bill of rights

Thomas Drake: Snowden saw what I saw – surveillance criminally subverting the constitution

"I differed as a whistleblower to Snowden only in this respect: in accordance with the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, I took my concerns up within the chain of command, to the very highest levels at the NSA, and then to Congress and the Department of Defense. I understand why Snowden has taken his course of action, because he's been following this for years: he's seen what's happened to other whistleblowers like me. By following protocol, you get flagged – just for raising issues. You're identified as someone they don't like, someone not to be trusted. In November 2007, I was raided by a dozen armed FBI agents." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThomas Drake: Snowden saw what I saw – surveillance criminally subverting the constitution

Calling All Patriots…

"It’s possible for the NSA, the FBI, and, eventually, the IRS to access innocent George’s chat room discussions, emails, phone calls, texts… and gather them all in government computers in a massive game of police state gotcha! And does anyone really believe that these 'security' programs will be used carefully by a government in which the IRS targets and persecutes politically conservative groups, where the Department of Justice targets journalists for surveillance, where FATCA destroys offshore investment rights or where the highest officials lie about what really happened at Benghazi?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalling All Patriots…

Man Arrested for Video Recording Military Exercise from City-Owned Parking Lot

"A man who was video recording a national guard training exercise from a city-owned parking lot in North Carolina was arrested over the weekend. The group of citizens who were in the parking lot video recording were speculating that the intent of the exercise was to to train the military to impose martial law on Americans. Whether that is true or not, they certainly weren’t dissuaded from that opinion when one of their friends was arrested because he apparently got too close while recording the helicopter in the air. The man appeared to have been confronted by two national guardsmen before a police officer walks up and arrests him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMan Arrested for Video Recording Military Exercise from City-Owned Parking Lot

Supreme Court Upholds Maryland Law, Says Police May Take DNA Samples From Arrestees

"As with other recent court decisions involving the Fourth Amendment’s 'right of the people to be secure in their persons, ­houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,' the justices split in an unusual fashion. In his dissent, Scalia wrote that the majority’s attempts to justify the use of DNA as an identification tool 'taxes the credulity of the credulous.' He added, 'Make no mistake about it: As an entirely predictable consequence of today’s decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national DNA database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSupreme Court Upholds Maryland Law, Says Police May Take DNA Samples From Arrestees

Der Spiegel Laments The Rapid Spread of Printable Pistols

"A student from Texas has invented a plastic pistol that anyone can make with a 3-D printer. It is undetectable by metal detectors and capable of killing. And it is spreading unchecked across the continents. A few days after Cody Wilson's invention had been created, the United States Department of Homeland Security issued a warning to the rest of the world. The officials, responsible for fending off terrorist attacks, wrote three pages about the dangers of a weapon against which they are powerless. They wrote that public safety is threatened. They also wrote that, unfortunately, it is impossible to prevent this weapon from being made." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDer Spiegel Laments The Rapid Spread of Printable Pistols

Putin Lectures Obama on the Need for Greater Privacy

"So here is a former KGB official saying that America has gone too far in spying on its people. Worse, he’s correct. He said that Snowden’s revelations have revealed nothing new. He is correct. James Bamford has repeatedly revealed how far the NSA has gone. But the American public did not know. Snowden has gotten media attention for spilling beans that have long been out of the bag. Americans need a good scandal to catch their attention. Snowden is the source of the scandal. Bamford should have been, but he wasn’t. He was ignored. But the cloak-and-dagger story of Snowden in Hong Kong is irresistible. And now we get Vladimir Putin, defender of civil rights." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPutin Lectures Obama on the Need for Greater Privacy

Rep. Peter King: Punish journalists who report classified information

"Representative Peter King (R-NY) on Tuesday night said that journalists who revealed secret government programs should face criminal charges. In response to WikiLeaks, King proposed legislation in 2010 that would have made publishing classified information “concerning the identity of a classified source or informant of an element of the intelligence community” an act of espionage. 'These organizations are a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States,' King explained at the time. 'Julian Assange and his compatriots are enemies of the US and should be prosecuted under the Espionage Act.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRep. Peter King: Punish journalists who report classified information

Sen. Lindsey Graham: I would support censoring mail if it was ‘necessary’

"Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters on Tuesday that he approved of censoring snail mail if it was necessary to protect innocent lives. 'If I thought censoring the mail was necessary, I would suggest it, but I don’t think it is,' he said, according to Yahoo News. The remarks came as Graham was answering questions about the National Security Agency’s surveillance program, which has indiscriminately amassed Americans’ phone records. The Republican senator explained that censoring the mail had a precedent in American history. Though the First Amendment was 'sacrosanct,' it also 'has limits,' Graham said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSen. Lindsey Graham: I would support censoring mail if it was ‘necessary’

Guardian Reporter Glenn Greenwald: We Have List of NSA Targets

"Glenn Greenwald, the reporter at The Guardian who broke the story about NSA surveillance programs, discusses the information received from whistleblower Edward Snowden, saying the federal government is now trying to 'scare the American people' to justify its 'massive spying program.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGuardian Reporter Glenn Greenwald: We Have List of NSA Targets

ACLU challenges constitutionality of NSA phone surveillance program

"The American Civil Liberties Union sued senior U.S. government officials on Tuesday to challenge the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s telephone surveillance program, saying it violates rights to free speech and privacy. The suit asked the court to immediately halt the NSA’s vast tracking program of telephone calls, declare the program illegal, and order the U.S. government to purge all databases of the call records. The ACLU suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York named James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, and the leaders of the NSA, the Defense Department, the Justice Department and the FBI." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingACLU challenges constitutionality of NSA phone surveillance program