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by buellerbueller17 hours ago |
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upvoteby autoexec16 hours ago|
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Obama wasn't always pro-surveillance though. He campaigned on ending the NSAs domestic spying program. Only after he was elected did he suddenly praise the NSA publicly and greatly expand their spying powers.
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upvoteby cowlevel16 hours ago|
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Sounds more like he was pro-surveillance but knew how unpopular it was.
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upvoteby autoexec16 hours ago|
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Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago. He spoke passionately about the dangers of domestic spying programs and against the Patriot Act. Maybe he was lying the entire time just to be elected, but he was extremely convincing.

Personally, I suspect that once in office he was either shown something that scared him so much that it genuinely made him believe that violating the rights of every American citizen was necessary, or he was strong armed into supporting what they were doing and expanding their abuses. I imagine the NSA had no shortage of dirt on him and his family just as they must have on every politician, CEO, parent, and child in the country.

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upvoteby buellerbueller12 hours ago|
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I feel like this is a reasonable but nearly-impossible-to-prove take. Maybe this is why everything goes uniparty.
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upvoteby NDlurker16 hours ago|
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Yes, just another lying or compromised politician.
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upvoteby NDlurker17 hours ago|
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Yep, Obama is a mass murderer just like the rest of them. People tend to not care until the oppression comes home and is in plain view.
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upvoteby deaux6 hours ago|
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You're right, but bringing up the assassination of a terrorist just isn't convincing to a lot of people, regardless of it should be.

Luckily there are other things that all reasonable people will find it hard to disagree with: The Obama government crackdown of Occupy Wall Street and his appointment of one of the fathers of the CIA torture program as NatSec Advisor, who promptly went on to jail whistleblowers of torture with Obama vouching for it.

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upvoteby aetch16 hours ago|
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What? The guy who was killed was actively committing violence and had done so multiple times before. Continuing to evade capture isn’t a get out of jail free card to keep evading the US and keep making bombs.

The guy got more chances than the average US resident who would get shot by the cops for less

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upvoteby buellerbueller16 hours ago|
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The constitution is clear: he had a right to a trial by jury.
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upvoteby pessimizer16 hours ago|
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The guy who was killed was a propagandist. Also his children were killed.

> The guy got more chances than the average US resident who would get shot by the cops for less

Using violations of rights to justify more violations of rights. This makes a lot of sense!

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upvoteby NDlurker16 hours ago|
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I was reading his Wikipedia page and it makes me want to seek out some of his writings to get an idea of the thought process of his followers. I won't be doing that though because I'll probably be put on a watchlist. It's the same fascination I have about traditional cults and really anyone who has extreme/fringe beliefs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki

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