Category Archives: NSA

Strange Bedfellows: ACLU and NRA Sue US Government

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NRA backs ACLU spying lawsuit over gun registry fears

Published September 05, 2013

FoxNews.com

The National Rifle Association on Wednesday filed an amicus brief in federal court supporting an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging a government phone-tracking program that collects the telephone records of millions of Americans.

The brief argues that the National Security Agency’s phone records collection program could “allow identification of NRA members, supporters, potential members, and other persons with whom the NRA communicates, potentially chilling their willingness to communicate with the NRA.”

The ACLU’s lawsuit — which names as defendants the heads of national intelligence as well as the agencies they lead, including the National Security Agency, the FBI, the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice — argues the phone record collection program disclosed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is unconstitutional.

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Wag the Dog?

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Is this entire Syrian issue with Chemical Weapons a cover up?

Seriously, Obama, almost a year ago stated what “the red line” was.

A year later – well in August it turns out that chemical weapons were used.  And they were used BEFORE that apparently and we did nothing.  Now we MUST do something?

What happened to the 27 or 30 scandals?  Oh, yeah, they aren’t in the news suddenly are they?

Benghazi is being ignored by the media. Deaths of Navy Seals, ignored.  The IRS scandal, ignored.  The NSA spying, ignored.  Project Gun walker and Fast and Furious, completely forgotten now… Obama has lied time and again to the American public.  Kerry has lied, over and over.  Hillary Clinton lied.  The IRS Director lied.  Eric Holder lied.

Or is this something worse, a method by which the asshole-in-chief manages to bring us to the brink of a nuclear war with Russia just so he and Putin can make nice-nice on the sidelines and “fix” the whole world, bring “peace in our time” or make himself appear to be larger than life?

What if this is all a giant hoax perpetrated by Obama and his puppet masters?

What if…..

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Tom Coburn happy he doesn’t have to impeach Obama

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The Republican Senator, Tom Coburn said President Obama is moving “perilously close” to impeachment, Sen. Tom Coburn told a town hall crowd this week, two reports said Thursday.

However, he stated he is a “friend” to the President and further went on to say:

“That’s not something you take lightly, and you have to use a historical precedent of what that means,” he said. “I think there’s some intended violation of the law in this administration, but I also think there’s a ton of incompetence, of people who are making decisions.

“I believe [an impeachment charge] needs to be evaluated and determined, but thank goodness it doesn’t have to happen in the Senate until they’ve brought charges in the House,” Coburn said. “Those are serious things, but we’re in a serious time. I don’t have the legal background to know if that rises to high crimes and misdemeanor, but I think they’re getting perilously close.”

 

Really, Senator?  Thank “Goodness” you don’t have to “deal” with it?  Let someone ELSE “deal with it”?

Senator, you’re not a man, you’re a coward.  If you had the intestinal fortitude to follow through you’d be working with House members to arrange exactly what you’re talking about, IMPEACHMENT – and the eventual removal of this criminal from the Office of the President.

America has gone over the edge and you are sitting in the People’s building being HAPPY you don’t have to DO anything over Benghazi, over Ft. Hood Massacre (It was a bloody TERRORIST ATTACK).  We are going to let Obama NOT take the blame for NSA, the IRS, the DOJ (I’m not going to name all the scandals here, but suffice it to say they were ALL CRIMES!)

Get off your lazy ass and get going on removing this criminal from office before American burns.

Every, single tag and category attached to this blog post had a crime committed against America – from the President speaking out AGAINST Zimmerman and FOR gun control, to Benghazi, to the IRS (which is being ignored) to the NSA (also being ignored) to the “sequestration” and loss of food for wounded warriors at Walter Reed while Gays are being given free leave to go marry their partners in other states.

Give Americans a break, Senator and kick this bastard out of OUR HOUSE – before we do it.

 

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Impeach Obama!

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That’s all…  Just impeach the bastard.  Over Benghazi. Over IRS.  Over NSA.  Over all the scandals.  Over all the lies.  Impeach the man.

America needs to be repaired.

Watch: Marine Colonel Warns: “Homeland Security is Pre-Staging Gear and Equipment”

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Mac Slavo
August 15th, 2013
SHTFplan.com

We live in a seemingly free country, so we’re told. But that may be because the majority of us have never spent time in a war zone or highly secured police state-like environment.

Few of us understand what it looks like when military and state intelligence assets take over.

Those who do understand, and have themselves implemented such plans in other countries, see exactly what’s going on and they are sounding the alarm (often falling on deaf ears).

In Concord, New Hampshire the local police chief has filed a requisition with the Department of Homeland Security to beef up his police force with a Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck to quell any disturbances initiated by activists or other potential domestic terrorists. In response, the residents held a city council meeting, prompting a retired Marine Colonel to weigh in.

He was formerly a coordinator tasked with manning, training and equipping the Iraqi Army throughout the northern provinces, and he candidly shares his insights and compares the nationwide lock-down in Iraq to what’s happening right here at home.

This is coming from someone who knows – someone who has seen exactly how a population is put under control by means of surveillance and force – and he suggests that what they did in Iraq is child’s play compared to what’s happening in the Land of the Free today.

My job was to man, train and equip the Iraqi Army in Al Anbar, Najaf, Karbala and the northern provinces… We did everything we could to make it as strong as possible.

I’ll tell you right now, homeland security would kick their butts in a week.

What’s happening here is we’re building a domestic military, because it’s unlawful…unconstitutional to use American troops on American soil. So, what we’re doing is we’re building a military.

…

The way we do things in the military is called task organization. You take a command and then you attach units to it in order to accomplish the mission.

What’s happening is Homeland Security is pre-staging gear and equipment… what they’re trying to do is use standardized vehicles, standardized equipment. 

I saw a picture of the Marathon bombing and there were two officers – they both had identical helmets, flack jackets, weapons… everything I wore in Iraq.

Boston-Manhunt-0413-de(Pictured: Domestic Police Force sweeps the streets of Boston after Marathon Bombing)

What we’re doing here – let’s not kid about it – we’re building a domestic army and we’re shrinking the military because the government is afraid of its own citizens.

…

I don’t know where we’re going to use this many vehicles and this many troops.

I can’t believe people aren’t seeing it. Is everybody blind?

(Video via Activist Post / Daily Sheeple)
(Watch at Youtube)

While Americans go about their daily activities- sipping their $4 morning coffees, sharing their pictures on social media sites, talking about the latest draft prospects at the water cooler, and focusing their efforts on acquiring the latest and greatest mobile devices – a sinister government is hard at work behind the scenes to ensure complete access to every detail of our lives, as well as the heavy-handed means to control us should we step out of line.

America, according to Janet Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security and the various forms of  ”secret” legislation passed by Congress, is now a domestic war zone, so it only makes sense that local police forces, in an effort to sidestep the restrictions set forth by the U.S. Constitution, are being heavily militarized to fight the new threat.

As noted by one DHS Insider, “it has already begun – you’re seeing it now.”

You are the target and millions of government personnel have been tasked with making sure you don’t step out of line by using any means necessary.
Please Spread The Word And Share This Post

Original at: http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/watch-marine-colonel-warns-homeland-security-is-pre-staging-gear-and-equipment_08152013

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NSA broke privacy rules ‘thousands of times each year,’ report says

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(CNN) — The National Security Agency broke privacy rules “thousands of times each year” since 2008, The Washington Post reported, citing an internal audit and other documents.

NSA leaker Edward Snowden — whose ongoing leaks have riled the Obama administration and intelligence community — provided material to the newspaper earlier this summer.

The May 2012 audit found 2,776 incidents of “unauthorized collection, storage, access to or distribution of legally protected communications” in the preceding 12 months, the Post reported in its story Thursday.

“Most were unintended. Many involved failures of due diligence or violations of standard operating procedure,” said the Post article by reporter Barton Gellman. “The most serious incidents included a violation of a court order and unauthorized use of data about more than 3,000 Americans and green-card holders.”

The paper said most incidents involved unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the country.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/16/politics/nsa-privacy-rules/

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NSA Spying going a LONG way

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BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil demanded answers Tuesday from the U.S. about National Security Agency spying in the country and warned that trust between the two nations would be damaged if U.S. explanations about the program were not satisfactory.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who was visiting Brasilia, sought to allay Brazil’s concerns about the program, saying the U.S. would work to provide answers to Brazil and other Latin American nations rankled by the NSA surveillance revealed by systems analyst Edward Snowden.

“We’re now facing a new type of challenge in our bilateral relationship,” Brazil Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said at a news conference. “The challenge is related to news about the interception of Brazilian electronic and telephone communications. And if those challenges are not resolved in a satisfactory way, we run the risk of casting a shadow of distrust over our work.”

http://news.yahoo.com/brazil-demands-clarifications-nsa-surveillance-200545031.html

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Will a Military Coup fix America?

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I personally just don’t see a military coup in the United States as an option.  But is my view of the world the same as others’ beliefs?  Probably not.  When it comes right down to it, with my vast amount of time as a military man, from my point of view, I can’t say that absolutely, definitely a coup could or would take place.  The truth is, in MY time, no such thing could have or would have happened.  But other factors are in play here that I would never have considered myself – but others might.

The Spanish have a long and storied history for coups – in fact, Mexicans and most Previously-ruled-by-Spain Central and South American countries follow suit.  When the people get mad, they start a war.  Someone winds up on top in the end, usually the existing military and a strong leader (regardless of his moral and ethically leanings).  Most south and central American countries are what we consider “banana republics”.

Is America becoming a Banana Republic?

Let us look:

A Banana republic is a pejorative term for a country with a kleptocratic government, often with a primitive economy and sometimes a puppet state of a major power.

The more proper definition being: Banana republic is a political science term for a politically unstable country whose economy is largely dependent on the export of a single limited-resource product, such as bananas. It typically has stratified social classes, including a large, impoverished working class and a ruling plutocracy that comprises the elites of business, politics, and the military. This politico-economic oligarchy controls the primary-sector productions and thereby exploits the country’s economy. (Wikipedia)

kleptocracy: Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, (from Greek: κλέπτης – kleptēs, “thief” and κράτος – kratos, “power, rule”, hence “rule by thieves”) is a form of political and government corruption where the government exists to increase the personal wealth and political power of its officials and the ruling class at the expense of the wider population, often without pretense of honest service. This type of government corruption is often achieved by the embezzlement of state funds.

plutocracy: Rule by the wealthy. We’re technically not being ruled by the wealthy, but then again we are. Rich lawyers are elected thus rich lawyers are in charge of most of the government’s various sectors. Companies lobby for power in the government (and I have no trouble with open markets).

So this author’s guess is that  ARE a Banana Republic, or more accurately rapidly degenerating into a Banana Republic. We still have a Constitutional Republic and most of us KNOW this and MOST of us wouldn’t do anything against “the government” in the military. Whether some rogue officer would start something, I just don’t know – but I just can’t SEE it happening.

On the other hand…

1) Morals are in decline.
2) America is in decline.
3) Money is becoming worthless.
4) The economy is tanking.
5) Things are not worth what they once were.
6) People are in “gimme gimme” mode.
7) The President himself is working to divide people of this country.
8) The Left is fighting the Right on guns and every other thing you can imagine.
9) Detroit is the first major city to have fallen.
10) Other cities won’t be far behind.
11) Obamacare will destroy what’s left of the economy.
12) Oil and Coal are verboten.
13) Scandal after scandal has rocked DC and those are being called “phony”.
14) More people are on government help than are working now.
15) Political corruption
16) Government corruption
17) borders are uncontrolled, the “barbarian hordes” are coming through daily, by the thousands
18) the government coffers are being sucked dry by “entitlements” and the government keeps wanting more from the working people, the “rich” and corporations.

Rome fell for the many of the same reasons; moral decline, political corruption, “barbarian knowledge of Roman tactics” (think about that for a moment), a failing economy, unemployment of the working “class”, decline in ethics and values, natural disasters, barbarian invasion (Hmmmm…. border security?), military decay (not being trained right, and reduction in forces), and many other reasons.

So could a military coup take America back?  I can not answer that question but I can certainly suggest that this country is in a condition which will facilitate such a thing happening.  But will some military officer be able to gain enough power to lead enough American men, who are independent thinkers, into such a one way path?  I seriously doubt it will happen.  I don’t doubt the fall of America is upon us.

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Obama meets with tech execs on surveillance, privacy

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by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY 12:46 p.m. EDT August 9, 2013

WASHINGTON — President Obama hosted top executives from Apple, AT&T, Google and other tech and civil liberties groups at the White House on Thursday to discuss government surveillance, a White House official confirmed.

The meeting, which was first reported by Politico, was not on the president’s public schedule.

“The meeting was part of the ongoing dialogue the president has called for on how to respect privacy while protecting national security in a digital era,” said the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly on the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Thursday’s meeting, which included Apple CEO Tim Cook and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, followed another outreach effort earlier this week by White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler and White House chief of staff Denis McDonough. They met with a group of tech executives and civil liberty activists on Tuesday.

The president may have alluded to the meetings in his interview earlier this week with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show, when he noted that he was “talking to Congress and civil libertarians and others” about the issue.

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Silent Circles goes Silent

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In what appears to be a rash of attacks on email encryption, another company called Silent Circles has shut down (similar reason as the others today) and they have DESTROYED THEIR SERVERS!

To our Members:

  • Silent Circle has preemptively discontinued Silent Mail service to prevent spying.

    We designed our phone, video, and text services (Silent Phone, Text and Eyes) to be completely end-to-end secure with all cryptography done on the clients and our exposure to your data to be nil. The reasons are obvious — the less of your information we have, the better it is for you and for us.

    Silent Mail has thus always been something of a quandary for us. Email that uses standard Internet protocols cannot have the same security guarantees that real-time communications has. There are far too many leaks of information and metadata intrinsically in the email protocols themselves. Email as we know it with SMTP, POP3, and IMAP cannot be secure.

    And yet, many people wanted it. Silent Mail has similar security guarantees to other secure email systems, and with full disclosure, we thought it would be valuable.

    However, we have reconsidered this position. We’ve been thinking about this for some time, whether it was a good idea at all. Yesterday, another secure email provider, Lavabit, shut down their system less they “be complicit in crimes against the American people.” We see the writing on the wall, and we have decided that it is best for us to shut down Silent Mail. We have not received subpoenas, warrants, security letters, or anything else by any government, and this is why we are acting now.

    We’ve been debating this for weeks, and had changes planned starting next Monday. We’d considered phasing the service out, continuing service for existing customers, and a variety of other things up until today. It is always better to be safe than sorry, and with your safety we decided that in this case the worst decision is no decision.

    Silent Phone and Silent Text, along with their cousin Silent Eyes are end-to-end secure. We don’t have the encrypted data and we don’t collect metadata about your conversations. They’re continuing as they have been. We are still working on innovative ways to improve secure communications. Silent Mail was a good idea at the time, and that time has passed.

    We apologize for any inconvenience, and hope you understand that if we dithered, it could be more inconvenient.

https://silentcircle.com/

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Government unveils secret order to Verizon

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By and , Updated: Wednesday, July 31, 9:00 AM

The Obama administration on Wednesday made public a previously classified order that directed a company identified by U.S. officials as Verizon Communications to turn over a vast number of Americans’ phone records.

The formerly secret order was unveiled along with other documents by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. as top Obama administration officials were preparing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing on oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Read the documents

NSA

Secret FISA court order to Verizon

The Obama administration declassified government documents related to NSA collection of telephone metadata records on Wednesday.

Graphic

How the secret FISA court works

Click Here to View Full Graphic Story

How the secret FISA court works

A statement issued by Clapper’s office said he “has determined that the release of these documents is in the public interest.”

The primary court order sets forth the government’s privacy safeguards for the National Security Agency’s program to collect the bulk phone call detail records of millions of Americans. The order, signed by a judge from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, does not give a detailed explanation of the legal rationale for the program.

Rather, it is an apparent effort by the administration to allay privacy concerns raised by the leaking of a secondary court order by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that documented the NSA’s program to collect “all call detail records” of phone calls from U.S. phone companies for counterterrorism purposes.

According to the order released Wednesday, the court found that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the [records sought] are relevant to authorized investigations being conducted by the FBI . . . to protect against international terrorism.”

Although no company names appear on the heavily redacted court order, senior U.S. officials said it was issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to a subsidiary of Verizon in April. Officials described it as the formal order underlying the directive that was disclosed in June by Snowden, who is accused of leaking classified information about surveillance programs.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity before the order was released because they were not authorized to speak publicly, expressed hope that the document would shed light on how the U.S. government obtains communications records under FISA and the restrictions placed on surveillance programs.

The order from April covers the same length of time as the order previously disclosed by Snowden. Officials have said the Justice Department seeks renewal for the bulk-collection orders every 90 days.

The formerly “top secret” 17-page order, redacted to remove any information about the company providing the records or the target of the investigation, was originally scheduled to be declassified in April 2038. It demands “all call detail records or ‘telephony metadata’ created by [redacted].” A footnote specifies that “telephone metadata does not include the substantive content of any communication . . . or the name, address, or financial information of a subscriber or customer.”

The order notes that the NSA must “strictly adhere” to “minimization” procedures to protect the privacy of U.S. persons, for example, by allowing only authorized personnel to have access to the data.

 

Read the other pages here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/governments-secret-order-to-verizon-to-be-unveiled-at-senate-hearing/2013/07/31/233fdd3a-f9cf-11e2-a369-d1954abcb7e3_story.html

House rejects effort to cut off NSA surveillance program

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Published July 25, 2013

FoxNews.com

The House of Representatives passed a $598.3 billion defense spending bill Wednesday, while rejecting an amendment to the bill that would have challenged the National Security Agency’s collection of millions of Americans’ phone records, in a debate that clashed privacy rights against the fight to thwart terror.

The defense spending bill passed 315 to 109. The amendment was voted down 217-205 on an issue that created unusual political coalitions in Washington, with libertarian-leaning conservatives and liberal Democrats pressing for the change against the Obama administration, the Republican establishment and Congress’ national security experts.

94 Republicans and 111 Democrats voted for the amendment, while 134 Republicans and 83 Democrats voted no.

The showdown vote marked the first chance for lawmakers to take a stand on the secret surveillance program since former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked classified documents last month that spelled out the monumental scope of the government’s activities.

It is unlikely to be the final word on government intrusion to defend the nation and Americans’ civil liberties.

“Have 12 years gone by and our memories faded so badly that we forgot what happened on Sept. 11?” Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the Intelligence committee, said in pleading with his colleagues to back the program during House debate.

Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, chief sponsor of the repeal effort, said his aim was to end the indiscriminate collection of Americans’ phone records.

After the vote, Amash could barely hide his frustration, telling reporters: “Ask the American people if the House did the right thing.”

His measure, offered as an addition to the defense spending bill, would have canceled the statutory authority for the NSA program, ending the agency’s ability to collect phone records and metadata under the USA Patriot Act unless it identified an individual under investigation.

Americans: Stand up and Resist!

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I’m an American.  I was born in the USA.  Before me, my father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, great-great-great-grandfather and several generations prior were also born here.

One of them came over on a ship from Ireland, another from Scotland.  Men before me have fought for this country from the Indian Wars to the Revolutionary War to the most recent wars in the Middle East.  My sons are Americans and Patriots.

The lie that “We are all immigrants” has been told so often that it’s now being believed.  Yes, my distant forefather DID come to America as an immigrant. A LEGAL Immigrant, albeit, forced to come here to find freedom from Oppression of the British Empire.

Today – illegal immigrants stream across the border in an effort to abuse our freedoms, to steal our tax monies and to commit crimes (illegal immigration, IS A CRIME).  There is no checks and balances any more.  Congress and the President do not want them.

Congress and the President don’t want us to defend ourselves.

The President has allowed agencies to spy on us, the DOJ to lie to us, to kill our own men by giving away guns to criminals, to kill our own military men, Navy Seals, to allow criminals and terrorists to kill our Ambassador and American heroes without investigation.

The current administration has worked to destroy the America my father, I and my children grew up in.

It is time to put a stop to the abuses of the American system, abuses to the American Taxpayer.  It is TIME to FIRE the current government and replace it non-Marxists, non-Socialists and non-Progressives.

A war has been declared on Patriots in America.  We’re now being labeled as terrorists and troublemakers, being called names like “Teabagger” (look that up) and worse.

Fight back.  Resist “Hope and Change”.  Resist Socialism, and Progressivism or suffer the long term consequences to this Great Nation.

Already the time is nearly past, and this country is nearly done.

Stand up and be heard!

“Phony, Fake Scandals” sound byte

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New White House Strategy is aimed at the Washington Press Corps in the hope that the Press will simply declare all the scandals over with and done so Obama can continue tearing down the country.

 

 

Spying explained; six degrees of separation

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This morning I was reading some articles posted on a web site I help run and found some interesting information.  Then I started doing some math.  First, here’s the links so you can follow along, please note these are out of the UK, NOT the United States:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/01/james-clapper-apology-congress-erroneous-response

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/17/nsa-surveillance-house-hearing

Now… there’s a little thing called Six degrees of separation which is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of “a friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps.  Facebook and other social media sites understand this theory well and use it, and in fact have experimented with it, as has Microsoft in the Internet world.

Because of this “theory” the NSA is connected to ALL of us, whether we think so or not.

My basic math (and I can’t promise it is 100% accurate, but it should be close enough for “government work”) is shown next and the notes I wrote go to along with it a while ago.

“The court has approved us to go out two or three ‘hops,’ ” said NSA deputy director John Inglis. “And it’s often at the second hop that information is gained that leads the FBI to investigate the person’s contacts further.”

A “hop” refers to the way in which analysts broaden their analysis. When analysts believe they have cause to suspect an individual, they will look at everyone that person has contacted, called the first “hop” away from the target. Then, in a series of exponential ripples, they look at everyone all those secondary people communicated with. And from that pool, they go on to look at everyone all those tertiary people contacted. This is called a second and a third “hop.”  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/17/nsa-surveillance-house-hearing

Hmmm sez I….

Here’s an exponential growth function:

y = a(1 + b)x
  • y: Final amount remaining over a period of time
  • a: The original amount
  • x: Time
  • The growth factor is (1 + b).
  • The variable, b, is percent change in decimal form.

Ok, let me show you this.

Baseline: 1 person connects to 10 people. Each of those 10 connect to 10 more. Each of those connect to another 10 and on the last hop ALL of the last group connects to yet another 10.

If I am doing my math right, at the end of the 3rd hop 1331 people have been “touched”.

If you push that out to say, 12 hops, just for clarity, the number jumps to 3,138,428,376,721 people!

Since that’s a little more than lives on the entire planet, six hops would touch almost everyone in Colorado Springs and Denver Colorado at a total 1,771,561 (combined population of those two cities: 426,388 + 619,968 = 1046356 and I live in the one to the south.)

While the NSA says “limited to 2 or 3 hops” this is really NOT the case, I’m certain. They would, if they saw someone on the 3rd hop of interest skip even further out to make the connections on THAT one guy, and then go out “another 3 hops”. I’m betting on the fact they are trying to connect person X to a terrorist group, or to criminal activity and if they happen to run across anyone else who just happens to be doing something “questionable” (like running a Patriot web site, blog or is very outspoken, say… like most of us) they wouldn’t hesitate to add us to the “list” to go and check OUR connections to several levels thereby making the connection that we are somehow connected to some other guy (whom we actually don’t know, never met, never heard of, but he might have read our blog and we his….) whom they consider “Dangerous”.  Thus, we are now connected to a might-be terrorist (in their eyes).

There is a rather well known concept called “Six Degrees of Separation” which social media sites like FaceBook and Twitter are CLEARLY aware about.

Facebook

A Facebook platform application named “Six Degrees” was developed by Karl Bunyan, which calculates the degrees of separation between different people. It had over 5.8 million users, as seen from the group’s page. The average separation for all users of the application is 5.73 degrees, whereas the maximum degree of separation is 12. The application has a “Search for Connections” window to input any name of a Facebook user, to which it then shows the chain of connections. In June 2009, Bunyan shut down the application, presumably due to issues with Facebook’s caching policy; specifically, the policy prohibited the storing of friend lists for more than 24 hours, which would have made the application inaccurate.[24] A new version of the application became available at Six Degrees after Karl Bunyan gave permission to a group of developers led by Todd Chaffee to re-develop the application based on Facebook’s revised policy on caching data

In 2008 Microsoft “proved” the concept (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology…internet.email) and essentially used global connections via the internet, examined something like 30 billion messages to do their proof. I’m not sure it’s completely accurate, but the point is simple.

If you are the NSA, and you data mine my telephone calls, you will find I talk to about 10 people on a regular basis (hence my initial number 10) and I actually have roughly 30 people stored in my phone. Some I don’t talk to often, but I do text, call or message them in some manner. Now if each of those 10 talk to 10 and those 10 talk to 10 others eventually you connect to someone who is either a criminal, terrorist or a saint.

No matter how it goes, how it works or what they eventually use all that collected data for, it’s invasive as hell and puts us all at “risk” of being labeled with whatever label “they” want.  Depending on the Administration it could be good, or it could be bad.

This is why this is SO important.  Obama doesn’t want us to “listen to those voices”

In fact what he would have us believe is that the Government is what gives us everything, and takes away that which it wants on a whim.  He wants us to believe he is a King, not a President, even though he plays lip service to being “President” – in truth he is likely only a puppet for the Progressives and Communists controlling his speech and actions.

As a bonus, I found this link posted about 15 hours ago and had written the above before I found it.  Please view it as well:  http://gigaom.com/2013/07/17/six-degrees-of-separation-nsa-style/

 

 

DOJ Sets Up Public Email Address to Take in Tips as It ‘Aggressively’ Pursues Zimmerman Civil Rights Investigation

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DOJ Sets Up Public Email Address to Take in Tips as It ‘Aggressively’ Pursues Zimmerman Civil Rights Investigation

July 16, 2013

The U.S Department of Justice is asking civil rights groups and community leaders to “actively refer anyone who [has] any information” that might help bring federal criminal charges against George Zimmerman, who was recently acquitted by a jury in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

The DOJ has reportedly set up a public email address to take in tips on its civil rights investigation. The department is hoping to get tips from across the nation as well as locally in Sanford, Fla.

That email address, which is now “in operation,” is Sanford.florida@usdoj.gov.

It is unclear why, if officials saw enough reason to open an investigation in the first place, the DOJ now needs tips to help with its probe into Zimmerman.

Barbara Arnwine, president and executive director the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said the DOJ during a conference called on individuals and groups “to actively refer anyone who had any information” that might build a case against Zimmerman for a civil rights violation or a hate crime, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

“They said they would very aggressively investigate this case,” she added.

Also on the DOJ conference call was, “Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Laura Murphy, Washington Chapter head of the ACLU; and several national, Florida and Sanford-based “human relations” groups participated, Arnwine said,” the Sentinel reports.

Attorney General Eric Holder has called Martin’s death unnecessary and has promised the DOJ will work to “alleviate tensions, address community concerns and promote healing.”

 

Fill it up with information about Benghazi, IRS, DOJ, NSA

Clapper Apologizes

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REALLY? he LIED again?  He was “Erroneous”?

 

James Clapper Apologizes to Congress for ‘Clearly Erroneous’ Testimony

Jul 2, 2013 6:39pm

ap james clapper kb 130702 16x9 608 James Clapper Apologizes to Congress for Clearly Erroneous Testimony(J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper apologized to Congress in a letter released today for giving a “clearly erroneous” answer to a question about whether the government collects data on millions of Americans.

“My response was clearly erroneous – for which I apologize,” Clapper wrote in a letter to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

The letter came after Clapper was accused of lying in response to a question by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., about whether the National Security Agency collects “any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans.”

In his March testimony, Clapper answered “no,” later adding, “not wittingly.”

It was later revealed that the NSA does collect “metadata” from telephone and Internet companies on millions of Americans – information that reveals information like the time, date and phone numbers of telephone calls, not the content of those calls.

 

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/07/james-clapper-apologizes-to-congress-for-clearly-erroneous-testimony/

 

Edward Snowden ‘applies for asylum in Russia’

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1 July 2013 Last updated at 13:31 ET

Vladimir Putin: “He should cease his work aimed at damaging our American partners”

US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has applied to Russia for political asylum, Russian officials say.

Foreign ministry consul Kim Shevchenko said the request was made on Sunday night. The Kremlin has made no comment.

The 30-year-old former CIA analyst is believed to be holed up in a Moscow airport hotel.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Mr Snowden was welcome to stay as long as he stopped “inflicting damage on our American partners”.

The US has not yet made any comment on the latest developments.

President Barack Obama, speaking earlier in Tanzania, said Washington and Moscow had held “high level” discussions about Mr Snowden.

“We are hopeful the Russian government makes decisions based on the normal procedures regarding international travel and the normal interactions law enforcement have,” he told reporters.

According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, Mr Snowden’s application for asylum was handed to a consular official at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport late on Sunday evening.

The application was delivered by Sarah Harrison, a member of the Wikileaks legal team acting as Mr Snowden’s representative, Kim Shevchenko was quoted by the news agency saying.

Russia’s Federal Migration Service has denied the report, which appeared in the New York Times earlier.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23138073

The Spirit in which it was done….

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Mr. President, it isn’t the “spirit in which you did” something, rather, it’s the spirit in which that thing you did was abused….

July 1st, 2013
08:44 AM ET

George W. Bush: Snowden damaged US; security programs protect civil liberties

CNN Anchor and Correspondent Robyn Curnow sits down with former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush to discuss their humanitarian mission in Zambia, where a clinic that helps diagnose and treat cervical cancer opens today. Curnow asked Bush about his thoughts on Nelson Mandela, Edward Snowden, privacy and his legacy.

On Edward Snowden, former President George W. Bush said, “I know he damaged the country and the Obama administration will deal with it.” He continued, “I think he damaged the security of the country.”

“I put the program in place to protect the country and one of the certainties is civil liberties were guaranteed,” Bush said.

http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/01/george-w-bush-snowden-damaged-us-security-programs-protect-civil-liberties/

The War against The People by the Government Just started

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I know I shouldn’t do this, but I’m going to post the whole article, without permission, or requesting it.  Folks, this is it….. I’m not joking. Please go to the original source and read this and look at the videos.  The people of this country CAN NOT allow this to stand.  The media in all their “First Amendment” cloaks need to stand up and expose this for what it is, absolute tyranny and censorship.

Blackout: Defense Department Blocks All Articles About NSA Leaks From ‘Millions’ of Computers

June 28, 2013 RSS Feed Print

The Defense Department's news blackout affects millions of computers around the world.The Defense Department’s news blackout affects millions of computers around the world.

The Department of Defense is blocking online access to news reports about classified National Security Agency documents made public by Edward Snowden. The blackout affects all of the department’s computers and is part of a department-wide directive.

“Any website that runs information that the Department of Defense still considers classified” is affected, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Damien Pickart told U.S. News in a phone interview.

According to Pickart, news websites that re-report information first published by The Guardian or other primary sources are also affected.

“If that particular website runs an article that our filters determine has classified information… the particular content on that website will remain inaccessible,” he said.

Pickart said the blackout affects “millions” of computers on “all Department of Defense networks and systems.”

The spokesman told U.S. News that original reports about the leaks may be specifically targeted for the blackout. He admitted that “automated filters are never perfect,” and some reports may slip through the cyber blockade.

Pickart declined to identify the source of the military-wide dictate.

“This is the same as what we did during the WikiLeaks situation,” he said. Personal computers used by military employees aren’t affected, Pickart said. One of the primary rationales for the blackout is money: “it’s costly, it takes a lot of time” to scrub computers of unauthorized, classified material viewed by servicemen while reading online news reports, Pickart said.

“Should any website choose to post information the department deems classified, that particular content on the website will be filtered and remain inaccessible from DoD networks so long as it remains classified,” Pickart reiterated in an emailed statement.

“The department does not determine what sites its personnel can choose to visit while on a DoD system, but instead relies on automated filters that restrict access based on content concerns or malware threats. The DoD is also not going to block websites from the American public in general, and to do so would violate our highest-held principle of upholding and defending the Constitution and respecting civil liberties and privacy.”

The Monterey Herald reported Thursday that the Army was restricting access to The Guardian’s website. A spokesman for the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command confirmed that the policy affected The Guardian, but the scope of the military’s blackout wasn’t immediately clear.

Found here: http://www.alipac.us/f9/omg-us-military-deployes-weapon-tech-blind-americans-nsa-leak-info-282232/

Original here: http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/06/28/blackout-defense-department-blocks-all-articles-about-nsa-leaks-from-millions-of-computers

 

And Edit:

US army blocks access to Guardian website to preserve ‘network hygiene’

Military admits to filtering reports and content relating to government surveillance programs for thousands of personnel

The Pentagon insisted the Department of Defense was only seeking to restrict access to certain content. Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters

The US army has admitted to blocking access to parts of the Guardian website for thousands of defence personnel across the country.

A spokesman said the military was filtering out reports and content relating to government surveillance programs to preserve “network hygiene” and prevent any classified material appearing on unclassified parts of its computer systems.

The confirmation follows reports in the Monterey Herald that staff at the Presidio military base south of San Francisco had complained of not being able to access the Guardian’s UK site at all, and had only partial access to the US site, following publication of leaks from whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The Pentagon insisted the Department of Defense was not seeking to block the whole website, merely taking steps to restrict access to certain content.

But a spokesman for the Army’s Network Enterprise Technology Command (Netcom) in Arizona confirmed that this was a widespread policy, likely to be affecting hundreds of defence facilities.

“In response to your question about access to the guardian.co.uk website, the army is filtering some access to press coverage and online content about the NSA leaks,” said Gordon Van Vleet, a Netcom public affairs officer.

“The Department of Defense routinely takes preventative ‘network hygiene’ measures to mitigate unauthorized disclosures of classified information onto DoD unclassified networks.”

The army stressed its actions were automatic and would not affect computers outside military facilities.

“The department does not determine what sites its personnel can choose to visit while on a DoD system, but instead relies on automated filters that restrict access based on content concerns or malware threats,” said Van Vleet. “The DoD is also not going to block websites from the American public in general, and to do so would violate our highest-held principle of upholding and defending the constitution and respecting civil liberties and privacy.”

Similar measures were taken by the army after the Guardian and other newspapers published leaked State Department cables obtained via WikiLeaks.

“We make every effort to balance the need to preserve information access with operational security, however there are strict policies and directives in place regarding protecting and handling classified information,” added the Netcom spokesman.

“Until declassified by appropriate officials, classified information – including material released through an unauthorized disclosure – must be treated accordingly by DoD personnel. If a public website displays classified information, then filtering may be used to preserve ‘network hygiene’ for DoD unclassified networks.”

A Defense Department spokesman at the Pentagon added: “The Guardian website is NOT being blocked by DoD. The Department of Defense routinely takes preventative measures to mitigate unauthorized disclosures of classified information onto DoD unclassified networks.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/28/us-army-blocks-guardian-website-access

No Fighter Jets going after Snowden

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I actually find this pretty funny.  A Fighter Jet?  After a “might be” leaker/whistleblower/spy/hacker/hero/traitor?  Wow.

 

Obama: US won’t send fighter jets to intercept Snowden flights

Published time: June 27, 2013 11:55
Edited time: June 27, 2013 14:13
The F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).(Reuters / Tom Reynolds)The F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).(Reuters / Tom Reynolds)

The US will not try to intercept NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s flight, President Barack Obama said during his tour to Africa.

Obama announced that US will not be using military jets to go after Snowden, rejecting reports that America might force down a plane carrying the NSA leaker.

The president specified that the US will not engage in “wheeling, dealing and trading” to extradite Edward Snowden, adding that extradition will be carried out through legal channels.

“We’ve got a whole lot of business that we do with China and Russia, and I’m not going to have one case of a suspect who we’re trying to extradite suddenly being elevated to the point where I’ve got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues,” Obama said.

Obama said he has not spoken to Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping or Russia’s President Vladimir Putin about whistleblower Edward Snowden’s extradition, adding that he “shouldn’t have to,” Reuters reported.

 

More over there —–> http://rt.com/usa/obama-jet-snowden-intercept-325/

No bartering for Snowden

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Don’t know if this is good or bad.  I have a few theories on what’s really happening here and have posted a few thoughts already.  But Obama has stated clearly he’s not about to barter for Snowden “just so he can come back here to face American Justice”.

Oh, and Venezuela has also said it would consider an asylum application from him.

Interesting.

 

27 June 2013 Last updated at 11:04 ET

Obama refuses to barter for Edward Snowden

 President Obama “not going to be scrambling jets to get Snowden”

President Barack Obama has said there will be no “wheeling and dealing” as part of extradition attempts against US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

Speaking on a visit to the West African nation of Senegal, Mr Obama said the case would be handled through routine legal channels.

“I am not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker,” he added.

Mr Snowden, who faces espionage charges, flew to Moscow last weekend and requested asylum in Ecuador.

Mr Obama said on Thursday that he had not called China and Russia’s presidents about the case, adding: “I shouldn’t have to.”

‘Damage done’

He told a news conference in the Senegalese capital Dakar: “I’m not going to have one case of a suspect who we’re trying to extradite suddenly being elevated to the point where I’ve got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues.”

 

Transit zones: A legal grey area

  • The Sheremetyevo airport transit area is Russian sovereign territory, but Russia says that in staying there, Edward Snowden has not formally entered the country
  • Legally, an arriving air passenger may be said to “cross the border” only after clearing immigration, which would require an entry visa
  • If Russia allowed Mr Snowden to enter, it could implicate the state in helping a fugitive, analysts say
  • It is thought Mr Snowden may be staying at a complex of 47 basic “capsule” hotel rooms located in the zone

Read the rest of the stuff:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23084166

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In the past few months – to a year – We’ve had a dozen “scandals” coming out of Washington.  Here’s a list of them that have been compiled by various sources.

 Benghazi (Four Americans killed by Terrorists and the Government pretended it was over a movie)

GSA (remember Hot Tub man? The General Services Administration in 2010 held an $823,000 training conference in Las Vegas, featuring a clown and a mind readers. Resulted in the resignation of the GSA administrator.)

IRS (Targeting Tea Party members and organizations,  the IRS enjoyed outrageous conventions that included “line dancing” video, luxury suites ($3,500))

NSA (Spying on America, snooping on “We the People” instead of terrorists)

FBI (doesn’t know who is investigating the IRS)

EPA (gave names, addresses and email addresses of farmers to liberal groups)

Justice Department (Watching the AP and other news agencies

Justice Department and Rosengate – JD suggested that Fox News reporter James Rosen is a criminal for reporting about classified information and subsequently monitored his phones and emails.

Eric Holder (Perjury)

ATF (Fast and Furious, project Gun Walker, the ATF allowed weapons from the U.S. to “walk” across the border into the hands of Mexican drug dealers. The ATF lost track of hundreds of firearms, many of which were used in crimes, including the December 2010 killing of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.)

EPA (Former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson used the name “Richard Windsor” when corresponding by email with other government officials, drawing charges she was trying to evade scrutiny.)

Black Panthers (The Justice Department was accused of using a racial double standard in failing to pursue a voter intimidation case against Black Panthers who appeared to be menacing voters at a polling place in 2008 in Philadelphia.)

HHS (HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius solicited donations from companies HHS might regulate. The money would be used to help her sign up uninsured Americans for ObamaCare.)

HHS (Also, Sebelius violated the Hatch Act: A U.S. special counsel has determined that Sebelius violated the Hatch Act when she made “extemporaneous partisan remarks” during a speech in her official capacity last year. During the remarks, Sebelius called for the election of the Democratic candidate for governor of North Carolina.)

Solyndra: Republicans charged the Obama administration funded and promoted its poster boy for green energy despite warning signs the company was headed for bankruptcy. The administration also allegedly pressed Solyndra to delay layoff announcements until after the 2010 midterm elections.

Obama (“I’ll pass my own laws”…making end runs around Congress on everything from Global Warming to Gun Control)

Obama most likely violated the law of the land, the Constitution and the spirit of the War Powers Resolution by attacking Libya without Congressional approval.

Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel used Bill Clinton as an intermediary to probe whether former Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) would accept a prominent, unpaid White House advisory position in exchange for dropping out of the 2010 primary against former Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.).

The administration paid millions to the former firm of then-White House adviser David Axelrod, AKPD Message and Media, to promote passage of Obamacare. Some questioned whether the firm was hired to help pay Axelrod $2 million AKPD owed him.

Vice President Biden’s office has repeatedly interfered with coverage, including forcing a reporter to wait in a closet, making a reporter delete photos, and editing pool reports.

The Pigford Scandal — An Agriculture Department effort that started as an attempt to compensate black farmers who had been discriminated against by the agency but evolved into a gravy train delivering several billion dollars in cash to thousands of additional minority and female farmers who probably didn’t face discrimination.

Anti-Gun forces including Congress people all the way up to the President and down to Mayor’s of cities have acted to destroy the Second Amendment. 

Other forces are acting to destroy our First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights – among others.  In fact there appears to be a concerted effort on the part of many of these former hippies to completely destroy the Constitution; they try hard to make us believe it is a “Living Document” to be changed at the whim of a loud mouthed minority, or a simple majority.

Throughout all of this it appears many Americans have held their tongues and resisted the urge to “get mad”, worse, many are as clueless today about most of these scandals as they day they were born naked into this world.

In my past “life” I helped run a forum and web site that was concerned with things like UFOs, Bigfoot, Conspiracies and similar things.  In my ten years on that site I was the “Target” of many of the posters because I tended to rip apart their ideas as nonsense and would factually back up my arguments against their “supposed facts”.  It isn’t difficult to take apart Conspiracy Theory when there are indeed facts to back up your own side and the Conspiracy Theory is based solely upon “feels”, “belief”, disconnected and interconnected true facts that are actually unrelated by anything other than “that sounds like [it should go there] in the puzzle”.

So for me to read my own list above and then grasp that this country is headed down a path it is being DIRECTED down is hard for me to say, or even believe myself.  As a Patriot (A real one, one who has fought in battle, one who spent many years in the military, one who has taken his oath of office to the military to protect and defend the Constitution SERIOUSLY, one who has studied American History, lived through and “fought in” the Cold War and was raised by a Father and Mother who were both Democrats to “Do the Right Thing”) it is very difficult for me to come to the conclusions I have finally reached in my 50+ years of life.

As you can see, I am about as anti-conspiracy theory as one can be.  But in this case, given this administration, and reading the rotten and terrible things that are going on in the scandals coming out of DC, I can’t help but SEE some Conspiracies in action here.

The Federal Reserve banking system has been manipulating the market for years. Why? To keep the dollar “strong”? I just don’t know. I’m not an economist and hated stats, economics (micro and macro) and accounting in college. HATED it. I don’t really “grasp” it the way professors wanted me to. I DO “get it” on a personal basis and can see a short term change coming. Dunno why.

But the rest of the crap going on, the NSA, the Justice Department, the refusal of IRS leaders to correct or even admit how wrong things are is a tick mark against the current administration.

In fact, at this point I believe these agencies, directly controlled by “minions” of the current President are actively working to destroy America all at once. One, big, serious crash.

One day, the Markets will plummet, the price of houses goes up, the ability to own one goes down, the family farms are taken by the government, rural people forced to move to the cities by armed agents of the government. Food prices climb, welfare suddenly stops. Riots begin. Guns start getting confiscated by jack booted thugs.

America becomes a totalitarian state, “for your own good”.

Those who refuse to comply are shot, re-educated or “disappeared”.

The truth is, I don’t see anything “good” coming down the pike unless we reverse this trend.

I’m just one, tiny voice out here in the dark. I don’t have all the answers, but I have more questions than can be answered. I can only go with the flow and hope Americans are mostly like me and will stand up and fight if we must.

Is the United States of America doomed now to fall through no fault of the People of this country, but rather through the fault of a corrupted, screwed up, wrong-headed Government full of Progressives, Communists and Socialists?  I think it is.  Of course, true Americans will come together eventually to prevent this from occurring.  We hope.  We the People however are still “In Charge”.  We’d better start acting like it, and soon.

In the mean time, I will do what I must to protect my wife and myself from total and complete destruction.  My children are all adults and can make their own decisions now, but the majority of them stand with me.

Confirmed: Snowden still in Russia

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Russia has confirmed that Snowden is the Transit area of the Airport and has NOT processed through immigrations in Moscow.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/25/politics/nsa-leak/index.html

To my Patriot Friends

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Your blogs are monitored.  Your phone records are being gone through.  Data from your computer goes through an ISP and is vacuumed up by “No Such Agency”, collected, collated, stored and kept on ice for at least five years hence.  Anything you write, every site you visit, every blog you read or post you make is subjected to reading – even if it isn’t really “read” by a person it is there “just in case”.

The Fourth Amendment states clearly what your rights are.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

To be clear, your “papers” in the form of “data” or “metadata” have been searched, seized, violated and kept.  No warrants were issued.  No “Oath of Affirmation” by those whom consider you “suspect” was given.  No Judge consulted.  Your home was invaded.  You phone “tapped” – perhaps not in the conventional sense where a human listens in, but your phone calls were logged, collected and linked to those numbers you called, and those who called you.

Trust is sometimes a difficult thing to grasp, and nearly impossible to retrieve once lost.  The NSA, an arm of the US Intelligence community is there for a reason; their job is collect data on our adversaries, not on our own people.  This Agency is being abused by the US Government, plain and simple.  The Justice Department is corrupt.  The Internal Revenue System is corrupt.  Congress is remiss.  The President is culpable in breaking all the laws of our Constitution.

Do YOU trust your information to the US Government?  Do you trust your health to the IRS?  Do you trust your Freedom to this President?  Do you trust your life in the hands of the Justice Department?

Pens, paper, hand-carried messages, whispered conversations, coded communications.

Survivalists out here in the real world KNOW that counting on technology is probably a cool thing to do, but not always is it practical.  When the power goes out (and it will) you can’t count on your electric motors, vehicles, phones, radios and such.  You can’t always depend on technological marvels no matter how small.  Remember this; pen and paper can’t be data mined unless it it taken into custody.  Whispered conversations to those near you are rarely listened in on.  Turning off your cell phone is not a promise of security, but removing the battery is.  Posting something on a computer is kept for years; perhaps forever for all we know.Survivalists do understand this world, they do things in a simpler way for a reason.

Perhaps we should all consider “simple is safer”….

 

Senators attack surveillance laws authorizing NSA’s warrantless data collection

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is attempting to rein in controversial provisions that have given US intelligence agencies broad authority to conduct warrantless surveillance on both foreign and domestic communications. The FISA Accountability and Privacy Protection Act of 2013 is designed to put a shorter expiration date on major expansions to the USA Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which are being secretly interpreted to justify the mass-collection of phone metadata and internet content, respectively. The bill would also shorten the lifespan of the law which allows National Security Letters, which have already been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge, as well as increase oversight and transparency by adding new reporting requirements.

Read the rest here:  http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/24/4460334/senators-strike-at-nsa-surveillance-laws

Seems like it is about time, no?

Snowden: Accepted to Ecuador

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Snowden receives refugee document of passage from Ecuador

Mon Jun 24, 2013 11:10am EDT

(Reuters) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Monday that fugitive U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden had received refugee papers from the Ecuador government to secure him safe passage as he fled Hong Kong over the weekend.

More here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/24/us-usa-security-passage-idUSBRE95N0UC20130624

 

 

Feinstein needs to go!

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This woman has NO CLUE.

People talking about limiting classified to “only government employees” or restricting things etc haven’t a CLUE how we defend this country.

This would require, ABSOLUTELY REQUIRE the government to basically fire all contractors and not give them information to complete their work.  Companies that pay workers to do jobs which require access to classified material would no longer be able to accomplish their contracts.

Those jobs would have to be given to… you guessed it, GOVERNMENT WORKERS, thereby increasing the number of government people (and where they gonna get them? FROM THE CIVILIAN CONTRACTOR FORCE).

And what are they going to have to do?  GIVE THEM ACCESS to classified data.

These people seriously have their heads up their asses.  Not one of them understands the real world.

“We will certainly have legislation which will limit or prevent contractors from handling highly classified and technical data, and we will do some other things,” the California Democrat said after a classified Senate briefing Thursday.

 

A Safer, Freer America

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Do you feel “safe” today?

Do you believe that the government is protecting you by vacuuming up every piece of data on you they can?

Do you honestly believe that stopping a terrorist attack requires we give up all our privacy?

Or

Are you an American, like most of us, who’ve never broken a law unless perhaps it was a traffic ticket, you have no intention of robbing a bank, blowing up a bomb in a crowded marathon, mall or airport, and you’ve never contemplated walking into your world place or movie theater with the “infamous” Bushmaster AR15 with body armor, gas mask and shoot up the place and random people?

When it comes right down to it, the laws of this country simply DO NOT trump the Constitution.  Period.  End of statement.

And yet our Congress, the last few Presidents (Obama, Bush, Clinton) have demonstrated they don’t really care about that old piece of paper.  Of course the Leftists in this country will tell you that it’s a “Living Document”, subject to change.

The 4th Amendment is clear as crystal:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

We are the people.  We have the right to be secure in our persons (and carrying a cellphone on our person), and houses (and our computers in our houses) and papers (and the data which isn’t written down but exists as fleeting bits and bytes in a data stream, hard drive, thumb drive, cloud or zipping along fibers) and unreasonable search and seizure (meaning we have committed no crime, thus it is UNREASONABLE to probe our data, search it, collect it aka seize it).

No warrants have been issues.  And according to the fourth amendment they SHALL NOT issues but upon probable cause.

If you’re not a criminal or suspected to be a criminal you should not be subjected to any of the above without a warrant.

Let me say this again…. IF you are NOT a criminal or SUSPECTED to be a criminal you should not be subjected to any of the above without a warrant.

Americans, essentially ALL of us, have 1) been subjected to the above CRIMES by the Government, 2) without a swore Warrant, 3) Our data searched (examined), seized (collected) and stored without our permission so that JUST IN CASE, you know in the future perhaps-maybe that data can be gone through again later and in more detail, just in case, you know, you think you might want to do something.

The collection of metadata means “Data about data”, that’s the way we network security people, system administrators and security engineers view it.  It means that pointers to other data are collected.  Those pointers of course are phone numbers you are using, calling and times you’re online talking to that other number.  It means a list of links you visit, your geolocation information, your likes and dislikes all associated with you.

A good detective doesn’t need to know WHAT you said on the telephone if he knows to whom you spoke for thirty minutes this morning on the way to work.  A great detective can make inferences with great accuracy about your conversation.  In a court of law this is called “Circumstantial evidence”.

A government agency like the National Security Agency (NSA) has tools and young computer gurus (not unlike myself many years ago) who can examine data, put a few pieces together and determine a lot about a person.

They didn’t stop Sandy Hook, they didn’t stop 9-11, they didn’t stop Boston, they didn’t stop numerous other small terrorists attacks in this country (which they won’t even CALL terrorism).  They’ve stopped only what they wanted to stop.  (Never let a crisis go to waste you know!)

If every person in the United States isn’t upset about this you might fit the first three questions originally asked and might be comfortable with the government literally spying on everything you do online, on the phone or even clicking on the buttons of your microwave.  You might think you’re safe from terrorists.  You might believe that you’re safe and the government is “protecting” you.

What if this is all benign and no one has any intention of using the data collected against you today or tomorrow.  But what about after the next election?  What about next Thursday?  What IF some “government official” somewhere with access to this stuff decides to start using this data to root out enemies of the State?

Once, when I was still a child we all knew that our society existed to raise children to be considerate of others, to know that each thing we did to improve ourselves in turn, improved society.  Today Society seems to exist only to further the goals of a collective hive mind, to think alike, to act alike, to dress alike, to live in a Socialist Utopia.  That indeed seems to be the ultimate goal of not only “Society” as a whole (with a few individual exceptions, usually those reading these blogs) but to force all of us to act alike (including us “individuals”).

Targeting and auditing”Tea Party” and “Conservative” groups into oblivion, if that isn’t tyranny I don’t know what is.  Trying to limit, take and ban our guns, that’s tyranny.  Spying on us, that’s tyranny.  Going after journalists (against the 1st amendment), that’s tyranny.  Lying to us time and again about Benghazi, about everything they can lie about, that, my friends is tyranny.  Forcing religion on us (Islam), that’s TYRANNY.  Forcing Political Correctness on us, that’s tyranny.  Attacking us for having our say, that’s tyranny.  Passing state laws in the face of a majority of people who don’t want the law, that is absolute tyranny.  Telling Americans “its for your own good” – that’s tyranny.

At what cost do we continue this charade?

I’ll tell you the cost.  The cost is  ultimately our Freedoms and the fall of the United States as a Great Republic.

If we continue on the path which wends through Society today and into the future, in less than One Hundred Years the one great America will be nothing more than a memory for our great-great Grand Children.  In less than another decade we will have lost and we will be erased from the face of the world.  Our

We must stop this drive to defeat America from within.

If you want a Safer, Freer America then it is time to wake up, get off your asses and accept personal responsibilty for yourselves, your families and your GOVERNMENT.  We must insist, demand that the current elected Representatives stop the madness and get back to the bottom line of running this country.  That doesn’t mean making NEW laws, it means throwing out the old, bad laws, enforcing the correct laws and stopping snooping on our own people.  It means SHUTTING the border TONIGHT.  We don’t need “immigration reform”, we need “Government Reform”.

There is nothing wrong with immigration laws as they are, they simply need to be enforced.  We need to secure the border.  We need to let people take the normal path to citizenship.  We have no issue with immigration, we have a problem WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.

We can’t let the government continue to grow in size, power and money sucking abilities.

We can’t allow the IRS to continue to abuse us.

We must NOT allow the IRS to become our overlords on medical care.  Government death boards are an absolute (see the young lady with the lung transplant problem).

We can’t allow the Department of Justice to continue to abuse us.  By letting them get away with “Fast and Furious” we’ve allowed the death of a young agent to go without justice.  The murderer might have been caught, but why haven’t those who passed those guns out ILLEGALLY I might add been brought to justice?  Arrest them, all the up to Eric Holder if necessary.

We can no longer allow our Department of State to let ambassadors just “die” in foreign service.  Where were the Marines and why was the military stood down?

If you want a Safer, Freer America then you, yes YOU, need to stand up and do something about it.  Run for office, pester the holy hell out of Congressmen and women.  Call the President.  Make your voice heard.  Organize protests (yes, PROTESTS).  Become visible.  Don’t hide in the shadows any longer.

We are AMERICANS. We do not give up.  We do not tolerate losing.  We do not tolerate losers.  Kick those losers out of office and put yourselves IN.

The time has come.

Don’t let up until we win.

And we will, we’re Americans!

ACLU files Lawsuit against NSA/Government for Spying

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Well… for once I’ll support the ACLU!

Edit: here’s a link: http://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-files-lawsuit-challenging-constitutionality-nsa-phone-spying-program
Edit 2: Full Text of Press Release:

ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of NSA Phone Spying Program

 

The ACLU, a Verizon Customer, Says Government Data Collection Violates Its First and Fourth Amendment Rights

June 11, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a constitutional challenge to a surveillance program under which the National Security Agency vacuums up information about every phone call placed within, from, or to the United States. The lawsuit argues that the program violates the First Amendment rights of free speech and association as well as the right of privacy protected by the Fourth Amendment. The complaint also charges that the dragnet program exceeds the authority that Congress provided through the Patriot Act.

“This dragnet program is surely one of the largest surveillance efforts ever launched by a democratic government against its own citizens,” said Jameel Jaffer, ACLU deputy legal director. “It is the equivalent of requiring every American to file a daily report with the government of every location they visited, every person they talked to on the phone, the time of each call, and the length of every conversation. The program goes far beyond even the permissive limits set by the Patriot Act and represents a gross infringement of the freedom of association and the right to privacy.”

The ACLU is a customer of Verizon Business Network Services, which was the recipient of a secret FISA Court order published by The Guardian last week. The order required the company to “turn over on ‘an ongoing daily basis’ phone call details” such as who calls are placed to and from, and when those calls are made. The lawsuit argues that the government’s blanket seizure of and ability to search the ACLU’s phone records compromises sensitive information about its work, undermining the organization’s ability to engage in legitimate communications with clients, journalists, advocacy partners, and others.

“The crux of the government’s justification for the program is the chilling logic that it can collect everyone’s data now and ask questions later,” said Alex Abdo, a staff attorney for the ACLU’s National Security Project. “The Constitution does not permit the suspicionless surveillance of every person in the country.”

The ACLU’s 2008 lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the FISA Amendments Act, which authorized the so-called “warrantless wiretapping program,” was dismissed 5–4 by the Supreme Court in February on the grounds that the plaintiffs could not prove that they had been monitored. ACLU attorneys working on today’s complaint said they do not expect the issue of standing to be a problem in this case because of the FISA Court order revealed last week.

Yesterday, the ACLU and Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic filed a motion with the FISA Court, requesting that it to publish its opinions on the meaning, scope, and constitutionality of Patriot Act Section 215. The ACLU is also currently litigating a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, filed in October 2011, demanding that the Justice Department release information about the government’s use and interpretation of Section 215.

“There needs to be a bright line on where intelligence gathering stops,” said NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman. “If we don’t say this is too far, when is too far?”

Attorneys on the case are Jaffer and Abdo along with Brett Max Kaufman and Patrick Toomey of the ACLU, and Arthur N. Eisenberg and Christopher T. Dunn of the NYCLU.

An interactive graphic examining the secret FISA Court order revealed last week is available here.

Snowden fired from Booze-Allen, gets offers from Russia

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Saw this coming…..

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/11/booz-allen-snowden-fired/2411231/

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/russia-considers-asylum-edward-snowden-article-1.1368988?localLinksEnabled=false

 

Snowden apparently has a significant amount more data to “release”.  Also, the authorities have stated they are “looking for others connected to the release of this information”.

Interesting, because he’s the front man.

This really makes me think that the CIA is pissed over Benghazi so they deliberately outted an asset, and are making SURE he isn’t picked up to get even with Obama.

Heroes and Villians

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The latest question the media is pushing on the sheep of America is a simple “Is Snowden a Hero or Traitor”?

Let’s examine that question for a moment.

First the question presupposes everything is ok, normal, performing normally and society hasn’t already gone off the deep end themselves.

Second the definition of “Hero” is:

  1. A person, typically a man, who is admired for courage or noble qualities.
  2. The chief male character in a book, play, or movie, who is typically identified with good qualities.

Third, the definition of “traitor” is:

       1. A person who betrays a friend, country, principle, etc.

Those definitions are random from online dictionaries.  But let’s dig deeper.  Treason is a law term and it is specifically defined, not only in the United States Constitution but in many other countries’ important documents.  Here’s the US version…. now please read the entire article, there’s a point here:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

In the normal scheme of life, where the country is following the law, following the Constitution, following proper steps of law and using correct and legal checks and balances then releasing Classified information to the public is illegal.  A person with access to such information is “signed off” or “read in” when they get their clearance.  They usually sign a piece of paper saying they “understand” the ramifications of using it in an unofficial capacity.

With that said, understand ANYONE with a clearance has access to ONLY that material required to do his or her job, not “anything” or “everything”.  With me so far?

Assuming the law is still being followed, not just by those with access to classified, but by those “in charge” then he is a traitor.  Absolutely.

But there are some problems here….

So far in the past few months our country has broken its own laws.

The IRS has been working diligently to prevent one side in the political spectrum from engaging opponents.

The DOJ has run guns to illegals in Mexico causing the deaths of hundreds – likely in an attempt to out right ban guns.

The DOJ has investigated journalists, taken phone records from innocent people (the parents of the Journalist in this case) and perhaps thousands from the Associated Press.  A direct attack on the First Amendment and Fourth Amendments.

Now… if you were a young man working for the CIA, then later as a contractor spying on Americas (something that has up until the Patriot Act been completely verboten) and were able to collect data, and realized that it was just plan wrong, what would you do?  Quit your six figure job?  Protest to your government bosses (and yes, contractors DO answer to government bosses, this writer has personal experience with this)?  Would you go on about your day-to-day business and think nothing of it – or would it gripe at your conscious for the months you’re doing it?

If you’re a principled person, and forgive this old man for saying so, but if you have a security clearance you must have some principles otherwise you wouldn’t get that clearance in the first place, then you might find a way to get out of doing the job, you might expose the problem, you might walk away and say nothing.  There are plenty of options to anyone.

But if your government has already proven itself untrustworthy are you going to trust your lot in life to taking it to a judge, a congressman or are you going to step across that line and tell the tale?

America is a Free Country.  Our Constitution is the Rule of Law and it is being bent, battered and broken on a daily basis by the very same people who are SWORN (there’s that “oath” thing again) to uphold that selfsame Constitution.

Boys and Girls, students of history, my fellow Americans, it’s with a very heavy heart I submit to you that Snowden is no more a criminal than the very government that is usurping the Rights of the People.

A government with the power to collect metadata from phone records and internet records does NOT need to listen to your voice conversations to be able to predict your behavior, thinking, or what your political background might be.  They can collect enough data to know what you buy, where you go, with whom you speak on a daily or weekly basis, what guns you own (or don’t), to whom your political donations go, your public friends and no so public friends.

This is an intrusion beyond anything that was capable in the past.  If Hitler had this technology there’d be no Jews on the planet.  In fact, there’d be no one but Germans if he had his chance.

A government that has this kind of power without the oversight of good people like you and I – and make NO MISTAKE about this, WE are the GOOD GUYS, invariably WILL abuse that power.  It is being abused even now.  The NSA I’m sure will scoop this article up, like all others, collate, file and store it for future reference to be used against the author, the readers and anyone else that suits the administration in charge of this stored information.

So, is the man a hero or a villain?

The answer is simple… it “depends” on who is in charge.  If We the People were in charge of the Government as we should be, he would be a Traitor.  Since the government is no longer in the hands of the people, but the people are under the thumb of the government then there can be but one answer.

Congress has attempted to ban weapons in America.  A direct assault on the Second Amendment.

America: Upside Down

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In all my years on this Earth I never once believed I’d see the day when America was turned upside down, inside out, backward and full of ignorant sheep.

As a child growing up in the hills of Kentucky and then later the streets of Detroit, brought up by two hard working parents I was bolstered with the principles of Liberty, Freedom, the Forefathers and the Constitution.  I read the Bible, I studied the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence and was well versed in American History.  A favorite book of my childhood was called “Our American Heritage”, a collection of stories that was given to me by my dad.  Dad was a former Marine who fought in Korea, was wounded twice.  Mom had a college degree but never went to a job.  She stayed home caring for our family of seven.  Mom and Dad were Democrats.

When I joined the military I eventually found myself fighting commies in Central America and later I wound up as a ground support troop for the folks who died in “Desert One”.  Jimmy Carter was at fault for that fiasco and was never really blamed.  I voted for Reagan and never looked back.

Today I’m watching as my country falls apart.

IRS has stopped Conservatives, Tea Party people, and other groups from being able to participate effectively in politics in any form, all at the behest, I am certain of the President.

NSA is spying not on terrorists, but everyone.

DOJ has looked into phone records on journalists.

CIA can tap into the computer in your dishwasher if they wish.

The fine line between Freedom and Tyranny has been crossed.

When both sides of the political aisle come together to say “This is wrong” looking at the fact the NSA is collecting data on all of us, on every American whether you’ve broken a law or not and clear violations of the 4th Amendment have occurred there is little left to do but accept it, or fight it.

I thought as a child that everyone thought like me, believed in the Constitution and America.  Now I see, as others do that there are politicians, men and women inside the DC Beltway that absolutely do NOT believe in the same things that many of us were brought up to believe.  In fact, their beliefs are diametrically opposed to ours and they lied through their teeth to get in office.

I’m not speaking JUST of Obama and his cabinet of criminals (tax evaders, terrorists) or the Left.  I’m talking about both sides.  Republicans and Democrats are culpable in the demise of the United States of America, of Freedom, Liberty and Principles.  These people have attacked, chipped away and ultimately destroyed the trust We the People had in the United States Government.

I am still working for them.  I do my job to protect this country.  At my level and in my Agency we aren’t involved in things like collecting intelligence on people – although they probably collect it on people like me internally to use later /shrug but the truth is, I still do my job because I STILL believe in America.  I still believe in my oath of office.  I still believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and I still believe that we are the greatest country in the world.

I just don’t trust the politicians to run the Government any more.  It’s time to put the Government back into the hands of The People.

 

NSA whistleblower revealed as Edward Snowden, 29-year-old ex-CIA employee | The Ticket – Yahoo! News

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Under other circumstances I’d be calling for this guy’s head, you know, leaking classified information.

The Government will call for it. But there comes a time when Right and Wrong have to be identified. Spying on every American is a clear violation of the 4th Amendment. I am going to venture a prediction, Iceland will give this guy asylum. America won’t like it. Some in Congress (those you might least suspect) will call for him to be brought “to justice”.

But who is going to bring the government to justice?

Obfuscation, Hidden Agendas and Lies

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The lies, they burn….

First of all let us get this CLEAR.  No one said anything about “listening in” to our telephone calls.  We are talking about the NSA capturing every phone record (the metadata that tells one whom you have called, for how long, what numbers you dialed or dialed in to you, and even what clicks you do on web sites and searches you make on search engines).  Not listening in.

As a long time System Operator for various BBSes, Admin for web sites and forums and as a military communicator, I can tell you without a doubt that I don’t need to “listen in” to know much about a person.  I can collect data from files that shows where you’ve connected, what you’ve looked at on web sites, links from your computer show your searches and interests.  Don’t we ALL understand Google and other providers collect that for targeting you with Ads already?  Yes, we do grasp this.

What can the government do with that data?  Figure out your interests and who you are in contact with.

Why is it a problem?  If you’re a terrorist, all the better.  Great, let them find out all they can about you.  Buy what if you’re some old guy with a lot of grand kids, never broken the law in your life, travel to foreign countries occasionally for a vacation, and are outspoken against “Big Government”.

Agendas my friends determine if your Grandpa Data is going to be used against you later.  Obama is a Progressive.  He has the ability to put out Executive Orders to direct how heads of Agencies (including the NSA) operate and they must operate within his guidelines under penalty of firing or worse.

Normal Americans are being placed under a scrutiny that is well beyond the pale and tyranny in and of itself.  This isn’t about listening to my phone calls telling my wife “I love you honey” or when I’m speaking to friends about going to the gun range, or how many bullets I “don’t have this week”.  It’s simply wrong, it’s against the 4th Amendment and probable cause to wit:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This is against the 9th Amendment:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

This is against the 1st Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I’m quite certain that any so-called checks and balances are no longer valid.  People defending this kind of nonsense are completely clueless, ignorant and uneducated in the facts of American History, the Constitution, and Founder’s Principles.

Obama is supposed to the President of the United States, not apologist for Muslims and Islam, nor is he supposed to have enemies lists, direct the IRS to go after conservatives and Tea Party (and let me be blunt, the LIES in this administration from the IRS are nothing more than covering for the President and his co-President Valerie Jarret);  these people are criminals in my opinion.  While I’m not a lawyer I certainly know my history, and I know what is right and wrong.

This Administration is WRONG, there is evil in there and among us, and those who are defending him are complicit.

Obama said, and did whatever it took to get elected.  He has flat out LIED over and over and over to the American people, about surveillance, about Obama Care, about Benghazi, about the IRS – and all of those in connection with these issues have lied to protect him as well.

This is Big Government, Fascism, and verging on the border of Totalitarianism.  Obama has even issued “decrees” of late, making him sound more like a King than a President.

Where is Congress in all of this?  Why hasn’t the House gone after him?  Why is there not a Special Prosecutor involved in the IRS fiasco?  Why hasn’t the House started impeachment proceedings?  They went after Clinton for lying about Monica…. They went after Nixon for a breaking and entering which wasn’t even done by himself.

Congress is also remiss; no, Congress is NEGLIGENT.

While there might be a “law” in place for “surveillance” and it might be “legal” it is NOT limited if they are collecting the records of pretty much everyone in America.

Lies, hidden truths (Obfuscation) and agendas drive this Administration. It is time to stop taking the word of anyone in leadership positions in this country.  Question everything. Be suspicious of all they say.  Nothing they tell you is true, and if it is true, it’s not what you’re talking about in the first place.

 

 

 

Obama Calls Surveillance Programs Legal and Limited

By , , and
Published: June 7, 2013

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday offered a robust defense of the government surveillance programs revealed this week, and sought to reassure the public that his administration has not become a Big Brother with eyes and ears throughout the world of online communications.

“Nobody is listening to your telephone calls,” Mr. Obama said, delivering a 14-minute answer to two questions about the surveillance programs during a four-day trip to the West Coast at an event that was initially supposed to be devoted to the health care law. “That’s not what this program is about.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/08/us/national-security-agency-surveillance.html?pagewanted=all

Anger swells after NSA phone records court order revelations

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Anger swells after NSA phone records court order revelations

Senior politicians reveal that US counter-terrorism efforts have swept up personal data from American citizens for years

• NSA taps in to internet giants’ systems to mine user data, secret files reveal

Barack Obama crowdfunding charities

A White House spokesman said that laws governing such orders ‘are something that have been in place for a number of years now’. Photograph: Rex Features

The scale of America’s surveillance state was laid bare on Thursday as senior politicians revealed that the US counter-terrorism effort had swept up swaths of personal data from the phone calls of millions of citizens for years.

After the revelation by the Guardian of a sweeping secret court order that authorised the FBI to seize all call records from a subsidiary of Verizon, the Obama administration sought to defuse mounting anger over what critics described as the broadest surveillance ruling ever issued.

A White House spokesman said that laws governing such orders “are something that have been in place for a number of years now” and were vital for protecting national security. Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, said the Verizon court order had been in place for seven years. “People want the homeland kept safe,” Feinstein said.

But as the implications of the blanket approval for obtaining phone data reverberated around Washington and beyond, anger grew among other politicians.

Intelligence committee member Mark Udall, who has previously warned in broad terms about the scale of government snooping, said: “This sort of widescale surveillance should concern all of us and is the kind of government overreach I’ve said Americans would find shocking.” Former vice-president Al Gore described the “secret blanket surveillance” as “obscenely outrageous”.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/obama-administration-nsa-verizon-records

 

Perhaps enough “anger” will get you ready for what is coming… correction, already HERE in America.  But I somehow doubt it.

NSA surveillance pits liberty against security

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NSA surveillance pits liberty against security

 7:15 AM, June 7, 2013   |
A man talks on the phone outside the U.S. Courthouse in Washington, where the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court resides.

A man talks on the phone outside the U.S. Courthouse in Washington, where the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court resides. / Cliff Owen / Associated Press
By David Jackson, Susan Davis and Kevin Johnson

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Public disclosure of the federal government’s effort to track terrorists through the telephone records of average citizens has reinvigorated a national debate over the balancing act between security and liberty.

A day that began Thursday with an uproar over the government trolling through Americans’ phone records ended with a new report about the government traipsing over their travels on the Internet. Taken together, they seemed sure to refocus Congress and its constituents on a debate that has waned since Sept. 11, 2001 — but never ended.

On one side, the White House, bipartisan leaders in Congress and former George W. Bush administration officials defended such snooping and note it’s been going on for years. The phone tracking dates back to 2006, when USA TODAY first reported that the National Security Agency was secretly collecting phone call records of tens of millions of Americans.

http://www.freep.com/article/20130607/NEWS15/306070036/NSA-surveillance-pits-liberty-against-security

Ben Franklin said it best, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”