Judge Lillian McEwen has the goods on Clarence Thomas—and she’ll be on the air tomorrow (9/22)! Our guest tomorrow at 11:17 a.m.
(Central) is retired U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Judge Lillian McEwen. She holds an unmatched role in the Thomas saga as his lover for 3+ years (overlapping Anita’ Hill’s employment in DC). A former federal prosecutor, she worked as Senate Judiciary Committee counsel for Chairman Joe Biden, including during the confirmation hearing. The now-notorious unfairness of that hearing enabled the confirmation. Justice Dept. Is Accused of Misleading Public on Patriot Act. Lens: Court Rules Challenge to Warrantless Wiretapping Law Can Proceed.
In a very significant development, yesterday a federal appeals court ruled that our lawsuit challenging warrantless wiretapping can proceed.
The law that we’re challenging, the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) of 2008, is the most far-reaching surveillance law ever enacted by Congress. It gives the National Security Agency (NSA) virtually limitless power to spy on Americans' international phone calls and emails. It allows the NSA to collect those communications en masse, without a warrant, without suspicion of any kind, and with only very limited judicial oversight. Needless to say, the law has dramatic implications for Americans' privacy rights. USA PATRIOT Act - News, Issues, Articles & Recent Court Cases. What You Should Know On May 26, 2011, Congress passed a four-year extension of three expiring Patriot Act provisions without making much-needed changes to the overly broad surveillance bill.
NYTimes Sues The Federal Government For Refusing To Reveal Its Secret Interpretation Of The PATRIOT Act. America's spies taking to Twitter. The research division of a U.S. government intelligence agency has recently begun a project to use data from some social networks, including Twitter, to track and predict society-level changes like political movements, economic shifts, and other indicators.
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (also known as Iarpa) has designed the project and is currently soliciting bids from vendors. The proposed program, which is currently soliciting bids from developers, will mine publicly-available data from “web search queries, blogs, micro-blogs, internet traffic, financial markets, traffic webcams, Wikipedia edits, and many others,” then use the information to predict trends. The agency will then analyse the aggregated data to produce predictive intelligence reports. Iarpa maintains that any data used will be “lawfully obtained” and “available to any member of the general public,” but offers no clarification on what might constitute “publicly available” information. 3 Anti-Authoritarian TV Shows that Grapple with America's Security State.
October 2, 2011 | Like this article?
Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. When the horrific events of 9/11 led the Bush administration to hastily sign the USA Patriot Act, which granted the government broad powers that many believe tread on Americans’ constitutional rights, it was barely reported in the mainstream news media. Even Those Cleared of Crimes Can Stay on F.B.I.’s Terrorist Watch List. Jim Watson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images People whose names appear on a government terrorist watch list can be barred from flying.
Chart: How 9/11 Changed the Law. Secret Panel Can Put Americans on "Kill List' American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government officials, which then informs the president of its decisions, according to officials.
Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. -born cleric linked to al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing, gives a religious lecture in an unknown location in this still image taken from video released by Intelwire.com on September 30, 2011. (Credit: Reuters/Intelwire.com) There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White House's National Security Council, several current and former officials said. Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate. A patriotic duty: repeal the Patriot Act.
Seattle police department Swat team officers.
The Patriot Act, soon to be extended, overrides the constitutional rule that federal authorities must prove 'probable cause' before being permitted to search citizens' private property. Photograph: Marcus Donner/Reuters The first thing you need to understand about the Patriot Act is this: Osama Bin Laden's destruction of the World Trade Centre wasn't the reason the act was passed; it was merely the excuse. Court allows ACLU to challenge government wiretapping.
By Kase WickmanWednesday, September 21, 2011 14:13 EDT The American Civil Liberties Union was allowed Wednesday to move forward with their case against government wiretapping.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the court would not have to reconsider a case the ACLU brought against the government challenging the FISA Amendments Act (FAA), which allows the government limitless access to citizens’ phone and email records with a focus on international contact (FISA stands for “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act”).