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On Wednesday, one of her prior statements went viral in a resurrected clip from a May 2007 press conference. It is more than a little concerning.
Trump War Room @TrumpWarRoom
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Kamala: “Just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn't mean that we're not going to walk into that home and check to see if you're being responsible.”
She’s an anti-gun RADICAL.
10:25 AM · Sep 18, 2024
She was talking about legislation she helped write that imposed penalties for gun owners who fail to store their firearms properly at home. //
Harris said the new measure was about legislating "our values" in an attempt to "encourage certain kinds of behavior."
"When we create laws, it's not only about creating an opportunity, if you will, to prosecute someone for committing a crime, but more importantly, when we legislate our values, it's about trying to encourage certain types of behavior," she said at the time.
Leitmotif
4 hours ago
Civil asset forfeiture is an egregious scam, a violation of basic human rights, and should be completely abolished at the federal, state, and local levels.
Period.
Full stop.
Adam Selene / Simon Jester Leitmotif
3 hours ago
We, as a society have somehow rationalized that 'civil' charges from government are not a big deal - just another lawsuit, so the constitutional protections afforded from 'criminal' charges don't apply. They just take your savings, your property and the labors of years of work. So in the end, you worked (retroactively and involuntary without the option to leave and against your will) without compensation. So basically ex post facto slavery.
Ruling: Thumbprint scan is like a "blood draw or fingerprint taken at booking." //
The US Constitution's Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination does not prohibit police officers from forcing a suspect to unlock a phone with a thumbprint scan, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The ruling does not apply to all cases in which biometrics are used to unlock an electronic device but is a significant decision in an unsettled area of the law.
The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit had to grapple with the question of "whether the compelled use of Payne's thumb to unlock his phone was testimonial," the ruling in United States v. Jeremy Travis Payne said. "To date, neither the Supreme Court nor any of our sister circuits have addressed whether the compelled use of a biometric to unlock an electronic device is testimonial."
As it stands now, the law, which is set to expire April 19, allows U.S. intelligence agencies to spy on foreign nationals based overseas, but it also lets the FBI comb through the massive amounts of data the intelligence community collects and gather information about American citizens. These are known as “backdoor searches,” //
they want to require that the FBI obtain a warrant before searching Section 702 data for information about Americans — a reasonable reform. The intelligence community, and the members of the House Intelligence Committee over whom they have influence, oppose this. //
Whatever the original justification of Section 702 was — in the wake of 9/11, the intelligence community argued that massive government surveillance capabilities were necessary to keep Americans safe from terrorist attacks — the purpose of it now is to enable the FBI to surveil Americans, especially Americans who express views and opinions the government deems to be a threat. //
But the intelligence community and the lawmakers on the Intelligence Committee dug in their heels, rejecting multiple compromise reform bills. These bills, wrote Goitein, “would have passed if IC/intel committees were willing to concede that Section 702 should not be used as a means of warrantlessly accessing Americans’ communications.” //
How bad is warrantless spying by our government? Pretty bad. In April 2022, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its annual report that showed the FBI made more than 3.4 million search queries of the NSA database in 2021 on U.S. citizens. About a third of these were “non-compliant searches,” which means they fell outside the normal rules and regulations. In other words, they were illegal.
But that’s not all. As the X account @TheLastRefuge noted, from November 2015 to May 2016, the FBI and contractors for the DOJ/FBI conducted more than 1,000 illegal searches targeting Republican primary candidates.
TheLastRefuge @TheLastRefuge2
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10) Although the number of the illegal search queries were redacted, we know the number is four digits from the size of the redacted text. More than 1,000 and less than 9,999.
6:20 PM · Apr 10, 2024. //
It’s time for ordinary Americans to wake up and realize what our government is doing to us. Under the pretext of keeping us safe from foreign terrorists, the intelligence community has erected a vast surveillance apparatus that targets American citizens — and it will not under any circumstances allow that apparatus to be reformed.
Which is why it should be dismantled completely.
The GOP-controlled House failed to add an amendment proposed by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., that would have altered Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to mandate that federal authorities obtain a warrant before surveilling American citizens. Johnson and 85 Republicans joined Democrats in killing Biggs’ proposal through a tied House vote. //
The House passed the bill 273-147 to re-authorize the government’s use of FISA for the next two years, with 126 Republicans and 147 Democrats voting in favor. The bill must clear the Senate before it hits President Joe Biden’s desk for signature. //
the White House’s Jake Sullivan and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland “call[ed] members on the Hill” this morning to pressure them into squashing Biggs’ amendment.
Jake Sherman @JakeSherman
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VERY intense W.H. lobbying effort on the warrant issue.
- Jake Sullivan/Merrick Garland made calls
- NSC attorney Josh Geltzer and Deputy homeland security adviser Jen Daskal were right outside the floor with representatives from DOJ/CIA to talk to members
If you have a secret police force threatening people, spying on them, and working secretly the levers of political power, then you don’t have a democracy. You have no control over really anything as a voter. //
If you have the power to spy on someone and then to leak the information that you gather or manipulated and then leak it in order to control that person, that’s a major power. In fact, that’s a bigger power than any voter in this country has. And so he’s acting on their behalf when he lies to you. And so it shouldn’t surprise you that they want to keep that power.
By a vote of 212-212, the amendment failed. One hundred and twenty-eight Republicans voted for the amendment, and 86 voted against it. On the Democrat side, the vote was 84 yes and 126 no.
Thomas Massie
@RepThomasMassie
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Follow
This is how the Constitution dies.
By a tie vote, the amendment to require a warrant to spy on Americans goes down in flames.
This is a sad day for America.
The Speaker doesn’t always vote in the House, but he was the tie breaker today. He voted against warrants.
12:37 PM · Apr 12, 2024 //
I'm sorry, if I know the FBI is lying about using FISA, why would I suddenly believe their sales pitch on its critical role in national security? It isn't like the FBI had a few bad actors making the occasional abuse. The data shows that abuse of FISA and lying to the FISA court are baked into the system.
Rep Andy Biggs
@RepAndyBiggsAZ
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Follow
3.4 million warrantless searches of Americans' private communications.
278,000 improper searches on American citizens.
19,000 improper searches of donors to a congressional candidate.
There is no shortage of spying authority abuses by the weaponized FBI. Get a warrant. #FISA
1:19 PM · Apr 10, 2024. //
But the fix was in. Biden's attorney general and national security advisor called individual members of Congress, telling them Doomsday loomed if the federal government had to obey the US Constitution. //
It is abused relentlessly and there is no effort within the government to hold anyone to account for violating that law. For instance, no one involved in the abuse of FISA to spy on the 2016 Trump campaign and transition team has been punished. //
Weminuche45
6 minutes ago edited
The way this works is that if he doesn't support it, his career will be destroyed by the same "intelligence community" people and the system that has collected and stored everything he has said or done for the last 10+ yrs, and you too. That is who actually runs our country, and this is how. Welcome to Stasi American Democracy.
The FBI posted a video of Director Christopher Wray testifying on March 11 and highlighting the "Bureau's compliance with Section 702 during the hearing at the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence." //
Community Notes kept it simple and blunt, "The FBI violated American citizens’ 4A rights 278,000 times with illegal, unauthorized FISA 702 searches." We reported on that in the past, so anything they say now has to be viewed through that lens.
READ: FBI Misused Surveillance Tool More Than 278,000 Times Including Against Jan. 6 People, BLM, Political Donors //
Weminuche45
2 hours ago edited
The 3 hop rule allows them to electronically surveil millions of people without even a FISA warrant against them, probably everyone.
Example:
Warrant for one person
Hop 1 - person with warrant has communicated with 136 people over the last 7 years IN ANY WAY.
137 people now
Hop 2 - those 136 people have communicated with 136 people
18,632 people now under surveillance
Hop 3 - 18,632 people x 137 people
2.5 MILLION people now under surveillance
From one FISA warrant.
No one seems to care much about this though, so it will continue.
World Economic Forum Poohbah Klaus Schwab is fond of paraphrasing the Joseph Goebbels quote, "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear," as "If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't be afraid." Fortunately, that dark day in America has been kicked down the road by no less a body than a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
On Tuesday, the court struck down the FBI and Department of Justice in what looks to be a precedent-setting case called Snitko v. United States, dealing a significant blow to the government's expansive search and seizure practices known as "inventory searches."
The case started out with a 2021 raid on a company called US Private Vaults, a California company offering secure safe deposit boxes with minimal personal identification requirements. Though apparently some specific boxes were targeted, the FBI elected to break open some 700 boxes and rummaged through their contents to the extent of bringing drug dogs in to sniff for traces of drugs as an excuse for invoking civil asset forfeiture. //
The central problem was that the FBI's warrant did not authorize "criminal search or seizure" of the safety deposit boxes. The FBI claimed it was just an "inventory search" that would allow box contents to be inventoried and returned to their owners. This requires following a specific set of rules that the FBI didn't bother to use.
If there remained any doubt regarding whether the government conducted a ‘criminal search or seizure, that doubt is put to rest by the fact the government has already used some of the information from inside the boxes to obtain additional warrants to further its investigation and begin new ones.”
The judges grilled the FBI and Department of Justice on how their actions didn't violate the very purpose of the Fourth Amendment.
This raid, targeting hundreds of boxes, opened a Pandora's box of legal and ethical questions regarding privacy rights and the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches; "It was those very abuses of power, after all, that led to adoption of the Fourth Amendment in the first place." //
Many moons ago, when I was an IG investigator for the Army's Recruiting Command, my boss gave me this sage advice on how to read a crowd if you were giving a training session: " If all the recruiters suddenly start writing," he said, "you've just closed a door they've been using or opened a door they didn't know existed."
The government's correct answer at the original trial was, "My bad, we did something wrong, and we'll do the right thing." The fact that they fought this tooth and nail and then tried to get out from under the ruling shows that they routinely use the "inventory search" masquerade to develop evidence in criminal cases and raise cash at your expense.
Though this was a victory, it was also a tragedy. No one was prosecuted. No one was fired. No one cared. "Deprivation of Right Under Color of Law" is a felony. There is a division of the Justice Department that prosecutes these cases. The DOJ IG didn't open a case to see how widespread this problem is, probably because they already know. What about other people who didn't have a high-profile case to attract free legal care? How do they get their property back? And what about the criminal cases launched, cases that helped move someone's career forward, based on patently unconstitutional searches?
Sooner or later, we have to arrive at a point where we admit that the FBI and most of the Department of Justice are much more of a danger to civil liberties than traditional Catholics, pro-life demonstrators, J6 defendants, Donald Trump, and even China. //
anon-goox
2 hours ago
The fact that Klaus is quoting Josef Goebbels as an authority SHOULD tell everyone---including Klaus himself---that he is on the wrong track.
Turner's bill would extend Section 702 for nine new years, not fix any of the warrantless search problems; plus, it will require hotels, fast food places, etc., with public WiFi to hand over user data on demand.
My view is simple. Section 702 needs to go away. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." //
We have tried this experiment with warrantless searches and have seen it turn out pretty much as expected. The privacy violations will only increase as AI matures and makes more sophisticated searches possible, and more and more of our lives are conducted using smartphones and various apps. There is no reason to believe that agencies that have violated Section 702 for two decades have suddenly decided to become civil libertarians.
Speaker Johnson should show some leadership and let this bill die. But we know how this movie ends, don't we? //
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
- William Pitt the Younger, Speech in the House of Commons, Nov 18 1783
There seems to be no end to warrantless surveillance... //
PaulBart • November 27, 2023 7:14 AM
Yawn. Wikileaks Assange still in jail. Snowden still fugitive in Russia. Hillary and the “missing” emails still not “found”.
Lets have state-sponsored health care. Nothing says government boot tastes delicious like having your medical records and health issues handled by the state. Mmm-mmm good. //
Aaron • November 27, 2023 10:19 AM
A government should know next to nothing about its people.
A people should know almost everything about their government.
The world is upside-down
For those who jumped all over @PaulBlart, you’re missing his point.
People who exposed illegal government actions are still prosecuted as criminals.
Government individuals who perform illegal actions are still in government.
The world is upside-down
The 4th Amendment of the US Constitution prohibits programs like this.
Yet it persists and gains funding
The world is upside-down. //
JonKnowsNothing • November 27, 2023 11:50 AM
@Aaron
re: You missed the memo – along with millions of others
The 4th Amendment of the US Constitution prohibits programs like this
No, No, No it doesn’t – anymore.
A good number of years back, before the NSA lost control of the narrative, they used to claim they did everything according to the “commonly understood meaning” of the 4th amendment: Get a Warrant.
Once they began to lose control, they were confronted by their real usage of this amendment. There are videos of the debate with Gen Michael Hayden on this topic along with a laugh track at what he said. He said it plain and clear.
Gen Hayden is one smart guy and you never want to enter a debate with him.
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The 4th states that “unreasonable” searches require a warrant
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It does not say ALL searches require a warrant, only “unreasonable” ones
So, it was quite simple logic shift -
All searches are now “reasonable” and not “unreasonable”
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All searches include “everything” the new definition of “relevant”
So the NSA, CIA, All USA Leas do not need a warrant unless they want to.
If they want to arrest someone and charge them with some crime, they will get a warrant via parallel construction for the courts. //
Aaron • November 27, 2023 6:29 PM
@JonKnowsNothing
I didn’t miss the memo
I served under Gen. “Porky the Pig” Hayden
The memo is an illegitimate power grab from a long line of 3 letter agencies that no longer serve the purpose in which they were commissioned for.
Airline passengers must submit to a security screening by TSA or else be denied entry into the airport’s secure area, under federal regulations. Passengers can be denied boarding for declining a security screening.
But passengers don’t surrender their Fourth Amendment rights against warrantless searches by police just because they’re at the airport, according to multiple legal analysts and court documents.
The DEA officially calls its stops and searches at airport gates “cold consent encounters.” Passengers are free to end the discussion and walk away, according to the DEA, even if they’re unaware of those rights.
A federal judge recently dismissed the lawsuit filed by André and English in part because he said they should have known their stops were consensual and not a detention. The men were free to go even if they felt trapped by police on the jet bridge. //
a passenger’s recording showed a DEA task force officer telling the man, “We’re no different than TSA.” The agent added, “People like to give us a little more hard time than they give TSA.”
That same video shows some of the leverage DEA task force officers can use to gain consent.
“You’re either going to sign a consent form saying that you’re allowing us to search [your bags],” the drug agent told the passenger. “Or I’m going to detain them, run my dog on it, and get a search warrant.”
The passenger immediately agreed to sign the consent form.