Obama's Bipartisanship: Hiding Behind Jeff Sessions' Skirts When Eliminating Privacy Protections
Obama, hiding behind Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III's skirts, has just attempted to gut privacy protections associated with pen registers, which are probably a key part of the government's massive data mining program on Americans.
Trash Talk - Angels In The Outfield Edition
Well another week has come and gone and people are still talking about the Most Interesting Man In The World and what he has been doing up in the land of the Norske. Well enough about that, let's talk football.National Favre League: This is a horrid week for NFL matchups; none of them are great and most are downright lame.
Obama DOJ Declines To Support Legality Of Bush Surveillance Program
Today the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument on Wilner v. NSA and DOJ, a FOIA case wherein the Center for Constitutional Rights is seeking disclosure of evidence of clandestine surveillance of attorney-client conversations between detainees and their counsel. The Obama Administration is once again protecting illegal conduct by the Bush Administration.
The Blob that Passed Telecom Immunity
The government motion for an emergency stay reveals how Congress and the executive branch and the contractors they employ to spy on the American people have become on indistinguishable blob.
Karl Rove's US Attorney Project, Mary Beth Buchanan Edition
Remember the stated reason Karl Rove gave for firing a bunch of US Attorneys? He saw these US Attorney positions as a great stepping stone for rising political stars. Now Mary Beth Buchanan joins the list of USAs running.
The Not-Bush Prize
Obama got the Not-Bush prize today.
Franken's Fleeting Fourth Amendment
Remember this stunt? It was just two weeks ago that Al Franken was reading the Fourth Amendment to David Kris.
Crazy Pete Hoekstra Remembers the Separation of Powers
Ut oh! Things really are bad when DOJ officials refuse to testify under oath.
Feingold: We're Not the Prosecutors' Committee, We're the Judiciary Committee
If you missed the thoroughly depressing PATRIOT hearing today, this was one of two highlights.
The rest of the hearing featured Democrat after Democrat arguing that we need to develop lists of all the potential suspects out there buying acetone and hydrogen peroxide.
Yes, They Are Tracking Hydrogen Peroxide and Acetone
Remember how last week I used the hypothetical example of using Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act to get records on people who had bought hydrogen peroxide and acetone?
I'm going to make a wildarsed guess and suggest that the Federal Government is doing a nationwide search to find out everyone who is buying large amounts of certain kinds of beauty products.
PATRIOT Hearing Liveblog
You can watch here.
Nice. Leahy started by referencing Obama's statement to NCTC and references the Zazi and other arrests.
Leahy: We can't go into what was said in a highly classified briefing. Need for prompt action and tools they need.
Cell Phone Serials
Scribe sent me this. It sort of makes you wonder who the NYPD is sharing this database with cell phone serial numbers with, doesn't it?
The NYPD is amassing a database of cell phone users, instructing cops to log serial numbers from suspects' phones in hopes of connecting them to past or future crimes.[snip]
A recent internal memo says that when cops make an arrest, they should remove the suspect's cell phone battery
Is John Rizzo Stalling?
Is the OPR report on torture being held up because of Yoo and/or Bradbury? Or because of John Rizzo?
Sunsets Give Way to Dawn on Section 215
In my last post, I showed how Section 215 authority grew over time, potentially in response to legal challenges to other domestic surveillance programs. I'm going to look at what that might mean for the expanded use of 215 authority in 2006 in a later post.
But first, I want to look at one passage in the 2007 IG Report on Section 215 that is relevant to current efforts to reauthorize PATRIOT.
Bush's Illegal Domestic Surveillance Program and Section 215
I wanted to turn to the two IG Reports Glenn Fine did on the PATRIOT Act's Section 215, the section that allows investigators to get business records and other tangible items. (2007 report covering 2002 to 2005; 2008 report covering 2006)
Although we were required to review calendar years 2002 through 2004 in this first review, we elected to include data from calendar year 2005.
More Zazi Justifications for PATRIOT
Another article obediently tying the Zazi investigation to the PATRIOT reauthorization.
Proof the WaPo's Twit Policy Has Restored Its Credibility
Less than a week after the WaPo instituted a new Twitter policy, I'm convinced the new policy has completely protected the rag's credibility.
Obama's Statement to the National Counterterrorism Center
To be fair to Obama, his statement at the NCTC focused more on unity of mission than it did on pushing through PATRIOT (as I had feared).
And I think Obama is absolutely justified in thanking the NCTC for the work it has done recently to break up Zazi's alleged attack.
Announcing National Use Zazi to Gain New Surveillance Powers Day!
The Obama Administration boasts that it did not have a big press conference to announce the arrest of Najibullah Zazi. But it does so in one article of several designed to boast of Obama's approach to terrorism.
Conyers to Holder: Give Us the 215 Info
I guess I'm not the only one who noticed that DOJ is trying to reauthorize Section 215 without leveling with the American people how they're using it. John Conyer, Jerrold Nadler, and Bobby Scott have written Eric Holder, requesting that he make more information on the way Section 215 is used public.
