countless other atrocities to befall such individuals. You might be raped by actually insane individuals unlike yourself or molested. The sheer traumatization from these affronts will scar you irreparably. They will then attempt to in all likelihood charge you for this false imprisonment. Accompanied by this unmistakable criminal act of torture to boot. Now you will lose your 2nd amendment for life. For I say again committing no crimes violent nor otherwise. For no wrong doings whatsoever not so much as a parking ticket for some individuals. You will be stigmatized for life to make matters worse. Be unable to ever defend yourself or feel safe. Good luck attempting to live somewhere rural ever again. With wild animals and the like. No less the risk for home invasions or other nefarious criminals targeting you. On the grounds of being barred from basic self defense capacity for life. Even IF you can somehow get these expunged from your records the FBI will retain them indefinitely. Despite it's all blatantly BEYOND unconstitutional. Even for the individuals who genuinely might fit the clinical definition "insane". Which by the way their is no unilateral definitive definition to begin with for "mental illness" either. Psychoanalytical process involves someone "diagnosing you" based on their questionable professional opinion. Based off exclusively whatever they have to work with. Which is often times more than not taken completely out of context. Even outside such extreme scenario's as the above aforementioned example. Many abusive parents or other individuals who send their children to psychologists or psychiatrists are pushing a narrative. Not all but they do exist in disturbingly high quantity nevertheless. Thus much of what these clinicians have to base their opinions as it were off. Are part of a narrative or agenda which both benefits the Pharmaceutical industrial complex. As well as the abusive parents or other persons subjecting innocent children to such insidious falsities. Even the actually mentally ill which is highly speculative perception based at best. Translation purely opinion with little much else to reinforce it IF anything. Being painted as boogeymen for gun violence. Which is a complete 180 from what has been reported on for well over 2 centuries by professionals. Even advertisements for schizophrenic women making great submissive house wives was a thing in the 1950s. To date of the data ONLY a paltry 3-4% of mentally ill people have ever perpetrated shootings of any sort nationwide. That's the percentage of shootings in which mentally ill individuals were involved as the active shooters. The reality is people with a history of gun violence or physical altercations involving aggressiveness. Such as repeat felony persons are among the most prominent. Drug addicts or excessive alcoholics consist of the overwhelming majority of gun violence related crimes. Many people throughout history kill and killed. These people such as the majority of mass shooters spanning the most recent decades. Following the uptick in gun violence are not mentally ill or exhibit no mental illness. They are filleted in the main stream media in order to stick to the narrative of boogeymen. The media itself attempts to automatically psychoanalyze these violent individuals. As do government officials despite the lack of evidence presented henceforth. Many of the ones whom are apprehended following such tragic incidents. Are determined to be in complete control of their mental faculties. Do not appear nor have they appeared previously to display any form of mental illnesses on average. This not only further stigmatizes the concept of mental illnesses. It further victimizes people who are already preyed upon. For just that being mentally impaired in some fashion or another. Who statistical studies conducted by professionals have shown time and time again. Are often more so than not the victims of violent and non violent crimes a like at a much higher rate. That police often shoot these individuals at further yet alarming rates. Without them being violent at all but more so due exclusively to misunderstandings. Painting a group of individuals with handicaps of some sort as dangerous and violent is dubiously overgeneralized. Not to mention those individuals who are misdiagnosed or wrongfully labeled. The even less fortunate ones who find themselves wrongfully involuntarily committed. This actively discourages mentally ill or suspected mentally ill individuals from seeking professional assistance. When such fallacious misinformation is being churned out so haphazardly. In an effort to condemn them as to provide an invalid explanation. Or merely shifting of the blame. Which is the standard prognosis for a long time now within the USA. When just decades ago this was the polar opposite of what was reported. Yes for the record an estimated 22-24% of all those involuntarily admitted do NOT belong there in the first place. Yet they are held for weeks or months on end under false pretenses. Only to be stripped of their constitutional and natural freedoms and liberties. I repeat again tell me what have these individuals done wrong? Look them in the eyes and tell them what crimes they've committed? This is highly unconstitutional not to mention factually inaccurate to say the very least. To categorize any sole group of individuals into such position as to be hobgoblins. For a firearm is a weapon just like weapons used before the advent of such. They have but one sole purpose or function. Even if it isn't used for this which the overwhelming majority of individuals simply want them for self defense. Including those who've been prohibited for merely existing. Or those otherwise being falsely imprisoned against their explicit consent. Some of whom are labeled fictitiously. A study was conducted where a professor invited psychiatrist to speak to someone. They were told they were incredibly timid. But sought help from a mental health professional. Little did the psychiatrist know a recording spliced together from times this individual was the alleged person in question. They met in a catholic church in a confessional. Where the psychiatrist would be unable to notice the difference. The psychiatrist pyschoanaylzed recordings spliced together of himself. He concluded the diagnosis was that the individual in question suffered from the mental illness of a Bipolar disorder. As you can see they will label anyone and everyone. Not to mention how does one ascertain the criteria for mental illness? When it covers such a broad spectrum there exists no one size fits all approach to what this encompasses...but I digress. As ALL mental illnesses to varying degrees are prevalent within all humans. If you show up before a psychiatrist or a psychologist. Or have the misfortune befalling you of being falsely imprisoned via involuntary commitment against your will. You can and will be wrongfully diagnosed with a whole plethora of mental illness. Along with losing a significant portion of your freedom indefinitely. Many individuals remain blissfully ignorant to the fact that this can happen to anyone. At any given moment you could be next under the wrong circumstances.

Becoming?

It's been

Just give the their weekly dose of NFL, and NBA entertainment and they'll never notice.

Understatment☺

Tough? I would argue........insurmountable.

More like 5-0 for hedges

Respect for your integrity and dignified rise above tribalism.

+True Don Blue I prefer to copy the sound lecture and savour over a cuppa. Is there another political mind as CH who is so well spoken, knowledgeable and focused. Namaste and care, mhikl

+Steve Fortuna .. this scumbag law professor had to eat his own words. "nothing unconstitutional" and warrantless interception and storing of the entire countries communications? he should be demoted immediately

Not brainwashed. High paid liar

As I was watching this debate I was wondering the exact same thing. Sellout.

Trump will be

That's why they serve. They are infallible

Thank you for bringing up all of these questions! Not to mention that when legality is such an important issue to Stone, why is a blind eye frequently turned to the US government's countless failures when it comes to following international law (drone strikes cough cough).

ash aggarwal I agree

Perfectly put. I have Similar views.

Godskingdomwithin what you said is true and this is what cowards kitty sissy conservatives exchange their freedom for non existent threat so government creates threat to Lee the war profiteers profitable . It’s a revolving door in Washington and Americans are bunch of fools especially the conservatives pussies who act so tough with their gun but doesn’t protect the constitution .

Towards the dangers of allowing a centralized government to amass information about the population at large … the Nazis utilized census data stored on IBM "Hollerith" punched cards to identify and target Jewish members of the population.

Good for you....well said

+Rob V Thumbs up 1776 times. . .

+Rob V Mic drop!

I must mention, when Stone won't, that prior to 9/11 they, (fbi, nsa), did have all necessary information but have failed to process those information in order to prevent 9/11, so arguing that if they had better surveillance 9/11 wouldn't happened is just stupid. What is a real security threat is that Obama still haven't decide whether to disclose to public what those information were or are.

I think we -the general population, agree.

They ARE great......but they are persecuted

Jake Preston Absolutely. This guy reminds me of a high paid lawyer that specializes in defending murderers and mob bosses. He's an expert at the "fine print" of the law, and uses it to free obvious criminals.

Correction: The rights of individuals are only considered in discussion and not action by our owned rulers.