While the United states Armed Forces (private mercenaries) are stationed at 737 bases, in 130 nations around the world, defending “all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world, Lisa G. Monaco, Esq., Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, dismisses a White House petition that “Edward Snowden is a national hero and should immediately be issued a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs,” Monaco repeats the standard line that:

       Mr, Snowden’s dangerous decision to steal and disclose classified information had severe consequences for the Security of our country and the people who work day in and day out to protect it.

       If he felt his actions were consistent with civil disobedience, then he should do what those who have taken issue with their own government do: Challenge it, speak out, engage in a constructive act of protest, and—importantly—accept the consequences of his actions.  He should come home to the United states, and be judged by a jury of his peers … . Right now, he’s running away from the consequences of his actions.

       NOTES:

• The petition was started shortly after Snowden released the embarrassing evidence of unlawful activity by the National Security Agency. Over the course of two weeks 100,000 U.s. subject/enemy/citizens signed the petition, which is legally mandated level that required at White House response.  Instead the administration of Democratic (socialist/fascist) de facto President Obama (either a natural born subject of the United Kingdom enclave of Kenya, or a natural born resident of the republic of Hawaii) waited over two years (and the accumulation of another 68,000 signatures) for public furor to subside before it responded.
• Although Monaco uses the word “country” here, the editors believe that she meant to use the word “nation,” in which a central government, with almost limitless power, treats its constituent states as mere enclaves, provinces, or sub-divisions of its greater self; as opposed to “union,” which is a union of sovereign States under a federal system, with a central government whose powers are strictly limited by a respected Constitution.
• As an attorney (Officer of the Court) Monaco was ineligible to serve in two branches of government at the same time, according to Article I, Section 6 [Clause 2].

       [added 12/29/2022] Thanks to Freedom’s Phoenix for this entry.