Obama's NSA Is Collecting Verizon Phone Records

I like the fact that the story was broken by a left-leaning foreign newspaper. Tends to confirm what I've long thought. If you want news about America you need to get it from outside America.

 

I know people will disagree with me on this, but this chit is necessary. For emphasis, I'll include a link to a story about cyber-hacks in the 2008 Presidential campaigns:

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/06/06/chinese-hacked-obama-and-mccain-campaigns-officials-say/

In a technologically-driven World, security of information is paramount for governments.

Granted, you all are talking about OUR government intrusions, but you forget that other governments will do as they see fit, regardless of what you or I think about it.

btw, I first learned of Chinese hacking back in the early to mid-90's. At the time, a person from our government reported that Chinese were infiltrating a highly-classified computer system, at Los Alamos I believe, and was fired. At the time, it wasn't illegal for Chinese to do what they wanted, but it was illegal for us to find out about it.

These laws, as unsavory as they are, are a necessity, IMO.

 

A quick check on wiki produced this:

Which confirms my claim somewhat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_computer_security_hacker_history

 

Wiki's first "hacking" entry:

LLLOOOLLL

 

Alright, 'fess up....who here has been "Rickrolled"?

I'm guessing all of us, possibly from this:

...or this:

Me? Porn. I mean..."Christian Study Group....thing". Mid 90's.

 

I you want porn just stay at a hotel anywhere in the Bible Belt. You'll find an amazing and eclectic selection. So I'm told anyway.

 

ewwwwwww, "Mary in a Manger" was not what I was hoping for...

...but OK.

 

MSNBC's "All In", with Chris Hayes take on the story:
Progressives’ fears stoked in Obama era surveillance

Ned Resnikoff, @resnikoff
2:39 PM on 06/06/2013

Really?

I honestly thought this was a "given", and had been for a long time.

Read more at:

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/06/06/progressive-critics-demand-answers-on-nsa-phone-surveillance/

 

Even the New York Times is turning on Obama over the NSA's seizure of phone records. Civil libertarians everywhere should be outraged (and rightfully so):

New York Times editorial board says administration has 'lost all credibility'​

The New York Times editorial board, which twice endorsed President Obama and has championed many planks of his agenda, on Thursday turned on the president over the government's mass collection of phone data -- saying the administration has "lost all credibility." ​

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The grey lady's editorial section lately has shown frustration with the administration's civil liberties record. It has criticized the escalation of the lethal drone program, and it lashed out after the Justice Department acknowledged seizing reporters' phone records last month. ​

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The report that the National Security Agency has been collecting phone records from millions of Verizon subscribers appeared to be the last straw. ​

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An editorial published late Thursday said the administration was using the "same platitude" it uses in every case of overreach -- that "terrorists are a real menace and you should just trust us." ​

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The editorial continued: "Those reassurances have never been persuasive -- whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency's phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism -- especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability. The administration has now lost all credibility." ​

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The editorial board claimed Obama "is proving the truism that the executive will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it." ​

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The language was a far cry from the Times' Oct. 23, 2008, endorsement of then-candidate Obama. At the time, the Times praised Obama's "cool head and sound judgment," and said he was "putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change." ​

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Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle voiced concern on Thursday about the records collection effort. It was first reported by The Guardian newspaper, which obtained a copy of a secret court order allowing the government to collect phone call information - though not monitor the calls themselves -- directly from Verizon. Civil liberties-conscious lawmakers like Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., cried foul, as did the American Civil Liberties Union. ​

​

Lawmakers in the loop on the program tried to assuage concerns, however. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., who lead the Senate intelligence committee, defended the program as necessary to keep the country safe. ​

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White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest also said there is "extensive oversight" on such activity. ​

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"The order reprinted overnight does not allow the government to listen in on anyone's telephone calls. The information acquired does not include the content of any communications or the name of any subscriber. It relates exclusively to call details, such as a telephone number or the length of a telephone call," he said. ​

​

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The Times editorial described this explanation as "lame" -- "as though there would be the slightest difficulty in matching numbers to names." ​

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"Essentially, the administration is saying that without any individual suspicion of wrongdoing, the government is allowed to know who Americans are calling every time they make a phone call, for how long they talk and from where," the Times editorial board wrote. ​

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The Times editorial board has long opposed The Patriot Act, which was the legal basis for the records collection, and reiterated that opposition in light of the latest revelations. ​

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But the law's author, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said Thursday that this application of the law was "never the intent."​

​

​

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/06/new-york-times-editorial-board-says-administration-has-lost-all-credibility/#ixzz2VV0OpxTw​

 

Were you against it when the Bush Administration was doing it? Were you outraged? Did you speak out? (see post #19}

 

Every time Obama screws up (which is quite often), liberals try to correlate it with something another president did. Is that going to somehow, in their minds at least, minimize what Obama is doing? Should it? I don't think so. Obama is our president and that means he is going to have to take responsibility for his own actions. He can't blame anyone but himself for what he is doing now. If he didn't like what Bush was doing, he has the power to stop it, but he hasn't.

 

I never thought I'd see something like this on the Huffington Post. But, here it is:

View attachment 1732

 

I don't know why he did not bother to answer, but try this. Note the date.

CoinOKC, Feb 21, 2011

 

I think what you are missing about this question is that this isn't so much a defense of Obama as it is astonishment in your sudden tone of scandal and outrage at something that has been going on well before the Obama Administration ever existed. In other words, who told you to be outraged?

 

Indeed. Domestic spying per se is not a problem for them. It wasn't when Bush was doing it. It becomes a problem only when it's revealed by a foreign "Socialist" newspaper that Obama is doing it too.

 

Thanks for posting that, RLM. Those are still my sentiments as well they should be for every American, Obamunist or not.

 

Don't be foolish. Any civil libertarian should be outraged that our government is doing this. You haven't expressed even an iota of outrage over this. So, please tell us if you're defending Obama's actions or if you're outraged over this.

 

What the Obama regime is engaging in is reprehensible. What I'm hearing from the liberal community is not so much outrage, but a sucking sound. It's the sound of their mouths gaping wide open, their hearts momentarily stopping, their lungs contracting forcefully pushing the air out and being immediately replaced with a gasping, whooshing intake of air. I believe it to be an involuntary reaction to having been misled by this president who was their darling, but is now being revealed as not the harbinger of hope and change, but a carbon copy of any previous president who side-stepped our liberties and our freedoms.

 

He always was firmly up your ass.