About damn time someone did

 

Sean Duffy daughter calls out TSA as 'unconstitutional' after pat-down...

Donald Trump is building out the police state on the nation's roads through U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Border Patrol's license plate reader program

 Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with ‘suspicious’ travel patterns

... Once limited to policing the nation’s boundaries, the Border Patrol has built a surveillance system stretching into the country’s interior that can monitor ordinary Americans’ daily actions and connections for anomalies instead of simply targeting wanted suspects. Started about a decade ago to fight illegal border-related activities and the trafficking of both drugs and people, it has expanded over the past five years. ... 

The result is a mass surveillance network with a particularly American focus: cars. ...

The Border Patrol has for years hidden details of its license plate reader program, trying to keep any mention of the program out of court documents and police reports, former officials say, even going so far as to propose dropping charges rather than risk revealing any details about the placement and use of their covert license plate readers. Readers are often disguised along highways in traffic safety equipment like drums and barrels. ...

... it reaches far into the interior, impacting residents of big metropolitan areas and people driving to and from large cities ... beyond the agency’s usual jurisdiction of 100 miles (161 kilometers) from a land or sea border. ...

Border Patrol’s parent agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said they use license plate readers to help identify threats and disrupt criminal networks and are “governed by a stringent, multi-layered policy framework, as well as federal law and constitutional protections, to ensure the technology is applied responsibly and for clearly defined security purposes.” ...

Today, the deserts, forests and mountains of the nation’s land borders are dotted with checkpoints and increasingly, surveillance towers, Predator drones, thermal cameras and license plate readers, both covert and overt.

Border Patrol’s parent agency got authorization to run a domestic license plate reader program in 2017, according to a Department of Homeland Security policy document. At the time, the agency said that it might use hidden license plate readers ”for a set period of time while CBP is conducting an investigation of an area of interest or smuggling route. Once the investigation is complete, or the illicit activity has stopped in that area, the covert cameras are removed,” the document states.

But that’s not how the program has operated in practice, according to interviews, police reports and court documents. License plate readers have become a major — and in some places permanent — fixture of the border region. ...

The Border Patrol also has access to a nationwide network of plate readers run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, documents show, and was authorized in 2020 to access license plate reader systems sold by private companies. ...

Erick Erickson repeats the myth that Trump cannot turn out the vote unless he is on the ballot

 Seen here:

“Lame duck status is going to come even faster now,” Erick Erickson, the popular conservative blogger and radio host, wrote on social media. “Trump cannot turn out the vote unless he is on the ballot, and that is never happening again.” 

Turnout for Democrats was YUGE yesterday.

Trump did that:

In Virginia, 59% of the electorate said cuts to the federal government had affected their finances, and two-thirds of those voters backed Spanberger, who is on pace to win by 14 percentage points, the largest victory for a Democrat in a Virginia governor’s race in decades. A full 37% of the electorate said they cast a ballot to oppose Trump, with 99% of them voting for Spanberger. 

Irony alert: Masked ICE, DHS, CBP employees who get to hide their identities roam the streets with facial recognition capability to gather images and fingerprints of citizens

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

 

You thought you were voting for deportations of illegals, and you got an Obama-style police state instead.

If you see ICE, CBP, DHS on the street, turn around and go the other way, and vote against these bastards.

You Can't Refuse To Be Scanned by ICE's Facial Recognition App, DHS Document Says

... On Wednesday 404 Media reported that both ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are scanning peoples’ faces in the streets to verify citizenship. 

... The app can also scan peoples’ fingerprints and provide information based on those, and uploads location data “so ICE can identify where the encounter took place.”

“Although the intended purpose of the Mobile Fortify Application is to identify aliens who are removable from the United States, users may use Mobile Fortify to collect information in identifiable form about individuals regardless of citizenship or immigration status. It is conceivable that a photo taken by an agent using the Mobile Fortify mobile application could be that of someone other than an alien, including U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents,” the document continues.

... “By using the Mobile Fortify app to provide real-time responses to biometric queries, ICE officers and agents can reduce the time and effort to identify targets compared to existing manual processes,” the document says.

USA fascist police state to expand facial recognition to over 400 US airports

 TSA has deployed identity verification tools at more than 80 airports thus far, with the ultimate goal of expanding the technologies to over 400 airports in the coming years. These new units, known at CAT-2 systems, take real-time pictures of travelers — the “face capture” aspect of the tools — and then compare the images against their scanned photo identifications — in this case, in a process known as “one-to-one” facial recognition. ...

“On average, the TSA CAT-2 identity verification process took 23 seconds per person,” the analysis said. “It took well under 30 seconds for all demographic groups, and all demographic groups were within a few seconds of the average.”

More.

Never fly.

Swim.

 

 

 

I can see it now: Edward Snowden foe Mike Rogers will be the Republican candidate for US Senate from Michigan and Justin Amash will run as the Libertarian Party spoiler to help Democrat Elissa Slotkin win

 Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, a Michigan native and former FBI agent who rose to become chairman of the House Intelligence Committee before leaving Congress more than eight years ago, announced Wednesday he is running for the Republican nomination for the state's open U.S. Senate seat next year.

The story, here, never mentions Rogers' strong opposition to what Edward Snowden did to reveal illegal US government surveillance of US citizens.

Fourth Amendment libertarians are certain at least to take note.

Rogers is ex-FBI.

Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferer ignores the violence done to the attorney-client relationship by Robert Mueller

The rule of law is dead if your lawyer can't and won't keep a confidence, if we let an unelected appointee of an unelected appointee usurp the powers reserved to duly elected constitutional officers go on a fishing expedition and illegally search and seize the confidential papers of citizens supposedly protected under the Fourth Amendment.

Minor details to this wizard of smart.

Obama spied on Americans FOR YEARS, crickets from his SLAVES in the media

'The normally supportive [FISA] court censured administration officials, saying the failure to disclose the extent of the violations earlier amounted to an “institutional lack of candor” and that the improper searches constituted a “very serious Fourth Amendment issue,” according to a recently unsealed court document dated April 26, 2017.

'The admitted violations undercut one of the primary defenses that the intelligence community and Obama officials have used in recent weeks to justify their snooping into incidental NSA intercepts about Americans.' 

Story here.

Lock him up: FBI under Comey committed hundreds of 4th Amendment privacy violations

From the story here:

For instance, a ruling declassified this month by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) chronicles nearly 10 pages listing hundreds of violations of the FBI’s privacy-protecting minimization rules that occurred on Comey’s watch.

The behavior the FBI admitted to a FISA judge just last month ranged from illegally sharing raw intelligence with unauthorized third parties to accessing intercepted attorney-client privileged communications without proper oversight the bureau promised was in place years ago.

Ted Cruz adopts Obama voter intimidation tactics in Iowa

From the story here:

'In 2008, academics at Yale published an influential paper showing that one of the most effective ways to get voters to the polls was “social pressure.” Researchers found that registered voters in a 2006 primary election in Michigan voted at a higher rate if they received mailers indicating that their participation in the election would be publicized. The mailer that had the biggest impact included information about the two previous elections and whether the recipient and his or her neighbors participated or not. “We intend to mail an updated chart,” the mailer warned. “You and your neighbors will all know who voted and who did not.”

'Insights from the Yale study have since been adopted by several campaigns, including MoveOn, which also faced criticism when it used the tactic to turn out voters for Barack Obama’s reëlection, in 2012. Given its obsession with political science, it’s no surprise that the Cruz campaign decided to adopt the “social pressure” techniques to turn out voters in Iowa for Monday night’s caucuses.'

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated . . .."

The Chicago Sun-Times ignores the fact that people HERE haven't answered for ONE DAMN THING

Edward Snowden has already answered for what he has done. He's sacrificed everything, and lives in exile for defending a principle called the Fourth Amendment.

The conclusion of the stupid effing Sun-Times editorial here:

"Edward Snowden, for all the undeniable good he has done, still has much to answer for."

Crackpot Rand Paul thinks proportional justice is putting James Clapper and Edward Snowden in the same jail cell

With friends like this, who needs enemies?

Snowden's already in a jail cell. It's called exile. He gave up everything to defend a principle Americans used to believe in.

Meanwhile Clapper lied under oath and obstructed justice, did not lose his job, and will not lose any of his taxpayer-funded retirement, but the government's violation of Americans' fourth amendment rights continues unabated.

Video here.

National Rifle Association political arm doesn't endorse Republicans Justin Amash and Ruth Johnson in Michigan

Rep. Justin Amash, MI-3, gets a "B-" grade from the NRA's Political Victory Fund, while Secretary of State Ruth Johnson gets a "B" grade. Amash is notable for crossing the aisle to lend support on 4th Amendment issues and to argue for enforcing the War Powers Act, but many of his friends on the right are disappointed with Amash's voting record on the 2nd Amendment, among other things.

The Republican governor of the state, Rick Snyder, also gets a "B" grade from the NRA, but unlike Amash and Johnson, Rick Snyder gets an endorsement.

There isn't a single other endorsement of a B-graded politician in the state as of September 15th, and just six Democrats receive endorsements, all in Michigan's House of Representatives, which has 110 (!) districts.

The NRA endorses no one in six of Michigan's fourteen US House districts, and endorses Terry Lynn Land for US Senate and gives her opponent, Gary Peters, an "F" grade.

Other notables getting "F" grades are Amash's opponent Bob Goodrich in MI-3, a fellow traveler if ever there was one, Dan Kildee in MI-5, Pam Byrnes in MI-7, Sander Levin in MI-9, Amash's buddy John Conyers Jr. in MI-13, and Brenda Lawrence in MI-14. Conyers infamously likes to read Playboy for the articles in coach class, and couldn't get enough signatures to be on the ballot this time but got on anyway with help from a Democrat judge.

More getting "F" grades are State Senate Democrats Coleman A. Young II in District 1, Morris W. Hood III in District 3, David Knezek in District 5, Rebekah Warren in District 18 and Shari Pollesch in District 22.

There's just one "F" grade in the State House: District 2's Democrat incumbent Alberta Tinsley-Talabi.

Republicans in the State Senate with grades less than "A" like Amash include Mike Nofs in District 19 with a "B-", Brendt Gerics in District 27 with a "C+", and Darwin L. Booher in District 35 with a "B".

Low scoring Republicans in the State House include:

Kelly Thompson in District 12 with a "C"
Harry Sawicki in District 13 with a "B-"
Nathan Inks in District 14 with a "C"
Carol Ann Fausone in District 21 with a "B-"
Michael Ryan in District 27 with a "B-"
Michael D. McCready in District 40 with a "D"
Henry Vaupel in District 47 with a "B-"
Lu Penton in District 49 with a "C"
Eric Leutheuser in District 58 with a "B"
Brandt Iden in District 61 with a "B"
John Bizon in District 62 with a "B+"
David C. Maturen in District 63 with a "B-"
Chris Afendoulis in District 73 with a "C"
Donijo DeJonge in District 76 with a "B-"
Carlos Jaime in District 96 with a "B+"
and Larry C. Inman in District 104 with a "C+". 

Supremes unanimously slap down the King of constitutional law in the White House for 13th time

From John Fund here:

"Those decisions are very revealing about the views of President Obama and Eric Holder: Their vision is one of unchecked federal power on immigration and environmental issues, on presidential prerogatives, and the taking of private property by the government; hostility to First Amendment freedoms that don’t meet the politically correct norms; and disregard of Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless government intrusion. These are positions that should alarm all Americans regardless of their political views, political-party affiliations, or background."

Government Logo On NSA Spy Satellite BRAGS "Nothing Is Beyond Our Reach"

Pics here and here. Story here.

Remember the great vampire squid of banking?

Birds of a feather, er . . . cephalopods of a tentacle.

Supremes Slap Down Imperial Obama 3x In Last 18 Months In Property Cases 9-0

Story here:

"Horne was the administration's third unanimous defeat in a property rights case in 18 months."

-------------------------------------------------

It's not just the Fifth Amendment which has been under attack by the Obama regime, either. The Supremes also handed down two unanimous defeats in First and Fourth Amendment cases in 2012.

America, are you listening? Your president hates your constitution.

The World Champions Of Spying Accuse Snowden Of Espionage

Glenn Greenwald for the UK Guardian issues a blistering critique of the worst president in US history by almost every measure for his completely hypocritical violation of the 4th Amendment, here:

The irony is obvious: the same people who are building a ubiquitous surveillance system to spy on everyone in the world, including their own citizens, are now accusing the person who exposed it of "espionage". It seems clear that the people who are actually bringing "injury to the United States" are those who are waging war on basic tenets of transparency and secretly constructing a mass and often illegal and unconstitutional surveillance apparatus aimed at American citizens - and those who are lying to the American people and its Congress about what they're doing - rather than those who are devoted to informing the American people that this is being done.

When Republicans find themselves on the same side as former Speaker of the House Democrat Nancy Pelosi who says Edward Snowden is a criminal, it's a dark day for the republic indeed:

 "He did violate the law in terms of releasing those documents," Pelosi said, drawing a thunder of boos from the crowd at the progressive conference. "I understand, I understand, but he did violate the law."

Oh yeah, one more thing. Don't forget that the Italians LOVED Mussolini too, until they didn't.

Obama Calls His Eavesdropping On 100 Million Americans "Modest"

Making 47 million people on food stamps just chopped liver, huh?

Here:

"And the modest encroachments on privacy that are involved in getting phone numbers or duration without a name attached and not looking at content, that on net, it was worth us doing." 

To Republicans Like Mike Rogers, These Are Just Words

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Republican Mike Rogers Doesn't Have A Clue How We Feel About The 4th Amendment

Republican Mike Rogers is completely alienated from the original spirit of the Fourth Amendment animating the Tea Party in Michigan and across the country, here this morning:

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) had harsh words for the still-unnamed leaker and for the journalist who first reported the NSA’s collection of phone records, the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald.

“He doesn’t have a clue how this thing works; ne[i]ther did the person who released just enough information to literally be dangerous,” Rogers said, adding, “I absolutely think [the leaker] should be prosecuted.”