Seeing Opportunity, Congress Tries To Rush Through Its Plan To Legalize FBI Abuses Citing 'Orlando!'
from the let-no-crisis-go-unwasted dept
Just a few weeks ago, we wrote about the FBI pushing strongly for an update to the law that covers National Security Letters (NSLs) to cover up the fact that the FBI has been using them to get electronic communications records. The current law on NSLs doesn't cover that information, though the FBI insists that it's just a "typo" in the law, and still frequently asks for them in its NSLs, because NSL recipients often don't know the law themselves and will still turn over the info. Of course, it helps that the NSLs often come with gag orders. Reports going back a decade have shown that the FBI has a serious problem with abusing its NSL powers to get lots of information it's not supposed to have. And rather than do something to stop such abuses, the FBI's friends in Congress have, instead, been trying to legalize such abusive practices to allow the FBI to do even more.And, in the spirit of "leave no crisis unexploited," Senator Mitch McConnell is pushing forward on the amendment put forth by Senators McCain and Cornyn to expand NSLs. And, cynically, they're citing the Orlando shootings as the reason why, despite the fact that this amendment was being pushed for before the shootings even occurred and the fact that this would have done absolutely nothing to stop the shootings.
“In the wake of the tragic massacre in Orlando, it is important our law enforcement have the tools they need to conduct counterterrorism investigations,” Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican and sponsor of the amendment, said in a statement.The FBI and others in law enforcement already have plenty of tools to do counterterrorism investigations (and, again, it's not even clear that the Orlando shooting was a terrorist activity in the first place). Nothing in this amendment would change how the FBI was investigating the attack. This is just McCain, McConnell and others exploiting the shooting to help the FBI further abuse its surveillance powers.
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Filed Under: john mccain, mitch mcconnell, national security letters, nsls
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WARNING
A Crime ISNT a crime, until someone COMMITS IT..
NOW,
If you want to HELP people Before the fact...
BECOME A SOCIAL WORKER that has abit of POWER to do something..
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Re: WARNING
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If you want to help, at least do this much.
So at the very least, email your objections to FBI abuses to your representative. And as always, post your objections anywhere and everywhere.
***Excerpt from email on Rule 41 from the EFF:
On or before June 21, you can send an email to your member of Congress. Please post about Rule 41 on social media or a blog, and ask your friends to speak out. Feel free to get creative by hosting events in your home community, taking a photo, and sending it our way. And if you do plan something, please let us know!
Thanks for your help,
Rainey Reitman
Activism Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
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cars qatar
http://autozqa.com/
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Throwing gasoline on the fire doesn't put it out. This is basically what these idiot senators are doing.
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Re:
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The anserw is: America
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Re: The anserw is: America
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Re: The anserw is: America
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Really?
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Re: Really?
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You know the saying...
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Re:
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Rather than empower the law enforcement agencies to conduct yet another antiterror investigation, how about Senator McCain and his peers started to do their job, and investigate why the FBI and other agencies failed yet again (and deliberately misled the public by broadcasting theories based on nothing but wishful thinking?).
Senator McCain's job is to protect America, not the DOJ!
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Seems talking about passing ineffective laws is popular nowadays.
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Re:
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Re: Same with gun laws
Would he still have been able to get one if they were still banned?
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Re: Re: Same with gun laws
Ban anything you like and that same state of troubled mind will strike again. And again.
Ban guns, encryption, the Internet - the troubled minds give no fucks.
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Re: Same with gun laws
It’s like there’s a determined effort by the gun lobby to hold on to its faith regardless of the facts...
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Re: Re: Same with gun laws
There would be a black market, corrupt people in those organizations that would sell off weapons for cash to the criminals. Also murdering people to get the weapons they carry.
There will never be a way to stop criminals from having access to weapons in our lifetime.
Why disarm the law abiding citizens when criminals will never follow these anti gun laws anyway?
Would it not be better to have every criminal outgunned by law abiding citizens?
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Re: Re: Re: Same with gun laws
"Would it not be better to have every criminal outgunned by law abiding citizens?"
No. It would most certainly be worse. The last thing we need is for multiple, uncoordinated, and untrained (for this sort of thing, not for guns) people to start shooting no matter how good their intentions.
We get enough of that nonsense just from the cops.
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What's the typo?
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Hmmmmm
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Re: Hmmmmm
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I hate that it needs to be said every time
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Can we just dispense with the formalities and call this duck a duck yet? When law enforcement gets unfettered, or barely fettered, access to each and every digital print you lay down then that's called tyranny, by default. And fuck-all any good intentions.
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As we are seeing play out in front of us - tyranny can easily and readily take hold beneath the appearance of, or perhaps even true, democracy. The onion is rotting.
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I was talking with a staunch right-winger and said that I was deeply concerned about the growing amount of fascism in the US. His response was "we need more fascism in the US."
It stunned me not because that was his belief, but because he was so unabashed and above-board about it.
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The truth is, in a confined area (like a school or a nightclub) a shotgun is the weapon of choice, because your targets are close and nothing beats a shotgun at close range. You can buy a shotgun that is fed with a 17 round clip. Now that is something you wouldn't want to run into.
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The world would be a better place,
Brand R, and brand D don't care about about guns, or gun control. they just care about the related donations. It's just Congressional theater. They bang their drum, and 30 round clips fly off the shelves at every gun shop in town. All the while wailing fearful mothers send cheques to that good girl whose going to stop the meanies.
My guess is the Clintons probably bought every domestic 30 round clip they could find before the campaign as an investment, so they could sell them to fund their campaign as prices rise.
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Hillary 2016
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A 9MM semi automatic handgun at close range is just as lethal as a AR 15, as its rate of fire is just as fast (and in fact fires a more lethal round at close range). Semi automatic shotguns are even more dangerous at close range.
The majority of gun owners in the US are law abiding citizens who are responsible gun owners. Should they be denied guns? Should they have to undergo background checks? If you are talking terrorist act prevention, since the few acts of terrorism are done by Muslims, would anyone accept a government requirement for a background check or a database list done on US Muslims?
Deny gun ownership to No Fly lists or watch list? Who is on that list or how do people get put on that list? Oh, that is a government secret.
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