Category: Corruption

The US continues spying on phones under Obama

There are a ton of opinions on this subject and we’ll get to those in a moment.

But first the story:

The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America’s largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.

The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an “ongoing, daily basis” to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.

The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.

The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (Fisa) granted the order to the FBI on April 25, giving the government unlimited authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19.

Under the terms of the blanket order, the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The contents of the conversation itself are not covered.

via NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily | World news | The Guardian.

But, there is a big difference this time:

Under the Bush administration, officials in security agencies had disclosed to reporters the large-scale collection of call records data by the NSA, but this is the first time significant and top-secret documents have revealed the continuation of the practice on a massive scale under President Obama.

The unlimited nature of the records being handed over to the NSA is extremely unusual. Fisa court orders typically direct the production of records pertaining to a specific named target who is suspected of being an agent of a terrorist group or foreign state, or a finite set of individually named targets.

Which sounds about right for the Democrats, because they are perfectly fine with Government of a massive scale.

Now there are two very important opinions on this subject that I want you to see. They are same political slant; however, the opinions are very different. Please go check out Michelle Malkin’s take and Ed Morrissey’s take on this subject. While I agree on Michelle Malkin’s assessment, I really do not agree with her narrative at all. If you are smart and read her a good deal, you will know what I am talking about.

Now there is one thing that Ed Morrissey wrote that I, as an Independent, and someone who believes that the war on terror is a very real thing and that we should at least try to keep America safe, without trampling on our constitutional rights. I believe this to be very true and  very profound statement coming from someone like Mr. Morrissey:

Hypocrisy is an unfortunately ubiquitous condition in politics, but in the case of NSA seizing Verizon’s phone records, it’s particularly widespread.  Some of the people expressing outrage for the Obama administration’s efforts at data mining had a different attitude toward it when Bush was in office.  Conversely, we’ll see some people defending Obama who considered Bush evil incarnate for the same thing.

Either way, we’re left with the situation of having the federal government seizing private records without any meaningful civil due process that engages the citizens affected, whether that includes actual wiretaps or just cataloguing our calls and movements.  Perhaps this will move this issue out of the partisan sphere and into a common ground in which we can all work to define exactly how far we’re willing to go in trading privacy for security.  In order to get there, we’d all better recognize the hypocrisy that has abounded on this issue for far too long, and start thinking about higher principles than party affiliation when it comes to national security and constitutional protections.

Now that last part that I underlined, is something I wholeheartedly agree with. When the story broke about Bush and Co. came about the wiretaps, I remember Keith Olbermann doing a special comment on it and I admired him for standing up. Now, where’s Keith? Where are the liberals who thought that this was much too intrusive? Where are they now? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

My hat tip goes to Glenn Greenwald for putting principles over partisanship and getting this story to the masses. Glenn has been about the only liberal who has stood up and pointed out that Obama Administration has continued the policies of the George W. Bush Administration and in some cases; like this one here — has expanded them to an alarming degree. Yes, this is overreach and it is alarming and I do hope the Congress does something about it.

Others: Hullabaloo, Yahoo! News, Washington Wire, Washington Monthly, New York Times,ThinkProgress, Politico, Firedoglake, BuzzFeed, CNN, Forbes, Joshua Foust, The World’s Greatest …, msnbc.com, The Atlantic Wire, JustOneMinute, American Spectator, Democracy in America,WorldViews, TIME, Business Insider, Examiner, The Fix, News Desk, Associated Press, New Republic, Daily Kos, The Maddow Blog, Mashable, Wake up America, Wonkblog, The Huffington Post, Taylor Marsh, The Volokh Conspiracy, Mediaite, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Library of Law & Liberty, Moon of Alabama, The Daily Caller, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Engadget, Betsy’s Page, Patterico’s Pontifications, AllThingsD, Outside the Beltway, Post Politics, Informed Comment,Nice Deb, Real Clear Politics, Wired, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, Illinois Review,AMERICAblog, Pirate’s Cove, CANNONFIRE, VentureBeat, No More Mister Nice Blog, First Read,Prairie Weather, The PJ Tatler, Telegraph, The Hinterland Gazette, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland, Weasel Zippers, Jammie Wearing Fools, GigaOM, Corrente, The Spectacle Blog, Gawker, Boing Boing, The Raw Story, Shakesville, Secrecy News, The Verge, Conservatives4Palin, susiemadrak.com, Sense of Events, Taegan Goddard’s …, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The BLT, emptywheel and Overlawyered  Via Memeorandum 

UPDATED – It’s official: The Obama Administration is in deep trouble and I am done defending them

My friends, I was very, very wrong and for that, I am terribly sorry. 🙁

I said that I believed that the entire Benghazi, Libya debacle was over-hyped by the Republicans; and I still believe that, to a point.

However, there are many things that have come up since then, which I simply cannot defend.

They are:

  1. The IRS targeting Jewish groups.  – I mean, honestly, what the hell were the IRS and Obama’s people thinking when they let this one happen?
  2. IRS targeting Conservative groups in Washington and Elsewhere. — Did they not know that this would be exposed?
  3. DOJ going after the AP – This is borderline Watergate, so says a watergate player. — Again, what the hell were these people thinking?

My friends, the “Giving the benefit of the doubt” of the President and his Administration by this writer and blogger are over. There is no doubt in my mind that the Obama administration; much like the Administration of George W. Bush, became consumed with a lust for power and abused and exploited the office of President of the United States and the instruments of Governmental office for political purposes.

I leave you with two videos:

Update: Better clip via The American Spectator:

The Democrats have screwed themselves out of ever winning an election; for like oh, maybe the next 2 major election cycles. This is the sad part, Obama and his Administration promised Americans that he would be a clean break from the policies and practices of President George W. Bush and his Administration and sadly, it turns out that Obama and his Administration are just as bad; if not even worse.   As I wrote before, it is sad ending to a Presidency that offered so much to give; but ended up delivering little or nothing at all, in the realm of change.

It is going to be a long, hot, nasty, political summer for America, Americans, Black Liberal Americans and for Washington D.C.. I just hope that cool heads prevail. But, I really do fear the worst in yet to come.

Blogger Round Up #1: (via) Yahoo! News, JustOneMinute, Michelle Malkin, New York Times, Sunlight Foundation Blog, BBC, Wall Street Journal, Right Turn, waysandmeans.house.gov, Hot Air, The Week, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Daily Kos, First Read, The Maddow Blog, PostPartisan, The Fix, White House Dossier, The Other McCain, Betsy’s Page, Da Tech Guy On DaRadio Blog, Scared Monkeys,msnbc.com, Obsidian Wings, Weasel Zippers, Jammie Wearing Fools, Twitchy, National Review,The Lonely Conservative, Power Line, Conservatives4Palin and CBS DC

Blogger Round Up #2: (via) Yahoo! News, Washington Monthly, BuzzFeed, The Week, Associated Press, Hit & Run,News Desk, Fox News, Open Channel, msnbc.com, emptywheel, Guardian, WorldViews, Patterico’s Pontifications, The Huffington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, USA Today, The Hill, Weekly Standard, Poynter, The Daily Caller, The Volokh Conspiracy, Erik Wemple, ThinkProgress, Right Wing News, Taylor Marsh, Scared Monkeys, Addicting Info, americanthinker.com, CNN,CANNONFIRE, The BLT, PJ Media, NO QUARTER USA NET, The Moderate Voice, The Hinterland Gazette, NationalJournal.com, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Examiner, Wired,Politico, Weasel Zippers, Gawker, THE DEFINITIVE SOURCE, Hullabaloo, Ed Driscoll, The Verge,The Gateway Pundit, SPJ News, The PJ Tatler, National Review, National Republican …, Philly.com,Mother Jones, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Sister Toldjah, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette, TalkLeft andLawfare, more at Mediagazer »

Update #1: Franklin Graham says they were targeted. Those rat bastards have no shame at all. 😡

 Update #2:  Obama Admin’s IRS targeted reporter who gave hard interview.

Update #3: I am just going to say this and get it off my chest:

IMPEACH THE FUCKER AND GET IT OVER WITH!

Roundup #3: The Gateway Pundit, Sister Toldjah, Weasel Zippers, Washington Free Beacon, Rule of Law, BuzzFeed, ViralRead, Jammie Wearing Fools,The PJ Tatler, VodkaPundit and Hot Air

So, why did gold crash?

I am not an expert on the subject, but I think here might be a good reason as to why:

Who killed the gold?

 

 

In the wake of gold prices cratering in recent days, more than a few prominent experts have already started pinning the blame on Western central banks — especially the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB). According to numerous analysts, the central bankers are desperate to salvage their fiat currencies and eliminate competition as “monetary authorities” continue to create ever-greater quantities of euros and dollars out of thin air.

Some experts, whistle-blowers, traders, and former officials say the Fed dumped as much as 400 or even 500 tons of “paper gold” on the market — metals that it might not even have — as part of a naked short sale aimed at driving down the prices. Other analysts, especially among the establishment, pointed to the ECB chief’s recent suggestion that struggling European authorities in countries such as Cyprus would have to sell their precious metals to keep receiving bailouts

via After Gold Crash, Experts Point to Central Bank Manipulation.

I do not really want to veer into Alex Jones territory; but it does seem interesting that gold plunges, there’s an attack and the stock market dives too. The events might not be related; but it sure does look a bit suspect to me.

This pretty much sums it up

I know I said that I would not be linking to this guy anymore. I have reversed this decision. If Israel wants to be stupid, then they should expect derision from people like this man here.

Anyhow, this pretty much sums up my opinion of the Republican establishment:

The Republicans in the House are largely more conservative than at any time since Wilson left office. One would expect them to understand the intent of the voters who sent them there and thus say no to more taxes, no to more spending and no to more borrowing. Instead, we have Republican leadership in the House that actually proposed raising more revenue by eliminating deductions on income taxes. They somehow claim that they are being faithful to their stated mission of fiscal conservatism by making you pay more money but at the present tax rates. They, too, have failed economics 101.

Any significant movement of wealth from taxpayers to tax consumers will not enhance prosperity; it will crush it, and it will breed dependence on a government that is fiscally out of control. The recipients will no doubt vote to re-elect those who gave them these payments.

via NAPOLITANO: GOP for Big Government – Washington Times.

Amen and Amen. Big Government sucks and taxing the job creators is beyond stupid. If the GOP plays surrender monkey on this; you can kiss that party goodbye. Because the grassroots will not vote for a party that says one thing and does another.

I will also say this: If the Republican Party thinks for one lousy second that the Tea Party is dead and that the movement has ended, they will be in for a huge shock come 2014. I believe that there well a huge ground swell of voter discontent come 2014, especially after when taxes go up on small businesses.

So, if the GOP wants to cave on this; feel free — but the clock is ticking and you have basically blown through your political capital, Mr. Boehner. If you believe that punishing true Conservatives is going to do you any good. Think again. Oh, it will help you on the short-term, so that you can play nice with the President. But, in the long-term, you are toast. You will be out of job, because I tend to believe that the Republican grassroots and the Conservative grassroots —- you know, those who actually vote for you? — are not going to stand for this at all.

 

Video: CBN NewsWatch: October 24, 2012

On CBN Newswatch, Oct. 24:

  • On the campaign trail
  • Catholic vote not as cut and dry for candidates
  • Ind. Senate candidate standing by rape remarks
  • Monster energy drink blamed for five deaths
  • ….and more.

Follow Up: Dinesh D’Souza resigns as President of King’s College in NYC

Just a little follow-up and back story to the previous posting on the activities of Dinesh D’Souza.

It appears that Dinesh D’Souza has resigned as the President of King’s College in New York City. But first, Dinesh D’Souza, provides a defense of himself at Fox News; and one part I want to quote:

5. So why would World write such a misleading, sensational story that we would normally expect from the tabloids?  Actually there is a back story here which was noted by Amy Sullivan at the New Republic, as well as numerous other sources. Marvin Olasky, the editor of World, is the former provost of the King’s College. Olasky was on the search committee when I interviewed to be president, and he vehemently opposed my candidacy. Olasky publicly admitted that he was resigning his position as a consequence of my appointment.  The reporter who wrote this story, Warren Smith, also used to work as a consultant for King’s until I decided not to renew his contract.  And what was Olasky’s gripe against me?  As he put it, I was seeking to make King’s a non-denominational “mere Christianity college” in the image of C.S. Lewis.  This for Olasky was simply intolerable.   Having nursed his grievance for two years, now apparently Olasky is using World to continue his vendetta.

Now this could very well be true. However, it still does not excuse that this man was doing something rather idiotic, two years away from your wife or not; if you are still married, you are still married, period. Which is pretty ironic, considering that D’Souza wrote this:

6. Ultimately this is not just about Olasky or even World magazine.  It is also about how we Christians are supposed to behave with one another. And the secular world is watching. Is this how we love and treat fellow believers? If my conduct was improper, wouldn’t it be the decent and charitable thing to approach me about it?  Instead, here is a clear attempt to destroy my career and my ministry.  This is viciousness masquerading as righteousness.  And this is the behavior that is truly worthy of Christian condemnation.

How ironic is it that Mr. D’Souza wants to lecture others on how to behave and yet, he does not follow his own advice. It is no wonder that he resigned! The man was doing wrong in the sight of God and when he gets called on it, he plays the persecution card. The way I see it; if you are in this sort of high visibility place and are doing something of that nature — you should expect to be persecuted. There is a simple scripture that covers this very simply:

Abstain from all appearance of evil.  — (1 Thessalonians 5:22 KJV)

I guess they do not teach this simply rule in the Evangelical Christian Churches anymore, and then there is this too:

Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. — (2 Corinthians 8:21 KJV)

Either way, it is good for this College that this man resigned. Again, as I said in my earlier posting about this man; if you are going to ever go to battle with the enemy, whether it be in the Spiritual or Political; ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, have your own Spiritual house in order!!!!!!!!!! Lest Satan himself or his minions tear you to pieces!!! People that fight that sort of battle with their Spiritual house in disarray are committing spiritual suicide! The roadside of Christianity is littered with those who tried to do things “their way” and not the Lord’s way and have paid a terrible price for it.

Anyhow, here is the story from World Magazine:

The Board of Trustees of The King’s College, New York City has accepted the resignation of the school’s president, Dinesh D’Souza, effective immediately.

Board chairman Andy Mills said in a prepared statement, “After careful consultation with the board and with Dinesh, we have accepted his resignation to allow him to attend to his personal and family needs. We thank him for his service and significant contribution to the College over the last two years.”

The King’s College Board of Trustees named D’Souza president in 2010. His resignation comes after two days of intense controversy following a story by WORLD documenting D’Souza’s relationship with a woman who is not his wife.

The board has asked Mills to assume the position of interim president and will immediately begin a search for the new president. Mills urged the King’s community to pray for D’Souza and his family during this difficult period.

My prayers are also with Dinesh D’Souza as well. I hope he will go and submit himself to a Pastor and get himself in a Church that actually preaches the Word of God. Because at this point, he is in open rebellion against God. I also pray for his real wife, and I pray for restoration in his family. Praying

Here’s the roundup of blogger reactions via Memeorandum. (even though they do not scan me! 🙁 )

Video: Police State: NYC’s Stop and Frisk Program Exposed

This one has my blood boiling.

The Video:

The Absolutely mind-numbing story via the Progressive Magazine, The Nation:

Exclusive audio obtained by The Nation of a stop-and-frisk carried out by the New York Police Department freshly reveals the discriminatory and unprofessional way in which this controversial policy is being implemented on the city’s streets.

On June 3, 2011, three plainclothes New York City Police officers stopped a Harlem teenager named Alvin and two of the officers questioned and frisked him while the third remained in their unmarked car. Alvin secretly captured the interaction on his cell phone, and the resulting audio is one of the only known recordings of stop-and-frisk in action.

In the course of the two-minute recording, the officers give no legally valid reason for the stop, use racially charged language and threaten Alvin with violence. Early in the stop, one of the officers asks, “You want me to smack you?” When Alvin asks why he is being threatened with arrest, the other officer responds, “For being a fucking mutt.” Later in the stop, while holding Alvin’s arm behind his back, the first officer says, “Dude, I’m gonna break your fuckin’ arm, then I’m gonna punch you in the fuckin’ face.”

“He grabbed me by my bookbag and he started pushing me down. So I’m going backwards like down the hill and he just kept pushing me, pushing me, it looked like he we was going to hit me,” Alvin recounts. “I felt like they was trying to make me resist or fight back.”

Alvin’s treatment at the hands of the officers may be disturbing but it is not uncommon. According to their own stop-and-frisk data, the NYPD stops more than 1,800 New Yorkers a day. A New York Times analysis recently determined that more than 20 percent of those stops involve the use of force. And these are only the numbers that the Department records.  Anecdotal evidence suggests both figures are much higher.

This ought to be, but will not be, because it does not fit the narrative of the so-called “right”; on every front page of every last darned Conservative blog out there. Before anyone even remotely says it; I might be a racial realist, but I do not support this sort of idiotic nonsense. This is nothing more than thug and racist tactics by the New York City police department.  I have condemned racism on this blog and I will continue to do so.  However, this goes well beyond racism, this is also police state thug tactics. Law enforcement is supposed to serve and protect, not intimidate and threaten its citizens. Furthermore, it is not supposed to stop and frisk people, for the sole purpose of checking to see if they are criminals or not. This is unconstitutional.

You see, the difference between this Conservative blog and the rest is this here: I happen to know that America is trending towards a police state and has been for many years. I also happen to know that this slide towards a police state is not based on partisan leadership in Washington D.C. The Police State in trend in America has been in place under Republicans and Democrats both. I give major kudos to The Nation magazine for having the brass balls to bring this issue to light and I hope as a Constitutional Conservative that some sort of investigation into this activity is started.

Again, this is not about partisanship at all —- this is about that which happens to be morally right and morally wrong; and this little story here is just morally wrong. I just hope something is done about it, and quickly, before someone out there, police or civilian; gets hurt really bad or worse, ends up dead.

We can do better than this, as Americans — we can do better.

Update: I thought of this after I hit publish. This right here is nothing more than what the Detroit Police Department had back in the 1960’s and early 1970’s; which was the S.T.R.E.S.S. program. It was racist, it was thug tactics and it was ended by Mayor Coleman Young, when he took office. This is the same thing and it is unconstitutional. If there is any sort of morality in New York City, this little operation will be stopped and quickly.

Others: New York Magazine, Gawker, The Raw Story, Colorlines and The Agitator

Sandusky Sentenced to 30 to 60 years for Child Sexual Molestation

As the victim of an attempted molestation when I was 10 years old, this story is a personal one to me.

BELLEFONTE, Pa. —  Jerry Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach, was sentenced Tuesday morning to 30 to 60 years in prison for sexually abusing boys, crimes that roiled the university community and shook one of major college football’s most prominent programs.

The ruling was handed down in Centre County Court by Judge John Cleland, and it essentially guaranteed that Sandusky, 68, would die in prison. The sentencing came roughly three and a half months after a jury found him guilty of 45 counts of child sexual abuse.

Sandusky, the jury determined, had abused 10 boys, all of them from disadvantaged homes. Sandusky used his connections to the Penn State football program, as well as his own charity for disadvantaged youth, the Second Mile, to identify potential victims, get close to them and then sexually violate them.

via Sandusky Sentenced in Penn State Sex Abuse Case – NYTimes.com.

I have one thing to say, let that son-of-a-bitch rot in jail. What’s more sickening, the idiot says he is not guilty. Here is hoping someone kills this lousy piece of dung in jail.

You say, “What about Love and compassion?” I’ll let someone else do the Love and Compassion bit. I hope he rots. 😡

If there was ever a textbook case for a need of a National death penalty in this Country — or at the very least, a death penalty in all 50 States in the union; this right here, is one of them.

Chart: Obama’s Spending versus Bush

It is an updated one, via InstaPundit. Show this to Democrats when they try to blame our budget problems on Bush’s wars. This will prove that they are, as always; full of crap.