Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"Thou Shalt Get Sidetracked by Bullshit, Every Goddamned Time." -- The Ghoul

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck,
"FOFF" = Felonious Old Fat Fuck,
"COFF" = Convicted Old Felonious Fool,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset,
A/K/A P01135809, A/K/A Dementia Donnie, A/K/A Felon^34,
A/K/A Dolt-45, A/K/A Don Snoreleone

Monday, June 1, 2015

NSA Stops Collecting Phone Records-- My Ass, They Did

Sweeping US surveillance powers, enjoyed by the National Security Agency since the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks, shut down at midnight after a dramatic Senate showdown in which even the NSA’s biggest supporters conceded that substantial reforms were inevitable.

Almost two years after the whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed to the Guardian that the Patriot Act was secretly being used to justify the collection of phone records from millions of Americans, critics of bulk surveillance went further than expected and forced the end of a range of other legal authorities covered by the Bush-era Patriot Act as well.
I submit, Gentle Reader, that only a fool would believe that the NSA has stopped accumulating phone records that. They have the infrastructure in place to do it and do you really believe that some NSA tech has shrugged and thrown the breaker on that? I wrote as much almost two years ago and I think it still stands.

The various legislators can bloviate and speechify all they want to. Congress can pass or not pass laws. The American Stasi will do what the fuck they want, probably because they think there isn't going to be another Snowden or Manning. Rand Paul is exactly right when he warns that the FISA court will rubber-stamp whatever the NSA wants, for it's what they do. Assuming that the NSA bothers to even ask the FISA court, which they've been known to bypass before.

The only real change, for right now, is that we can pretty much tell the Feebies with their prying "national security letters" (most of which had no relationship to national security) to fuck off and die. But that'll change.

6 comments:

CenterPuke88 said...

The image I have is of the NSA supporters in the strange position of hitting their knees, praying for a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Then they can say, see, we told you so.

Comrade Misfit said...

That's exactly what they're doing. No doubt about it.

bearsense said...

So now we are going to trust Verizon, etc ??

Comrade Misfit said...

Bearsense, of course not. They're inherently amoral.

bearsense said...

Roger dat !!

Robert Fowler said...

CenterPuke88 said...
The image I have is of the NSA supporters in the strange position of hitting their knees, praying for a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Then they can say, see, we told you so.

That's why they keep the southern border open. They know terrorists are crossing right along with the Mexicans and Central Americans. I hope the mushroom cloud is over one of their cities and not mine.