Sen. Rand Paul was the only senator to vote against confirming James Comey as the new FBI director. The final vote was 93 to 1 – so nobody was crowding Rand on the high ground. As the ACLU noted last month, “While Comey deserves credit for stopping an illegal spying program in dramatic fashion, he […]
Tag Archives | Congress
Three Cheers for Justin Amash and the Anti-Spying Coalition
Three cheers for Rep. Justin Amash and colleagues who came within a whisker of reining in the NSA’s illegal surveillance tonight in Congress! (Final vote on his amendment was 217 to 205). This is a huge moral victory – and the sign of civil liberty victories to come. And the floor debate helped reveal […]
N.Y. Times Snares Secret FISA Court Decrees – Fresh Hell for NSA and Obama
The New York Times published a long article today on secret rulings by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The article describes the FISA court as “almost a parallel Supreme Court” which has cast aside traditional understandings of privacy and the Fourth Amendment. Reading between the lines, it is clear that NYT has the actual decisions…. […]
My 1998 piece: The IRS, Now & Forever
The Foundation for Economic Education reposted this as a “timely classic” last week. A few highlights: *In recent years, IRS agents have been indoctrinated to see taxpayers as a class enemy. *The only Americans who have legal rights, in the IRS’s eyes, are those who can afford to hire lawyers and topnotch accountants to fight […]
My 2006 FFF Articles on Surveillance Insanity
From the Future of Freedom Foundation website – BUSH’S WIRETAP CRIMES AND THE FISA FARCE by James Bovard March 1, 2006 President Bush proudly announced last December that he is violating federal law. He declared that in 2002 he had ordered the National Security Agency to begin conducting warrantless wiretaps and email intercepts on Americans. […]
My 2000 Article: The Rise of the Surveillance State
The American Spectator reposted online this morning a piece I wrote for them 13 years ago on the proliferation of government surveillance. I included some of this in my 2000 book, Feeling Your Pain: The Explosion and Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years. If memory serves, reviewers denounced my paranoia on surveillance issue […]
MP3 of IRS Interview on Janine Turner Radio Show
I had a lively chat yesterday with conservative firebrand and former Hollywood star Janine Turner on her Houston KPRC (and XM/Sirius) radio show. She wanted to hash out the Wall Street Journal piece on the IRS, and we had fun jibing at Congress. Well, at least I did. I got the hunch that Janine’s confidence in […]
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“In July 2003, Americans learned that the Bush t
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I am opposed to expanding political control of edu
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While I whole-heartedly agree that the U.S. federa