Tag Archives: Dialectical Maneuvers

Obama’s surveillance revisions omit limits on warrantless email searches

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“In pledging to make changes that could curtail the federal government’s ability to spy on Americans, President Barack Obama failed to address calls by lawmakers and experts to overhaul a law that allows the National Security Agency to search vast databases of individual Americans’ emails without court warrants. Instead, Obama called on Congress to change the USA Patriot Act, which increased the government’s ability to gather intelligence after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the secret court that oversees NSA surveillance programs.  Obama said he still backed the surveillance programs but was trying to strike a balance.”

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/08/14/199404/obamas-surveillance-revisions.html

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The Eric Holder Memorandum on Mandatory Minimum Sentences, Explained

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“In short, the Holder Memorandum directs prosecutors to prevent application of mandatory minimum sentences for a select group of less-culpable defendants. Isn’t this A good thing? Yes, with a but. It’s a good thing that the Jane Does of the world can be sentenced according to the judge’s discretion and not according to mandatory minimum sentences. A lot of low-level, unsophisticated, and hapless mules and mopes and dupes will get far lower sentences, which is both just and less expensive for you, the taxpayer.
But I’m not happy that the methodology for the change is a fairly dramatic expansion of prosecutorial discretion.”

http://www.popehat.com/2013/08/13/the-eric-holder-memorandum-on-mandatory-minimum-sentences-explained/

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‘Run and hide’ is Obama administration’s clever plan for next school shooting

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“The U.S. Department of Education’s ‘live-shooter’ section doesn’t recommend that schools arm teachers or employ armed guards. It doesn’t even advise schools to add door locks for classrooms. Instead, the section counsels teachers and students to ‘run,’ ‘hide’ and then ‘fight’ — but only ‘if neither running nor hiding is a safe option.’ Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education, does not explain how this guidance differs from the very unsuccessful actions attempted by the 26 victims of Adam Lanza, the lone gunman who attacked Sandy Hook Elementary School. Twenty of those victims were children who were six and seven years old.”

http://dailycaller.com/2013/08/13/run-and-hide-is-obama-administrations-clever-plan-for-next-school-shooting/

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Woman drives 190 miles asleep at the wheel on sleeping medication

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“Told that the woman had been sleep-driving 10 months previously and had a fondness for the beach, police ordered patrol cars to keep a lookout for her silver hatchback and began tracking her via her mobile phone. They said data showed the phone was on and she was sending texts as she drove from her Hamilton home to the beachside town of Mount Maunganui via Auckland, a distance of almost 300 kilometres (190 miles). After five hours on the road, she was finally found slumped over the wheel of her car in the driveway of a house she used to live in, with no recollection of her sleepy sojourn.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/14/new-zealand-woman-drives-for-190-miles-asleep-at-the-wheel/

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U.S. Sentencing Commission expected to recommend lower sentences for drug dealing

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“Prison terms for all federal drug dealing offences could be cut under a sweeping sentencing review expected to be announced on Thursday that may go much further than the tentative steps toward ending America’s ‘war on drugs’, begun this week by attorney general Eric Holder.  The US Sentencing Commission, the independent government agency responsible for setting guidelines for judges, will meet in Washington to consider amending the ‘drug quantity table’ – the grid that determines prison lengths for dozens of different categories of offence.  The impetus for the new push to cut sentences appears to have been driven primarily by a need to cut soaring government costs.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/13/u-s-sentencing-commission-expected-to-recommend-lower-sentences-for-drug-dealing/

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Air Force claims budget cuts force shutdown of 1960s-era space surveillance system

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“The U.S. Air Force will shut down its space surveillance system that tracks satellites and other orbiting objects by October 1 due to budget constraints caused by automatic federal budget cuts known as the sequestration, it announced Monday. Commander of the Air Force Space Command, General William Shelton, said the 1961 system was outmoded and that newer technology will provide more accurate observations. Shelton said a new Space Fence is being planned now, which will provide more precise positional data on orbiting objects and would become the most accurate radar in the Air Force’s space surveillance network.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/12/u-s-air-force-to-shut-down-space-surveillance-system-over-budget-cuts/

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President’s Spy Review Commission Provides Unintended Comedy

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“President Obama announced to great Beltway fanfare late last week that he was setting up a commission to review the policies and procedures of the NSA. This was announced as part of a larger reform of NSA surveillance that the president promised, including inserting an adversarial ‘privacy rights’ voice in the secret FISA Court proceedings. And…who has the president tasked with setting up this NSA spying review group? The same guy who lied to Congress about NSA spying in the first place! We can only guess who might be appointed as the FISA Court’s ‘privacy rights’ advocate — maybe Diane Feinstein?”

http://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/presidents-spy-review-commission-provides-unintended-comedy/

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Intelligence director introduces group to review NSA privacy issues

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“US intelligence director James Clapper introduced a review group Monday that will assess whether the right balance is being struck between national security and personal privacy. The group will assess whether the US ‘optimally protects our national security and advances our foreign policy while appropriately accounting for other policy considerations,’ the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said in a statement. The body is required to brief the president on its findings within 60 days and provide a final report with recommendations no later than December 15, according to ODNI.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/12/intelligence-director-introduces-group-to-review-nsa-privacy-issues/

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There is no terrorist threat: The feds want you to think there is

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“Nothing can be said for certain as to what prompted the State Department to close more than 20 embassies and consulates in the Middle East and North Africa last Sunday, and this is by design. But it is no excuse not to raise the possibility that Americans are eating a summer salad of nonsense served to justify objectionable surveillance practices now coming in for scrutiny. This prospect seems so self-evident that one feels almost silly raising it, except that so few have. Let us insert it into the conversation.”

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/09/there_is_no_terrorist_threat_the_feds_want_you_to_think_there_is_compliant_media_goes_along/

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Congress starts looking into Bitcoin

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“The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Monday sent letters to several agencies requesting that they disclose their virtual currency policies, how they developed them, how agencies are coordinating and finally what they plan to do going forward. Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) and ranking member Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) sent letters Monday, which ask for information on a range of virtual currencies while naming Bitcoin as an example, to the Homeland Security Department, Justice Department, Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, Securities and Exchange Commission, CFTC, and OMB.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/congress-starts-looking-into-bitcoin-95464.html

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