Government Spying on Millions (Verizon)

[Jebediah Springfield]

I'm happy to let the government screen my e-mails and phone calls for me. Let them deal with the tele-marketers and Nigerian princes with "promising opportunities."

Dude, you don't want to help out a prince for 50k... pass that over to me.

 

[Irish YJ]

Just one more thing making retirement in Belize more attractive. If Texas were to leave the Union today, I'd be on my way to big D.

 

[Cackalacky]

Kim Dotcom's tweet is especially dire, saying that the Verizon news is a leak so we don't know if AT&T, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Skype, etc are under orders to do the same thing. Just disgraceful.

I am pretty sure Verizon had been very helpful regarding online piracy too. Other companies like Comcast and AT&T have been less than helpful in notifying the government about users pirating materials, but I think CISPA was supposed to "seal the deal" for all telecommunications or other entities with user data.

 

[connor_in]

Every admin has their things for sure, some to larger (much larger) degrees than others, and we can all debate/discuss that of course... for me, a sticking/sour point over the last five plus years has been the complete inability for myself and many of my minority friends and family to criticize this administration or it's policies without the inevitable label of ‘racist’ or ‘uncle tom’ being thrown at us (even here). Regardless of where anyone’s ideologies stand, can we at least now all agree that people have valid reasons to not stand with this administration according to strictly differing ideologies/opinions and stop hiding behind race???


sorry,...

just had to get that off my chest.

I can't believe you would bring something like that up! The only possible reason for you to even go there is that you are obviously a card carrying racist right out of the 1960's south!

You and all you revolutionary trogladite tea party facist friends!

NOTE the font

 

[Buster Bluth]

If you all don't have a VPN, I would highly recommend it. For $40/yr it encrypts all of your connections with the internet. If privacy is your thing, it's a great asset.

 

[Mr. Larson]

It doesn't really matter which party wins. Presidents are puppets. The people behind the scene, pumping the money, decide what happens. That has been the case for ever. There is no such thing as a true democracy...

Couldn't agree more. Yeah, you can wrap the "conspiracy" cone on my head if you want. I don't believe in Illuminati, per se, but I have been doing some reading on the history of the federal reserve lately. If you don't know much about it, it is worth your time to review.

Your right...the Illuminati probably isn't real..but the Koch brothers are.

 

[In Lou I Trust]

Saw this on Facebook.

 

[Mr. Larson]

^ LOL

 

[ACamp1900]

Your right...the Illuminati probably isn't real..but the Koch brothers are.

and this guy...

 

[phork]

If you all don't have a VPN, I would highly recommend it. For $40/yr it encrypts all of your connections with the internet. If privacy is your thing, it's a great asset.

I would also highly recommend you find out what kind of logs they keep and look into how co-operative they are with BigBrother. Even doing all of that, you aren't safe.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

If you all don't have a VPN, I would highly recommend it. For $40/yr it encrypts all of your connections with the internet. If privacy is your thing, it's a great asset.

HTTPS Everywhere is a poor man's version of VPN. Free extension for Chrome and Firefox.

 

[Cackalacky]

When are we gonna get past this bipartisan pissing contest and take this muther down?

 

[ACamp1900]

When are we gonna get past this bipartisan pissing contest and take this muther down?

The country follows it's leaders for better or worse... I would say our leadership has definately set the tone and the country has followed that lead. Has anyone from either side NOT been completely partisan/political and overly antagonistic??? Who cares who started what or who did what… they are all guilty as freakin sin on this.

Frustrating

 

[Cackalacky]

The country follows it's leaders for better or worse... I would say our leadership has definately set the tone and the country has followed that lead. Has anyone from either side NOT been completely partisan/political and overly antagonistic??? Who cares who started what or who did what… they are all guilty as freakin sin on this.

Frustrating

Agreed. This reminds me of Bogtrotters signature.

 

[Jebediah Springfield]

When are we gonna get past this bipartisan pissing contest and take this muther down?

Not anytime soon

 

[chicago51]

We have sure had our share of scandals with our President's ever since Nixon:

Obama: IRS, seizing of AP phone records, and now Verizon. I refuse to call Benghazi a scandal.

George W. Bush: No weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the Patriot Act has been a mess, and his whole being elected in 2000.

Clinton: Whitewater, and Monica (well more so pergery in court than the fact he cheated on Hillary)

George H. W. Bush: Pretty much an honorable man.

Reagan: According to Iran's own President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr who was elected on a platform of releasing the hostages said he couldn't do because he couldn't get approval from the religous authority because they cut a deal with the Reagan campaign.

Here is the link to his own Op ed were basically says he couldn't realease the hostages because Reagan made a deal with Ayatollah Khomeini who was the religous authority he needed approval from in Iran's messed up form of government:
‘Argo’ helps Iran’s dictatorship, harms democracy - CSMonitor.com

Ayatollah Khomeini and Ronald Reagan had organized a clandestine negotiation, later known as the “October Surprise,” which prevented the attempts by myself and then-US President Jimmy Carter to free the hostages before the 1980 US presidential election took place. The fact that they were not released tipped the results of the election in favor of Reagan.

Reagan won in a landslide but during the summer Carter was actually ahead in all the polls until being unable to resolve the hostage crisis did him in.

Jimmy Carter: A weak leader in certain aspects but was regarded as a high character individual, no real scandals.

Gerald Ford: He pardoned Nixon

Richard Nixon: Watergate

Then there is the tapes that were released from LBJ's library that basically says the Nixon campaign during the 1968 election committed treason and sabatogged the Vietnam peace talks.

Here is one of the tapes of LBJ speaking to Republican majority leader Everett Dirksen, who was regarded as a great majority/minority leader and an honorable man, telling him that he knows what Nixon is doing.

LBJ went to his grave with this secret.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5R7v69T0528" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Whiskeyjack]

When are we gonna get past this bipartisan pissing contest and take this muther down?

Seriously. Why bother getting worked up over partisan political theater? It's little more than a gladiatorial contest meant to distract you from the real business of power politics. Virtually no one in Washington is representing your interests. They largely come from and work for the 1%.

Hopefully this will get some partisans to open their eyes. But I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Mr. Larson]

It's not much but it's something...follow the link to sign a petition for the House Oversight Committee and Senate Judiciary to Committee demand an immediate investigation into this spying:

Demand Progress | JUST CONFIRMED: Government really is spying on all of us

 

[chicago51]

Seriously. Why bother getting worked up over partisan political theater? It's little more than a gladiatorial contest meant to distract you from the real business of power politics. Virtually no one in Washington is representing your interests. They largely come from and work for the 1%.

Hopefully this will get some partisans to open their eyes. But I'm not holding my breath.

This is 100% correct.

73% in a Quincy poll said Congress top focus should be jobs and the economy as opposed to scandals.

Huff TV: Arianna Talks Jobs On ABC's This Week

Trying to find the source for this: I read though that on all the Sunday talk shoes combined everything pretty much delt with scandals and only 7 minutes 55 seconds (again on all the Sunday shows combined) focused on the economy. So I blaim the media here as well for not focusing on what is really important.

I actually give the President credit as he is the only person in Washington really talking about jobs or has any sort of jobs plan. The Republican party has tried to distance himself from Mitt Romney but the fact is Romney actually had a plan for the economy. I personally think closing loopholes is a fine idea, although I am totatlly against dropping the tax rates for the higest earners. I feel closing loopholes should be revenue positive. At least though Romney had a plan. I don't hear anything from Democrats or Republicans in Congress about any sort of jobs plan. Obama is pretty much the only one talking at all about it.

They way I see it either impeach the guy or move on. I rather have Congress start working on improving the economy as unemployment is still too high.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

It's not much but it's something...follow the link to sign a petition for the House Oversight Committee and Senate Judiciary to Committee demand an immediate investigation into this spying:

Demand Progress | JUST CONFIRMED: Government really is spying on all of us

I love the faux outrage over this on Capitol Hill. The NSA's sole purpose is to spy on Americans. They all know this. Many of them voted for the Patriot Act themselves.

The NSA likely has a record of everything each individual American has ever looked at on the internet. Thinking of running for public office someday? Better hope that weird fetish site you checked out once doesn't mysteriously get leaked.

 

[Mr. Larson]

I love the faux outrage over this on Capitol Hill. The NSA's sole purpose is to spy on Americans. They all know this. Many of them voted for the Patriot Act themselves.

The NSA likely has a record of everything each individual American has ever looked at on the internet. Thinking of running for public office someday? Better hope that weird fetish site you checked out once doesn't mysteriously get leaked.

Holy sh*t....mods can see my browsing history??

 

[Cackalacky]

Seriously. Why bother getting worked up over partisan political theater? It's little more than a gladiatorial contest meant to distract you from the real business of power politics. Virtually no one in Washington is representing your interests. They largely come from and work for the 1%.

Hopefully this will get some partisans to open their eyes. But I'm not holding my breath.

That was what I intended to say. I meant "bipartisan" as in none of them representing us. Probably should have used italics. My bad. And I am not worked up, just ready for some public action.

 

[Jebediah Springfield]

I love the faux outrage over this on Capitol Hill. The NSA's sole purpose is to spy on Americans. They all know this. Many of them voted for the Patriot Act themselves.

The NSA likely has a record of everything each individual American has ever looked at on the internet. Thinking of running for public office someday? Better hope that weird fetish site you checked out once doesn't mysteriously get leaked.

I guess the guys who get internet hard ons over prospect's twitter pics are done for....

 

[ACamp1900]

I love the faux outrage over this on Capitol Hill. The NSA's sole purpose is to spy on Americans. They all know this. Many of them voted for the Patriot Act themselves.

The NSA likely has a record of everything each individual American has ever looked at on the internet. Thinking of running for public office someday? Better hope that weird fetish site you checked out once doesn't mysteriously get leaked.

You mean to tell me that my viewing of Irish Envy may one day keep me out of elected positions???

mothafuka!!!!

 

[Wild Bill]

The end justifies the means if Mora and his staff are Verizon subscribers and their tampering shenanigans are revealed.

 

[Cackalacky]

You mean to tell me that my viewing of Irish Envy may one day keep me out of elected positions???

mothafuka!!!!

Holder can drone strike you now if he wants. Better show some respect or you can be deemed an illegal combatant and your family double tapped.

 

[chicago51]

D.C. is obsessed with scandal. America isn't. - The Week

Seriously I wish the House would just take a vote rather or not impeach Obama right now. No instead we going to muck through all these investigations and things like improving the economy, tax reform, and other issues are going to be on the back burner.

 

[ACamp1900]

Holder can drone strike you now if he wants. Better show some respect or you can be deemed an illegal combatant and your family double tapped.

What if I ask him for the Slacky Discount???

 

[ShawneeIrish]

I agree with all of this, although George W. Bush was a friend to big business as well. I voted for Obama twice and I do agree with his stance on social issues, the environment, his "all of the above" energy policy, and his stance on needing to beef up our infrastructure. That said Obama's economic team is littered with former guys from Wall Street and the Banking industry.

The 1981/1982 financial crisis which occurred largely because of Reagan's own deregulation of banking. That said the Reagan administration actually prosecuted a couple thousand banksters and several dozen faced prison sentencing. If Ronald Reagan can prosecute banksters the Obama administration has no excuse.

The 2008 financial crisis which occurred largely because of Reagan's own deregulation of everything. Reagan may be the worst President ever yet is sanctified in modern America.

As to the spying Holder is a joke and should have lost his job a long time ago. Obama's foreign policy and intelligence gather policies are atrocious. Obama is substantively not different from W in these areas, he merely talks a better game.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

That was what I intended to say. I meant "bipartisan" as in none of them representing us. Probably should have used italics. My bad. And I am not worked up, just ready for some public action.

Wasn't implying you were worked up. But many of our posters here are clearly strong partisans, which frustrates me (particularly becomes some of them are quite intelligent). Why bother emotionally investing oneself (let alone publicly defending) one side in a contrived contest meant to distract the masses from the fact that 1% of the population is shamelessly f*cking over the rest of us?

This NSA scandal comes on the heels of the Supreme Court's decision that warrantless DNA swabbing is constitutional:

Scalia called the decision's scope "vast" and "scary," and said the DNA collection is an unequivocal violation of Americans' Fourth Amendment right to be free from "unreasonable searches and seizures" of their bodies and homes.

"Make no mistake about it: As an entirely predictable consequence of today’s decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national DNA database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason," he wrote.

Orwellian nightmare, anyone?