Rep. Peter King Says Referring To NSA Activity As 'Spying' Or 'Snooping' Is Slander
from the oh-really? dept
Rep. Peter King -- whose past "hits" have included demanding that the Treasury Department add Wikileaks to its terrorist list, that the Boston bombings showed that we needed even more surveillance, and that reporters who report on leaks like the Ed Snowden leak should be prosecuted -- is apparently upset with President Obama's comments last week concerning how the administration is looking to deal with NSA surveillance.Now, we were disappointed in those comments as well, but mainly because they were mostly meaningless trifles, designed to appease the public with promises of more transparency, rather than an actual promise to cut back on spying on every single person in the US. Apparently King is upset on the other side of things, believing that even the tiniest amount of increased transparency means that Al Qaeda will win:
The President’s announcement today that he will pursue “reforms” to National Security Agency counterterrorism programs is a monumental failure in presidential wartime leadership and responsibility. These programs are legal, transparent and contain the appropriate checks and balances among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our government. These intelligence tools keep Americans safe every single day.It's difficult to know where to start with this, since it's almost all ridiculous. The programs are not at all transparent, don't appear to contain any significant checks and balances and are of questionable legality. Furthermore, multiple Senators have pointed out that there is no evidence that the hoovering up of all phone records has done anything to "keep Americans safe every day."
America is at war with Islamist terror groups that kill and maim innocent civilians. The current threat to the Homeland is just as high as it was before 9/11. It is difficult to imagine past war leaders such as Franklin Roosevelt or Winston Churchill willingly surrendering signals intelligence tools that are needed to fight our enemies. We need a president who defends our intelligence programs, explains them appropriately to the American people, and uses every legal capability in his arsenal to defeat al Qaeda.
The second paragraph is just pure fearmongering based on nothing -- especially the claims about the threats being just as high today as they were before 9/11. Of course, what's even more ridiculous here is that King was a long time supporter of foreign terrorist organization, the IRA, including supposedly endorsing an attack on a police station that killed nine people. I wonder if he felt that the UK government should have used the same secret surveillance techniques against the IRA?
King wasn't done there, apparently. Following that statement, he went on Face the Nation and apparently said with a straight face that the public referring to the NSA's activity as "spying" or "snooping" was slandering the NSA and somehow diminishes their patriotism. Really. The man is apparently serious.
“These people in the NSA are patriots,” King said. “Probably what’s annoyed me the most over the last several months is people casually using words like ‘spying,’ ‘snooping,’ ‘what is the NSA up to now?’ Does anybody think General Alexander wants to snoop on America? I think that demeans the whole political dialogue, and that’s why I wish the president would be more outgoing and defend the NSA lot more than he did.”Meanwhile, King is not the only one in Congress who is upset that the President even hinted at reforms and transparency. House Speaker John Boehner issued a slightly less inflammatory statement arguing that the President must not back down on keeping the program intact, despite the fact that (again) there is no evidence that it has been necessary in stopping a single terrorist attack.
“This has really been a slander on the thousand of good men and women who every day dedicate their lives to our country, and particularly General Alexander, who is as patriotic as anyone I have ever met in government or anywhere,” King said. “There is too much loose talk here. Every time i hear ‘snooping’ and ‘spying’, it just drives me crazy. We know what these men and women are doing, and they’re absolutely dedicated patriots.”
Transparency is important, but we expect the White House to insist that no reform will compromise the operational integrity of the program. That must be the president’s red line, and he must enforce it. Our priority should continue to be saving American lives, not saving face.”Actually, I thought our priority should be protecting the Constitution -- including the 4th Amendment -- but it appears that many members of Congress have forgotten that little requirement.
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Filed Under: barack obama, ed snowden, john boehner, keith alexander, nsa, nsa surveillance, peter king, snooping, spying
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Wow
The current threat to the Homeland is just as high as it was before 9/11.So ... Is he admitting that the loss to our civil liberties and the billions of dollars we've spent on homeland security has accomplished nothing? Thank you. Mr King.
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Well...
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Re: Well...
I wouldn't trust it if it was run on a Rogers/King ticket.
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Re: Re: Well...
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Well, yes, that would be true, if only there had been a political dialogue.
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NSA
Our political duopoly party system is a sham.
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Re: NSA
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He want's to talk about the mighty AQ winning? They already have, they've got the government jumping at shadows and treating it's citizens like defacto terrorists and lil' petey here is all but foaming at the mouth about people questioning their government.
I thought it was the people were not supposed to be afraid of their government.
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http://gigaom.com/2013/08/11/zimmermanns-law-pgp-inventor-and-silent-circle-co-founder-phil -zimmermann-on-the-surveillance-society/
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With the surveillance state he helps maintain, Al Qaeda has already won.
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NSA SPYING
SHUT THE FUCK UP
do they?
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Re: NSA SPYING
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I wonder, when wasn't the US at war with something?
It's very interesting to see how they try to insulate the patriotism aspect (or maybe they are that dangerously patriotic to the point of being blind to the abuses). The comparison to the Nazi Germany and other fascist regimes is inevitable.
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Re: When are we not at war?
If King wants to act as if we're in a war, the next step in his Looney Tunes agenda should be proposing a declaration of war against "terror" or whatever.
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Re: Re: When are we not at war?
To quote from V for Vendetta:
Creedy: Die! Die! Why won't you die?... Why won't you die?
V: Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.
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Re: Re: When are we not at war?
The US Government has grown so HUGE that they tax us into poverty and spend the money to support the corporate state.
Those payments to the military industrial complex that lines insiders pockets (like senators wives) has to come from us, the unrepresented nerds in the basements with our computers.
The congress critters seem to have already forgotten how all of these basement dwellers dumped their SOPA agenda. Hopefully they will be just as successful dumping the non-representative members of Congress in the next election.
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its only slander when its false
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https://twitter.com/REALBROTHER0003/status/366045456033255425
So, keep an eye on that... I guess.
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And it's an irony. When Obama was elected I honestly thought that the fact that he is black would breath further new life into the American Govt but apparently he's more of the same. Sadly.
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So is Google "spying" or "snooping"? Discuss.
Greenwald reported Snowden saying: "Employees and leaders at Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, and the rest of our internet titans must ask themselves why they aren't fighting for our interests the same way small businesses are. The defense they have offered to this point is that they were compelled by laws they do not agree with, but one day of downtime for the coalition of their services could achieve what a hundred Lavabits could not."
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/09/lavabit-shutdown-snowden-silicon-valle y
When you think surveillance or spying or snooping think Google!
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Re: So is Google "spying" or "snooping"? Discuss.
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Re: So is Google "spying" or "snooping"? Discuss.
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Re: So is Google "spying" or "snooping"? Discuss.
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Stop it
No, it's not. The threat of 9/11 ended in a field in Pennsylvania on 9/11.
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Wow
So ... Is he admitting that the loss to our civil liberties and the billions of dollars we've spent on homeland security has accomplished nothing? Thank you. Mr King.
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Re: Wow
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Re: Wow
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Re: Wow
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Stop trying to save me
You're bad at "saving lives", so please just stop and focus on saving all my constitutional rights.
"People are going to die, let them" - that's not hateful, it's just reality. You can't save everyone, especially from their own stupidity, so just focus on making live worth living for the majority of us that are going to live.
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Re: Stop trying to save me
Your oath is to protect the constitution, if you do that, we the people will do fine when it comes to protecting ourselves.
Your bosses,
The American People
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The point of terror is to terrorise, Congress, currently (and admittedly perhaps staged entirely for its own increase in powers), seems to be ratcheting up its own levels of terror on a daily basis without outside help from any actual terrorists.
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Rep. Peter King snooping and spying
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Hold up for a second here
I honestly do believe that the men and women working in the NSA are well-meaning patriots (well, the ones who actually work in government at least. The private contractors I'm not so sure about). Part of the problem is that I think a lot of the folks in the NSA have had their head buried in surveillance for so long they may have become obsessed with their work and can't see the big picture (upholding the Constitution/protecting Americans' privacy) anymore.
The sad truth is, the NSA's may have good intentions with its worm, but if left unchecked, the NSA also excels at paving the road to hell for America.
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Re: Hold up for a second here
I'm not so sure -- but it doesn't matter one bit either way. The road to hell and all that.
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How about Curious Georging?
Playing peek-a-boo? Too obvious?
Maybe 'Killing Kittens'?
I guess 'selling crack' went out with the nineties.
Dice it anyway they want, they're still just playing cornhole with the Constitution
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If you look up "tool"...
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A tipoff
...and there's that word, "homeland" again. It's one of those bright red flag words, almost exclusively used by people of a fascist bent. The rest of us call it the "nation".
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Re: A tipoff
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Let's try some libel, then
Now sue me, Representative King, you mindless piece of filth.
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Re: Let's try some libel, then
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King vs. The Crown
Greenwald said he had no idea why King was making the false accusation.
�The last thing I would try to do is read what goes on internally in the swamp of Peter King�s brain,� he remarked. �What I do know is that he has a history of all kinds of radical and extremist statements. He himself was a supporter of terrorism for several decades when it was done by the IRA.�
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Times They are a-Changing
I wouldn't be surprised if that market explodes now, as more people look into ways to protect themselves.
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Anything he says
I'd like to suggest a new crime in the wake of Peter's comment: "Insulting the intelligence of the American people."
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Used to be the US stood for something that has been totally lost. Face it, Al Quedia has won. We are now a police state.
I for one don't like it.
As is mentioned above, the oath is to protect the constitution, not to protect the people. Were protecting the people important, we wouldn't be over in the Middle East fighting wars and putting our young adults in harm's way. The majority of our people don't live there, they live here.
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Is it Stupidity or is it Duckspeak?
I guess the two might not be exclusive.
But it sounds like King's bullshitting for the sake of showing solidarity, or...
King is spouting off because he's really that indoctrinated.
Either he's bought, or he's incompetent. Either way he shouldn't be in office.
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http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/08/restoring_trust.html
The trust is gone. No one can believe anyone in the know and what they say about these programs. It will take totally closing them down or third party independents who can be trusted to restore the American's faith in their government.
So far they are batting zero in this aspect.
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Insulted, yet?
http://fmhilton.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/insulted/
So sue me. I'm guilty of slander. You're guilty of mass destruction of the Constitution.
Who's in the wrong now? Not me, I bet.
And guess what: you can't slander corporations or government bodies. Only people.
You owe me my rights back as a citizen. I owe you nothing but contempt.
The picture says it all.
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http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=2012&cid=N00001193&type= I&newmem=N
Northrop Grumman $13,500
General Dynamics $13,000
Raytheon Co $11,000
Boeing Co $10,000
Lockheed Martin $10,000
United Technologies $10,000
When the US goes enters a military conflict, they make money (our tax dollars) and he gets power. This is why he uses rhetoric like "wartime." The guy is thirsty for blood and your money.
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Just goes on and on with these guys like a broken skipping Cylinder from the 19TH Century.
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Perhaps the interpretation of "spying" and "snooping" is a secret from the public!
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spying?s=t
a person who keeps close and secret watch on the actions and words of another or others.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/snooping?s=t
a private detective.
So, um, maybe "snooping" isn't really accurate, but how exactly do I need to squint to say the NSA isn't "spying"...
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By the Merriam-Webster's dictionary* of terrorism this makes the NSA and the United States Government terrorists. The US government tries to get out of this label by stipulating 'unlawful' into their definition, which is creates such a horrendous logical fallacy as to force a person's brain to stop reasoning. How can that limit an entity from any desired action when the entity itself decides what is and is not an illegal action?
The hubris of these HUMANS is astounding. They claim that they are different because they are the good guys? Guess what, the Islamist terror groups you are chasing say THEY are the good guys too. There is nothing inherently infallible about the humans making up our government such that they can be trusted to act in any interest but their own. Saying 'trust us we're the good guys' is not a valid justification or defense of your actions, you are not nor are you following some infallible hero/saint/demigod/supernatural being. How is it the FOURTH president understood this concept, yet FOURTY presidents later this basic reality is beyond the top government official's comprehension?(including the 44th president, he has used the same basic premise as a defense/justification) "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary." - James Madison, Fourth President of the United States.
*Terrorism: the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.
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You don't even have to go to MW for this. By all of the US government's definitions of terrorism (there are several different ones) the US government is a terrorist organization.
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Not so good or patriotic
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Let's watch them
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representatives
As it seems roughly half of you Yanks don't even bother.
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Re: representatives
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SLANDER
B U L L S H I T
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NSA contains some bad eggs
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