@NancyPelosi is being FAR too modest about her protection of FISA.

I admit, Nancy Pelosi talks a good game about how she hates FISA on general principles:

When contacted, a Pelosi aide did not dispute the minority leader’s assertive role in influencing Democrats, but passed along a letter Pelosi sent to the president today raising skepticism about the NSA’s surveillance powers.

“Dear Mr. President,” reads the letter. “Although the amendment was defeated 205-217, it is clear that concerns remain about the continued implementation of the program in its current form. Although some of us voted for and others against the amendment, we all agree that there are lingering questions and concerns about the current 215 collection program.”

The letter goes on to question whether the bulk metadata collection program sufficiently protects the privacy of Americans, whether it could be tailored more narrowly and whether the law is being implemented in a manner consistent with Congress’s intent. An aide later emphasized that Pelosi did note declare an official leadership position against the amendment, meaning there was no whip or count established to see how Democrats would vote.

The amendment was, of course, Rep. Justin Amash’s amendment to alter NSA/FISA procedures: and as the above shows, it failed by a razor-thin margin. Foreign Policy pretty much summed up what happened in the title of the first linked article (“How Nancy Pelosi Saved the NSA Surveillance Program”), but perhaps we need to be a bit more explicit about things, here.  God forbid that Nancy Pelosi avoid credit for being such a tireless defender of FISA; we wouldn’t want her light to remain under a bushel.
Continue reading @NancyPelosi is being FAR too modest about her protection of FISA.

Of *course* Ed Snowden needs a lawyer.

(H/T: Hot Air Headlines) The man keeps publicly committing acts of espionage against the USA: what he needs right now is somebody who can do the first job of a lawyer… which is to tell his or her client to shut up, early and often. And he especially needs a lawyer, because things aren’t working out otherwise for either Ed Snowden OR Glenn Greenwald.

…Snowden’s argument isn’t doing particularly well in the court of public opinion, which seems more inclined to the government’s view that Snowden is a fugitive from criminal justice and therefore subject to various authorities of law enforcement. Several supporters organized rallies on July 4 in cities around the US, but total turnout was around 3,000. The biggest rally, in Washington DC, weighed in at an estimated 400.

Yeah, turns out that the American people may not be particularly thrilled at the thought that somebody might feel entitled to burn the NSA’s foreign operations in the service of a fringe transnational fantasy ideology.  Go figure. Continue reading Of *course* Ed Snowden needs a lawyer.

Ed Snowden continues to betray America.

I went off on this on Twitter last night, and I am no less disgusted today: Ed Snowden does not, in fact, care for the United States of America.

The German magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday that the NSA had bugged European Union offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks where it was able to read documents and emails. United Nations offices were similarly targeted, reports Der Spiegel based on information provided by Mr. Snowden.

Of course the National Security Agency bugged them!  That is what the National Security Agency does! Continue reading Ed Snowden continues to betray America.

Ed Snowden flees Hong Kong, goes to… Russia.

Told you he wasn’t legit.

This isn’t civil disobedience, by the way: civil disobedience is when you tell the cops to go ahead and arrest you, the legal system to go ahead and convict you, and the government to go ahead and actually put you in jail. Civil disobedience is about doing what you think is right and accepting the consequences. Otherwise, it’s presumption, arrogance, and the arrogant presumption of privilege (literally: “private law”).  Which is an excellent way to describe Ed Snowden, frankly. And Wikileaks, come to think of it.

No, what we have here instead is some good, old fashioned Lefty agitprop going on here:

The global cat-and-mouse hunt for Edward Snowden took a dramatic turn Sunday when the man wanted on U.S. espionage charges fled Hong Kong and may be in the air over Russia.

Snowden, who leaked top-secret details about U.S. surveillance programs, left Hong Kong on Sunday “through a lawful and normal channel,” the Hong Kong government said.

He took off with the help of WikiLeaks, which assisted with Snowden’s “political asylum in a democratic country, travel papers (and) safe exit from Hong Kong,” the group said on Twitter.

He’s gone to Russia.  Russia, where they kill uppity journalistsContinue reading Ed Snowden flees Hong Kong, goes to… Russia.

QotD, I Would Pay Twenty Dollars To See Darth Cheney Do This Edition.

Charity of Cheney’s choice. To riff off of Allahpundit’s style:  Make this happen.

Suspense this morning on “Fox News Sunday”: Will Dick Cheney seize the opportunity to pull off one of the great trollings in modern political history by claiming that even he thinks Obama’s NSA surveillance has gone too far? I’m praying the answer is yes, simply for the comic agony it would induce in O-bots, but it’s almost certainly no.

But it would be so. Totally. Worth. It. Continue reading QotD, I Would Pay Twenty Dollars To See Darth Cheney Do This Edition.

This is me, trying to wave people off of the Snowden NSA leak story.

Having read it, I have to say: the guy comes off as having a past that looks like it’s going to be rickety under scrutiny; a somewhat self-aggrandizing present; and a future that seems to be largely dependent on the goodwill of the People’s Republic of China.

I mean, Jeez, you don’t go to Hong Kong these days if you’re worried that the local security apparatus might be inclined to snatch-and-grab you for the Americans…

Facebook/Google: Barack Obama is the kindest, warmest, bravest …

…most wonderful person that they’ve ever known in their lives. Slate, of all organizations, summed it up best:

 

Basically, it looks for all the world like Google and Facebook got some sort of recommended talking points memo designed to end this hullabaloo by giving them something suitably vacuous to say that would allow them to, I think, progress past this issue and move on.

…OK, I’ll stop now.

Moe Lane

Tweet of the Day, Verizon Doesn’t Need This Kind Of Brand Identification edition.

Ladies and gentlemen, Governor Rick Perry:

Ouch.

Hey, why not give Barack Obama something *to* look at wrt your credit card purchases?

Yes, apparently the NSA is doing that, now*.  But I’m sure that you can trust them; still, if they’re so intent in seeing what you’re buying, go ahead and give them a show.

Continue reading Hey, why not give Barack Obama something *to* look at wrt your credit card purchases?