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The Senate held its last vote of the week a little after noon on Thursday, and many lawmakers were eager to take advantage of the short day and head back to their home states for Father’s Day weekend.

The user Equality7-2521 posted a comment in the 3 Reasons the ‘Nothing to Hide’ Crowd Should Be Worried About Government Surveillance thread that shows the eery parallels between Nazi Germany and the United States of today.

Here is an excerpt:

Agorism’s Tech Triumvirate
Anything Peaceful in the Counter-Economy
JUNE 14, 2013 by TOMASZ KAYE
via The Freeman

In Turkey, a large, spontaneous uprising is being met with brutality by government forces. Sometimes such brutality occurs when those who participate in these uprisings cannot communicate or interact effectively—whether to organize or to subvert the State’s power.

What are people looking to shed themselves of an illiberal State—or any State—to do?

Courtesy of trot-trot on reddit

". . . The Yahoo ruling, from 2008, shows the company argued that the order violated its users' Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. The court called that worry 'overblown.'

'Notwithstanding the parade of horribles trotted out by the petitioner, it has presented no evidence of any actual harm, any egregious risk of error, or any broad potential for abuse,' the court said, adding that the government's 'efforts to protect national security should not be frustrated by the courts.' . . ."

Who needs words when you've got pictures!?

http://shadesofthomaspaine.blogexec.com/index.php/entry/big-...

Update: Nadler issued a statement this morning:

“I am pleased that the administration has reiterated that, as I have always believed, the NSA cannot listen to the content of Americans’ phone calls without a specific warrant,” Nadler said in a statement to several news outlets.

That was it. Talk about backtracking, or hushing up at least...

So CNET has since updated their headline on the original story, as well as amending a few other parts, which are annotated at the bottom of the article. Note well that Nadler did not, however, clarify what so "startled" him about what he heard in the secret briefing; nor did he clarify his line of questioning, either, which clearly included a concern about "if you want to listen to the phone...." before he was interrupted by Mueller's answer. And these were clearly concerns rooted in the briefing he had attended.

But all he released was just this cryptic statement. See, once again, the link in update II of this post at the bottom, which is a piece about the context and the laws in question (which presciently highlighted the ambiguity of the exchange, while addressing the possibilities).

In any case, we've all seen numerous reports, including from whistleblowers, indicating that call content is indeed recorded and stored, and that aspect is still not being addressed at all in these questions and cryptic statements. They are dancing around the language of what constitutes "collected," and statements like Nadler's, which says they "cannot listen to the content without a specific warrant," fail also to confirm or deny that they are indeed acquiring and storing all of our call content.(End Update)

Wanna know what about the secret Congressional briefings on the surveillance programs astounded Loretta Sanchez? This must read, hot off the press from CNET, redeeming much of what Snowden has alleged, sheds some light on it:

The National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, disclosed this week that during a secret briefing to members of Congress, he was told that the contents of a phone call could be accessed "simply based on an analyst deciding that."

If the NSA wants "to listen to the phone," an analyst's decision is sufficient, without any other legal authorization required, Nadler said he learned. "I was rather startled," said Nadler, an attorney and congressman who serves on the House Judiciary committee.

Interesting. And here I thought kangaroo courts were totally trustworthy?

During a panel discussion on constitutional privacy protection in the wake of a leaked Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court decision that revealed widespread NSA data collection, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner stood up in the audience to counter the statements of conservative law professor Nathan Sales that secret surveillance requests are subject to meaningful judicial review. She cautioned:

by Elizabeth Coady - IN AN EDITORIAL ENTITLED, “WHO VOTED FOR SNOWDEN?,”the Wall Street Journal preposterously argues that the NSA systems analyst’s exposure of the massive U.S. surveillance system thwarts democracy.

Attorney and blogger at HuffPo, Kendrick Nguyen has put forth a succinct assessment of Edward Snowden and his disclosures, discusses this administration's willingness to drag out the pre-wwI Espionage Act on numerous occasions in order to prosecute whistleblowers, and, as a former Obama loyalist, has also been willing to admit that Obama does NOT embody "American ideals such as privacy and free speech, and standing up for what you believe in". Well done, Mr. Nguyen! Bravo! Welcome to the rEVOLution!

Seattle head coach Pete Carroll hosted a retired four-star general at the Seahawks facility last spring and blitzed him with questions about whether the 9/11 attacks “had been planned or faked” by the government, according to Deadspin.com.

Decorated general Peter Chiarelli, who had just called it a career, was discussing football and brain injuries with Carroll before the conversation took a turn, Deadspin reported.

In this rant below, Jon Rappoport identifies the source of this insane thought virus as the Surveillance State itself...
---------------------------------------------------------------
"...about Ed Snowden. Yes, it was all right that he exposed NSA but…he should have stayed in America and faced the music.

What?!? A mind-boggling assessment to say the least. However, it’s really based on a perception, true or false, that Snowden is currently running around free, uncontrolled.

And that he has no right to be, because nobody does, outside the range and reach of government.

LADY LIBERTY LOOKS OVER HER SHOULDER AS A SHADOWY FIGURE holds a satellite to the sky. The political cartoon by Luo Jie appears on today’s China Daily website. A reader comments at the site, ” The US is the biggest data thief in the world. No use blaming China. The truth is now out for everyone to see.”

http://crabbygolightly.com/wordpress/a-paranoid-lady-liberty...

HONG KONG, Hong Kong — Hundreds of protesters staged a rally in rain-hit Hong Kong Saturday to urge the city's government not to extradite former spy Edward Snowden, and slam the United States for its surveillance programmes.

The city's first major demonstration on the issue saw protesters, including pro-democracy lawmakers, activists and a large number of expatriates march to the US consulate holding banners and shouting "Defend Free Speech", "Protect Snowden", "No Extradition" and "Respect Hong Kong Law".

I really like some of Remy's videos, but this one take the cake. Enjoy.

http://reason.com/reasontv/2013/06/14/tap-it-the-nsa-slow-jam

Edit: My sense of what is funny must be way off. Or maybe posting humor is not encouraged on the DP...

He discusses his political ideas, ideals, and philosophies, noting that "we're all born with an instinct towards individualism." He gives his insights into dealing with immigration, unemployment, foreign policy, national security, taxes, personal responsibility, and many other issues.

Senator Paul's unique perspective and solutions could be a starting point for getting the United States back on track.

http://youtu.be/5ZR0QsJsGQA