Monthly Archives: February 2013

Homeland Security Expands Electronics Seizure In “Constitution-Free” Zones

"The latest development in 4th Amendment violations is the scariest I've heard yet. The Department of the Fatherland has approved a policy which states in no uncertain terms that electronic devices can be seized without a warrant within 100 miles of the border. The kicker? The 'border', according to this policy, is any national barrier, political or physical. THIS INCLUDES BODIES OF WATER. So, that means that the United States has, in effect, 'Constitution-free zones' stretching 100 miles inland from every coast and 100 miles from our northern and southern borders." Continue reading →

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US Congress: ‘Fight Terrorism, Arm The Terrorists!’

"What, one might ask, is a US House member, who strongly and passionately supports the State of Israel doing introducing legislation that would result in a gusher of arms flowing to 'the fastest-growing al Qaeda front in the world, attracting fighters from across the Islamic world.'? Does it make sense? What will Mr. Engel then propose when the bearded radicals finally overthrow the secular Assad and install Sharia rule in Syria? Does Mr. Engel support Sharia? Or will such a worse turn of events help ignite passions in the US for yet more military action in the Middle East?" Continue reading →

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Drones patrolling U.S. borders spark controversy over privacy

"Intended to protect the borders from illegal crossings and the import of illegal drugs, ten drones flown by U.S. Customs and Border Protection have also sparked a controversy over privacy. The plane are piloted remotely and their images are reviewed in real time by agents at Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, Arizona. The data is used to help direct agents on the ground or in a helicopter to make a bust. 'The fact we can turn the lights off, we are almost stealth,' said director of Air Operations Dave Gasho. And that, critics say, that is the problem." Continue reading →

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U.S. Government: The Truth Is Too Complicated and Dangerous to Disclose to the Public

"Secretive, unaccountable agencies are making life and death decisions which effect our most basic rights. They provide 'secret evidence' to courts which cannot be checked … and often withhold any such 'evidence' even from the judges. The government uses 'secret evidence' to spy on Americans, prosecute leaking or terrorism charges (even against U.S. soldiers) and even assassinate people. All of this happened in Germany – as in America today – because the governments whipped up so much fear of attack by demonizing the enemy and declaring an open-ended war that people became complacent and stopped thinking for themselves." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Government: The Truth Is Too Complicated and Dangerous to Disclose to the Public

Imagining a Legal Basis for Obama’s Overseas Assassinations

"Thanks to someone who has reservations about Obama's murders and leaked it, we have a copy of a secret legal opinion that is supposed to lay out the conditions under which such presidentially-directed murders are legal. This heretofore secret document imagines a legal basis for Obama's overseas assassinations. Imagine is not quite the right word. It fantasizes such a basis. It makes it up by stringing together words that are supposed to make a plausible case. On inspection, however, this case collapses. It is rather like setting a wall on what is supposed to be concrete, but actually is pudding." Continue reading →

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NDAA Judge: Executive Branch “Known To Make Things Up”

"Mr. Constitutional Law Professor insisted that he signed the bill with 'serious reservations.' He also promised that he would never, ever use NDAA's powers -- he merely collects such prerogatives as you or I would books or china cups, so he can set them on a shelf and admire them. And for a guy who so unenthusiastically signed the legislation in 2012 -- and in 2013 as well -- he has most vigorously defended it. Judge Katherine Forrest declined to cooperate with evisceration of the Constitution and suspended the NDAA. Ole Reluctant Signer immediately appealed to the Second Circuit to overturn her ruling. That hearing took place yesterday in NYC." Continue reading →

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Disarm the People, Unleash the Drones: The Feinstein Agenda

"In a letter to Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, Ralph Nader and former Reagan administration official Bruce Fein point out that the drone-killings 'combine prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner in a single person'. Rather than allowing critics of this program to testify in Brennan’s confirmation hearings, Senator Feinstein has limited testimony to the nominee himself. The same Senator Feinstein, of course, is promoting severe restrictions on private firearms ownership. She sees nothing at all wrong with disarming the population while giving the president an unrestricted license to kill American citizens." Continue reading →

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Raisons d’État: Justifying Assassination and Murder of American Citizens

"From Niccolo Machiavelli and Cardinal Richelieu to George W. Bush and Barack Obama, survival of the state has been the highest priority of political authority. Any means necessary regardless of morality or legality is sanctioned for reasons of state (raisons d'État). In statecraft, the ends justify the means. I suspect that many of these craven individuals (of both parties) will soon be marching in lock-step unison in shouting their support of an earlier assassination of an American citizen by the top tier of the National Security establishment fifty years ago who was seen as a traitor to his nation during the height of the Cold War." Continue reading →

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Obama’s Drone War Could Legally Kill Americans But Not Anywhere

"Obama is stretching the terms 'imminent threat' beyond recognition to justify dubious unilateral presidential action, now targeting regional al Qaeda affiliates in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia—all of which had no role in the 9/11 strikes and which focus their attacks mainly against local governments. This expanded war is congressionally unauthorized, and so it is illegal and unconstitutional to kill anyone in these countries—Americans or foreign peoples. There is now talk about setting up a secret court to approve adding Americans to the terrorist kill list, much like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court does for spying on Americans." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama’s Drone War Could Legally Kill Americans But Not Anywhere

Upstate New York bids to become federal drone testing site

"A coalition of upstate New York universities and defense contractors has submitted a bid to become a federally designated testing and research site for the integration of unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, into domestic airspace. Drones are expected to be used for everything from search and rescue, to crop dusting, to newsgathering. One of the key issues the FAA will have to assess is the ability of drones to communicate with air traffic controllers, manned aircraft and other drones. The massive growth of drone use is expected to create an economic boom in the U.S." Continue reading →

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