CA Congressman Assumes Facts Not in Evidence; NSA Edition

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) on the NSA:

“They abide by the law, but they also have good lawyers who will go to court and try to press the meaning of what we write to the maximum amount. And we should be mindful of that.”

I don't want to hammer Lofgren too hard, as she has been one of the ones fighting to rein in the NSA. But the NSA won't really be reined in and the statists/cowards (Like Rep. Rogers and Sen. Feinstein) are fighting hard on behalf of the NSA.

Still, Lofgren's opening assumption is flawed. The NSA has not been abiding by the law. The NSA's spooks violate the law on a daily basis. And remember, those are just the times that the NSA decided to toss some flunky under the bus. Does anyone really not believe that the NSA has been running intel watches on prominent legislators and reporters?

Remember that the NSA's mantra has been "collect everything."

This actual surveillance system is expressed by the National Security Agency’s (NSA) own slogan which appears repeatedly throughout its own documents: collect it all.

That is an apt phrase. It describes exactly what the NSA’s objective is: to eliminate privacy worldwide by collecting and storing all electronic communications that take place between all human beings on the planet. It is devoted to sweeping up every email, every telephone call, every Google search, every browsing activity, and every online transaction in which people engage. That is not hyperbole: the NSA’s own documents leave no doubt that this is exactly its mission.

The NSA's defenders say that they need to do this to "keep us safe". But all they offer are meaningless platitudes. The NSA and its propagandists have not proven that their "collect everything" strategy has prevented a single terrorist attack.

Now, if you want to have a truly private conversation, you must do it face-to-face, in a room without any electronic devices, including old telephones. Because the NSA is listening in.*

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* What, you really think that they're not doing it here, as well?