Surely, They Can't Be That Stupid

Apparently, they can indeed be that stupid, and stop calling me Shirley:

The term, Intelligence Community when applied to the American version of same, is rapidly becoming an oxymoron, if it hasn't already.

 

That level of incompetence is rather staggering.  But, perhaps, they were simply too busy having kinky and highly workplace inappropriate chats on secure government systems to pay attention to avoiding blowing the identities of CIA employees while they were chatting about a whole different kind of blowing:

 

Forbes: More Than 100 Intelligence Staffers Will Be Fired Over Sexually Explicit Texts In NSA Chatrooms, Gabbard Says

One would think members of the "intelligence community", being presumably both more tech-savy and intelligent than average, would know not to do something that the average American worker already knows is highly inappropriate to do in the workplace.  

Or they did know that, but figured the rules didn't apply to them.

NSA And The Future Of The American Republic

Both Borepatch and Say Uncle link to the presentation below by Jacob Applebaum discussing the NSA's means and methods of hacking the heck out of the internet, and computers, and phones.

It's worth the hour to sit down and view it in its entirety. Yes, it's real, and it's darn scary.

On the one hand, I want the NSA to be able to listen in and gather signals intelligence on America's enemies.

On the other hand, I'm rather concerned that the NSA seems to have decided that Americas' enemies includes the American people.

Here's a happy thought as we enter 2014, with a congressional election looming and three more years of Obama as president:

Take the presentation's revealed breathtaking capabilities of the NSA.

Now couple that with, for example, the Obama administration's and the Democrat's desire to continue fundamentally transforming America and stay in power. For those on the left reading this blog, switch that to the next Republican president who comes into office.

Next, take the premise that the NSA's data is not just being used for anti-terrorism purposes, and if it actually is for now, good luck on it remaining so locked-down -- such wide-ranging and tasty information obtained tends to be used far beyond its promised original "national security only" limitations -- but is instead being used for political purposes of the party in power such as listening in and discerning opposing candidates' strategy to stymie, delay or defeat them. Much as we've already seen the IRS' power being so used against the Tea Party in the last election. And to that the sweeping ability of the NSA to intercept all internet and phone communication and to deny computer and internet transmissions at opportune times.

Then folks, if that's the case, the only thing left to say is:

Ave Atque Vale Res Publica Americana

Obama: Don't Compare Me To Cheney

The real difference between them: Unlike Cheney, Obama can't hit crap with a shotgun. This could be because he holds it very strangely with his left hand on the trigger when he's a right hander. No wonder he can't hit squat.

The Detroit Free Press: Obama on NSA program: Don't compare me to Cheney

President Obama is defending National Security Agency surveillance programs, and disputing the notion that he is following in the footsteps of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

In a PBS interview with Charlie Rose, Obama said efforts to track terrorists through phone and Internet surveillance have safeguards to prevent abusing the civil liberties of innocent Americans. Obama cited both congressional and judicial oversight.

When Rose asked, "should this be transparent in some way?," Obama responded: "It is transparent. That's why we set up the FISA court."

Critics note that this court -- created through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- issues rulings in secret.

Yeah, parse that for a second - he's claiming its transparent although the results and rulings are secret. And you thought Bush mangled the English language?

On civil liberties, surveillance, military adventurism, and all those things the left excoriated Bush and Cheney for - well, Obama is Bush and Cheney's third term and far, far worse.

Freep Columnist - Snowden Not Even A High School Graduate! Quelle Horreur!

In Rochelle Riley's editorial, we see everything that's wrong about the attitude of the credentialed (but not educated) class of bien pensants that run the mainstream media media and for that matter the Democrat party, but I repeat myself.

The Freep: Rochelle Riley: Snowden case begs the question - how does high school dropout have access to classified documents?

You see, to Ms. Riley it's not just that he leaked secret documents and the existence of the spying program, it's not just that he dared do it while Obama was in charge which is bad enough (had he done it under Bush we would have expected her adulation), but it's that he's a member of the great unwashed - By Jove, he didn't even graduate high school, much less college! Tut-tut!

So as much as I want my first questions to deal with policies of domestic spying and to what extent the government should be allowed to intrude into the lives of its citizens to keep the country safe, my first question actually is: How did a high school dropout (who later earned his GED) become a security guard and then an IT officer who had access to the kind of information whose release leads to congressional investigations and allegations of treason?

Here Ms. Riley falls for the bien pensant delusion that one must be credentialed in order to be smart and capable of doing things, not to mention daring to enter into technical areas where he might rub shoulders with his betters.

An awful lot of technical training can be self-taught through hands on experience, taking technical classes, reading and by coaching from capable co-workers and mentors. You don't need a college degree to do an awful lot of very important work with it. While a classical college education (though few colleges now offer such) is indeed a mind-opening experience that can expose you to a great deal of information and how to analyze and problem solve, its not the sole way to receive such skills. Through a solid work ethic and effort you can indeed acquire all the needed skills to have a very nice career in the IT field.

I have no idea if Mr. Snowden is a "genius" or indeed even "smart", but I certainly don't discount his skills nor look down on him due his lack of a couple formal pieces of paper and that he received a GED rather than a regular high school graduation.

Note to Ms. Riley: This bloke with a GED just pulled the lid off of a top secret Obama spy program on the American people. His acts may darn well be wrong, they may indeed be treasonous, but they are not to be discounted just because he lacks a college degree.