CITIZENFOUR

[Andy Isaacson]

On Sat, Oct 25, 2014 at 09:59:35PM -0400, Steve Kinney wrote:
> In my mind the sudden appearance of that momentarily almost-famous
> "pole dancer girlfriend" of Snowden's is of a piece with the rest
> of The Snowden Affair:  It raises more questions than it answers,
> and adds more reasons to suspect a double game.

Whut.

> Did the "pole dancer girlfriend" ever exist, and is that really
> her?  I will assume so, for the sake of a fun story.  What are the
> odds that she has travelled more than one mile in any direction
> since Ed went walkabout, without that motion being logged for
> analysis by a consortium of TLAs?  Other than "she has always
> worked for us and is still passing polygraph exams," how could her
> bona fides as a person of no interest be so confidently endorsed
> by the public servants who let her walk away?

You know, the people who are involved in these stories are actually
humans, with real lives, families, and friendships.  If you watched
CITIZENFOUR without realizing that, I am terribly sorry for your
inability to releate to others on a human level, and I'd recommend that
you talk to someone with a more mainstream level of emotional
intelligence about these issues.

While Snowden is the object of significant official pressure, the rule
of law is still respected at least occasionally in the USA, and Lindsay
is not accused of any crimes.  There's no reason to suppose that she
would be prevented by USG from traveling, and any such restriction would
be front-page news.  (I'm not disputing that surreptitious tracking of
her and others is quite likely to be occurring, of course!)

Your insinuation that Snowden could not have had a girlfriend before his
trip to Hong Kong is baffling and inexplicable; he was leading a
perfectly normal life for someone in his position.  Both social and
economic documentation of their relationship exists.

(And your bringing up of her hobbies in this context seems to betray a
kind of naiive mistrust on your part; a majority of my friends who are
atheletic and in the 25-35 age bracket have tried out pole or other
circus arts.  It's fun!)

-andy