Posted on 01/18/2014 1:36:15 PM PST by SatinDoll
Nice speech yesterday?
Well, not really.
There are some points on which I agree with the President, which is a shocker all on its own. For instance, I agree that we can spy on people outside the United States who are a threat to the country. We always have as a nation; this is not new.
And, I agree with his change requiring a warrant before US phone records are accessed. That's a new one for the President, and it's a good one.
However, what I didn't hear today was any reform on mass-collection itself, nor on penalties for lies told to the FISA court and violations, all of which we know have already happened because they've been admitted to.
The most-egregious of these violations are the "dual-track" prosecutions where someone is implicated in a search without a warrant, they are then arrested and a false trail of evidence is generated and presented to a court to avoid disclosing that the original "find" was the fruit of an illegal act -- or even that the program that generated the original "find" exists.
That is a rank violation of the Constitution, due process of law and is perjury, a stand-alone felony, on top of it.
It thus is not surprising that once again Obama stated that we were a great "democracy" today. The United States is no such thing; a Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to eat. We are a Constitutional Republic, a form of government in which inalienable rights vest in all persons as a function of their existence, not by government decree, fiat or privilege. To the extent government disrespects this fact it invites anarchy, first on an individual scale and then, unfortunately, on a mass scale. And irrespective of the alleged power that the government possesses it cannot win such a fight, at least not in a form and fashion in which there is a nation left to be economically and socially productive.
The President doesn't want to deal with the base issue here, but he eventually will be forced to, one way or another. And that base issue is simply this: If the government is going to commit felonies on a mass scale for whatever they deem to be "good and sufficient cause" then eventually some substantial subset of the population is likely to decide that adherence to any part of the law is no longer part of the social contract.
Yes, there are some thugs who do that today. We call them criminals. But today this is not something that the general population holds to be a valid opinion or exercise of choice. That can change, and it appears our President, like the one before him, fails to recognize how catastrophic such a change would be.
There are plenty of reasons to believe that such a shift in public sentiment could happen, and they're not all centered around spying on people either. Indeed, I'm at least as concerned with the local and state pigs -- as distinct from peace officers for whom I have considerable respect. I put among the former crew the jackasses responsible for the felony assault outlined here, along with the clear felony assaults performed in the SW US (multiple anal exams and medical procedures performed on innocent individuals.) While I'm sure they don't see any "downside" to their actions other than the possibility that the citizens of their jurisdiction will get taxed to cover a judgment in a subsequent lawsuit this is a dangerously-incorrect view.
America was founded on the principle that its governmental subdivisions exist only with the consent of the governed. This, indeed, is clearly stated in our founding documents. So is the fact that we're a Republic that recognizes inalienable rights.
Inalienable rights are those which you cannot have taken from you nor can you give them away. They can be respected or disrespected, but they remain with you. And if you believe in such rights, and the founding fathers of this nation most-certainly not only did they specifically drafted The Declaration and Constitution around them, then you must further believe that if they are disrespected you have the right to prevent that disrespect from taking effect using any means necessary -- and possible.
This is road the people of this nation should not permit any branch of our government to continue down, for the consequences, should the people decide that The Declaration and Constitution are more than mere words, are catastrophic.
1. COMINT. This is what the government is doing and 'communications intelligence', or COMINT, is what I used to do while serving in the U.S.Navy. However, searching the ether for military comms to collect, translate and analyze is considerably different than what NSA is about these days.
The attack of 9-11-2001 changed how intelligence acquisition is conducted. Unfortunately the laws and means to conduct that spying has also endangered our Republic and its citizen's inalienable rights.
2. Republic v. Democracy was starkly described here and I have to tell you the description of our nation as a democracy has been bandied about since early in the 19th century.
I'm presently reading a biography of James K. Polk, POTUS no. eleven (11): A Country of Vast Designs. The biographer, Robert W. Merry, quotes many letters in which the word 'democracy' is used to describe the United States system of government. These letters were written in the 1830s and 1840s, mostly by Democrats. The other party then were the 'Whigs'.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone concerned with the situation of our relationship with Mexico. Polk was the president most responsible for acquiring parts of our present southwest and west coast for U.S. territories. Merry describes some of the incredibly stupid and criminal actions of Mexicans and the Mexican government during 1800 to 1840 that 'catalyzed' U.S. attitudes towards Mexico and Mexicans in general. It makes for good reading.
3. The government operating outside the law results in its citizens ignoring all laws.
This was how Karl finished his article. No more words need be added by me: it is evidently in progress now.
He told us lies.
The NSA and our intel community in general is pretty worthless as far as stopping terrorism goes. Even with all the warnings they had from the Russians on the Tsarnev brothers, they did not stop their terrorist act.
What Did Obama Tell Us On Spying?
that his plan to stay El Presidente for life is coming together ?
Or, maybe, just maybe, it is indicative of who they consider to be the true enemy.
How can he fix something, he didn’t even know about?
He never knows anything. Don’t we deserve a President who at lest knows how to tie his shoes?
Glad to see Karl Denninger back. I thought he had quit.
I was on duty when the Achille Lauro was hijacked.
Radio traffic was high at the time so we knew that some terrorist plan was in progress.
No one -NO ONE - imagined that Black September (Abu Nidal) would seize control of an ocean cruise ship!
Using the Tsarnev brothers as an example, well it’s not a good example. For all we know, the government hired them to plant fake bombs as a part of the planned drill that day. One of those persons injured by one of those bombs was a Saudi Arabian citizen - burned hands and shrapnel in his buttocks - a person identified by some as a son of bin Laden himself.
That Arabian is still in the U.S. and regularly visits OUR White House.
..he spoke for 25 minutes and said NOTHING...he’s still going to SNOOP AND SPY on US CITIZENS....ILLEGALLY!
I have no problem believing that. I would think that they would still at least try to stop real terrorist acts if they knew about them just to make themselves look competent.
Saw a snippet of it this morning and seemed as though he isn’t even making an effort to pretend he takes the job seriously anymore.
I know I wouldn’t expect anything to change his behavior.
He is only a puppet. Someone else is directing the executive branch.
..he never has...any President, especially with today’s atmosphere with terrorist, he only attends 47% of his daily security briefings....SLACKER!...in his mind if he doesn’t know about it, he can’t be held responsible,,,,so he makes sure someone else takes the blame.....(the stand down order for example...even though no one else in that situation can give it...more and more it looks like Penetta)...
On the fence abt Boston but damn sure abt sandy hook.
“We are not spying on the american people. Period.
“And besides, I told them to stop.
Trust me! Period!”
You know, I not really sure what the people of this country deserve any more.
“For instance, I agree that we can spy on people outside the United States who are a threat to the country.”
Yeh me too. Thats what the CIA was supposed to be for.
Now wait just a minute. Wasn’t this the patriot act that all the RAT congress critters had their panties in a wad over when Bush was president. But, then changed their tune about when Obama came into office. I seem to remember that is was his administration that expanded what we were capturing. Typical destroy and rescue by the RAT, then trumpeted by the press as a saving act.
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