By Cindy Cohn and Mark Jaycox | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – The Senate passed the USA Freedom Act today by 67-32, marking the first time in over thirty years that both houses of Congress have approved a bill placing real restrictions and oversight on the National Security Agency’s surveillance powers. The weakening amendments to […]
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National Security Agency
Why Rand Paul is right to Kill the So-Called PATRIOT Act: It was never about Terrorism
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has vowed to force the expiration of the so-called PATRIOT Act on Sunday. Paul is right that it is unconstitutional and in this regard he is a better constitutional scholar than Barack Obama, whose stance on this issue is, to say the least, […]
Why the so-called USA PATRIOT Act can’t actually Keep America Safe
by CHARLES KURZMAN for ISLAMiCommentary: Charles Kurzman With the “USA PATRIOT Act” set to expire at the end of the month, you might expect supporters of domestic surveillance to tout the take-down of the biggest plot of violent extremism America has experienced so far this year. Not the plot by two men who drove to […]
Snowden’s Revenge: USA “Freedom” [Surveillance] Act Fails in Senate
By Nadia Prupis, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) — “The failure of these bills to pass shows just how dramatically the politics of surveillance changed once the extent of the government’s surveillance programs became known to the public.” In a move that is being hailed by civil liberties advocates as a victory for privacy rights, the […]
Unlike Congress, Majority of Americans Oppose NSA Spying
By Nadia Prupis, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | – Survey commissioned by ACLU shows “how disconnected members of Congress are from the feelings of a lot of the public.” A new survey which found that most Americans oppose NSA surveillance comes as some key sections of the Patriot Act near their expiration date. (Photo: mlliu/flickr/cc) […]
The National Security State gets Real: 9 Ways the US is becoming Bizarro World
By Tomd Engledhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | – It’s commonplace to speak of “the fog of war,” of what can’t be known in the midst of battle, of the inability of both generals and foot soldiers to foresee developments once fighting is underway. And yet that fog is nothing compared to the murky nature of the […]
Just how Illegal has the NSA’s Domestic Spying Been?
By Andrew Crocker | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – We now have the first decision from a court of appeals on the NSA’s mass surveillance program involving bulk collection of telephone records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, and it’s a doozy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an opinion […]
Is Sen. Tom Cotton right that ISIL is Winning?
John Iadarola, Jimmy Dore, Ana Kasparian | (The Young Turks) — “Senator Tom Cotton has a lot of faith in the military prowess of ISIS, and its fighters, unfortunately though he doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about when he talks about ISIS. John Iadarola (Think Tank), Jimmy Dore (The Jimmy Dore Show), Ana […]
HUGE WIN FOR PRIVACY! Court Rules NSA Spying Is Illegal
John Iadarola, Jimmy Dore, Ana Kasparian | (The Young Turks) | – “The second circuit court of appeals has ruled that the bulk collection and storage of Americans phone records is ILLEGAL, good news when it comes to your privacy. John Iadarola (Think Tank), Jimmy Dore (The Jimmy Dore Show), Ana Kasparian (The Point,) break […]