Another day, another Obama scandal

This is rapidly becoming a standing headline for America. Another major scandal is shaping up involving the Obama Regime spying on average Americans. This one involves the NSA and Verizon.

In a report in the Guardian, hardly a right wing newspaper, they report that a FISA ((Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)) warrant was issued demanding that Verizon hand over all the data on millions of their customers. Here are the details from The Guardian:

The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America’s largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.

The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an “ongoing, daily basis” to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.

The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.

This is about par for the course for Il Douche’s regime. It’s never been about foreign enemies, it’s always been about American Citizens. Recall that DHS ((Department of Homeland Security)) head Janet Incompitano Napolitano issued a report that said that “Right-Wing Extremists” were the true threat to King Putt’s rule The United States. The report considered returning veterans to be of great concern:

“Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to right-wing extremists,” it says. “DHS/I&A [Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis] is concerned that right-wing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize veterans in order to boost their violent capacities.”

So, you now can see why all these spying on the Media, suppression of conservative groups and now the demand for Verizon to hand over the metadata of millions of Americans. Getting back the the Guardian story:

The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (Fisa) granted the order to the FBI on April 25, giving the government unlimited authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19.

Unlimited? Now if THAT isn’t a constitutional violation, I don’t know what is.

Under the terms of the blanket order, the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The contents of the conversation itself are not covered.

Yeah, that’s not surprising. They have the NSA ((National Security Agency)), available to do their wiretapping. Since pretty much all calls go over the air these days, as long as the NSA has the numbers, it’s a snap for them to program Carnivore ((Carnivore (software))), or whatever they use these days, to listen in to the calls.

Now, as you might expect, the liberals are already blaming BOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHH for this. Granted the Bush administration did do warrantless wiretapping, but it was actually very specific. When we got our hands on a cellphone or address book belonging to Al Qaeda, the NSA plugged in the numbers to see who was talking to whom. Most of these were outside the United States and not an issue, but there were a few that were in the United States. This got Bush into trouble. On the flip side, they did stop several attacks in the U.S. Before they happened. This was the whole point of the exercise. The Bush Administration wasn’t interested, (much) in criminal prosecutions, they were interested in preventing another 9/11. For those calls that were overseas and didn’t start or end in the United States, there was no issues at all. What Obama and his thugs are doing is unprecedented.

The unlimited nature of the records being handed over to the NSA is extremely unusual. Fisa court orders typically direct the production of records pertaining to a specific named target who is suspected of being an agent of a terrorist group or foreign state, or a finite set of individually named targets.

Welcome to Obamatopia, the land where anyone is a potential enemy of the state! So what constitutional genius signed this warrant?

The order, signed by Judge Roger Vinson, compels Verizon to produce to the NSA electronic copies of “all call detail records or ‘telephony metadata’ created by Verizon for communications between the United States and abroad” or “wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls”.

Judge Roger Vinson ((Clyde Roger Vinson)) was appointed by Ronald Reagan. He assumed a seven year term on the FISA court in 2006. (EVIL BOOOOSHH) Obviously, he’s forgotten a few things like the 4^th Amendment ((Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution)). Yet another reason for term limits on judges I think.

The order directs Verizon to “continue production on an ongoing daily basis thereafter for the duration of this order”. It specifies that the records to be produced include “session identifying information”, such as “originating and terminating number”, the duration of each call, telephone calling card numbers, trunk identifiers, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number, and “comprehensive communication routing information”.

So, the Obama Tyranny now has not just data on Verizon customers, but anyone they might have called in this time period. I’m sure that our Senators are up in arms over this. In fact, here’s what Lindsey Graham had to say about all this. From Politico:

“I’m glad the NSA is trying to find out what the terrorists are up to overseas and in our country,” Graham said Thursday morning on “Fox & Friends.”

As a customer of Verizon, the subject of the court order, Graham said he and others had nothing to worry about.

“I’m a Verizon customer. I don’t mind Verizon turning over records to the government if the government is going to make sure that they try to match up a known terrorist phone with somebody in the United States. I don’t think you’re talking to the terrorists. I know you’re not. I know I’m not. So we don’t have anything to worry about.”

BOVINE DROPPINGS!

“I’m glad that activity is going on, but it is limited to tracking people who are suspected to be terrorists and who they may be talking to,” Graham said. He was asked whether he was sure: “Yes, I am sure that that’s what they’re doing.”

Prodded further by Gretchen Carlson as to whether the report of millions of phone calls being collected was true, Graham said: “I’m sure we should be doing this.”

And I’m sure that Lindsey Graham is a sanctimonious fool who puts himself and the Federal Government ahead of the Constitution and the American people. Most of the other Republicans are either not saying much just now. However, a number are starting to open fire on Obama. Again, from Politico:

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said that he believed President Barack Obama has gone beyond George W. Bush when it comes to using Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authority.

“I’ve been a supporter of FISA and the FISA court process but it does seem to me that on all fronts the Obama administration is more expansive and aggressive from drones to phone records than the Bush administration,” Blunt said.

If Bush had pulled this crap, the articles of Impeachment would already be drawn up. Since it’s the SCoaMF, it’s generally considered to be just hunkydory, although a few Democrats are also not to happy with this.

“We’ve been unable to speak to it because it is classified,” Durbin said.

Durbin said he hopes there will future votes examining the reach of government.

“To say that every American’s records of phone conversations are now open to government scrutiny really goes to beyond that standard,” Durbin said.

Oh God! I’m actually agreeing with Durbin the Turbin? Has Hell frozen over?

“This type of secret bulk data collection is an outrageous breach of Americans’ privacy. I have had significant concerns about the intelligence community over-collecting information about Americans’ telephone calls, emails, and other records,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said in a statement.

Could this be the break in the Democrat wall? I wouldn’t bet on it. Getting back to the Guardian:

The law on which the order explicitly relies is the so-called “business records” provision of the Patriot Act, 50 USC section 1861. That is the provision which Wyden and Udall have repeatedly cited when warning the public of what they believe is the Obama administration’s extreme interpretation of the law to engage in excessive domestic surveillance.

In a letter to attorney general Eric Holder last year, they argued that “there is now a significant gap between what most Americans think the law allows and what the government secretly claims the law allows.”

“We believe,” they wrote, “that most Americans would be stunned to learn the details of how these secret court opinions have interpreted” the “business records” provision of the Patriot Act.

Gee, ya think? The Patriot Act had a few good things in mixxed up with a lot of very bad things. The upshot is, Der Fubar can literally order any American Citizen arrested and held with no charges and no access to a lawyer forever. The only reason he hasn’t started yet is it would trip off an outright revolt the moment people learned he was doing it. If you don’t think he wouldn’t like to lock up a few thousand people, think again.

I’m now actively thinking we need to convene a full blown constitutional convention with an eye to firming up the protections of the individual, the states and start restricting the powers assumed by the Federal Government. If all this stuff continues to continue dribbling out, it’s only a matter of time before bad things happen. I would prefer to avoid that.

So, my solutions?

Repeal the Patriot Act outright and start fresh to correct the issues that allowed the RIF’s to hit us on 9/11/2001. There were only a few problems and could have easily been corrected without flushing the Constitution into the sewers.

Disband the Department of Homeland Security. They have done nothing but become a true threat to the American People. I have a feeling our enemies consider them a joke.

Disband the Travel Security Administration. They’re very good at groping people, but have utterly failed in their job of stopping terrorists from getting on planes. The few that have, have been stopped by observant passengers.

Start reducing the alphabet soup of government agencies with law enforcement powers. Frankly, it should be limited to the United States Marshals Service ((U.S. Marshals Service)). The FBI should also be stripped of any law enforcement authority and be strictly limited to investigations. I would allow them to keep their sidearms for personal protection. They would work with the Marshals and local authorities, bringing expertise in investigations and forensics. The trigger happy goons ((HRT: Rescue Team or Death Squad?)) from the Hostage Rescue Team ((FBI Hostage Rescue Team – Federal Bureau of Investigation)) can go flip burgers at McDonalds.

I wonder what the Obama Friday afternoon document drop will bring this week?

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

(Who is definitely on Obama’s watch list)

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