bill of rights

Edward Snowden vs. the Sovietization of America

"The Washington know-it-alls have a solution to this dilemma: keep everything secret. So that even the law is itself a secret – or, at least, the government’s interpretation of it is kept under lock and key. Everything else about the mechanics of our emerging police state is also a secret: the internet companies forced to turn over their customers’ private accounts to government snoops are forbidden by law from saying anything about their interactions with Washington. They cannot tell a customer 'The government forced us to turn over your records.' If they choose to fight in court, they cannot publicize their fight. It is a mugging that happens in the dark." Continue reading →

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Read more about the article Police Taser Gun Rights Advocate at Anti-Gun Violence Rally

Police Taser Gun Rights Advocate at Anti-Gun Violence Rally

"An anti-gun violence rally at the Statehouse plaza on Tuesday turned ugly when gun rights supporters turned out to protest the event and one pro-gun advocate [was] Tasered by Concord Police after resisting their efforts to detain him. Daniel Musso, 52, of Brentwood attempted to interject commentary while John Cantin of Manchester was speaking about his efforts to influence U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, on the background check issue. Police issued an all-units alert to Main Street, with at least eight or nine cruisers at the scene, and a number of state troopers. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is part of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns effort." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice Taser Gun Rights Advocate at Anti-Gun Violence Rally

National-Security State Toadies Are Guilty Of Hypocrisy On Snowden

"They say that Snowden should have stayed here in the United States instead of fleeing to Hong Kong. They say that if he were a genuine hero, as his supporters say he is, he would have remained in the United States, where the national-security state would have incarcerated him, tortured him, and executed him. Oh? Well, pray tell, national-security state toadies: Where were you all when those CIA agents skedaddled out of Italy after committing felonious offenses in that country? The problem with kidnapping and torture is that they’re criminal offenses under Italian law, which is precisely why those CIA agents got criminally indicted and later convicted and sentenced." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNational-Security State Toadies Are Guilty Of Hypocrisy On Snowden

Edward Snowden and the Wolf Who Cried Plant

"At some point, an emerging police state stops trying to hide or justify its nastiness and starts emphasizing and flaunting that nastiness — although it may do so subtly or indirectly instead of openly. Its minions no longer worry about convincing you they’re right. They’re content to just bully, threaten and scare you into submission. Naomi Wolf’s hypothesis is that the Snowden revelations may be an intentional instance of the latter — perhaps timed to distract attention from the trial of real whistleblower Bradley Manning — rather than an accidental failure of the former. Is she right? I don’t know. But the idea is far from outrageous, and should be taken seriously." Continue reading →

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Associated Press CEO: Sources will no longer speak to us because of phone monitoring

"The US government’s secret seizure of Associated Press phone records had a 'chilling effect' on newsgathering by the agency and other news organizations, AP’s top executive said Wednesday. 'Some longtime trusted sources have become nervous and anxious about talking with us,' AP president and chief executive Gary Pruitt said in a speech to the National Press Club. 'In some cases, government employees we once checked in with regularly will no longer speak to us by phone. Others are reluctant to meet in person … Journalists from other news organizations have personally told me that it has intimidated both official and nonofficial sources from speaking to them as well.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAssociated Press CEO: Sources will no longer speak to us because of phone monitoring

Michael Hastings’ Final Article Before Car Explosion: ‘Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans’

"For most bigwig Democrats in Washington, D.C., the last 48 hours has delivered news of the worst kind — a flood of new information that has washed away any lingering doubts about where President Obama and his party stand on civil liberties, full stop. Glenn Greenwald’s exposure of the NSA’s massive domestic spy program has revealed the entire caste of current Democratic leaders as a gang of civil liberty opportunists, whose true passion, it seems, was in trolling George W. Bush for eight years on matters of national security. 'Everyone should just calm down,' Senator Harry Reid said yesterday, inhaling slowly. That’s right: don’t panic." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichael Hastings’ Final Article Before Car Explosion: ‘Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans’

Ron Paul: NSA head ‘fudged the figures’

"The Texas Republican was referencing the House Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday where National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander said communication surveillance programs have thwarted more than 50 'potential terrorist events'. Paul also wasn’t amused by the NSA trying to pass the intrusions off as an attempt to save Americans and the American way of life. 'It’s sort of like the old story about you have to burn the village to save the village. They want to burn the Constitution to save the Constitution,' he said. 'And even today, [James] Cole, the Deputy Attorney General says, the Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply to this.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul: NSA head ‘fudged the figures’

Google Challenges FISA Gag Orders on Free Speech Grounds

"Google filed a legal challenge today against gag orders that come with the FISA court orders it receives from the FBI and NSA, on grounds that the silence orders impinge on the company’s First Amendment rights to speak freely about the data requests it receives for user data. Google is seeking permission to publish the number of requests for data (.pdf) that it receives from the government, as well as the number of user accounts affect by the requests, according to the motion it filed in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in Washington, D.C." Continue reading →

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FBI director admits domestic use of drones for surveillance

"The FBI uses drones for domestic surveillance purposes, the head of the agency told Congress. Robert Mueller confirmed to lawmakers that the FBI owns several unmanned aerial vehicles, but has not adopted any strict policies or guidelines yet to govern the use of the controversial aircraft. Mueller said the FBI has and will continue to weigh the possibility of publishing more information about its spy habits, but warned that doing such would be to the advantage of America’s enemies. 'There is a price to be paid for that transparency,' Mueller said. 'I certainly think it would be educating our adversaries as to what our capabilities are.'" Continue reading →

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3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you so

"When a National Security Agency contractor revealed top-secret details this month on the government's collection of Americans' phone and Internet records, one select group of intelligence veterans breathed a sigh of relief. Thomas Drake, William Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe belong to a select fraternity: the NSA officials who paved the way. For years, the three whistle-blowers had told anyone who would listen that the NSA collects huge swaths of communications data from U.S. citizens. They had spent decades in the top ranks of the agency, designing and managing the very data-collection systems they say have been turned against Americans." Continue reading →

Continue Reading3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you so