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US Federal Judge Rules NSA Data Collection Legal
New submitter CheezburgerBrown . tips this AP report:
"A federal judge on Friday found that the National Security Agency's bulk collection of millions of Americans' telephone records is legal and a valuable part of the nation's arsenal to counter the threat of terrorism. U.S. District Judge William Pauley said in a written opinion (PDF) that the program 'represents the government's counter-punch' to eliminate al-Qaeda's terror network by connecting fragmented and fleeting communications. In ruling, the judge noted the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and how the phone data-collection system could have helped investigators connect the dots before the attacks occurred. 'The government learned from its mistake and adapted to confront a new enemy: a terror network capable of orchestrating attacks across the world. It launched a number of counter-measures, including a bulk telephony metadata collection program — a wide net that could find and isolate gossamer contacts among suspected terrorists in an ocean of seemingly disconnected data,' he said."
You heard it here first: Fourth Amendment defeated 5-4.
I haven't read the opinion—I'm not in the mood for that kind of comedy today—but one must keep in mind that this is also a First Amendment issue as well, the issue being the right to anonymous free association, something that the ACLU has brought up in its lawsuit against the NSA regarding its own phone records that have been swept up in the NSA's dragnet. In the past, the Supreme Court has been very clear regarding the right to the right to associate anonymously. But the right-wing conservative fascists on the court might rule differently. But if any of them are students of history, especially recent history, and take note of the simple fact that if a government is given the liberty to reach into these fundamental rights it will abuse them, they will rule justly on this issue.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
Except for the minor fact that none of that shit actually happened, you're exactly right. You should try getting your news from places other than WingNut Daily and Fox Noise.
Not too deeply anchored in reality, are you? ATF forced nothing, they sold weapons directly (undercover pretending to be FFL's) in the hopes of tracking distribution. As they had been doing for a decade before. The IRS targeted ALL political sounding organizations- 501(c)4-6 are NOT ALLOWED TO BE POLITICAL. That the vast majority of them were Tea Party (again, NOT ALLOWED) was merely an indication of the extent party's corruption, not a bias in the IRS. Only three were actually refused, BTW. All were Liberal. Dozens more were slated to be refused, rightly so, but the outcry put that on hold. Which is clearly what the outcry was intended to do. Fox did not scoop this, they planned it. No story was fabricated, as has been determined time and time again by investigations. A reasonable conclusion was drawn- rioting was happening all over Egypt and other countries at that exact moment for specifically what they stated. Thinking that this is simply another of those identical riots is not a stretch by any means.
Waiting for the first beats of 'Velcro Fly' to start.
Actually, the "right-wing fascists" on the court are often more interested in preserving the 4th Amendment. The left-wing pro-state, pro-government, anti-freedom justices are often less interested in the preserving the 4th Amendment.
(Also remember that although the recent expansion of the NSA started under Bush, the explosion of its use was under Obama.)
The issues here can create very strange politics and what you think might be left or right on the Supreme Court might not actually be the case.