U.S. President Barack Obama’s National Security Agency (NSA) routinely listens to domestic phone calls (and snoops through emails and text messages) without prior court authorization, a congressman who attended a secret briefing said last week.
U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) says he was told the NSA can – and does – regularly tap the contents of phone calls “simply based on an analyst deciding that.”
“I was rather startled,” Nadler said, according to the website c|net.
Ya think?
Nadler’s comments confirm statements made previously by former analyst Edward Snowden, who courageously disclosed the existence of the NSA’s massive snooping operation last week. It also makes a liar out of Obama, who earlier this month sought to assure Americans regarding the scope and purpose of the domestic spy program.
“Nobody is listening to your telephone calls,” Obama said. “That’s not what this program’s about.”
Except that’s exactly what this program is about.
Obama also sought to reassure Americans about the safety of their private data, promising them that “federal judges are overseeing the entire program throughout.”
That’s apparently bullsh*t, too.
Listen up sheeple: You are being lied to .. and not only that, according to a couple of congressmen we’ve spoken with your elected officials are being lied to as well.
Here’s the bottom line: All that’s standing between the federal government and every single byte of your personal data is a promise from Obama – the same guy who said he’d never raise taxes on you, that he’d let you keep your health care plan, that he’d cut the deficit in half, etc.
So be afraid. Be very afraid. Or just keep tuning out … and tuning into your favorite reality TV program.
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34 comments
The NSA is now admitting to everything, even the gross violations of the 4th…because they are basically saying “tough shit, you can’t do anything about it”.
One of my favorite principled lefties(other than Glenn Greenwald), Alan Grayson, had a great little rundown on the whole deal recently:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ffSD2zRX-kQ
The NSA is now admitting to everything, even the gross violations of the 4th…because they are basically saying “tough shit, you can’t do anything about it”.
One of my favorite principled lefties(other than Glenn Greenwald), Alan Grayson, had a great little rundown on the whole deal recently:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ffSD2zRX-kQ
http://imgur.com/XmNt6
Time to pop a soma.
:)
Smirks, I think Huxley is more correct than Orwell – but not by much.
Let’s contemplate that they could both be right as well…it’s not necessarily an either/or option.
Americans Sent Over a Hundred Million Father’s Day Messages, Says N.S.A.
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) — Americans sent over a hundred million Father’s Day messages on Sunday, the National Security Agency reported today.
The hundred-million number, while robust, falls short of the hundred and twenty million Mother’s Day messages collected by the N.S.A. in May.
The difference between the two figures is “not surprising,” said N.S.A. director General Keith B. Alexander. He added, “On the whole, mothers take Mother’s Day more seriously — if the e-mails we read by mothers whose children forgot are any indication.”
General Alexander said that the agency collected in the neighborhood of two to three million such e-mails from angry mothers this year.
The N.S.A. director added that the agency had not foiled any terror plots over the weekend but did uncover between thirty and forty thousand extramarital relationships.
http://imgur.com/XmNt6
Time to pop a soma.
:)
Smirks, I think Huxley is more correct than Orwell – but not by much.
Let’s contemplate that they could both be right as well…it’s not necessarily an either/or option.
Americans Sent Over a Hundred Million Father’s Day Messages, Says N.S.A.
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) — Americans sent over a hundred million Father’s Day messages on Sunday, the National Security Agency reported today.
The hundred-million number, while robust, falls short of the hundred and twenty million Mother’s Day messages collected by the N.S.A. in May.
The difference between the two figures is “not surprising,” said N.S.A. director General Keith B. Alexander. He added, “On the whole, mothers take Mother’s Day more seriously — if the e-mails we read by mothers whose children forgot are any indication.”
General Alexander said that the agency collected in the neighborhood of two to three million such e-mails from angry mothers this year.
The N.S.A. director added that the agency had not foiled any terror plots over the weekend but did uncover between thirty and forty thousand extramarital relationships.
What is story on AT&T this software that government putting on phone and you can’t shut off.
I read this a couple of days ago, (can’t find the link for you), but I thought it might be a joke. Supposedly your phone will receive “special” messages from (potus) which you CANNOT TURN OFF! What better way to track you minute by minute! Personally, the only message from that abomination would be that he (together with his cabal) is resigning…..
Verizon already has this on my Android phone. I tried to turn off “emergency messages from the president” and the option is “greyed out”. To even find the option is buried in layers of settings.
Sorry citizen, you can’t tune out Big Brother.(Uncle Sam)
Good for you to look for it. and find that it isn’t a joke. The article did say it would be on Androids and Iphones. The article did say that messages would include things like “an ice storm is predicted in your area.” What’s that all about? They want you to think you’re getting a really good thing – but it is only to fool the unsuspecting. My phone has audio (call from ?, for example) which is nice, but will I be able to turn off the audio? I know how to find and understand.NOAA Weather.
Go to question 14. Sigh.
http://support.verizonwireless.com/faqs/Wireless%20Service/emergency_alerts_faq.html
Thanks for the link. I pulled it up and went to the associated link listing the phone models. Called tech service and found that my phone does not support the emergency alerts. I do have the local alerts (tornados, storms, flooding, etc) from the county emergency center which call my cell phone and my landline. This set up became available only about five weeks ago. It’s only for extremely severe situations.
No legal requirement to read such messages. When TracFone sends me a message trying to sell me more minutes, I just delete them unread.
What is story on AT&T this software that government putting on phone and you can’t shut off.
I read this a couple of days ago, (can’t find the link for you), but I thought it might be a joke. Supposedly your phone will receive “special” messages from (potus) which you CANNOT TURN OFF! What better way to track you minute by minute! Personally, the only message from that abomination would be that he (together with his cabal) is resigning…..
Verizon already has this on my Android phone. I tried to turn off “emergency messages from the president” and the option is “greyed out”. To even find the option is buried in layers of settings.
Sorry citizen, you can’t tune out Big Brother.(Uncle Sam)
Good for you to look for it. and find that it isn’t a joke. The article did say it would be on Androids and Iphones. The article did say that messages would include things like “an ice storm is predicted in your area.” What’s that all about? They want you to think you’re getting a really good thing – but it is only to fool the unsuspecting. My phone has audio (call from ?, for example) which is nice, but will I be able to turn off the audio? I know how to find and understand.NOAA Weather.
Go to question 14. Sigh.
http://support.verizonwireless.com/faqs/Wireless%20Service/emergency_alerts_faq.html
Thanks for the link. I pulled it up and went to the associated link listing the phone models. Called tech service and found that my phone does not support the emergency alerts. I do have the local alerts (tornados, storms, flooding, etc) from the county emergency center which call my cell phone and my landline. This set up became available only about five weeks ago. It’s only for extremely severe weather situations.
No legal requirement to read such messages. When TracFone sends me a message trying to sell me more minutes, I just delete them unread.
What is the big deal? Who didn’t already know this was going on?
While some suspected, the outright admission is troubling in that an arm of our gov’t is saying “F the 4th”.
In fact, it highlights the dangers of bureaucracy because it shows the non legislative dictates that can be put in place…and that shadow gov’t per se…run by unelected people, are creating laws and imprisoning/charging people that don’t have the sanction of the population as a whole.
They are partially responsible for the onslaught of onerous laws & regulations that have created a massive gov’t machine with its proverbial boot on every aspect of our daily living….all funded by us…the tax cattle as well.
While the 4th should be sacrosanct under the proverbial “10 commandments” of the country’s founding document…the NSA has now demonstrated that legislative edicts creating bureaucratic power trump even the Constitution and her amendments.
If you aren’t troubled by that….well….you should be.
What is the big deal? Who didn’t already know this was going on?
While some suspected, the outright admission is troubling in that an arm of our gov’t is saying “F the 4th”.
In fact, it highlights the dangers of bureaucracy because it shows the non legislative dictates that can be put in place…and that shadow gov’t per se…run by unelected people, are creating laws and imprisoning/charging people that don’t have the sanction of the population as a whole.
They are partially responsible for the onslaught of onerous laws & regulations that have created a massive gov’t machine with its proverbial boot on every aspect of our daily living….all funded by us…the tax cattle as well.
While the 4th should be sacrosanct under the proverbial “10 commandments” of the country’s founding document…the NSA has now demonstrated that legislative edicts creating bureaucratic power trump even the Constitution and her amendments.
If you aren’t troubled by that….well….you should be.
Notice the dearth of comments from the usual gov’t employed suspects in the comment section.
Can’t say I blame them….the gov’t will roll over them first/hardest if they squeak even a timid objection to being watched/recorded in everything they do.
That’s why Snowden’s a hero.
Notice the dearth of comments from the usual gov’t employed suspects in the comment section.
Can’t say I blame them….the gov’t will roll over them first/hardest if they squeak even a timid objection to being watched/recorded in everything they do.
That’s why Snowden’s a hero.
We’re being lied to by Fits,and his ilk,who’re creating needless paranoia,and non-news news.
Simple logic will tell you this is bullshit,although I doubt any thinking people take him seriously.
‘This just in’ has the right idea;copied and pasted from,The New Yorker.
We’re being lied to by Fits,and his ilk,who’re creating needless paranoia,and non-news news.
Simple logic will tell you this is bullshit,although I doubt any thinking people take him seriously.
‘This just in’ has the right idea;copied and pasted from,The New Yorker.