Dianne Feinstein Still A Believer In Collecting All Phone Records; Pretends That Such Collection Has Stopped Terrorists

from the not-very-convincing dept

Fri, Mar 21st 2014 3:10pm — Mike Masnick

It would appear that Senator Dianne Feinstein's newly discovered anger about the CIA spying on the metadata of her staffers hasn't yet lead to the recognition of why the American public is upset about the NSA collecting all of our metadata.

Despite two different executive branch review boards and a federal judge declaring the program to likely be both unconstitutional and illegal (though, yes, other courts have disagreed) and (importantly) President Obama asking Congress to figure out a way to end the program, Feinstein still insists the program is great. Even more bizarre, she claims that it has helped stop terrorist attacks -- an argument that even the NSA is no longer making after its original claims about that were totally debunked. However, a new statement from Feinstein on the program insists that it's legal and Constitutional, and has helped stop terrorists. Because she says so.

“I continue to believe the phone records program authorized by Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act plays an important role in detecting and preventing terrorist attacks against the United States. Again, this program collects only phone numbers and the duration and times that calls are made—it does not collect the content, names or locational information of calls.

“I also believe the call records program has been carried out consistent with the Constitution and the law and under strong oversight by all three branches of government. Like the president, I therefore support its continuation.

Except, actually, President Obama actually has said that the program should not continue and that it should be "transitioned" into something else. And we won't even bother rehashing what a joke the claim of "oversight" from all three branches of government has been.

And, again, her focus on how it's not content, but just metadata, is fairly ridiculous given that she herself is freaking out about the CIA looking at access logs (no content, just metadata) of her staffers. Double standards, of course. Either way, if anyone thought that Feinstein's fight with the CIA would soften her position on screwing over the privacy of the American public... the answer appears to be that it will have no impact whatsoever.

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Filed Under: dianne feinstein, metadata, nsa, section 215, surveillance

30 Comments

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John Fenderson (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 3:16pm

Empty talk
"President Obama asking Congress to figure out a way to end the program"

Unless I'm mistaken, Obama doesn't have to ask Congress to figure this out. If we wanted the program ended, he could do so unilaterally, right now, end of story. The NSA is his branch of government.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 3:16pm

Its only bad...
When they did it to her... but doing it to anyone else is fine.

I swear... the people that keep voting these idiots in...

When stuff like this keeps happening, tell me again, why the people that voted them in should be off limits someone has to restore their rights from the end of a gun barrel?
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Jay (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 3:27pm

Can someone (friendly neighborhood web slinger?) Kindly put every single phone call, and every single email of this twit online for everyone to see. Every single doner to her campaigns emails and phone records. Since it's ok, according to her, and it's only metadata...
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ECA (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 3:43pm

Lets do the time warp again...
Anyone get the IDEA that they are feeding this person OLD NEWS??
And she dont erad anything except what she is FED??
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Anonymous coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 3:43pm

Dianne's denialism
Richard Blum, her husband, is probably behind her stance.
As an investment banker, I'd bet $5 that he (his firm) has heavily invested in companies that spy on us.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 4:01pm

Re: Empty talk
With another executive order.
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AjStechd (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 4:18pm

Pure theater. This woman gives new meaning to the word puppet. Politicians don't need to convince everyone or even most people they're legit, only just enough sheeple to keep the rest of us at bay. It's pitchfork time.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 4:45pm

Pitchfork time? I not sure that tarring and feathering might not be a better answer here. At least then when she waved her arms, you'd know who it was.

Seriously, this woman has some issues with the little people it looks like. Like maybe she's too good for them. I hope the voters in her area decide it's time for her to go.
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Tim R (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 5:13pm

Wikipedia
If Wikipedia has taught me anything, it's that most comments by a political official needs to be followed with [citation needed].
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Honest Abe, 21 Mar 2014 @ 5:32pm

Can you hear me now?
Someone needs to put that peroxide monkey back in its cage.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 5:44pm

Ok, who rebooted the Feinstein-bot without recalibrating her clock?
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 6:30pm

The senile dementia is strong in that woman. So much so that she should be removed from office.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 6:34pm

well she is right
I'm not terrorized by ignorant Taliban members living in the dessert shaking their AK-47 in the air screaming "kill Americans, jihad!" I can shake my AK in the air and shout "kill the Taliban" I doubt either of us will ever come face to face and if we did it would be a fair fight given we have the same weapons.

I am terrorized by the illegal spying our government performs daily. The fact they do it and she defends it does help expose the real terrorists.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 7:08pm

It's all fun and games until Sen. Spystein, gets spied on.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 7:17pm

Where is Dianne's 1954 Spring Break 8mm film?
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2014 @ 1:12am

I wonder what currency she was paid in to flip-flop like a beached whale?
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2014 @ 3:52am

DiFi is senile
Just like John McCain: her mind's gone. She's too stupid to grasp this and too weak to speak the truth even if she did.

We need to instituted mandatory intelligence and cognitive testing for all public employees and forcibly retire those who fail. We, as a national, simply cannot afford to allow those with inferior minds to hold positions of power.
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WysiWyg (profile), 22 Mar 2014 @ 6:20am

- The Metadata doesn't show anything important, nothing to see here.
- Then why are you collecting it in the first place?
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btrussell (profile), 22 Mar 2014 @ 7:26am

She can believe whatever she wants, existence of fairies, unicorns or a terrorist attack, doesn't mean I am going to believe in them as well.
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Toestubber (profile), 22 Mar 2014 @ 9:09am

led/lead
"It would appear that Senator Dianne Feinstein's newly discovered anger about the CIA spying on the metadata of her staffers hasn't yet lead to..."

led.

/grammarnazi
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Toestubber (profile), 22 Mar 2014 @ 9:13am

html
"Allowed HTML Tags: < a > < blockquote > < hr > < tt >"

It seems that these get stripped out whenever I post, for some reason.
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Lurker Keith, 22 Mar 2014 @ 11:53am

Re:
While Peter may have the skills to manage that from Capital Hill, I think Oracle would be better equipped to find every communication to post online.

(yes, I know one's Marvel & one's DC, but I can't think of any Wizard Class Marvel hacker characters)

Though, I'd prefer to sic Motoko & Section 9 on them to get the truth out. They have experience w/ corrupt Governments & disinformation campaigns & countermeasures against them. It'd also be fun to see a Tachikoma on top of the Capital Building.
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John Fenderson (profile), 22 Mar 2014 @ 12:41pm

Re: Its only bad...
I don't know Feinstein's district, but it could be that every other alternative was worse than her.
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Josh (profile), 22 Mar 2014 @ 3:51pm

Re: Empty talk
But if Obama tells congress to fix the problem, then he can pretty much assure nothing will get fixed and still claim to be the good guy.
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Internet Zen Master (profile), 23 Mar 2014 @ 12:48pm

Re: Re: Its only bad...
Considering Feinstein is a senator, and her 'district' is the entire state of California, I'd say the odds of the alternatives being worse than her are about 50-50, regardless of political affiliation.

Depressingly, the last time Feinstein was re-elected was in 2012. Not only did she win her re-election in a landslide, she BROKE the all-time record for the most votes cast for one candidate in one state in one election. 7.75 million Californians voted for her in an election where voter turnout for the state reached 55.2%.

Although to be fair, I don't think anyone realized how much of a yes-woman she was for the NSA back then...
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Ismail, 23 Mar 2014 @ 1:13pm

It's time for her to go.
Dianne "Spying has protected Americans" Feinstein talking out of one side of her mouth and then the other in the next sentence. She's showing a politician's true stripes; nothing new there.

Why is it that we elect politicians instead of Statesmen? Oh yeah, I forgot: MONEY.

Ms. "It's ok for citizens to be spied on but not me or my staffers" needs to go goodbye in the next election. Sadly, California voters will probably re-elect her because they're too blinded by partisanship.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2014 @ 12:38am

Re: Re: Its only bad...
More likely her election is the result of people voting for a party, rather than the candidate. The political party politicians have convinced people that their vote only counts if they vote for a major party, and that votes for smaller parties and individuals are a wasted vote.
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Pragmatic, 24 Mar 2014 @ 7:07am

Re: Re: Empty talk
Meanwhile, both the Republicans and the Democrats use their new-found discomfiture with surveillance to score political points while King and Feinstein maintain the status quo. Business as usual. Nothing to see here, move along now.
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Pragmatic, 24 Mar 2014 @ 7:10am

Re: Re: Re: Its only bad...
They've made it worse with Citizens United, which makes it harder for third parties to get their voices heard. And that's not all - third parties rarely, if ever, get to take part in candidates' debates. It's always a two-horse race.
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JBDragon, 24 Mar 2014 @ 10:22am

Can't we get the corrupt Dianne Feinstein out of office!!! I've never once voted for this old corrupt HAG. She should have been booted years ago yet people keep voting her in and for what??? Screwing California over more and more and getting rich off on it all?
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