I don’t believe comment threads have to be bad, and think that at times the ones around here are rather good. I’d like to keep it that way.
If I wouldn’t do it in a post, you probably shouldn’t do it in my comments. Which means a little meanness is ok, a little name-calling is ok but if it comes without substance or some laughs, I’ll feel no obligation to leave it up. Same thing goes for trolls who just want to derail, either by driving everyone off topic or wearing everyone down with boredom. Same thing goes for troll feeders.
I prefer that commenting relate in some way to the post that kicked off the thread. If you’re going to derail, it should interest me as much as it does you.
While conspiracies happen, a lot of people who talk about them bore me, and if they bore me insistently and off-topic, I might not publish their comments.
Gracious people of good faith attempt to be intelligible and readable.
Don’t over comment. If it seems like you’re commenting mostly to yourself, probably time to stop.
Visitors who tone troll or smear will be treated without mercy.
These are guidelines. Interesting, entertaining people get a lot of slack, even if they hate me.
The Rancid Honeytrap 
Hey Tarzie! I wanted to reply to your reply to me (03/09), but I don’t see any “Reply” link at the end of your post. Is this to deliberately prevent any further replies? Or is there another way for me to accomplish this? Am I missing something? Or am I being excluded?
You’re not being excluded. I can’t ban people even when I want to.
There is a depth limit to the threading. If you reply to your comment that I replied to, it should put your new comment right under mine.
SO Snowden worked for CIA, NSA and DIA.
Thoughts?
The only thing that’s news to me there is the DIA part, which doesn’t surprise me and therefore doesn’t alter what I have thought about him all along. I’ve considered him a career creep pretty much from the beginning. Was never sympathetic to the theory that Greenwald is exploiting him.
I never knew he was CIA, NSA, or DIA, so that was all big news to me that tends to confirm some of what I had previousl viewed as conspiracy theories.
I initially felt that Greenwald was exploiting him, but that changed a long time ago to seeing their relationship as symbiotic or mutualistic.
My initial concern was from a whistleblower protection perspective, because I thought Greenwelad needlessly outed and exposed Snowden – I saw Potras as an exploiter as well with the videography.
My persecutive has changed as facts have emerged and I’ve read more widely and critically.
That doesn’t make me an asshole or a creep, just open to reason and good arguments.
Well I guess it’s news that he was actually more than a sys admin for the CIA, but his relationship with The Agency is part of the legend. He had a Damascus moment in Geneva when, shock, horror, some CIA colleagues manipulated a guy into drunk driving so they could turn him into an asset. If his alleged distress over that doesn’t reek of bullshit, nothing does.
As for the NSA. I didn’t realize there was more than just being a contractor, which, to me is, effectively, working for the NSA. I didn’t watch the interview. Is there more to it than that?
I didn’t suggest you were an asshole. I was just saying this new information just seems a variation on the old information. He’s career NatSec. This story stunk from the moment Snowden came on the scene pissing on Manning on the week of her trial. It got steadily worse from there.
There is a theory, I guess, that he’s under duress, which is more credible to me than the idea that he’s a naif being exploited.
I like your blog a LOT. Thanks for your perspective and intellect… and sharing it.
Very kind of you to say so. Thanks.
I’m kind of stoked to have discovered an intelligent voice on the web. It’s a rare pleasure.
I have tried to avoid logging onto this site for a while now, only because I get so caught up in it that I can’t accomplish anything in my “real” life. Silly of me. I am glad you’re here, and glad to be back.
And glad for you, Tarzie, if you really have freed yourself from the in(s)anity of Twitter.
You’re very kind. It’s good to see you.
I’ve freed myself from Twitter in that, apart from signal boosting good work, I feel no temptation to tweet. I still look at it from time to time and have very infrequent DMs.
I’m wondering; if there were a multi-step plan afoot to take the power out of the hands they’re currently in, would you (or anyone visiting this site) be interested? An interesting way to back American politicians into a very difficult corner has been proposed in the blog A Single Change at http://worthy-individuals.org/. Let me know what you think of it. 😉