Posted on 06/10/2013 5:39:31 AM PDT by IbJensen
‘Under This Logic, They Can Do Anything!’
In the last 24 hours, it has been revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been indiscriminately monitoring all Verizon phone records for the past seven years.
The stunning revelation sent Fox News host Shep Smith and Judge Andrew Napolitano into a frenzy on Thursday. In fact, Napolitano said it represented the “most extraordinarily broad search warrant ever issued in the history of the federal courts of the United States.”
Lawmakers like Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Thursday tried to downplay the bombshell report, arguing that such surveillance has been going on for a long time and as long as you aren’t talking to terrorists, you have nothing to worry about.
“Harry Reid says we should just calm down Judge,” Smith began.
He went on to mock Reid’s position: “This has been going on a long time, they’ve been able stop some sort of terrorism, this, that or the other thing. So just don’t worry about it, just relax everybody.”
Napolitano said the “screwy” law allows the executive branch to tell select members of Congress about secret domestic surveillance programs, but prohibits them from telling other members of Congress or the American people.
“Just because Harry Reid knew about this for seven years and it’s been going on for seven years does not mean it’s constitutionally permissible,” Napolitano said. “This is a fishing expedition on the grandest scale we’ve ever seen in American history.”
He went on to say the Constitution requires the government to present evidence to a judge relating particular individuals if it wants to seize personal information like phone records of American citizens.
“Rather than doing that, they got a search warrant for 113 million phones,” Napolitano added.
“That we know of!” Smith interjected.
Judge Napolitano then speculated that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper “lied under oath” when he testified that the NSA wasn’t collecting any type of data at all on hundreds of millions of Americans.
“Not wittingly,” Clapper said in March. “There are cases where they could inadvertently perhaps collect, but not wittingly.”
Smith went on to say that only the court order relating to Verizon’s records have leaked, meaning that the NSA is likely monitoring other phone companies as well.
“Who are we to think they didn’t do this with all of them?” he asked.
The idea that Americans would sacrifice liberty for safety is a “canard,” Napolitano chimed in. He said “this is the most extraordinarily broad search warrant ever issued in the history of the federal courts of the United States.”
“Under this logic, the government could send people to all of our homes, put them in a bed next to us, have them watch everything. Under this logic, they can do anything!” Smith added.
BFLR
Geez everyone saying this, Fox DID NOT FIRE Judge Napolitano. They cancelled his show due to bad ratings as Napalitano is a pure libertarian, including on legalizing drugs, etc., and his pure libertarian line didn’t fly with many viewers of his show, hence his bad ratings. They like what Napolitano says in general re legalities on Fox, and he is one of their senior legal analysts and appears on a variety of other shows and newscastss on Fox, throughout the day, every day. OK? Got it?
Should have a geometric increase in storage requirements ~
About them recording everything I say or write, frankly I don't care ~ they might learn something should someone actually listen to it, or read it.
After living 40 years under the privacy laws regarding federal employment I simply don't have a goat in this game eh!
P.S., Napolitano’s show was on the Fox Business News chanel, not on Fox Cable News. They were shuffling the lineup and Napolitano lost out, especially because of his pure Libertarian views which didn’t mesh with what FBN wanted, with most viewers of FBN not being pure Libertarians. Appealed to too small a base. Now Napolitano appears on both FBN and the regular Fox News channel in a senior legal analyst capacity. He’s on all the time on various Fox programs.
P.P.S., correction, actually his ratings were pretty good amongst pure Libertarians, but could not appeal to a broader base. Hence he lost his show in a lineup shakeup.
That's good--we have too many Parisians on TV.
Just watch Jay Leno excoriating Obama. This isn’t hee, hee, haw, haw, funny stuff and the audience is with him. Very damaging to FUBO. Jus wondering why NBC is letting him get away with it.
Yeah, I got it.
Why so nasty at the end there?
“Yeah, I got it.
Why so nasty at the end there?”
Exasperated, not nasty. One shouldn’t jump all over Fox until you know what really happened with Napolitano. Now you know.
“Under this logic, the government could send people to all of our homes, put them in a bed next to us, have them watch everything. Under this logic, they can do anything!” Smith added.
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