House Intelligence Committee Orders Investigation Into Surveillance Of Congress That It Authorized
from the oh,-look-at-that dept
So, yes, it was just revealed that, of course, the NSA spied on Congress as it was intercepting phone calls of foreign leaders, leading to hypocritical bloviating from folks in Congress who regularly support the NSA. And, of course, now the House Intelligence Committee, which approved the surveillance authorities in the first place, says it's opening a probe into this:“The House Intelligence Committee is looking into allegations in the Wall Street Journal regarding possible Intelligence Community (IC) collection of communications between Israeli government officials and Members of Congress,” Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said in a statement. “The Committee has requested additional information from the IC to determine which, if any, of these allegations are true, and whether the IC followed all applicable laws, rules, and procedures.”As the ACLU's Jameel Jaffer sarcastically tweeted (inspiring the title of this post), the "confused" Intelligence Committee is opening an investigation into surveillance programs that it directly authorized.
The whole thing, once again, highlights what a bunch of hypocrites surveillance state defenders are in Congress. When revelations revealed mass surveillance on everyday Americans, the focus was on attacking the leakers and attacking the credibility of the reports. But, suddenly when Congress itself is having some of its calls intercepted in a manner that shouldn't be at all surprising, it's a big deal that requires an investigation.
It's almost as if Congress thinks it represents its own interests, rather than those of the American public...
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Filed Under: congress, devin nunes, house intelligence committee, hypocrites, nsa, surveillance
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Pass the buck
Hmmmm, maybe this is a new methodology for pointing ones finger.
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Hate to tell you:
Uh, that's capitalism for you. If everybody trusts his greed, the best society develops. And everybody can feel really certain about that since the media are also controlled by money.
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Re: Hate to tell you:
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Re: Re: Hate to tell you:
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Re: Re: Hate to tell you:
Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.
john maynard keynes
Under capitalism, man exploits man.
Under communism, it's just the opposite.
john kenneth galbraith
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Re: Re: Hate to tell you:
"It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion"
Union-busting and employer-collution is nothing new:
"...Masters, too, sometimes enter into particular combinations to sink the wages of labour even below this rate (red. Rate relates to the value of the work). These are always conducted with the utmost silence and secrecy till the moment of execution; and when the workmen yield, as they sometimes do without resistance, though severely felt by them, they are never heard of by other people". In contrast, when workers combine, "the masters [...] never cease to call aloud for the assistance of the civil magistrate, and the rigorous execution of those laws which have been enacted with so much severity against the combination of servants, labourers, and journeymen."
And I like this one in particular:
"[a]ll for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind."
While these are rather specific quotes, they represent the sides in it that most "free market" proponents completely ignore today. Not because they have been proven wrong, but because they do not fit into their world view.
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Separation of powers
In plain English, even if you think the President ought to be entitled to listen in to what I write to my representatives and senators, I myself think it's none of the President's business. And none of your business either, for that matter.
Communications between citizens and legislators occupy a privileged status in any well-functioning democracy.
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Re:
Secondly there are specialty IT people who know how to delete files without leaving any trace, including activity logs, whether they are required to be retained or not. And they carry matches.
Thirdly that information would be classified and the classification can only be adjusted by the classifying authority who is most likely the person who would be most upset by the release of any responsive information. Who that is, is also classified.
Fourthly, things are legal or not legal because Congress says so (just ask them) and Congress is not subject to any laws (just ask them). FYI, they only illegal surveillance is surveillance that captures Congressional speech, and then only if they find out about it.
There you go, THE most transparent government in history.
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Benefactors First, Citizens Last if at All
At the end of the day doesn't Congress thinks it represents its own interests.
Can any person post a link to any legislation, passed after the 107th US Congress met for the first time in January 2001, that benefits American citizens as a whole and not congress or their political benefactors?
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Re: Benefactors First, Citizens Last if at All
was just reading about one of the 7th circles of bankster hell, wherein all ye here may abandon all hope:
turns out, that latest round of regulatory relaxing and wall street's tailor-made laws, have made it so when the poo poo hits the rotating blade, and the banks start falling like dominoes, the arbitragin', scammin', HFTin', lyin', hookers and blowin' masters of the universe are FIRST AND FOREMOST in line to be paid back 100% for their leveraged market manipulations ! ! !
actual people who put up REAL money the banksters leveraged out the ying-yang ? small-time depositors and joe and jane nobody ?
F.U.C.K.E.D.
long lube, but short condoms...
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There's a name for that...
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nothing but pathetic lies and excuses!!
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What's the problem?
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Re: What's the problem?
Article I Section 5(Emphasis added.)
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Re: Re: What's the problem?
The judgment in this—is not confided to the executive. That is clear. It is not the President's call, nor is it the military's decision. The NSA is out-of-bounds when it comes to deciding which Congressional proceedings require discretion.
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Advice for NSA
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"Or what?" -The NSA
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Are you fucking kidding us? That's exactly what it is.
When was the last time our government actually did anything for the public.
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