Posted on 06/06/2013 5:03:48 AM PDT by SJackson
Those crazy American conspiracy theorists who live up trees with guns and drink their own pee don’t seem quite so crazy anymore. It turns out that a “secret court order” has empowered the US government to collect the phone records of millions of users of Verizon, one of the most popular telephone providers – a massive domestic surveillance programme and a shocking intrusion into the lives of others. For the first time in history, being an AT&T customer doesn’t seem such a bad thing after all.
Of course, it isn't the first time that a US administration has spied on its own people. The origins of this particular order lie first in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and then in Section 215 of the Patriot Act, backed by George W Bush and passed by Congress after 9/11. Normally, domestic surveillance only targets suspicious individuals, not the entire population, but in 2006 it was discovered that a similarly wide database of cellular records was being collected from customers of Verizon, AT&T and BellSouth. There was plenty of outrage and plenty of lawsuits, but the National Security Agency never confirmed that the programme had been shut down. It would appear that it’s still in rude health: the latest court order for collecting data runs from April 25 to July 19.
A few observations. First, America is so conscious and proud of its history as a beacon of liberty that it often overlooks the tyranny that occurs on its own shores in the name of safeguarding democracy. The national security state has expanded to the point whereby it now functions outside of democratic control and with clear disregard for the Constitution.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
of course - thats why the irs wanted donor info and member info of the 501 c 5's - all the info got forwarded back to the wing doing the listening
Second, you get what you vote for – and both Republicans and Democrats keep on voting for authoritarians. There’s a frustrating hypocrisy that many conservatives applauded the accrual of state power under Bush for the sake of fighting the War on Terror only to scream blue murder about it now that it’s happening under Obama. Likewise, many liberals resented the domestic espionage programme of Bush but have been less vocal about opposing it under Obama.
I think we have to come to the realization that though we are liberty-minded conservatives and the majority of us Republicans, the Republican party has done us no favors in this regard.
I.e., we have the "Bush started it" defense ready to roll out.
If you have to issue lots of explicit orders to subordinates, you have the wrong subordinates. A subordinate should know what you want done, and do it without you needing to tell him.
This is especially true in a criminal organization like the Obama administration. It's futile to look for an explicit paper trail. It was all verbal (probably via the IRS employees union reps), and was mostly done by ensuring that manager slots were filled by people who would know what was wanted.
Who sued to get the court involved to even make a ruling?
Just don’t say key words like Obama, President, Holder, Fast and Furious, IRS, Republican, Democrat, etc. Most of the conservations forwarded for review are based on key word identification. Of course, if not political then listening in on Arabic languages would have key values/words assigned. However, the great fear here is that Obama made this a Communism vs. United States (Republican/Democrat/Independent) political program.
This whole “IRS targeting” program would not have worked if people did not want to declare their political contributions as deductions on their tax returns. There is nothing that says we can’t donate to our Tea Party organizations - and as long as we don’t declare those donations, they will be private. Until Bozo’s people confiscate our bank records. That’s probably next on the agenda.
“This whole “IRS targeting” program would not have worked if people did not want to declare their political contributions as deductions on their tax returns.”
That’s just plane wrong. People don’t get to write off political donations on their tax returns. These political organizations are 501c4 entitities, meaning that don’t pay income tax. Donations to 501c3 groups (aka charities) are tax deductible, but donations to 501c4 groups are not.
These comparisons to Nixon are odious and stupid. Nixon was a patriot, a veteran, an anti-communist, a capitalist and a Christian. Nixon would never have dreamed of doing anything close to what is going on now.
I’m guessing this was the FISA court and it was presented as a typical national security request.
There is a wonderful movie about the meeting of top Nazis who determined how to kill all of Europe’s Jews. Can’t remember the name. Swansee Conference?
If you've ever wanted to feel like an Associated Press reporter, good news!
The National Security Agency has been collecting the telephone records of millions of U.S. customers of Verizon under a top secret court order, according to a report in Britain's Guardian newspaper.
The order was granted by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on April 25 and is good until July 19, the newspaper reported Wednesday. The order requires Verizon, one of the nation's largest telecommunications companies, on an "ongoing, daily basis" to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the U.S. and between the U.S. and other countries.
The newspaper said the document, a copy of which it had obtained, shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of U.S. citizens were being collected indiscriminately and in bulk, regardless of whether they were suspected of any wrongdoing.
The Associated Press could not authenticate the order because documents from the court are classified.
Verizon spokesman Ed McFadden said Wednesday the company had no comment. The White House declined comment and referred questions to the NSA. The NSA had no immediate comment.
Geraghty -- National Review Morning Jolt
The Day of the Jackal:
Minister: There’s one thing. How did you know whose telephone to tap?
Inspector Lebel: I didn’t, so I tapped all of them.
Nixon was a rat.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/08/15/forty-years-ago-today-nixon-took-us-off-gold-standard/
“FISC oversees requests for surveillance warrants against suspected foreign intelligence agents inside the United States.
They were used against Americans.
Please explain how a patriotic anti-communist capitalist takes us off the gold standard, sets wage and price controls, establishes the EPA, and the Endangered Species Act, and sets a national speed limit of 55 MPH on our nations highways.
I have been thinking the same rarestia.
How much longer will it be before some other nations grow weary of American antics abroad and decide to act in their own self interests?
The damage here would be over-whelming as our enemies don’t give a rats ass about rules of engagement, they will be in it to win which means a tremendous loss of life on our soil.
While your statement is true, it doesn’t explain the people who were targeted for audits because of their political donations.
The Wannsee Conference . . . could the movie have been “Conspiracy”?
My point, which you seem to have missed, is that he was 100 times better than this guy. Moreover, even if he had thought of violating the constitution to this extent, the people around him would not have let it happen.
This guy is a constitutional law professor/agitator and the people around him believe the constitution says whatever they think it should say.
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