Snowden, in exchanges with Post reporter, made clear he knew risks

"'We managed to survive greater threats in our history . . . than a few disorganized terrorist groups and rogue states without resorting to these sorts of programs. It is not that I do not value intelligence, but that I oppose . . . omniscient, automatic, mass surveillance. . . . That seems to me a greater threat to the institutions of free society than missed intelligence reports, and unworthy of the costs. Analysts (and government in general) aren’t bad guys, and they don’t want to think of themselves as such,' he replied. But he said they labored under a false premise that 'if a surveillance program produces information of value, it legitimizes it.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingSnowden, in exchanges with Post reporter, made clear he knew risks

Rep. Peter King calls for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to be extradited from Hong Kong

"Peter King, the chairman of the House homeland security subcommittee, called for Snowden’s extradition from Hong Kong. Snowden flew there 10 days ago to disclose top-secret documents and to give interviews to the Guardian. 'If Edward Snowden did in fact leak the NSA data as he claims, the United States government must prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law and begin extradition proceedings at the earliest date,' King, a New York Republican, said in a written statement. 'The United States must make it clear that no country should be granting this individual asylum. This is a matter of extraordinary consequence to American intelligence.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingRep. Peter King calls for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to be extradited from Hong Kong

Ohio: Mother-Daughter Speed Trap Team Face The Judge

"Between July 2007 and February 2010, Covert and Jarvis used their positions in charge of handling cash, making bank deposits for the village and maintaining traffic court records, to skim $260,000 in revenue collected from drivers into their own pockets. The village, population 742, is a notorious speed trap, as documented by the National Speed Trap Exchange. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph T. Deters concluded Arlington Heights should not even exist. 'The village council needs to seriously consider dissolving the village of Arlington Heights,' Deters said in a statement. 'The village seems to be nothing more than a speed trap with no checks and balances.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingOhio: Mother-Daughter Speed Trap Team Face The Judge

Rand Paul: Sue The Surveillance State

"U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is now looking to sue the federal government over its policy of massive data collection on American citizens, including the logging of phone calls and Internet activities. 'I’m going to be seeing if I can challenge this at the Supreme Court level. I’m going to be asking the Internet providers and all of the phone companies: Ask your customers to join me in a class-action lawsuit,' Paul said on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'If we get 10 million Americans saying, ‘We don’t want our phone records looked at’ then maybe someone will wake up and things will change in Washington.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingRand Paul: Sue The Surveillance State

Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower Behind The NSA Surveillance Revelations

"The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. 'I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,' he said. Snowden will go down in history as one of America’s most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning." Continue reading

Continue ReadingEdward Snowden: The Whistleblower Behind The NSA Surveillance Revelations

Cops Use YOUR Children As Props For Homeland Security “School Shooter Drills”

"Hundreds of emergency responders, students and school officials in Eatonville participated in an active shooter drill coordinated by Pierce County Emergency Management and hosted by the Eatonville School District that took over two schools and several blocks in the Mount Rainier foothills community. Sixth-grader Brooklyn Welch, 12, was the first victim in one of two simulated shooting scenarios. She waited on the floor of the school’s front office for about 40 minutes with a fake gunshot wound to the shoulder, before being carried out by a SWAT team officer in full gear." Continue reading

Continue ReadingCops Use YOUR Children As Props For Homeland Security “School Shooter Drills”

U.S. Collects Vast Data Trove, Including Credit Card Transactions

"The National Security Agency's monitoring of Americans includes customer records from the three major phone networks as well as emails and Web searches, and the agency also has cataloged credit-card transactions, said people familiar with the agency's activities.The Obama administration says its review of complete phone records of U.S. citizens is a 'necessary tool' in protecting the nation from terror threats. The NSA's efforts have become institutionalized under laws passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Most members of Congress defended them Thursday as a way to root out terrorism, but civil-liberties groups decried the program." Continue reading

Continue ReadingU.S. Collects Vast Data Trove, Including Credit Card Transactions

Justin Raimondo: Police-State ‘Progressivism’

"Verizon and other carriers are forbidden by law from revealing the court order. A secret court, such as the FISA court – under which this order was issued – isn’t really a court in the Western sense: it is a star chamber affair, a formality that rubber-stamps whatever our rulers desire at the moment. In what sense is the United States a 'free' country, let alone the leader of the 'Free World'? Sure, we have elections: so does Iran. Yes, we have a 'free' press, but what happens when sources are afraid of talking to reporters? With a massive database that may even be tracking our location, America’s political class is making itself invulnerable to any challenge." Continue reading

Continue ReadingJustin Raimondo: Police-State ‘Progressivism’

Grand Jury Rejects Indictment of Teen Arrested for Rap Lyrics

"A grand jury has declined to indict an aspiring Massachusetts rapper whom police had accused of making 'terroristic threats,' according to the Essex County District Attorney's office. Cameron D'Ambrosio, 18, was arrested in Methuen, Massachussetts on May 2nd after posting a rap verse on his Facebook wall. The high school student has been held in jail since then without bail. Prosecutors sought to charge D'Ambrosio with threats to make a bomb or hijack a vehicle, carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison." Continue reading

Continue ReadingGrand Jury Rejects Indictment of Teen Arrested for Rap Lyrics