The URL is meant to represent a specific resource. You're requesting a comment resource, not a version of a comment resource. It's semantically inappropriate and may lead to unnecessary complexity.
There is an HTTP concept created specifically for this idea. Why not use it?
Speaking as someone in a solidly midwestern state (though the definition is murky[0]) I don't think it's fair to say the midwest is historically liberal. There are a few liberal cities but there are also states like Missouri and Kansas. It's a mix of both.
You are taking as given that he released things that he didn't read. I don't think that's a reasonable assumption. According to Greenwald the documents were meticulously organized and chosen to either expose wrongdoing or provide the necessary background information for a journalist to understand the wrongdoing.
By every account of the people who know, Snowden read and understood every single document he leaked.
Which means, this defaults to full copyright. It is not Open Source.