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 | Surveillance
Podcast of My Interview with Brian Wilson on Mark Twain, Julius Caesar, and Obama
The podcast is now online from the Libertas Media interview today. Brian Wilson and I had a rattlin’ good exchange about Obama, Mark Twain, Julius Caesar – with a triple heaping on the National Security Agency and Edward Snowden. You can download or listen to the @40 minute podcast by clicking here.
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 […]
Obama’s Vacuum Cleaner for Your Health Data
Here’s a piece I wrote in 2009 on one of Obama’s first assaults on privacy. A few of the piece’s punchier lines: *Privacy is very lucrative for the Beltway boys: they reap millions when they betray it. *We now know that psychologists were brought to the prison at Guantánamo to exploit detainees’ weaknesses for interrogation […]
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…. […]
Fiery Thomas Drake Speech from July 4 NSA Rally
Kevin Gosztola has posted the NBC video of Thomas Drake’s excellent speech from yesterday’s anti-surveillance rally. Here’s the spiel:
Photos from DC Anti-NSA July 4th Rally
Thomas Drake after his speech The Restore the Fourth organization had a rally at McPherson Square in downtown DC on this July 4th afternoon. They had several excellent speakers – including the Libertarian Party’s Carla Howell, CEI’s Ryan Radia, Cato’s Julian Sanchez, and Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin. (Other rallies are occurring across the nation.) […]