NSA Broke Privacy Rules Thousands of Times Per Year, Audit Finds

Photo Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Photo Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.

Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by statute and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls.

The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance. In one of the documents, agency personnel are instructed to remove details and substitute more generic language in reports to the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

In one instance, the NSA decided that it need not report the unintended surveillance of Americans. A notable example in 2008 was the interception of a “large number” of calls placed from Washington when a programming error confused the U.S. area code 202 for 20, the international dialing code for Egypt, according to a “quality assurance” review that was not distributed to the NSA’s oversight staff.

In another case, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has authority over some NSA operations, did not learn about a new collection method until it had been in operation for many months. The court ruled it unconstitutional.

Read more from this story HERE.

Oregon Supreme Court finds Portland Law Prohibiting Loaded Guns in Public Places Constitutional

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

A city of Portland ordinance that prohibits carrying loaded guns in public places does not violate a person’s right to bear arms, the Oregon Supreme Court has ruled.

The decision in State and City of Portland v. Jonathan D. Christian, released Thursday, is believed to be the first time the state’s highest court has weighed in on the ordinance. The justices’ endorsement of the law’s constitutionality comes as communities across the country continue a heated debate over government regulations of firearms.

The ruling, written by Justice Richard Baldwin for the unanimous court, carries implications for more than just Portland, said Harry Auerbach, Chief Deputy City Attorney for Portland. He said several local governments throughout Oregon have similar regulations.

“The ability of cities statewide to protect their citizens was an important consideration” for the court, he said, adding that the ruling bolsters efforts “to protect the safety of people on the streets of Portland by limiting the number of loaded firearms that are out there.”

The city ordinance prohibiting the carrying of loaded firearms in public has existed for decades, although the Portland City Council amended it in December 2010 to add a mandatory jail term of 30 days for violating the ordinance. That amendment was part of a package of new gun laws passed under former Mayor Sam Adams.

Read more from this story HERE.

DOD: Gay Troops Will Get Extra Time Off to Go to Same-Sex Marriage States and Get Hitched

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The U.S. Defense Department announced on Wednesday that it will make “spousal and family benefits” available no later than Sept. 3, 2013, regardless of sexual orientation, for all service members who can provide a valid marriage certificate.

And what about same-sex military couples who live in a state where same-sex marriage is not allowed? No problem.

“We recognize that same-sex military couples who are not stationed in a jurisdiction that permits same-sex marriage would have to travel to another jurisdiction to marry. That is why the department will implement policies to allow military personnel in such a relationship non-chargeable leave for the purpose of travelling to a jurisdiction where such a marriage may occur,” the DOD news release said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Term Limits for Federal Judges?

gavelLife tenure for out-of control federal judges, including members of the Supreme Court will never be abolished unless there is an overwhelming public demand.

I was asked for my view regarding a proposal to provide term limits for federal judges, including members of the U.S. Supreme Court. This is my response:

Flagrant judicial abuse of power has prompted numerous proposed remedies repeated over the years (e.g., require a Supreme Court supermajority, such as 7-2, for any unconstitutionality ruling, which could then be overturned by a 2/3 majority of each house of Congress as is now done with presidential vetoes, strip federal courts of jurisdiction as explicitly provided for in the Constitution, etc.).

In my view, ending lifetime appointments would be best. Lawlessly and arrogantly usurping power, federal judges long ago forfeited any legitimate claim to life tenure. Their lack of integrity has conclusively vitiated the very basis used by the Founding Fathers to justify life tenure in the first place.

However, it is easy to propose remedies. For three reasons, they cannot now be adopted. First, as noted in Getting It Wrong, the Supreme Court is the last best hope of democracy’s losers. They are not going to give that up without a fight. Unpopular and harmful, even dangerous, radical extremist policies that cannot be adopted democratically are repeatedly rammed through by federal judges – usually by stealth and unnoticed like noiseless and invisible thieves and worms, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson. Yes, there are widely reported fiats such as on abortion and, recently, gay marriage. But these are the exception; in any event, most “journalists” focus on whether they like the results rather than on whether such results follow the Constitution or are an abuse of judicial power.

Far more typical has been the gradual and, by now, almost total neutering of the death penalty.

Second, although often unable to impose unpopular policies legitimately, democracy’s losers are strong enough to preserve judicial subversion of representative government. The Constitution, requiring extraordinary majorities, makes it far easier to block than to adopt amendments (except, of course, when the Supreme Court itself easily usurps amending requirements with reckless abandon).

Third, although some polls indicate a decline in public approval, the Supreme Court still has considerable protection for one simple reason: THE MEDIA. The media conceals from the public what the Court really does. The unreported outrages are without limit.

I am convinced that the public would not stand for rampant judicial abuse if the public knew about and understood it. I do not write for experts. My goal has been to inform the lay public. Thus I strive to write in a way that can be easily understood. I avoid jargon and legalese. Unfortunately, with very little support from those on our side who are in the best position to publicize my work, I have achieved little.

The unpleasant truth is this. Reform is now impossible. Unless overwhelming public support can be generated, it will only be an academic exercise in futility to muse about specific proposals.

I will have much more to say about this in what likely will be my final article.

_____________________________________________________________________

Lester Jackson, Ph.D., a former college political science teacher, views mainstream media suppression of the truth as essential to harmful judicial activism. His recent articles are collected here.

Calif. Man’s Charge Upped to Murder after Boasting about Speeding on Twitter

Photo Credit: west.m

Photo Credit: west.m

An 18-year-old accused of killing a bicyclist with his car has had a vehicular manslaughter charge upgraded to murder in part because he boasted about speeding on Twitter, prosecutors said Thursday.

Cody Hall, of Pleasanton, was being held without bail after he was charged Wednesday with the murder of 58-year-old Diana Hersevoort, the San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune reported.

Hall was going more than 80 mph in a 40 mph zone when he hit Hersevoort and her husband along a busy boulevard in Dublin on June 9, prosecutors allege. Hersevoort’s husband only broke an arm, but she was killed.

An analysis of Hall’s driving record, along with Twitter posts in which he discussed how fast he liked to drive, persuaded prosecutors to change the charge to murder, the Alameda County district attorney’s office told the Chronicle.

Read more from this story HERE.

Egyptian Islamists Target Christian Churches in Wave of Apparently Coordinated Attacks

Photo Credit: Almogaz/Twitter

Photo Credit: Almogaz/Twitter

By Patrick Goodenough.

Some supporters of Egypt’s ousted Islamist president directed their wrath at the country’s Christian minority Wednesday, in what activists described as “the worst coordinated attacks on Egypt’s Coptic community in modern history.”

Largely eclipsed by the military’s crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo and resulting loss of life, more than 20 churches in a number of provinces were reported to have been targeted for arson and other attacks.

Through the day news reports and social media posts drew attention to individual incidents and it soon became apparent that a concerted campaign of coordinated attacks was underway. Most of the targeted churches were Coptic Orthodox, but Catholic churches were also attacked as well as at least one Protestant church.

One of the groups monitoring the situation through contacts on the ground, the Australian Coptic Movement Association (ACM), released a list of 16 churches and related sites attacked, and said the true figure could reach 40.

Those it listed included six churches and the house of a parish priest in Minya province, south-west of Cairo, among them a Church of the Virgin Mary which the ACM reported had been “totally demolished.”

Read more from this story HERE.

_______________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: Bryan Denton

Photo Credit: Bryan Denton

Islamists Debate Their Next Move in Tense Cairo

By David. D. Kirkpatrick.

Gathering Thursday morning around a mosque used as a morgue for hundreds killed the day before, many Islamists waited confidently for a surge of sympathetic support from the broader public. But it failed to materialize.

With their leaders jailed or silent, Islamists reeled in shock at the worst mass killing in Egypt’s modern history. By Thursday night, health officials had counted 638 dead and nearly 4,000 injured, but the final toll was expected to rise further.

A tense quiet settled over Cairo as the city braced for new protests by supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, after the Friday Prayer. The new government authorized the police to use lethal force if they felt endangered.

Many of those waiting outside the makeshift morgue talked of civil war. Some blamed members of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority for supporting the military takeover. A few argued openly for a turn to violence.

“The solution might be an assassination list,” said Ahmed, 27, who like others refused to use his full name for fear of reprisals from the new authorities. “Shoot anyone in uniform. It doesn’t matter if the good is taken with the bad, because that is what happened to us last night.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Snowden Downloaded NSA Secrets While Working for Dell, Sources Say

Photo Credit: Affiliate

Photo Credit: Affiliate

Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden began downloading documents describing the U.S. government’s electronic spying programs while he was working for Dell Inc in April 2012, almost a year earlier than previously reported, according to U.S. officials and other sources familiar with the matter.

Snowden, who was granted a year’s asylum by Russia on Aug. 1, worked for Dell from 2009 until earlier this year, assigned as a contractor to U.S. National Security Agency facilities in the United States and Japan.

Snowden downloaded information while employed by Dell about eavesdropping programs run by the NSA and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, and left an electronic footprint indicating when he accessed the documents, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity.

David Frink, a spokesman for Round Rock, Texas-based Dell, declined to comment on any aspect of Snowden’s employment with the company, saying Dell’s “customer” – presumably the NSA – had asked Dell not to talk publicly about him.

Since Snowden disclosed documents on previously secret U.S. internet and phone surveillance programs in June, his three-month tenure with U.S. contractor Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp starting in late March of this year has been the focus of considerable attention. His time at Dell has received little attention.

Read more from this story HERE.

Hagel Announces New Measures to Try to Stamp out Sex Assaults in the Military

Photo Credit: Pete MarovichThe Pentagon has unveiled a range of initiatives to curb sexual assault in the ranks and tackle what military leaders have described as a “crisis” of confidence which prevents victims coming forward.

The new initiatives, to be implemented immediately, include greater protections of victims, including the expansion of an air force initiative to provide victims with a legal advocacy programme. Other changes include ensuring that pretrial investigations are conducted by judge advocate generals and improved tracking and follow-up of sexual assault cases.

In a memo to staff, Chuck Hagel, the defence secretary, described sexual assault as “a stain on the honor of our men and women who honorably serve our country, as well as a threat to the discipline and the cohesion of our force.”

He said the measures would “improve victim support, strengthen pretrial investigations, enhance oversight, and make prevention and response efforts more consistent across the military services”.

But the moves fell short of the overhaul in the system victims advocates and some lawmakers say is needed. Military critics say that to address the breakdown of trust in its handling of such cases, the responsibility for prosecuting sexual assault has to be removed from the chain of command.

Read more from this story HERE.

FreedomWorks Makes Big Anti-Obamacare Push

Photo Credit: John ShinkleConservatives are plotting an aggressive push during the last two weeks of August to boost the controversial effort in Congress to oppose spending bills this fall that contain funding for Obamacare.

FreedomWorks is working with local conservative activists to question senators at home-state events about their objections to a letter spearheaded by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) vowing to vote against bills with funding for the health care law. That letter is stuck at 13 signers and FreedomWorks is keeping a running tally of senators’ support or opposition to the letter. Heritage Action for America also plans a barnstorming tour this month intended to drive more senators’ support to the letter.

“It’s sad to see once-great organizations sacrifice years of credibility on the altar of bad strategy,” said a Republican Senate aide.

Among the lawmakers being targeted by FreedomWorks are GOP Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas. The activists plan to demonstrate outside the office of Burr in response to his comment that a shutdown over Obamacare funding is the “dumbest idea I’ve ever heard of” and attend a Coburn town hall in Muskogee, Okla., to ask why Coburn considers the tactic “dishonest.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich Complains to Domino’s Pizza CEO Over Halibut Ad (+video)

Photo Credit: SenateDemocratsNo ifs, ands, or halibuts about it, Sen. Mark Begich is urging Domino’s Pizza to stop “hatin’ ” on halibut.

The Alaska Democrat penned an open letter to the pizza chain’s CEO on Wednesday, writing to J. Patrick Doyle that he wasn’t particularly pleased by a commercial that appears to dis the fish.

In the ad that’s currently airing, Domino’s suggests that innovative ideas often stem from feasts involving pizza. An announcer declares, “No one’s coming up with a world-changing idea over halibut — no way. It’s always been pizza.”

…Begich writes he was “offended” by the commercial.

Read more from this story HERE.