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Supreme Court Standoff Next? ACLU Sues Obama Over Constitutionality Of NSA Surveillance
If the constitutional scholar was hoping he would quietly avoid a major showdown over the constitutionality of the biggest spying scandal since Nixon (whether legal or not remains to be determined) and which would likely have led to an early POTUS retirement if current president was republican, the ACLU just slammed the door shut on the possibility. Moments ago, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration over its "dragnet" collection of logs of domestic phone calls, contending that the once-secret program is illegal and asking a judge to both stop it and order the records purged. And, as the NYT reports, "the lawsuit, filed in New York, could set up an eventual Supreme Court test." Only once that happens it will be too bad that InTrade is no longer available, to take the other side of a trade that believes the SCOTUS will for once do the right thing and preserve the constitution when everyone knows the decision to formally enact a Big Brother state will pass along political party lines and America will officially become the country that for 5 decades, at least superficially, it was waging "cold war" against.
The program began as part of the Bush administration’s post-9/11 programs of surveillance without warrants, and, it is now known, it has continued since 2006 with the blessing of a national security court, which has ruled in still-secret legal opinions that such bulk surveillance was authorized by a section of the Patriot Act that allows the F.B.I. to obtain “business records” if they are relevant to a counterterrorism investigation.
Congress never openly voted to authorize the N.S.A. to collect logs of hundreds of millions of domestic phone calls, but the administration notes that some lawmakers were briefed on the program. Some members of Congress have backed it as a useful counterterrorism tool, while others have denounced it.
“The administration claims authority to sift through details of our private lives because the Patriot Act says that it can,” Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Sunday. “I disagree. I authored the Patriot Act, and this is an abuse of that law.”
Over the weekend, in hope of preventing a backlash, James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, also disclosed details about privacy protections built into the program. Among them, officials may access the database only if they can meet a legal justification — “reasonable suspicion, based on specific facts, that the particular basis for the query is associated with a foreign terrorist organization.” To deter abuse, queries are audited under the oversight of judges on a national security court.
Timothy Edgar, who recently left the government after serving as a privacy and civil liberties official on intelligence matters in both the Bush and Obama administrations and who worked on building safeguards into the phone log program, said the notion underlying the limits was that people’s privacy is not invaded by having their records collected and stored in government computers, but only when a human extracts and examines them.
“When you have important reasons why that collection needs to take place on a scale that is much larger than case-by-case or individual obtaining of records, then one of the ways you try to deal with the privacy issue is you think carefully about having a set of safeguards that basically say ‘O.K., yes, this has major privacy implications, but what can we do on the back end to address those?'” he said.
Still, even with such restrictions, privacy advocates say the mere existence of the database will inevitably erode the sense of living in a free society: from now on, whenever Americans pick up a phone, before dialing they now face the consideration of whether they want the record of that call to go into the government’s permanent files.
Living in a what society?
Supporters of the program privately say the database’s existence is about more than convenience and speed. They say it can also help in searching for networks of terrorists who may be taking steps to shield their communications with one another, for instance by using different phone lines; if calls are going to and from a different number at the same address or cellphone towers as the number that is known to be suspicious, for example, having the comprehensive database may be helpful in a way that subpoenas for specific numbers cannot match.
It remains unclear, however, whether there have been any real-world instances in which a terrorist network that tried to evade detection was identified in that way, and so the existence of the database prevented an attack that otherwise would have occurred, or whether that advantage is to date only theoretical. A 1979 ruling over a small-scale collection of calling “metadata,” Smith v. Maryland, held that such records were not protected by the Fourth Amendment since people have revealed such information to phone companies and so have no reasonable expectation of privacy. However, in a 2012 case involving GPS trackers placed by the police on cars, the Supreme Court suggested that the automated collection of people’s public movements may raise Fourth Amendment privacy issues in a way that nonbulk surveillance does not.
A 1979 ruling over a small-scale collection of calling “metadata,” Smith v. Maryland, held that such records were not protected by the Fourth Amendment since people have revealed such information to phone companies and so have no reasonable expectation of privacy. However, in a 2012 case involving GPS trackers placed by the police on cars, the Supreme Court suggested that the automated collection of people’s public movements may raise Fourth Amendment privacy issues in a way that nonbulk surveillance does not.
Can we just cut to the chase and take this straight to a Supreme Court showdown so that just like in the case of Obamacare, it can be voted through along political party lines, and the final schism of an already broken society, where one half no longer demands any right can be put in the books.
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Meet Tracy, Warren Buffett's 28 year old "financial assistant" and since starting with Warren some four years ago she now is Chair of a number of Berkshire companies
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=1&c...
I have a sickening feeling that the supreme court will back Obummer.
It's over America
"Over? Was it over when the Germans attacked Pearl Harbor?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8lT1o0sDwI
Impeach Obullshit!
They should definitely impeach this traitor.
I wonder if the "people" will learn how long this has actually been put in place. After all, we know that it's been going on long before the (above ground) revealing of the new data center in Utah... A decade at least! Maybe two!
Most likely scenario, a major nuclear false flag operation will be launched in order to galvanize the sheeple's support for their "fearless leader" in yet another war.
This whole thing will be buried and anyone who dares to bring the subject up again will be sent to a human-incinerator equiped FEMA camp.
You want to leave this critical issue up to those fossils?
comes down to an expectation of privacy. house? yes. trunk of car? yes. unattached storage shed? no. back yard? no front seat of car? no. land line? yes. us mail? yes. facebook? cellphones? i'm guessing no. especially with this group of black robed sociopaths
Sociopaths? That's putting it mildly. Meglomanics is more like it. See below:
The source of the problem is the commonwealth (London Crown/Interbanking System).
The commonwealth, including Cypress, controls every offshore banking country.
All money and property is being funneled to the Isle of Mann, in a giant computer called the CUBE (Think Saturn (Satan)), and the Queen of England is called the Lord Of Man for a reason.
She is the head freemason, or ‘the see’ which is what the Eye represents. England has been meddling with America’s finances since the revolution since they couldn’t beat us with weapons.
The Crown (the Queen now, but soon to be Prince William) is the top of the pyramid, and the Queen heads the committee of 300, who controls the CFR, who implements the Basel system.
Let’s not forget we have fought two wars with England. Not the people of England, but against the Crown. With the aid of the banks who operated under maritime law, which the Queen controls, have sucked up deed, resources, and financial control the the manipulated LIBOR (London Interbank System), which controls the $800 trillion derivatives market.
It’s in essence, a corporate takeover, to bring the US into the commonwealth, and shred the constitution. The commonwealth already has 1/3 of earth population under, and is the new British Empire (NWO). Masons all pledge allegiance to the Crown, which is why George Washington was considered the worst military commander in history, because he secretly worked for the Crown through the House of Burgesses.
art III section 3
"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason
doesn't define "war", although the war declared on enemy combatants who are citizens of the us maybe is sort of declaring war on the states themselves
if both congress and the executive have, via ndaa, declared war on the united states, who will prosecute them?
.... no reasonable expectation of privacy.
and there you have it
Stepping back from the recent spate of misconduct by numerous branches of .Gov and taking a hard look at the macro picture, the takedown of prominent (and endorsed) leading figures appears to have really pissed someone (or many) off.
I think if we go back to persons of interest that were removed from positions due to improprieties or imprudence, thus actions resulting from intercepts of their public or private communications, a pattern may emerge that suggests there is indeed a power struggle at the highest levels, which puts the N.S.A. in the middle of the debacle.
The real question then becomes "who's protected", thus having their personal dirt redacted, or whether this information still exists on the servers at an enhanced security level. Who then may ultimately access this info at a later date and use it to politicize decision making processes, or incriminate those that may sway popular opinion?
This rabbit hole goes deep.
Was not Obamhitler?
It's a strange feeling to be on the same side of an issue as the ACLU. Most certainly an apocolypse is coming.
Does anyone else see an unfinished pyramid in the Prism logo, or is it just me?
Have you seen the original logo?: http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/d/d1/IAO-logo.png
Well I definitely see it there! But I was referring to what's in the refractions in the Prism logo's prism.
http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/prism1.jpg
If Occupy, Tea party, ACLU and the rest of the patriot groups can agree on this....... think of the possiblities. Could we not end the dominaiton by the republicrats, demicians and those who have bought them. Ron Paul would be proud especially since his son called for the lawsuit 2 days ago. ACLU is a bit late but much welcomed.
http://www.dailypaul.com/288281/rand-paul-calls-for-class-action-lawsuit-to-end-government-snooping
ACLU a bit late? They've been on this since the patriot act inception.
http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/government-confirms-it-has-se...
03/16/2012
The government has just officially confirmed what we've long suspected: there are secret Justice Department opinions about the Patriot Act's Section 215, which allows the government to get secret orders from a special surveillance court (the FISA Court) requiring Internet service providers and other companies to turn over "any tangible things." Just exactly what the government thinks that phrase means remains to be seen, but there are indications that their take on it is very broad.
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/surveillance-under-patriot-act
http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/aclu-sues-government-find-out...
10/26/2011
FL_C : my thoughts exactly!
False flag lawsuit? If they do it just right, they can get a judgement against them that will doom any future suits by any real plaintiffs with legitimate concerns about the 4th amendment trampling by this administration. But what do I know? I can't even work the phone on my desk.
NSA spies on Americans to dig up dirt on them and they forget to dig up dirt on the congress critters and SCOTUS? Not very likely don't you think? If they are up to no good rest assured they own enough justices to get a favorable ruling.
ACL-who?
and which would likely have led to an early POTUS retirement if current president was republican
FFS why does this need to be made into a partisan issue, not enough clicks these days Tyler?
If there was ever an issue with real bipartisan support in Washington it's totalitarianism.
There are many Tylers. Apparently they can each say whatever they want.
One of these days only one will be left, and we'll see then what that means.
Yeah, it just pisses me off when legitimate issues are so easily spun off into partisan nonsense - a win-win for media companies and politicians though.
Just so, Cougar,
and as the comedian Red Green so wonderfully put it,
you get what you pay for.
James_Cole:
How about because it's the truth, and it shows that the corruption is endemic?
Reality check for you: If this were a GOP president, the Democrat Senate would be hanging him or her out to dry by now. The vote for conviction would be a foregone conclusion.
And with people like the Democrat mole Boehner in the House, they’d get their articles passed to indict.
But instead it is a Black Democrat president.
That means the first thing we will hear if they try to impeach him is that it's racist. Every Black Racist in America, starting with Holder, Jackson, Wright, Farrakhan, and the Rev. Al will be cranking up the money machine that they've used for decades to accuse everyone - Black or White - who supports putting Obama in prison, is only doing it for racist motivations.
It really is a sick irony that the Black Racists are allowed to get away with calling others racist . . .
And in case you've missed the quotes in the story, there are plenty of supporters for what is happening. The most sickening is Boehner, who is now officially an Obama apologist on this issue. What in the Hell is he doing in the GOP leadership - or even the party for that matter?
I'd love to know what the fascist pigs have on him anyway. Gay? Drugs? Cheating on his wife? Porn? Taxes? Payoffs? A 16-year old intern that he cuddles with?
(The age of consent is 16 in DC; gee, what a coincidence - Congress made the Age of Consent exactly the same as the age which you must be to be page in the House or Senate. That's how Barney Frank stayed out of jail when he took his page lover to bed . . . and to Germany where the page professed his love for Barney. If that had been a GOP congress member, all Hell would have broken loose. But it wasn't so the gay lobby applauded Barney and the page for being "out of the closet." In forty three other states, he would have been in prison for 20 years, and a registered sex offender for life.)
So no, there is not a bi-partisan consensus against this.
Never forget that Germans died for Hitler all the way until the Russians took Berlin, house by house.
I have no trouble seeing the Obamabots and his corporatist supporters holding out until their blood runs without mercy in the streets.
-30-
Right Mars, I totally forgot how effectively the Dems impeached Bush when he first passed the "patriot" act and then even more effectively impeached him the second time (reauthorization) during which he declared himself above congressional oversight (a move a dictator in a third world country would've been mocked mercilously for by freedom lovin' Americans):
"The executive branch shall construe the provisions of H.R. 3199 that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch, such as sections 106A and 119, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties"
Yeah it is amazing that those on the "Red Team" forget how much the whole "you either for us or against us" for the entire reign of Shrub & Co. and accused anyone on the perceived "left" and libertarians of treason for not cheering for the war du jour loudly enough. This should convince anyone with a functioning brain of the absudity of the current partisan divide - opposition only when "our guys" are not in charge.
And the Sensenbrenner quote brings the absurdity to a whole new level. Right, asshole, you were one of the authors of this hideous piece of shit called the Patriot Act and "it was not what we intended". Read: it was only intended to be used by people like him. Wow. Just Wow.
"The billionaire gradually tacked on additional responsibilities..."
~~~
Well ~ The Quickster isn't really all that hot... But I'd take the Quickster over this one...
I have not bothered to watch CNBC in a long time. Did she get her teeth fixed?
I haven't watched in so long that I don't even know if she's still on the show or not... Last time I watched, Erin Burnett was still there...
Yeah, but I bet she has some hidden skills that only Warren knows about...
Germans? I thougt it was the Russians.
Russians? I thought it was the Indians!
Forget it, he's rolling!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7vtWB4owdE
At that point, it will just have begun.
I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the President..." - snowden
better start drinking the Pepto Bismol
Yep, what are the future releases going to cover. The Presidents very own emails talking about the IRS scandel, bengazi etc..... one can only imagine what snowden has compiled. I am sure there is much to have an upset stomach over.
Time to revert back to the tried and true traditional telephones:
http://charlespaolino.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/tin-can-1.jpg
I'm afraid that putrid taste in the back of your throat is the lunch special: Captured Supreme Shilled Sausage
@true brain: "I have a sickening feeling that..."
... history may repeat itself or rhyme. Given all the noise & churn going on. Isn't O a huge fan of Lincoln?
Of course, if you're a believer in Revelation... the Beast will be wounded but will survive with a mark on his head so that all marvel, and take on amazing power. Inasmuch as some (Rahm Emmanuel) say "Never let a crisis go to waste", I say unto thee:
"For ruthless rulers, there are few things more useful than (a) Organized Religion and (b) Self-Fulling 'Prophecies' (forecasts)".
Kirk:
Actually, Obama was quoted as saying that he will be remembered in history as more important than Lincoln.
-30-
Well of course. All things being equal I will be the end of history; thats where it ends. Milestones
I would say the libtards at the ACLU are going to throw up a case full of holes on purpose. Now its decided and the law of the land. See how easy that was?
Vomit United etched that play in stone.
You should be asking why have courts at all when the rule of law is a secret or dead (the other secret).
Of course the Supreme Court will back the regime. I'm pretty sure they weren't immune from having all their communications intercepted and logged, and I'd wager those communications are of particular interest to one party in this case.
Didn't Snowden say that he could spy on federal judges at will?
#7 "Any analyst at any time can target anyone. Any selector, anywhere... I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the President..."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-11/27-edward-snowden-quotes-about-us-government-spying-should-send-chill-your-spine
I have a sickening feeling the ACLU (long known as a communist front organ used to break down America's moral code) will lawyer this up to the Supremes and then basically throw the game so the Supremes must find for the Government thereby justifying the whole thing.
The other thing that stands out to me is that it is actually possibly that this sort of data trapping may really be necessary. Why? Is it so hard to believe that our telcom and internet data systems have been so comprimised by the Chinese (and whoever else) that we can no longer rely on their archived data/logs to be accurate?
What I mean is: Suppose a Chinese spy at Los Alamos downloads top secret nuke data from the lab, emails it to his handler back in China, and calls to confirm it was recieved. On the backend Chinese hackers delete the email transaction from the email servers and then also from the telecom's phone records. Later when the NSA goes to request those records there is nothing to see. By capturing data before investigative requests, almost live data captures, they are preventing external influences from corrupting the data.
Either way, it is sad commentary on the state of our security affairs.
Research? Does she ... groom? Know what I mean? (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)
MR Buffet, to you.
Bunga Bunga. I'd lke her to run around with me whilst we tenderly discuss very personal business. Bunga Bunga.
"Ms. Britt, now 28 years old and more than five decades younger than her boss, occupies a role unlike any other within Berkshire"
I'll bet.
Ms. Britt "takes care of all kinds of things that come up," Mr. Buffett told college students in Omaha last month.
Sure she does.
Becky will quickly be disappointed.
You know you're a tyrannical guberment when the ACLU sues you.
I guess Obama will be the defense lawyer?
if the president being black didn't stop them from suing you know that he must be a really serious asshole
Time to call them choomgang buddies....damn, forgot they got themselves arkansized.
AH...the once gleaming armor of The One is now pitted and quite tarnished. Plus I think there's some BBQ rib sauce stains too...some kind of schmutz on it anyway.
Maria "buy on the dip mentality" Bartiromo just informed me that 56% of Americans are cool with the government spying on them. Propaganda anyone? The BlowHorn [CNBC] is serving it up in buckets full these days.
Thank you, Ben Bernanke, for funding the creation of this absolute wasteland you have made for us.
SURE, a poll declares we LIKE the Stasi govt spying and stuff! Hey...as long as that 56% keeps getting their welfare check and free housing and food I guess anything goes.
Watch out for that other 44% who are quite pissed off though, some like M. Fartaroma may find their head on a spike one of these days.
I was gonna say...
A PROUD 44 Percenter. WB7 needs to make us a battle flag.
Too bad we don't have some founding legal document somewhere that declares that there are limits on the government's power to infringe on inherent, inalienable, human rights. . .
It can declare anything it damn well pleases. Plenty of maps declare the world to be flat, and plenty of books declare fiat currency to be money. It means nothing, in reality.
Well, yes and no. Governments rule by the assent of the governed. The last thing these clowns want to do is wake up a significant portion of this sleeping giant by clearly overstepping their mandate.
This is all about profit and power, and maintaining a gloss of legitimacy is critical. A totalitarian state will never be as profitable as one where the workers willingly bust their asses for their masters in the name of self-gain.
43%. The other 1% is all for it...you must be kept in your place, peon
60 percent of the time, it works every time?
Who believes her these days? Tokyo Bartiromo is fading.
Who? The rest of the traitors who live in the NY, NY area. The programing is tailored for them...by them. Bartiromo just reads from the teleprompter.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” - Joseph Goebbels
"If you tell a lie often enough eventually it will become the truth." Lenin
The O'bama administration has obviously stepped on somebodys dick, and it wasn't Maria's.
Food for thought that this goes much higher.
What was it that francis_sawyer was saying that when it gets to the point of cheesepope vs. cheesepope, all hilarity ensues?
@francis
Am thinking this also.
@francis
Hear me out.
Thinking that the Cheesepopes wanted their gold back, and the administration stiffed them.
"The Administration" doesn't', or has never had the power to do anything... Look ~ any fool only has to know that the 'Sword of Damocles' [of Obama not being a natural born citizen] was a card that could have been played at any moment because it WAS, IN FACT, the Ace that was used in the first place... Every Presidency has a trump card held over it...
~~~
No ~ My [cheesepope vs. cheesepope] theory, as it pertains to this, is that the 'archangels' have been in a catfight since Bilderberg 2012... Half the cheesepopes wanted Obama [to be errand boy] & half the cheesepopes wanted Romney to be errand boy [for different interpretations on how things should play out & how the pie should be divided]...
Which is WHY I say... When it comes down to cheesepope vs. cheesepope, all hilarity ensues... The fuckers can't even figure out how to divide up the world because GREED runs in their DNA...
I thought francis_sawyer only posted anti-semitic conspiracy statements? What's this of cheesepopes?
It's summer... Time to talk about mixed league softball teams... That's where cheesepopes come into focus...
You mean MAria has a dick which rises to heights unknown?
not easy to walk on that...
Absolutely. It's coming unglued way too fast on too may fronts in too short a period of time.
These are no coincidences
And no this is not any "silly ass right wing conspiracy" either. T'would appear somebody wants some serious pounds of flesh and blood extracted ....
Makes Great Diversion from the Economic and Financial spheres, no?
(no more hints)
It could also be coming unglued because it wasn't all that well glued together in the first place. These people are hot on subterfuge but I'm not all that sure they have a good grip on reality.
Maybe about 15 years ago they stopped taking serious input on how to build a Fascist empire and the acme of corporatocracy, and instead started winging it. You know, making shit up as they went, thinking they held all the cards and couldn't lose. If that were the case then you would be seeing the kind of weird random crap we're now witnessing.
I really do hope they are fucked up. I really hope they drank their own Koolaid and had no Plan B on what to do if their shit came unwired in a big way. That's pretty much what happened to the Nazis at the end of WW2; they got ahead of themselves and eventually just fell over.
Maybe that is the ultimate end of totalitarian efforts; they trip over their own shoelaces.
Well the O admin now has a big "kick me" sign taped to their ass. Let's see if they can take some of what they've been dishing out.
You nailed it cougar...
~~~
THERE IS NO PLAN B... [But what they do have are a few smoke canisters which are handy if you're trying to make a run for the getaway vehicles]...
I have faith the Supreme Court will be wise.... and do what's right for the Government.
had to read that twice.
The 'Supreme Court'...
~~~
Yet another astoundingly impossible mathematical asymmetrical representation...
Quel suprise!
Sure, just like the coup d etat taking place in DEMOCRATIC GREECE at the moment. Coupled with Turkey, Hindenburg Omens and a 90% chance of market collapse this year, I say that the Supreme Court will side with side with the Constitution... [sarc]...
Correct. The Supremes will most certainly validate the oversight of the rubber-stamping FISA courts and the dolts on the Senate Intelligence Committee < both created to " prevent " a recurrence of J. Edgar's COINTELPRO abuses >.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2013/06/prism_j_edgar_hoover_would_have_loved_the_nsa_s_surveillance_program_topic.html
My same thoughts, and then you'll have established case law at the Supreme Court level which will never be overturned. ACLU better midn their F'in Ps and Qs on this one. This is not a case you want to trip on your dick over. Too much at stake.
Of course, the cynic will say, no matter how well they argue, they're still going to find in favor of .gov rather than risk some type of Constitutional crisis which would make them have to work late.
The ACLU is gonna defend me? This is getting a little weird. So far I have heard of plenty of liberal-lefty orgs opposing this government spying. Are there any conservative/traditionalist groups? Where's Oath Keepers and the Tea Partiers on this?
Republiclowns scared of their own shadows these days...they're all worthless.
If they didn't know that Obama has the goods on all of them, they do now.
tea party??? really????
Tea Party against this? I would think this NSA overreach is Charles and Davids' wetdream come true. They certainly won't be against it.
they are all busy with IRS audits....
Same Tea Party members in the House who were came in after the '10 elections and who voted for a full reauthorization of the Patriot Act at a more than a 90% rate? I could give you another dozen examples of where these same 'freedom-loving' pukeshave voted overwhelmingly in favor of bills that have massive negative freedom infringements on the average US citizen.
Those that can think are with the ACLU on this.
"ACLU Sues Obama"
Delicious.
"ruled in still-secret legal opinions that such bulk surveillance was authorized by a section of the Patriot Act that allows the F.B.I. to obtain “business records” if they are relevant to a counterterrorism investigation."
Are the tweets of American tween's considered "business records" ?
In simple terms the NSA is storing every tweet, email, instigram, facebook message and whatever else every kid in America is doing online in perpuity. What a f'n waist of time and energy. So when a 12 yo kid tweets they have a new pair of shoes today, that message will be sitting in the NSA Utah data warehouse 50 years from now when the kid is 72 years old.
When I was a kid, the CIA and NSA were prohibited from spying on American Citizens. There was a firewall up around the CONUS and they had to stay the fuck out of the homeland. NSA was setup to break Jap codes in the Pacific theater during WW-2, not spy on our kids. Thanks W Bush and Cheney, never let a crisis go to waste.
Every kid in america needs to close their f'book accounts and throw their cell-phone in the trash and walk away. Renter's society, these kids are so screwed in every way imaginable, its not even close.
I am not sure exactly how old you are, but i thought I'd offer some food for thought on you regarding your last 2 thoughts.
In WWII whatever equivalent of the NSA was in existence was absolutely active in America. How else do you think the americans from Japan were rounded up and put into concentration camps? What did you thinkt he spy agencies were looking for under the guise of 'protecting us from the russians'? Terrorists are the boogey man that replaced the soviets, the actions and ideas of government have evolved with technology, but they are no doubt consistent thoughout at least the last century. Bush and Cheney were evil people, but with a possible exception of JFK, every single president has been on about the same level for the last 100 years.
95% of the kids in america are currently so indoctrinated that they will not pay attention until the darker parts of history are repeating themselves. At this point it should be painfully obvious that those in power had this planned long ago. A society that can't think for itself, that can't rationally and logically discuss ideas, that is comfortable being reliant on government, was the physcopaths that pull the strings of the politicians wet dream.
Filed in New York? Yea right. This is more bread and circus with a few kangaroos thrown in for good measure.
yeah, Martin's gonna have a conniption on this one.
I see him just shaking his head. The show must go on.
This is going to be rich.
"...the lawsuit, filed in New York, could set up an eventual Supreme Court test."
Who needs a Supreme Court test? If the ruling comes back that the government (or anyone) sucking up all our private communications and storing them is legal, do we just say "Oh" and go home? Read the 4th Amendment. Torture is not 'OK' just because they call it "enhanced interrogation". Read the 5th and 8th Amendments.
Fuckin' lawyers and politicians could obfuscate a hug from your mother.
If recent events are any indication, the SCOTUS could find that the NSA activities were not only illegal but in fact designed by the actual Dark Lord of Hell Lucifer and most people would still go "oh" and go home.
Nice, WB7, but shouldn't the door handle be out of reach?
"Your honor...........fuck you, its secretive, we arent divulging shit................ and you will just have to live with it"..............
and thats how it rolled......................
And this would be why I cover up my webcam when I browse porn.
Considering the Feds have already caught me with my pants down bout numerous times.
Peek a boo! One of the pixels on your monitor is a camera.
This was the worst thing ACLU could have done. It will result in a SCOTUS test which Obama will pass, and the precedent will be set making this LEGAL as opposed to debatable as it is now.
Every revolution needs a spark. Be positive, perhaps this could be it. Hell of a lot of precedent here and this will be even more full-frontal shitting on the constitution.
I was being sarcastic, guys. I'm all for ACLU doing this, but sadly I fear it may result in exactly what I said - SCOTUS confirming that the constitution on whole is a dead letter.
At least then no one will be able to deny that a state of open hostility toward the Constitution has been declared.
The tinder is wet, the matches have been stolen, someone is furiously rubbing two sticks together, no one brought a flintstone or firesteel, the guy who brought a lighter - it's empty.
We've had a shower of sparks for like 12 years and counting, and none of them has ignited anything.
But you're right, eventually this tinderbox will catch, and not long after, so too the powder kegs all around it.
In case you haven't figured it out yet the ACLU is controlled by the Oligarchs. I've got to hand it to them, they are crafty.
So is the fucking Supreme Court Ruprecht...
~~~
I haven't checked lately... But what person that sits on the SCOTUS, [at present], wasn't put there by the BUSH/CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA dynasty [which are a collection of project Oligarch]?...
Scalia... I think Reagan put Scalia in there... Maybe Kennedy, I have to check... In any case... "Poppy" had his hands all over the Reagan Presidency so the point is moot... Hinckley served his purpose...
No one gives a shit about ObaMao anymore, WHY do you think all these 'scandals' suddenly popped up anyway? His usefulness is expired, he flopped on disarming the public and the banksters are mad about that so here comes the tidal wave of scandals!
It's NOT like any of this shit is NEW, it's been talked about for YEARS so WHY do you think it's just sticking NOW?
The worm HAS turned.
next up.....the truth that he is not a 'natural' citizen.....
I think I had a SCROTUS test during my annual physical. She (my doctor) grabbed by nutsack, yanked and squeezed, asked if there was any pain or if I felt any lumps in it while I was rolling on the floor rolled in a tiny ball, screaming bloody murder while seeing a bazillion little white hot stars shooting in my head.
I'd find a new doctor.
Maybe he likes that. LOL! ;-)
SHE... 'SHE' was mentioned [fucking nobody bothers to read]... In which case this conversation is up for 'grabs' [no pun intended]...
Maybe this is what Warner slimeball Buffett gets from his assistant Ms. Britt. Evil old bastard.
Yaeee ! The example of Daniel Ellsberg and Edward Snowden lives on!
Never should we let the spirit of Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, friend of Jefferson, die. His ADN is so precious.
Its time to test the whole cabal, Admin and dumb patsy Supreme court, and put all their backs to the wall.
Impeach the Manchurian candidate
John McCain?
+100
Obama and McCain are the same evil. Machurian twins. McCain is a military industrial complex war stooge and so is O. They both support killing innocent people in North Africa and the Middle East for no reason.
Carter and Reagan were far from perfect but they did not do this endless nation building endless war shit.
Carter & Reagan were tools who bumped forward the agenda of getting oligarchial oil contracts in crumbling Soviet Russia...
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The modern day chapter of this whole affair finds "Poppy Bush" fingerprints all over it from the Kennedy assasination, to the the failed attempt on Reagan, to the Clintons & Obama himself... But even "Poppy Bush" is an errand boy...
People gotta dig deeper...
Let's call the big dig "Intervento di Geppetto."
Carter didn't have to, he had Zbigniew do it for him. And Ronnie? Well, lucky for him, he was a decent actor.
Brzezinski was the guy behind, the guy, behind the guy in everything since Kennedy [which weaves into my "Poppy" story above]...
~~~
Hell ~ his RELATIVES are all tangled up in this 'Snowden' story... Quel surprise...
'Supreme court test' of what? 'Constitutionality' of spying on citizens? Where will the hearing be held...Easy Germany?
Stop being so negative, it's not spying, it's SPY'ing: collecting the data just in case. They promised nobody will peek.
This ordeal goes far and wide. There is a perceived threat to someone with ultimate power that they will eventually be caught up in the spiders web.
Methinks this is damage control. Either way, O'bama is a goner.
The Patriot ACT began under George Bush and has continued unabated to this day. I suggest every constitutional challenge to Obama's policies will likely suffer a similar fate as did the Healthcare ACT challenges. Presdient Obama is one of the very smartest people we have ever had in the Oval Office. Government is here to protect us...from ourselves too.
I don't see it as you do, this ObaMao character is just a good bullshitting puppet who has served out his usefulness.
A-fucking-men to that!
You don't get to the presidency of the USA by being smart. In fact, that's probably a hinderance.
Hey, they can 'rule' however they want I guess, but these days even once staunch ObaMao minions I know are eaither angry at him, or just don't want to talk about it anymore.
Make no mistake, it's not 2008 anymore at all.
Perhaps a Coup de Jour is in the works!!!
The ACLU just screwed up his golf game. You will probably see his handicap go up.
ObaMao is a shitty Erkel-lookin golfer anyway.
Handicap go up?
~~~
It's not what you shoot... It's what you write on your scorecard & sign for...
Meanwhile, in NZ, it has been revealed today that Palantir(!!), the Palo Alto based "software company" responsible for PRISM has an office in Wellington (our capital). All good though; our PM John Key (ex Merrills) tells us there is no connection but beyond that, no comment due to national security. Folks, this shit is EVERYWHERE. The all seeing eye of Sauron
Wait, you guys have an NSA listening center down there. Good to see your PM lies like the rest of them.
Oh boy... these guys are on a roll... VERY high opinion of themselves...
http://www.palantir.com/careers/OpenPosDetail?id=a0m80000003mUYHAA2
Shaping the future of intelligence TS clearance required .... makes these denials look lame http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/8791541/Drury-and-Norman-clas...