News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Pardon Snowden by koolba on Wednesday September 14, 2016 @07:31AM (#12495789)
Whether or not Snowden get's pardoned depends on one thing and one thing only: Whether Obama wants it as part of his legacy.

Either way it's not going to happen till after the election and most likely not till the end of his term in January. I'd expect it to be more likely for him to be pardoned if Trump is elected as otherwise Clinton, by association, would be dogged with "granting quarter to an enemy of the state".

Re:Pardon Snowden by mistermumble on Wednesday September 14, 2016 @07:47AM (#12495896)
Of the 3 possibilities for granting pardon (Obama, Clinton and Trump), the only real chance for Snowden is Obama.
Re:Pardon Snowden by koolba on Wednesday September 14, 2016 @07:56AM (#12495950)
> Of the 3 possibilities for granting pardon (Obama, Clinton and Trump), the only real chance for Snowden is Obama.

Yep. I'd put it as zero with Clinton, non-zero but statistically insignificant with Trump, and 25% with Obama.

Re:Pardon Snowden by meowface on Wednesday September 14, 2016 @09:04AM (#12496414)
25% seems very generous for Obama. He's been very pro-intelligence community from inauguration until now (at least that we know of). But I'd agree he's definitely the only potential hope.
Re:Pardon Snowden by bshimmin on Wednesday September 14, 2016 @09:07AM (#12496431)
I think Trump is in favour of Snowden being executed, isn't he?
Re:Pardon Snowden by koolba on Wednesday September 14, 2016 @09:29AM (#12496628)
> I think Trump is in favour of Snowden being executed, isn't he?

I'm not sure but I can imagine him saying that at some point. Still, I'd put him at non-zero because he doesn't have the same political baggage that Clinton would worry about.

Re:Pardon Snowden by cswilly on Wednesday September 14, 2016 @11:44AM (#12498115)
You can put Trump at non-zero because of his very random behavior.
Re:Pardon Snowden by e12e on Wednesday September 14, 2016 @02:29PM (#12499888)
The cynic in me is happy Snowden is in Russia and not in Yemen, Obama would probably just sanction a drone strike and take him out otherwise. Fortunately for Snowden, not all collateral damage is create (with) equal (access to a nuclear arsenal).
Re:Pardon Snowden by EdSharkey on Wednesday September 14, 2016 @07:53PM (#12502272)
After the Snowden thing blew up, Obama made an angry rant about wanting to punish whistleblowers to the utmost extent the law allows. Obama isn't a good guy, and he seems to like all the power he's got. At least, that's what I heard when he went off on Snowden. There wasn't enough nuance in Obama's speech for me to grant him any national security leeway - he was just grumpy and lashing out because he was getting challenged on his policies.

In general, Obama had a bad run because he did a pretty bad job, so his legacy is shot. Clinton is no small part of his failures with the Benghazi incident, Libya in general, Egypt, Ukraine, and the asinine "Russia reset". Clinton's campaign is disintegrating, so I think she'll fade before the election.

Trump is a complete mystery. He could be a totalitarian, using Obama's extra-constitutional maneuvers as a springboard to dominate the people. Or, he could be a populist and flop around whichever way the wind blows - he could pardon Snowden just to placate the mob and get some short-term bump in approval ratings - or just as easily put a hit on the guy to get the same.

When Trump is not adjusting his message for an audience, I get the sense he thinks he can govern like a big city boss does. In the best case scenario, I envision Trump will be unable to govern because capitol hill won't respond to his small ball policies, belligerence, and whining. Congress will just plow forward with their profligate debt spending and toss him a policy bone from time to time.