Tom Drake Only Person Indicted Under Original NYT "Leak Investigation"
Politico reported that yesterday that the massive investigation into the sources for the 2005 New York Times article revealing the National Security Agency's (NSA) warrantless wiretapping program has...
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'The bipartisan normalization and legitimation of the National Surveillance...
(Quevaal, Wikimedia Commons) The New York Times put it in blunt terms: President Obama’s decision to send an intelligence chief to the Pentagon and a four-star general to the Central Intelligence...
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An interview with California Secretary of State Debra Bowen
Debra Bowen (official photo courtesy of CA SoS office)Earlier this year, Congresswoman Jane Harman resigned her seat in Congress, triggering a special election in California's reliably Democratic 36th...
View ArticleSenators Look to Curb Patriot Act Abuses
Two senators have introduced an amendment to the Patriot Act extension bill which would increase oversight:Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) this week will seek to modify a House-Senate...
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Udall, Wyden warn of government overreach in PATRIOT Act, administration's...
Senators Wyden, Feinstein, and Roberts in Intelligence meeting (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) The White House has developed a "secret law," an interpretation of the PATRIOT Act, that has several Democratic...
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ACLU files FOIA to discover what's behind DOJ's 'secret' surveillance law
Last week, during the debate on renewal of three expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act, Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall participated in a colloquy in which they discussed an interpretation of the...
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Wyden questions NSA lawyer over cell phone tracking of Americans
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mark Udall (D-CO) have sounded an alarm over government overreach under the auspices of the PATRIOT Act, arguing that the administration has adopted a "secret law," an...
View ArticleDon’t Let Phone Companies Off the Hook: Demanding Accountability for...
By Barbara Flynn Currie, Majority Leader, Illinois House of RepresentativesAs we near the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, we can expect to see a number of retrospective pieces in...
View ArticleYou 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...
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