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Remember how Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to mass surveillance, and how the government promised to rein in spying on Americans?
Instead, Congress snuck a provision into the Intelligence Authorization Act which will ramp up spying on us normal, average, innocent Americans.
Congressman Justin Amash explains:
When I learned that the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2015 was being rushed to the floor for a vote—with little debate and only a voice vote expected (i.e., simply declared “passed” with almost nobody in the room)—I asked my legislative staff to quickly review the bill for unusual language. What they discovered is one of the most egregious sections of law I’ve encountered during my time as a representative:
It grants the executive branch virtually unlimited access to the communications of every American.
On Wednesday afternoon, I went to the House floor to demand a roll call vote on the bill so that everyone’s vote would have to be recorded. I also sent the letter below to every representative.
With more time to spread the word, we would have stopped this bill, which passed 325-100. Thanks to the 99 other representatives
—44 Republicans and 55 Democrats—who voted to protect our rights and uphold the Constitution. And thanks to my incredibly talented staff.
###
Block New Spying on U.S. Citizens: Vote “NO” on H.R. 4681
Dear Colleague:
The intelligence reauthorization
bill, which the House will vote on today, contains a troubling new provision that for the first time statutorily authorizes spying on U.S. citizens without legal process.
Last night, the Senate passed an amended version of the intelligence reauthorization
bill with a new Sec. 309—one the House never has considered. Sec. 309 authorizes “the acquisition, retention, and dissemination” of nonpublic communications, including those to and from U.S. persons. The section contemplates that those private communications of Americans, obtained without a court order, may be transferred to domestic law enforcement for criminal investigations.
To be clear, Sec. 309 provides the first statutory authority for the acquisition, retention, and dissemination of U.S. persons’ private communications obtained without legal process such as a court order or a subpoena. The administration currently may conduct such surveillance under a claim of executive authority, such as E.O. 12333. However, Congress never has approved of using executive authority in that way to capture and use Americans’ private telephone records, electronic communications,
or cloud data.
Supporters of Sec. 309 claim that the provision actually reins in the executive branch’s power to retain Americans’ private communications.
It is true that Sec. 309 includes exceedingly weak limits on the executive’s retention of Americans’ communications. With many exceptions, the provision requires the executive to dispose of Americans’ communications within five years of acquiring them—although, as HPSCI admits, the executive branch already follows procedures along these lines.
In exchange for the data retention requirements that the executive already follows, Sec. 309 provides a novel statutory basis for the executive branch’s capture and use of Americans’ private communications.
The Senate inserted the provision into the intelligence reauthorization bill late last night. That is no way for Congress to address the sensitive, private information of our constituents—es pecially when we are asked to expand our government’s surveillance powers.
I urge you to join me in voting “no” on H.R. 4681, the intelligence reauthorization
bill, when it comes before the House today.
Justin Amash
Member of Congress
The House subsequently passed H.R. 4681.
Top NSA officials previously said that we’ve got a “police state” … J. Edgar Hoover (or the Stasi) “on super steroids“.
Now what do we call it?
Details here: Please Sign Urgent Occupy the SEC Petition on Against Derivatives Deregulation
Background here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
MOAR Terrorism:
Cue the Darth Vader music ...
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Good man George, I heard about HR4681 today.
These fucking cockroaches are going to burn.
We are about to lose our home planet to these freaks. It just doesn't get any better from here on in. Honestly.
I hate these terrifying moments of clarity that cut through the sarcasm and gallows humour I normally rely on to get me through the day.
Fuck.
Trust is the opiate of the stupid. The common delusion of mankind is that their race, their country, their choices can be trusted. Lord Acton, a devout Catholic, wrote "Power corrupts-absolute power corrupts absolutely" about the Pope. If a devout Catholic cannot trust the Pope as a representative of God, how can anyone trust an American politician, judge or media hack?
The great error about total surveillance by the government is that if you obey their law, you're safe. No, you're not safe from government lies about you. True believers in government were falsely prosecuted by Stalin in his show trials. http://www.trotsky.net/trotsky_year/moscow_trials.html
The best protection is to never talk to government agents and have a legal system which prevents them from examining your papers and effects.
so what? what is anyone going to do about it. people have tried and are responsible for enlightening a lot of people. despite a biased audience, many peoople here have reported conversations talking about how fubared everything is in intelligent language, but no one is doing anything. a little protest here, a little protest there but no real action.
historically the youts are the initiaters of change. the milleniels, they aren't there. don't expect change. remember not to say anything when you can't breathe; that is the only way to prove you can't breathe.
I just love my lack of privacy. It's as American as apple pie.
But you know what? I don't give a fuck.
I'll bet in every State there is a law against "peeping Toms".
This is a State issue and the so-called Federal Government is out of its jurisdiction and can go FUCK ITSELF!
I am not nor have I ever been a citizen of the United States Corporation.
PS I'm pretty sure that the president of the corporation, his ag, and the "rev" are wearing out the mattresses in the Lincoln bedroom. Once in a while the first tranny and that Chicago boy get sloppy seconds.
Let's make it fair and put it on pay per view. All procedes could go to the national debt or the VA.
Not to gild the lilly, but since I'm so awesome...
You fucks work for me!
And all you need to step it up.
There isn't one branch of "government" that could deliver my pizza.
So fuck YOU!
Radical Marihuana. http://silverstealers.net/tss.html
500+ pages... read it on your smartphone when your on the shitter... anyway that is were those people belong in the shitter..
Bankers aren't loyal to any country, just themselves
"When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.”
Napoleon
J. Edgar by the Fountains. sort of a folk song from the 90's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLeG1RaaynE
RADICAL MARIJUANA.... Great post... ever heard of the Pilgrim Society?
The NSA has known the IP addresses of every ZH poster for years as well as the other frequented political and economic blogs. Cross referenced to create a higher, "Enemy of the State' ranking. Happy Holidays.
jb
True on the NSA IP logging/data mining plus every elected and appointed official's secret perversions for a bonus power boost.
We'll all end up in FEMA camp ovens if we don't fight it so we should continue to fight and "try" to educate enough sheeple to make a difference. That is our lot in life. My friend is beginning to bring a mutual friend over to our side one step at a time.
Anyway, have a nice day to the NSA drone who watches over my Internet usage. Oh, and go fuck yourselves to all of the Banksters.
I agree, CoastalCowboy!
To not be on them lists would be anti American as it gets.
Thanks, GIABO!
I am not sure which "Pilgrim Society" you may mean. In general, a lot of those who came to America wanted to escape from political repression ... While now the systems are so globalized that it is getting harder and harder to find anywhere left outside of the tyranny!
From the perspective of the international bankers, there are NO "innocent Americans." Rather, the American democratic republic, and its rule of law, they regard as things to be deliberately destroyed, which was fairly easy continue to do after those banksters were able to recapture control over the American public "money" supply. After America thereby became an oligarchical runaway fascist plutocracy juggernaut, that was designed to continue to steamroller over "normal, average, Americans."
THE INTERNATIONAL BANKERS NEED A FASCIST POLICE STATE IN AMERICAN, IN ORDER TO KEEP THEIR AGENDA GOING! AFTER THE FASCIST PLUTOCRACY WAS PUT IN PLACE, BY THE INTERNATIONAL BANKERS RECAPTURING CONTROL OVER THE PUBLIC "MONEY" SUPPLY, THERE HAD TO BE A FASCIST POLICE STATE BUILT, WHICH AUTOMATICALLY HAD TO GET WORSE, FASTER, BECAUSE THE BASIC SYSTEM WAS DEBT SLAVERY BACKED BY WARS BASED ON DECEITS!
Tragically, the banksters were too successful in leveraging up their ability to corrupt the government through applying the methods of organized crime to dominate the political processes. They were able to reinvest the profits from frauds in more frauds, including being able to fund their way to effectively control the mass media and public schools.
Moreover, it was too easy to brainwash the majority of Americans to continue to believe in old-fashioned religions and ideologies, so that those would continue to be the impossible ideals that the controlled opposition groups could promote as the bogus "solutions" to the problems, which therefore continued to backfire badly, and make the opposite continue to happen in the real world to what those impossible ideals were saying.
For generation after generation, Americans have been the victims of the best scientific brainwashing that money could buy. In general, all of the progress in science and technology was applied through the structure of the social pyramid systems based on backing up lies with violence, to become more sophisticated systems of legalized lies, backed by legalized violence.
The deeper problems are the degree to which the majority of Americans are mainstream morons, that continue to respect the bullshit promoted by their controlled opposition groups, based on the same old-fashioned religions and ideologies. The only possible genuinely better resolutions to these runaway problems would require intellectual scientific revolutions regarding how enough people could perceive those problems in radically different ways.
As long as the established systems continue to be that the government is the biggest form of organized crime, controlled by the best organized gangs of criminals, which appear to be resisted by controlled opposition groups, that continue to operate within the same frame of reference regarding those phenomena, and therefore, propose bogus "solutions" based on impossible ideals, then the problems will continue to automatically get worse, faster.
There have ALREADY been systems of debt slavery, backed by wars based on deceits made, which have driven the runaway debt insanities to provoke death insanities, and those are ALREADY automatically being pumped up by more advancing science and technology to become astronomically amplified systems of backing up lies with violence, which is the context inside of what the fascist plutocracy is building a fascist police state, where the original and continuing source of the "wealth" of the plutocrats was the ability to make the public "money" supply out of nothing as debts.
In my view, the deeper problems are that not only are the majority of Americans still mainstream morons, that believe in the banksters' bullshit, but also, the only significant opposition is controlled to promote impossible to realize "solutions" based on old-fashioned false fundamental dichotomies, communicated through "magic words" that are respected within the context of the various old-fashioned religions and ideologies, which continue to be the ways and means that those reactionary revolutionaries rely upon to propose their bogus "solutions" to these exponentially increasing problems of runaway debt slavery, backed by wars based on deceits.
The "normal, average, innocent Americans" are mostly Zombie Sheeple, while they are being misled by the Black Sheeple reactionary revolutionaries, who provide relatively good analysis of the real problems, only to always collapse back to bullshit "solutions," based on the same old-fashioned impossible ideals, because they continue to promote false fundamental dichotomies, as their presumed correct way to see the world.
Rather, what is required is profound paradigm shifts regarding how we perceive the facts that the government has become the biggest form of organized crime, controlled by the best organized gangs of criminals, which requires citizens to understand that they are actually members of an organized crime gang, while their government is basically a military organization.
The concepts of "liberty" or "privacy," etc., have to be radically transformed, inside of the context of understanding human beings as general energy systems, which radical transformations include understanding that the meaning of the concept of entropy was reversed, because everything was reversed when the biggest bullies were able to get away with promoting the social stories that there were fundamental dichotomies between them and others.
The series of articles by George Washington tend to be proving, over and over again, that the government of the USA has become a runaway criminal organization. However, his implied "solutions" for that situation continue to implicitly advocate the impossible ideals that should be stopped from being the case. On the contrary, I suggest that only an intellectual scientific revolution in the ways that we perceive that problem could lead to better dynamic equilibria between the different systems of organized lies operating robberies.
As long as the majority of Americans continue to have faith in the same old-fashioned false fundamental dichotomies, and related impossible ideals, then they will continue to fail to resolve their problems any better, since those impossible ideals will continue to actually make the opposite happen in the real world.
The fascist plutocracy has ALREADY driven its debt slavery numbers to become debt insanities, and that political system has ALREADY put in place its fascist police state to impose the kinds of death insanities which would be necessary to keep those debt insanities growing ... at least, according to theory of how social pyramid systems are supposed to continue to operate, although, that theory has become runaway criminal insanities, due to being pumped up and UP by technologies which are trillions of times more powerful than ever before.
America led the world in having the most extremely deceitful death controls, backing up the most fraudulent debt controls, that Neolithic styles of civilization ever achieved. Those established systems are preparing to continue to double down on those psychotic trends to the maximum possible degree. That continues to be possible because the majority have become Zombie Sheeple, while the only publicly significant opposition are Black Sheeple, whose suggested "solutions" continue to be based on impossible ideals, which continue to actually make the opposite happen.
truer words have rarely been spoken
From the perspective of the international bankers, there are NO "innocent Americans." Rather, the American democratic republic, and its rule of law, they regard as things to be deliberately destroyed, which was fairly easy continue to do after those banksters were able to recapture control over the American public "money" supply. After America thereby became an oligarchical runaway fascist plutocracy juggernaut, that was designed to continue to steamroller over "normal, average, Americans."
utterly fucking pathetic
Tortured and murdered by his own government... USA USA USA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Michael_Trentadue
Michael Trentadue
thanks - thats the guy
Speaking of torture.....we act like this is new. Who was that American guy tortured to death after the OKC bombing because they though he was John Doe #2 and his lawyer brother basically had to get every document available under FOIA to get to bottom of it?
SOSDD.
"Only a government that lives like cockroaches in the darkness would pass a law criminalizing the act of turning on the light." By Matt Agorist
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/illinois-felony-citizens-record-police-...
The cockroaches want to know where we are and what we're thinking at all times.
An American, not US subject.
"Roach Motels," anyone?--"Roaches check in, but they don't check out!"
Ah! It’s that time of year when people’s hearts are in good cheer; meanwhile, the fascist (merger of corporate monopoly with government) criminal rats make their move to solidify their totalitarian fascist Empire by taking advantage of the people’s good will: classic maneuver right out of the Fascist Terrorist handbook.
I wonder what “lame duck” Emperor Obama will decree as law on Christmas day or New Year day like he has done before to further the fascist Washington regime?
Why not declare war on Russia? Whoops! I do believe fascist controlled Congress just passed a resolution to do just that. Hardly any Americans know or have heard about the resolution because it was hushed-up by the media.
Unfortunately, it appears only bloodshed can cure the ills the country is facing. Sad.
I'm sure most of them know it's for their own protection.
I jus leave this here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnaN8W4356c
Just sitting there laughing at us all. Sick bastards.
Read more at: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/illinois-felony-citizens-record-police-...
The US government demands immunity for any misdeeds of its overseas "warriors",
so too will the Homeland "warriors" inevitably get the same status.
Obviously, "yes," since they already effectively do.
I thought the SCOTUS ruled cops can be filmed?
http://rt.com/usa/supreme-court-illinois-police-653/
I guess this hasn't stopped them in the past from doing whatever the fuck they want. Why would it now...
Spying, torturing, stealing, lying...what the hell has this country become???
"Everything the state says is a lie, and everthing it has it has stolen." — Frederich Nietzsche
Nothing more going on in this country, in other words, than the logical outcome of institutionalized immorality. Couple that with Geothe's equally penetrating dictum — "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free" — and you see how the state's ability to rationalize (propagandize) its immorality into perfectly normal behavior concretizes into the status quo.
Nothing lasting can be built on an immoral foundation, however, so down it all will come, the longer that the status quo is able to perpetuate itself.
Best get out of its way while you can: http://readynutrition.com/resources/52-weeks-to-preparedness-an-introduc...
"The Empire Strikes Back" - LOL, perfect.
we've got the best Congress money can buy
Money or blackmail.
Not quite-what is REALLY says should be more troubling-that there's only 100 of 435 reps that the tyrants haven't YET been ablle to NSA hard enough to get the goods on.