Oby, for where art thou?

[213374U]

Also, Qbert says he believes it works and it's pretty hard to dissuade someone of their feels. That's why I carry around a magic rock. Not dead, must work.

 

Shady, I want to buy your rock.

[ShadySands]

Can't right now. Spreading rumors of Avellone going to BioWare so I might need it very soon

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

 

Also, Qbert says he believes it works and it's pretty hard to dissuade someone of their feels. That's why I carry around a magic rock. Not dead, must work.

 

 

Shady, I want to buy your rock.

I initially read one r as a c and was surprised.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

Thanks for everything, guys, I'm leave Obsidian forum.

 

[Qbert]

 

I believe that the methods employed by the US government have done an awful lot to keep terrorist incidents and hostile country actions from impacting US citizens negatively. 

 

[citation needed]

 

Sorry, I don't have access to the secret Pentagon and CIA databases where they keep such information.  

 

 

My belief comes partly from the lack of large terrorist incidents in the USA since 9/11, not for lack of the other side trying.  But also b/c I had the Snowden: Traitor or Hero discussion with my Father when the Snowden information first broke.  I was on the side of Snowden Hero b/c I generally dislike giving the government too much power due to the propensity for abuse, and I dislike the idea of people violating my privacy.  My Father was a very high ranking military officer and while his chain of command did not include Special Forces, the nature of his job allowed him to have 1st person awareness of some anti-terrorist operations and was briefed on many more.  When we had the discussion, he told me look I can't tell you specifics, b/c it's classified but for everything that you hear about in the media, there are numerous other times that we thwart threats through our intelligence programs. What this guy did hurt our ability to thwart those threats and put many good people who are trying to protect citizens at risk.   Since he knew more than me about these things I had to trust his judgement, despite my reluctance to accept the intrusion philosophically. He didn't mention any specific program mind you, he spoke rather in general about the intelligence apparatus and in general about what Snowden revealed, so I can't comment on how useful a specific NSA program has been.

 

 

That’s the really tough part about all of this, there is really no way to know what is really going on, and there are valid reasons for the government to not make security issues transparent.  Also, the government has a motivation to err on the side of caution and scoop up more data than needed, rather than take a chance on missing something that may result in innocent people that they are charged with protecting losing their lives.  People on the internet, in contrast, generally have a motivation to call for greater freedom and privacy and an end to government security programs from the comfort of their armchairs and first world problem outrage while remaining largely ignorant of whatever realities exist outside their comfy bubble and the consequences such actions could have. It doesn't leave much room for rational discussion, I have found.  Those that know, can't talk, while those that talk, don't know.  Even Snowden had but a small view of the entire system, and chose information based on it's relevance to what he saw as his agenda.

 

 

 

 

I believe that the methods employed by the US government have done an awful lot to keep terrorist incidents and hostile country actions from impacting US citizens negatively.

 

[citation needed]

 

To be fair, you're not going to find SF actions in the news all that much or breakdowns of plots foiled by the CIA. They have a lot of methods.

 

 

They did cite some 54(ish?) incidents which were then proven to be mostly overseas, not imminent, and foiled by other more conventional means

 

Also, Qbert says he believes it works and it's pretty hard to dissuade someone of their feels. That's why I carry around a magic rock. Not dead, must work.

 

 

What evidence do you have then to make a judgement regarding the success or lack thereof of our intelligence gathering apparatus, specifically related to anti-terrorist actions?  Or are you just dealing with the feels as well, as we all are in this arena?