'Defund NSA' amendment will get a vote

[Valin]

Washington Examiner:

ASHE SCHOW

JULY 23, 2013

 

Members of the House of Representatives will vote this week on Rep. Justin Amash's amendment to defund the National Security Agency. Amash, R-Mich., announced the news on his Facebook page, writing, "I want to thank Speaker Boehner for working diligently toward resolving significant concerns over the amendment process with respect to NSA."

 

Amash's amendment would defund the NSA if the agency collected data and records from individuals who were not under official investigation. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court would be required to provide a statement confirming that the data being collected by the NSA is from a person under investigation.

 

(Snip)

 

 

 

[Draggingtree]

Justin Amash’s Revolution

By W. James Antle III • July 29, 2013

The Republican congressional leadership didn’t even want to bring Michigan Rep. Justin Amash’s anti-surveillance amendment up for a vote. The Obama administration certainly didn’t want it to pass.

 

Yet last week, Amash managed to force a debate on the House floor that should have happened more than a decade ago in the aftermath of 9/11. His amendment would have denied funding to the National Security Agency’s vast data-mining program.

 

Amash’s opponents hid behind classified information and misguided emotionalism. “Have 12 years gone by and our memories faded so badly that we forgot what happened on Sept. 11?” asked Rep. Mike Rogers, a fellow Michigan Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/justin-amashs-revolution/

[Valin]

Justin Amash’s Revolution

By W. James Antle III • July 29, 2013

The Republican congressional leadership didn’t even want to bring Michigan Rep. Justin Amash’s anti-surveillance amendment up for a vote.

Because it was...is and will remain for all time a totally stupid moronic idea.

 

I have a question. Are these clowns deliberately trying to piss me off? Because if they are they are succeeding.

 

 

[Draggingtree]

 

Justin Amash’s Revolution

By W. James Antle III • July 29, 2013

The Republican congressional leadership didn’t even want to bring Michigan Rep. Justin Amash’s anti-surveillance amendment up for a vote.

Because it was...is and will remain for all time a totally stupid moronic idea.

 

I have a question. Are these clowns deliberately trying to piss me off? Because if they are they are succeeding.

 

 

 

Well I'm not trying, but I may cause I'm in favor of stopping the illegal gathering of information on U. S. citizens in the homeland.

[Valin]

 

 

Justin Amash’s Revolution

By W. James Antle III • July 29, 2013

The Republican congressional leadership didn’t even want to bring Michigan Rep. Justin Amash’s anti-surveillance amendment up for a vote.

Because it was...is and will remain for all time a totally stupid moronic idea.

 

I have a question. Are these clowns deliberately trying to piss me off? Because if they are they are succeeding.

 

 

 

Well I'm not trying, but I may cause I'm in favor of stopping the illegal gathering of information on U. S. citizens in the homeland.

 

It's not illegal.

[Draggingtree]

 

 

 

Justin Amash’s Revolution

By W. James Antle III • July 29, 2013

The Republican congressional leadership didn’t even want to bring Michigan Rep. Justin Amash’s anti-surveillance amendment up for a vote.

Because it was...is and will remain for all time a totally stupid moronic idea.

 

I have a question. Are these clowns deliberately trying to piss me off? Because if they are they are succeeding.

 

 

 

Well I'm not trying, but I may cause I'm in favor of stopping the illegal gathering of information on U. S. citizens in the homeland.

 

It's not illegal.

 

United States Department of Justice acknowledged that the NSA had engaged in "overcollection" of domestic communications in excess of the FISA court's authority. Which is illegal to me an the majority of American’s.Just one more step of becoming a banana republic with a "all wise knowing Goverment"

 

The 2nd amendment isn't just there so I can protect my family against rape and murder by a citizen it is there to protect them against the government .

 

If the government views revealing criminal activity of the NSA as treason, then they most certainly view us as the enemy. Afterall, Snowden released the information to us.

 

And the FISC court and a secret released (2011) court decision supports that the NSA is breaking the law. Regardless of which politician tells you differently. They have no right, even under the patriot act, to steal your information outside of a criminal investigation in a blanket fashion.

 

Edited July 29, 2013 by Draggingtree

[Draggingtree]

Pew poll: Major swing against government surveillance among tea partiers posted at 11:21 am on July 29, 2013 by Allahpundit

If you’ve been following the Christie-versus-Paul “battle for the soul of the GOP” meme since Friday, don’t miss this important gloss from Pew. How major has the “major swing” among tea partiers been? Feast your eyes:

 

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/07/29/pew-poll-major-swing-against-government-surveillance-among-tea-partiers/

[Valin]

What the John Kerry Republicans were told in 2011 about NSA surveillance (when they voted for it, before they voted against it)

Marc Thiessen

July 31, 2013

 

Of the 94 Republicans who voted to shut down the NSAs metadata program last week, 50 voted for the exact same program in 2011. Some have claimed that they did not know what they were voting for two years ago. But as I pointed out in the Washington Post this week, all members of Congress were offered both classified written and in-person principal level briefings on the NSA program.

 

(Snip)

 

Here is what members of Congress were told in 2011 when they voted for NSA surveillance (before they voted against it).

 

Go here for links to other declassified documents including the FISA court order as well as a letter and written briefing provided to members of Congress in 2009.

[Draggingtree]

What the John Kerry Republicans were told in 2011 about NSA surveillance (when they voted for it, before they voted against it)

Marc Thiessen

July 31, 2013

 

Of the 94 Republicans who voted to shut down the NSAs metadata program last week, 50 voted for the exact same program in 2011. Some have claimed that they did not know what they were voting for two years ago. But as I pointed out in the Washington Post this week, all members of Congress were offered both classified written and in-person principal level briefings on the NSA program.

 

(Snip)

 

Here is what members of Congress were told in 2011 when they voted for NSA surveillance (before they voted against it).

 

Go here for links to other declassified documents including the FISA court order as well as a letter and written briefing provided to members of Congress in 2009.

good post and information -- thank u

[Valin]

 

What the John Kerry Republicans were told in 2011 about NSA surveillance (when they voted for it, before they voted against it)

Marc Thiessen

July 31, 2013

 

Of the 94 Republicans who voted to shut down the NSAs metadata program last week, 50 voted for the exact same program in 2011. Some have claimed that they did not know what they were voting for two years ago. But as I pointed out in the Washington Post this week, all members of Congress were offered both classified written and in-person principal level briefings on the NSA program.

 

(Snip)

 

Here is what members of Congress were told in 2011 when they voted for NSA surveillance (before they voted against it).

 

Go here for links to other declassified documents including the FISA court order as well as a letter and written briefing provided to members of Congress in 2009.

good post and information -- thank u

 

I can't tell you how shocked I am...shocked and surprised...shocked..surprised..and amazed, Politics in Washington Dc! Who Knew?

[Valin]

Big Transparency for the NSA

I've seen the safeguards in place. The public would be reassured if these measures were made generally known.

TIMOTHY EDGAR

8/1/13

 

'Big data" is one name for the insight that collecting all the information in a massive database will uncover facts that collecting only some of the information cannot. This is not news to Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency. Gen. Alexander is a zealous advocate of getting it all whenever practically and legally possible. He sees increased agility in uncovering terrorist connections by acquiring vast databases of telephone records, including those of American citizens.

 

Now the intelligence community's big-data ambitions have prompted big privacy alarms. Edward Snowden's reckless dump of top-secret documents and bizarre flight to those new crusaders against electronic snoopingChina and Russiashould have turned Americans against him. Instead, a national poll shows a solid majority believe that Mr. Snowden is a whistleblower, not a traitor. The House of Representatives recently fell just a few votes shy of cutting off funding for Gen. Alexander's bulk data collection.

 

(Snip)

 

I am a civil-liberties lawyer who has worked both for Mr. Clapper and for the American Civil Liberties Union. I have a unique perspective on the vast gulf between the way the public views spy agencies and the way the intelligence community views itself.

 

(Snip)

[Draggingtree]

“In Virtually Every Single Case the Citizens Who Were Ultimately Murdered Never Saw It Coming”

Posted by SHTF Plan on Aug 2, 2013

While the NSA, FBI and other intelligence agencies mine and collect trillions of domestic electronic interactions of every American citizen, a large portion of the population simply assumes that nothing will ever come of it. “If I’m not doing anything wrong,” they say, “then who cares?”

 

True. Today you can go out, join a protest, scream to your heart’s content at Occupy and Tea Party assemblies, and under the First Amendment you are free to go about your business once done. You can insult politicians. You can discuss ‘conspiracy theories’ with your friends. You can post to forums, blogs and social networks and be totally immune from state-sponsored persecution and prosecution based on your beliefs and ideologies.

 

There’s no history of governments doing things like this, is there? Oh wait — there is. There are in fact dozens of such instances through history, and in virtually every single case the citizens who were ultimately murdered as a consequence never saw it coming 5, 10 or 20 years down the road because at the time they “consented” the evil thing wasn’t happening — yet.

The most-obvious of course is the Jews in Nazi Germany, but by no means the only example. Indeed, the history when it comes to privately-owned arms is that material and serious constraints on their personal ownership tend to come 10 or 20 years before the citizens are murdered by their very own government.

 

http://joeforamerica.com/2013/08/in-virtually-every-single-case-the-citizens-who-were-ultimately-murdered-never-saw-it-coming/

[Valin]

“In Virtually Every Single Case the Citizens Who Were Ultimately Murdered Never Saw It Coming”

Posted by SHTF Plan on Aug 2, 2013

While the NSA, FBI and other intelligence agencies mine and collect trillions of domestic electronic interactions of every American citizen, a large portion of the population simply assumes that nothing will ever come of it. “If I’m not doing anything wrong,” they say, “then who cares?”

 

True. Today you can go out, join a protest, scream to your heart’s content at Occupy and Tea Party assemblies, and under the First Amendment you are free to go about your business once done. You can insult politicians. You can discuss ‘conspiracy theories’ with your friends. You can post to forums, blogs and social networks and be totally immune from state-sponsored persecution and prosecution based on your beliefs and ideologies.

 

There’s no history of governments doing things like this, is there? Oh wait — there is. There are in fact dozens of such instances through history, and in virtually every single case the citizens who were ultimately murdered as a consequence never saw it coming 5, 10 or 20 years down the road because at the time they “consented” the evil thing wasn’t happening — yet.

The most-obvious of course is the Jews in Nazi Germany, but by no means the only example. Indeed, the history when it comes to privately-owned arms is that material and serious constraints on their personal ownership tend to come 10 or 20 years before the citizens are murdered by their very own government.

 

http://joeforamerica.com/2013/08/in-virtually-every-single-case-the-citizens-who-were-ultimately-murdered-never-saw-it-coming/

So What Do You Want To Do?

[Draggingtree]

July 5, 2013

by Tim Brown

 

NSA Whistleblower To America: “The Obama Administration Is Afraid Of You”

I haven’t written much on Edward Snowden, though in this article it will be Snowden that presents his writing, warning Americans that the Obama administration is afraid of them. My thoughts on what he did are simple. I think he did the right thing in exposing government snooping where it had no business doing so. I believe I’m right on that because little attention by the media is being given to the corruption and more has been focused on Snowden and his former “pole dancing” girlfriend and his life than the real issue: The very real possibility that the Federal government is trampling all over the Fourth Amendment, along with other parts of the Constitution.

 

You don’t keep your mouth shut if you believe people are involved in criminal activity, especially your own government.

 

It’s ironic that the man who exposed a tyrannical government is now fleeing for his life outside of America during a time when America remembers her independence.

http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/07/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-the-obama-administration-is-afraid-of-you/comment-page-2/#comment-248110