You may have already lost far more than an election
In the past several days I've noticed a few diaries and comments that are suggesting that now that the 2012 election is drawing near it is imperative that we circle the wagons and support our guy. I've...
View ArticleWill the Obama Administration Allow Courts to Rule on Warrantless Surveillance?
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer writes in Huffington Post about the upcoming deadline in the lawsuit challenging the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which...
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U.S. official admits government surveillance violated Constitution at least...
Sens. Ron Wyden, Dianne Feinstein and Pat Roberts in an Intelligence Committee meeting. (Reuters) The government has, on at least one occasion, violated the Constitution's Fourth Amendment prohibitions...
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The problem is not John Brennan: It's us
Because the 2000s are ancient historyThe tradition of liberty is old. The common people will let it grow old, yes. They will sell liberty for a quieter life... -"The Writer," from Stanley Kubrick's A...
View ArticleHappy Birthday, Glenn Greenwald!
Despite my diary last week, in which I lamented the fact that Glenn Greenwald does not understand a waste of internet space like BuzzFeed, I really do admire the guy. Glenn Greenwald is a wonderful...
View ArticleJohn Cornyn becomes Rand Paul's strangest bedfellow
Republican Senator Rand Paul's 13 hour filibuster this week produced no shortage of spectacle--and irony. Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden, one of the few Democratic voices questioning the secrecy and legal...
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GOP yawns at AP story because 'You don't have any civil liberties if you're...
Revelations that the Justice Department authorized the seizure of Associated Press phone records have produced condemnation from Congressional Democrats and other Obama allies. But while Capitol Hill...
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Welcome to the Darrell Issa Hall of Shame
With Washington engulfed in scandals real and imagined over the Benghazi tragedy, the IRS' handling of applications by political groups for tax exempt status and the Justice Department's seizure of AP...
View ArticleWill Republicans oppose James Comey as FBI Director?
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that President Obama has narrowed his list of possible replacements for FBI Director Robert Mueller to two candidates. Senate Republicans probably won't be happy...
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Fox and furious friends wanted DOJ to prosecute the New York Times
Throughout the tenure of George W. Bush, many of us to the left of center warned that unchecked presidential power was putting Americans' civil liberties in jeopardy. Now with the revelations that the...
View ArticleGuardian Releases New, Top Secret Docs On NSA Data-Mining Tool, “Boundless...
Journalist and blogger Glenn Greenwald and colleague Ewen MacAskill released a new round of top secret National Security Agency documents via the Guardian, Saturday afternoon, this time concerning one...
View ArticleObama ≠ G.W. Bush. Not Even on NSA/Spying. Because Only Bush Claimed ABSOLUTE...
I am not here to defend the surveillance programs our government has been operating. In fact, I have serious qualms about them. I need to know more, and from different kinds of sources, before I form...
View ArticleBiden tells country that meta data is "very, very intrusive"
Harry: "Well the president, though, said, yesterday: 'We're not listening to phone calls. We're just looking for patterns.'"Joe Biden: "Harry, I don't have to listen to your phone calls to know what...
View ArticleHuffPo: Three of wiretapping program's supporters helped derail tougher...
Michael McAuliff and Sabrina Siddiqui of Huffington Post moseyed over to Capitol Hill today and uncovered something interesting. At least three Republican senators who helped torpedo Joe Manchin and...
View ArticleThe NSA Wayback Machine
Have you ever wondered what was happening on DailyKos back on August 1st, 2002? Or how about the very humble beginnings of Google, on November 11th, 1998?In case you haven’t heard of it already,...
View ArticleWhich Side of the 4th Amendment Will Hillary Be On?
My guess is I'm not the only progressive who is going to have a hard time with any daylight between these 2 statements:1. Absent any seismic shifts, I'm probably around 90% on the Hillary Clinton...
View ArticleDoes the NY Times censor the Public Editor's blog?
UPDATE: It took overnight, but they did post my comment to that blog. The Public Editor gets a hat tip for having more nerve than I gave her credit for.Is even the Public Editor of the New York...
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The NSA: The only part of government that actually listens
These T-shirts are sold by LibertyManiacs.com novelty site that according to the article on the JudicialWatch blog site recently received “cease and desist” letters from the NSA and the Department of...
View ArticleSelective Justice and Edward Snowden
Yesterday, New York Times published editorial Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower providing numerous arguments why President Obama should pardon Edward Snowden for blowing whistle on NSA. MSNBC Adam...
View ArticleBush torture defender Rivkin is the force behind Boehner's Obama lawsuit
In his recent CNN op-ed, House Speaker John Boehner explained "why we must now sue President Obama." As it turns out, the legal mastermind behind the House GOP's lawsuit "to compel President Obama to...
View ArticleSenator Pat Roberts: 'You have no civil liberties if you are dead'
As the Washington Post explained Wednesday, Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts is in real trouble. And the consistently ineffective Senate veteran didn't help his re-election cause when he called...
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The Mukasey Rule: Lame-duck Obama should get the attorney general he wants
Next week, Republicans may recapture control of the U.S. Senate. And to be sure, they’ve made no secret of their plans to derail the final two years of Barack Obama’s presidency. Would-be Senate...
View ArticleObama's Bipartisan Achievements
There has been a lot of talk, now that the elections are over and the legislature has fallen into the hands of Republicans about what this will mean for President Obama's agenda and the Democratic...
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A decent nation would have impeached Bush and Obama
The administration of George W. Bush committed a number of actions, some of which are likely criminal, some of which expand the powers of the executive beyond credible fidelity to the constitution and...
View ArticleTorture and Police Killings Cut From the Same Cloth of Injustice
Cross-posted at Attytood:America's snooze alarm went off again this week. Slowly, fitfully, people are starting to wake up from a long national slumber. Our psychic clock radio switched on this time to...
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Can John Oliver do for mass surveillance what he did for net neutrality?
On Sunday, John Oliver had what is easily the most educational and fun half hour of journalism on the surveillance state that you're ever likely to see, including an interview with Edward Snowden....
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Congress nearing agreement on Patriot Act reauthorization legislation
Some provisions of the Patriot Act, including Section 215 which the FISA court has interpreted to allow the government to collect the phone records of virtually every person in the United States, are...
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Mitch McConnell maneuvers to extend Patriot Act, NSA powers outside of...
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to reauthorize the Patriot Act, and specifically Section 215 of it (which the FISA court has interpreted to say that the NSA can collect all of our phone...
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Bipartisan Senate, House members introduce bill to end mass surveillance
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to do an end-run around the legislative process when it comes to reauthorizing the Patriot Act, and with it the bulk collection of Americans' phone...
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House committee passes bill to curtail mass surveillance
The House Judiciary Committee struck a blow against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this week. McConnell is trying to force a five-year extension of the Patriot Act, without any revision of the...
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Bipartisan group of House members plot to strengthen NSA reforms
Congress has a little under a month to reauthorize expiring provisions of the Patriot Act—including Section 215, the provision that is being used to allow bulk collection of cell phone data. But...
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McConnell pushes for Patriot Act extension with no NSA reforms
There's real momentum in Congress to actually end some of the NSA's surveillance powers with a reform bill that would replace the provisions of the Patriot Act that expire at the end of May. But while...
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Appeals court rules NSA bulk collection not authorized by PATRIOT Act
A very large monkey wrench has just been thrown into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's plan to extend the Patriot Act, including Section 215 which the government argues allows bulk collection...
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Mitch McConnell doubles down on preserving NSA bulk collection, despite court...
Sen. Tom Cotton, McConnell's new cheerleader for unlawful surveillance. Within a couple of hours of the ruling from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that the bulk collection of American's cell phone...
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NSA ruling raises specter of Supreme Court challenge on privacy
The decision handed down by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday that the Patriot Act did not authorize the NSA's practice of bulk collection of Americans' cell phone data was a statutory...
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Congress has 10 days to pass NSA bill while McConnell stalls
Congress has essentially 10 working days to deal with the pending expiration of three provisions of the Patriot Act, including Section 215 which has been used by the Bush and Obama administrations to...
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White House backs NSA reform, McConnell still resists
The White House is urging Congress to pass the USA Freedom Act, the NSA reform bill the House is expected to vote on this week. The bill would replace three expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act,...
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What happened in this briefing to convince Bob Corker the NSA needs more data...
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman dropped a bombshell Wednesday.Sen. Bob Corker suggested Wednesday that a controversial National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program should be...
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Sen. Richard Burr apparently doesn't understand how the law works
Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) has rejected the House USA Freedom Act which passed on Wednesday, imposing some limits on the NSA's bulk collection of all of our cellphone metadata....
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Senate slides into NSA reform impasse
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's bid to to pass an unchanged PATRIOT Act, bolstered by Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, doesn't seem to be working. McConnell has refused to take up the USA...
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House, Senate Republicans fracturing over NSA reform
The impasse at which Republicans found themselves last week over reform in the bulk collection of cellphone metadata program in the Patriot Act bleeds into this week, with just a few workdays left...
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Republicans in disarray over NSA reform
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell still insists that the PATRIOT Act provision that the NSA has used to illegally collect cell phone metadata from every American with a cell phone must be...
View ArticleRepublicans show how it's done
They say the best defense is a good offense. As the GOP prepares for its convention in Cleveland, Republicans have little other choice. After all, the Party of Lincoln is about to officially crown the...
View ArticleOh the Irony and Trump has no Idea
Trump’s Energy plans will help bankrupt him !!During Trumps Run-up to the Presidency , he laid out some of his plans for jobs and energyMore Specifically , he said Global warming...
View ArticleWarrantless Wire Tapping
This ! A story just came to light on The Young Turks . It concerns Warrantless Wire Tapping.Watch the video, I’d love to get your thoughts on the issue. They say Trump and the Republican Party are...
View ArticlePompeo, Haspel nominations: Democrats' chance to end 15 years of compliance...
Campaign ActionFifteen years ago today, the U.S. began the invasion of Iraq, a war of choice constructed on a foundation of lies. That invasion was the outward manifestation of the Bush-Cheney "war on...
View ArticleThe third worst person in Washington
When it comes to the culpability for the dismal state of American politics and the accelerating erosion of our governing institutions, failure has a thousand fathers. At the top of the list of the...
View ArticleDemocrats willing to sue over the documents proving that Trump's SCOTUS...
Campaign ActionSenate Democrats know that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath to them before, in 2006 during his confirmation hearing to sit on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. That...
View ArticleDemocrat Leahy hints at smoking gun to Kavanaugh perjury before the Senate in...
Campaign ActionSen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) used those reams of hidden and confidential documents related to Supreme Court nominee's Brett Kavanaugh tenure with the George W. Bush administration to the...
View ArticleThe things we know Kavanaugh has lied under oath about: Abortion, warrantless...
Campaign ActionIt's not longer a hypothetical: Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath to Congress in 2004 and 2006. That's just from the tiny number of documents that have been released on his record so...
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