Topic: PRISM and Fed spying

[IronDioPriest]

We have to stop thinking of scandal as something that will harm the electoral prospects of Democrats. Obama has proved that scandal can be managed and overcome through denial, obfuscation, stalling, shamelessness, and a complicit media.

None of this State Dept sh*t or any of the rest of the Obama scandals will touch Hillary's prospects for 2016, I promise.

Look at the list Trap compiled. The man and his regime would already be hanging or removed from office if there was any hope for either. He was elected in spite of many of those scandals occurring before the 2012 election. They sold guns illegally to Mexican drug cartels who are responsible for 70,000 civilian deaths and counting, and still, they were returned to power.

[RickZ]

I guess that you could also add

- The killing of an American with a drone

to the list but I don't see anything wrong with killing jihadi scum in a war zone even if they happen to hold an American passport. Hard cheese for you, jihadi.

While I agree with the 'adios, motherfukcer' sentiment, killing Americans without trial and sentencing sets a very bad precedent.

This Administration lives for slippery slopes.  I'm sure Mooch thinks that's a ski resort.

[RickZ]

They sold guns illegally to Mexican drug cartels who are responsible for 70,000 civilian deaths and counting, and still, they were returned to power.

Wait, what?  I've heard numbers of around 3-5,000 for the F&F guns.

[Pandora]

They sold guns illegally to Mexican drug cartels who are responsible for 70,000 civilian deaths and counting, and still, they were returned to power.

Wait, what?  I've heard numbers of around 3-5,000 for the F&F guns.

I think IDP was referring to deaths caused by the cartels, not the deaths from the F&F guns.

[IronDioPriest]

They sold guns illegally to Mexican drug cartels who are responsible for 70,000 civilian deaths and counting, and still, they were returned to power.

Wait, what?  I've heard numbers of around 3-5,000 for the F&F guns.

I think IDP was referring to deaths caused by the cartels, not the deaths from the F&F guns.

^^^
That

[Glock32]

We have to stop thinking of scandal as something that will harm the electoral prospects of Democrats. Obama has proved that scandal can be managed and overcome through denial, obfuscation, stalling, shamelessness, and a complicit media.

None of this State Dept sh*t or any of the rest of the Obama scandals will touch Hillary's prospects for 2016, I promise.

Look at the list Trap compiled. The man and his regime would already be hanging or removed from office if there was any hope for either. He was elected in spite of many of those scandals occurring before the 2012 election. They sold guns illegally to Mexican drug cartels who are responsible for 70,000 civilian deaths and counting, and still, they were returned to power.

You are right about this. And what's more, I interpret it as a form of divine punishment. "Why can't we have a king like the other nations?" Well, now you've got one. Be careful what you wish for.

Barnhardt has an interesting 2 part piece up on cowardice and how it lies at the heart of pretty much every other sinful act, and she refers back to Bonhoeffer (she knows he was a Lutheran right?) arguing that a failure to act is also itself a sinful act. The people of this country have been complicit in moral and ethical degradation of the civilization, most infamously in the sanctioned murder of the unborn, and God is no longer "(shedding) His Grace on Thee".

So we have injustice after injustice never being remedied, doing no damage to those who are responsible for them, because fundamentally we have become a culture in which Justice is an impossibility.

[Libertas]

I'm sure the pUbbies will change the dynamic...

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57588830/nsa-director-to-get-a-public-grilling-in-the-senate/

 

...oh wait, I meant perpetuate after some pissing and moaning!

 


"We have to stop thinking of scandal as something that will harm the electoral prospects of Democrats. Obama has proved that scandal can be managed and overcome through denial, obfuscation, stalling, shamelessness, and a complicit media."

Casus belli.

[charlesoakwood]

There is still time.

TIMELINE


1971
[blockquote] June 13 - The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers - the Defense Department's secret history of the Vietnam War. The Washington Post will begin publishing the papers later that same week.

September 3 - The White House "plumbers" unit - named for their orders to plug leaks in the administration - burglarizes a psychiatrist's office to find files on Daniel Ellsberg, the former defense analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers.[/blockquote]
1972
[blockquote] June 17 - Five men, one of whom says he used to work for the CIA, are arrested at 2:30 a.m. trying to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate hotel and office complex. Post Story

June 19 - A GOP security aide is among the Watergate burglars, The Washington Post reports. Former attorney general John Mitchell, head of the Nixon reelection campaign, denies any link to the operation. Post Story

August 1 - A $25,000 cashier's check, apparently earmarked for the Nixon campaign, wound up in the bank account of a Watergate burglar, The Washington Post reports. Post Story

September 29 - John Mitchell, while serving as attorney general, controlled a secret Republican fund used to finance widespread intelligence-gathering operations against the Democrats, The Post reports. Post Story

October 10 - FBI agents establish that the Watergate break-in stems from [weasel John Dean checking on his girlfriend Moe's illicit activity, Oh Moe, why can't you be true?] a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage conducted on behalf of the Nixon reelection effort, The Post reports. Post Story

November 7 - Nixon is reelected in one of the largest landslides in American political history, taking more than 60 percent of the vote and crushing the Democratic nominee, Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota. Post Story[/blockquote]
1973
[blockquote] January 30 - Former Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and James W. McCord Jr. are convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping in the Watergate incident. Five other men plead guilty, but mysteries remain. Post Story

April 30 - Nixon's top White House staffers, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst resign over the scandal. White House counsel John Dean is fired.Post Story

May 18 - The Senate Watergate Committee begins its nationally televised hearings. Attorney General-designate Elliot Richardson taps former solicitor general Archibald Cox as the Justice Department's special prosecutor for Watergate. Post Story | Post Analysis

June 3 - John Dean has told Watergate investigators that he discussed the Watergate cover-up with President Nixon at least 35 times, The Post reports. Post Story

June 13 - Watergate prosecutors find a memo addressed to John Ehrlichman describing in detail the plans to burglarize the office of Pentagon Papers defendant Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist, The Post reports. Post Story

July 13 - Alexander Butterfield, former presidential appointments secretary, reveals in congressional testimony that since 1971 Nixon had recorded all conversations and telephone calls in his offices. Post Story

July 18 - Nixon reportedly orders the White House taping system disconnected.

July 23 - Nixon refuses to turn over the presidential tape recordings to the Senate Watergate Committee or the special prosecutor.Post Story

October 20 - Saturday Night Massacre: Nixon fires Archibald Cox and abolishes the office of the special prosecutor. Attorney General Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus resign. Pressure for impeachment mounts in Congress. Post Story

November 17 - Nixon declares, "I'm not a crook," maintaining his innocence in the Watergate case. Post Story

December 7 - The White House can't explain an 18 ½-minute gap in one of the subpoenaed tapes. Chief of Staff Alexander Haig says one theory is that "some sinister force" erased the segment. Post Story
[/blockquote]
1974
[blockquote] April 30 - The White House releases more than 1,200 pages of edited transcripts of the Nixon tapes to the House Judiciary Committee, but the committee insists that the tapes themselves must be turned over. Post Story

July 24 - The Supreme Court rules unanimously that Nixon must turn over the tape recordings of 64 White House conversations, rejecting the president's claims of executive privilege. Post Story

July 27 - House Judiciary Committee passes the first of three articles of impeachment, charging obstruction of justice.

August 8 - Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to resign. Vice President Gerald R. Ford assumes the country's highest office. He will later pardon Nixon of all charges related to the Watergate case. Post Story[/blockquote
 

[Libertas]

That is so 1970's!

[Libertas]

Keystone cops...good at snooping, bad at bagging...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/12/us-usa-security-snowden-hunt-idUSBRE95B1A220130612

And this?

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/picture-shows-edward-snowden-2002-pulling-down-pants-photo-195217802.html

Really?  That's all ya got?

 

[Pandora]

Nice tooky.

[Pandora]

Y'all really need to read all of this:

".... To get business records under the Patriot Act, the FBI would not have to prove anything to the court; as with a pen-register, however, the executive branch would have to make solemn representations that the information was sought for a legitimate purpose – viz., that there were reasonable grounds to believe the records sought were relevant to a national security investigation (i.e., either to obtain foreign intelligence or protect against terrorism or foreign spying).

Nevertheless, Rep. Sensenbrenner writes:

    To obtain a business records order like the one the administration obtained, the Patriot Act requires the government to prove to a special federal court, known as a (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)) court, that it is complying with specific guidelines set by the attorney general and that the information sought is relevant to an authorized investigation. Intentionally targeting US citizens is prohibited.

This is wrong in every particular. The government is not required to prove anything to the FISA court. This was the crux of the debate. If the government had to prove anything to the FISA court, that would mean the FISA court, rather than the executive branch, would have the final say on who could be investigated and what records could be scrutinized.

The government – as the statute says in language that was argued over endlessly – must provide the court with “a statement of facts showing there are reasonable grounds to believe that [the records sought] are relevant to an authorized investigation.” But the statute does not empower the court to second-guess that statement of facts. If the bill had granted this kind of judicial intrusion into executive responsibilities, the national security right would not have supported it, and it would never have been enacted. Instead, the statute provides that if the government makes the stipulated representations, the court must sign the order.

Furthermore, the government need not “prove” to the FISA court “that it is complying with specific guidelines set by the attorney general,” as Sensenbrenner asserts. Instead, guidelines from the attorney general regarding the retention and dissemination of the information sought must be set forth in the application. The executive branch must follow them, and there is no reason to believe agents are not doing so. But there is no requirement to prove to the FISA court that the government is complying. Again, it is a solemn representation, not a proof requirement.

Finally, it is simply not the case, as Sensenbrenner claims, that “intentionally targeting US citizens is prohibited.”"

[Pandora]

NSA Snooping Excludes Mosques, Missed Boston Bombers

I know, shocka!, right?

[Libertas]

I remember the Patriot Act discussion and it was apparent then the proper application would fall to mortals in the Admin in power...I guess people never thought complete moonbat nucking futs would ever be the ones making these calls...

 

Enough guilt to spread around on that score...but arguing now the authorization is working properly and American liberty is not at risk is an outright lie.

Oh, and as for that mosque crap...figures...I am shocked at my lack of shock...

Perhaps we all need to establish some mosques, takkiya mosques that is...   

Damn, what a sorry-assed place ObamaAmerica has become...

[Glock32]

I swear, I just don't know if it's fixable. Part of me says that the America created by the Founders was uniquely the product of a frontier society. Small population and a lot of land per person, far removed from seats of power. They were basically a stem cutting from Europe, and now the cutting has grown into a huge tree itself. But now there's no frontier left, not on this planet at least.

The early Americans were self-selected for highly independent personalities who resented the stifling authoritarianism and collectivization of old Europe (not just the monarchy, but feudalistic relics like guilds too), and they rolled the dice to risk coming to a new continent just for the chance to get away from that suffocating control over everything.

Now we are the victims of their success. The American population now is basically the same as the Europe those early colonists left behind. I don't know where the quote came from, but it's incredibly accurate: adversity makes men, prosperity makes monsters.

[Predator Don]

NSA Snooping Excludes Mosques, Missed Boston Bombers

I know, shocka!, right?

No different than grandma patted down as the towelhead is ushered thru. How stupid is this country.

[charlesoakwood]

Rand Paul, on the senate floor, likened NSA "going from phone to phone" to the British
"going house to house" and called it unconstitutional.  Wonder if Peter Jennings is going to play that clip tonight?

[RickZ]

Rand Paul, on the senate floor, likened NSA "going from phone to phone" to the British
"going house to house" and called it unconstitutional.  Wonder if Peter Jennings is going to play that clip tonight?

Thank gawd that prikc's dead, so I'd have to say, 'No'.

[ChrstnHsbndFthr]

Hmmm

Rand Paul, on the senate floor, likened NSA "going from phone to phone" to the British
"going house to house" and called it unconstitutional.  Wonder if Peter Jennings is going to play that clip tonight?

[charlesoakwood]

US News - Nine Companies Tied to PRISM, Obama Will Be Smacked With Class-Action Lawsuit Wednesday
AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, PalTalk, Skype, Yahoo! and Youtube will be named in the suit, attorney says
...
...

Facebook released information defending itself, Microsoft did also.
It's amazing how few persons information was released.

Facebook: For the months ending December 31, 2012, the total number of user-data requests Facebook received from any and all government entities in the U.S. (including local, state, and federal, and including criminal and national security-related requests) – was between 9,000 and 10,000.

Microsoft: ...for the last six months of 2012 it received between 6,000 and 7,000 criminal and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 consumer accounts, ...
   
Face book requests, 1,666.666 user-data requests per month and
Microsoft consumer accounts "affected", 5,166.666. Nothing to see here, 
no fishing, nothing fishy at all.

Link