Troubling News for the Surveillance State: Younger Generations Surprisingly Want Privacy

Photo Credit: AP

The generation that’s grown up posting their lives online wants a little privacy. That’s not what we might expect as we debate just how much access the government should have to our mobile and online lives.

But as it turns out, young people are much more complex than some may think when determining what personal information they want to share.

Sure, they’re as likely as ever to post photos of themselves online, as well as their location and even phone numbers — and assume that at least some of their information is shared among website providers — say those who track their high-tech habits. But as they approach adulthood, they’re also getting more adept at hiding and pruning their online lives.

Despite their propensity for sharing, many young adults also are surprisingly big advocates for privacy — in some cases, more than their elders.

That attitude showed up most recently in a poll done over the weekend for the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and The Washington Post. The poll, tied to the disclosure of broad federal surveillance, found that young adults were much more divided than older generations when asked if the government should tread on their privacy to thwart terrorism.

Read more from this story HERE.

President Obama Got By With a Little Help From His Friends at DOJ, IRS, MSM and Now Even the NSA?

Photo Credit: Irish Central

As America gets assaulted with one scandal after another surrounding the Obama administration, there is speculation more is to come….And that speculation adds fuel to a bonfire of suspicion that this administration would stop at nothing to win its’ re-election.

The 2012 presidential election was really not decided on a national level, it was always about who could take the edge in the deciding 9 swing/battleground states.

According to polls leading up to the election, the race was razor thin between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama in many of those important states.

Hindsight is 20/20 and if the public knew in November 2012, what it knows today, would the election results have been different?

A characteristic lack of curiosity by the main stream media into any malfeasance by the Obama administration helped the President. This lack of curiosity helped quell outrage by the American public just prior to the election, as our Libyan Ambassador was killed. The cover story and the cover up by the administration to hide the magnitude of failure in foreign policy should have been a major campaign issue. But this news was suppressed with the aid and abetting of the major media.

Perhaps there is an easy answer when you see the inbreeding between the White House and influential members of the main stream media….The connections are astounding. Read the full story here in the Washington Post.

Suppose the latest scandal of IRS targeting of conservative organizations and individual donors had been exposed back in 2010-2011 and brought to a halt? As more gets revealed on this scandal it seems this was a deliberate attempt to suppress a major segment of opposition to the Obama campaign.

How much of a difference did it make in organizing voter turn out and support for the Romney campaign? Romney received 2-3 million votes less than McCain did in 2008. Perhaps if the TEA Party and other conservative groups weren’t being bullied by the federal government, they could have at least boosted voter turnout and matched voter numbers of 2008. See conservative vote was suppressed.

Many states prior to the 2012 elections had been trying to clean up their voter rolls as well as help stop vote fraud by requiring picture ID in order to vote. This was in response to widespread suspicion and reports of tainted elections due to vote fraud. But the Justice Department under Eric Holder, fought these safeguards tooth and nail and filed suit to delay any changes. Did not having strengthened voter ID laws and other safeguards have an effect on the election? Did precincts in heavily Democrat areas reporting 140% voter turnout help sway the outcome See Holder blocks Voter ID at every turn.

The recent revelation of how the NSA has collected and stored email and phone communications of millions of Americans is disturbing. Especially when coupled with the knowledge of how this administration has used the IRS and other government agencies to target political foes.

Would it be too much of a stretch to think the administration wouldn’t tap into this massive data base to help get itself elected?

From today’s World Net Daily: According to U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif , Barack Obama now holds a database “no one has ever seen before in life” that has “information about everything on every individual.” It’s a fact Obamas election team had use of massive amounts of data that gave them an edge in the election.

It’s disturbing to know Waters made her statement back in February of 2012 long before the election and long before we were aware of this administrations abuse of power.

Any of the above factors individually, could have helped tip the election in Obamas favor in just a few of the close battleground states. But if you add them all together, it makes it an unbeatable combination.

_____________________________________

Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Sarah Palin Returning to Fox News as Contributor

Photo Credit: J. Scott Applewhite

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is rejoining Fox News as a contributor, network Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes told the Wall Street Journal.

In January, it was reported that the network was choosing not to renew her contract.

“I’ve had several conversations with Governor Palin in the past few weeks about her rejoining Fox News as a contributor,” Mr. Ailes said Thursday. “I have great confidence in her and am pleased that she will once again add her commentary to our programming.”

Read more from this story HERE.

FOIA: 201 IRS Agents Working Full Time on Union Work, Not Government Business

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

In a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Americans for Limited Government, the Internal Revenue Service revealed this month that 201 of its employees work full-time on union activities…

The redacted list of 201 IRS employees, whose names have been blacked out, features only those employees who are entirely engaged in union work. The list does not include employees who spend part of their time on government work and other portions on union work, according to ALG.

The list of 201 employees offers job titles, salary information, and some location information. The job titles appear innocuous and make the work appear to be focused on agency business rather than union business. Titles include “Internal Revenue Agent,” “Revenue Officer,” “Tax Specialist,” “Rev Officer,” “Clerk,” “Contact Representative,” “Case Advocate,” and the like. Some boast six-figure salaries, with the highest paid employee on the list earning $138,092.

[Americans for Limited Government President Nathan] Mehrens explained that in many cases employees are hired for a certain job classification but end up doing union work.

“This person was hired to file things,” Mehrens said of one of the employees listed on the documents under the job title “File Clerk.” ”But instead of filing things this person is doing union work. So somebody else presumably has to pick up the slack and handle that. There is not a job classification for ‘union steward’… so they are in these positions and instead of actually doing the work that would fit the job classification they are basically excused from doing that job in order to work on behalf of the union.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Congressman Sees IRS Agents Training with AR-15s During DHS Tour, Demands Answers

Photo Credit: Twitter

By Dave Urbanski. This little item could give the IRS’ whole “targeting” conservatives scandal a brand-new twist.

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) tweeted that he observed IRS agents training with AR-15s when he toured the Department of Homeland Security:

Later he added:

And this, for the doubters he ran into on Twitter:

Read more from this story HERE.

_____________________________________________________________

Jeff Duncan questions IRS rifle usage

By Tal Kopan. Rep. Jeff Duncan wants to know why IRS law enforcement agents are training with AR-15 rifles.

As chairman of the House Homeland Security oversight subcommittee, Duncan (R-S.C.) toured a federal law enforcement facility in late May and noticed agents training with the semi-automatic weapons at a firing range. They identified themselves as IRS, he said.

“When I left there, it’s been bugging me for weeks now, why IRS agents are training with a semi-automatic rifle AR-15, which has stand-off capability,” Duncan told POLITICO. “Are Americans that much of a target that you need that kind of capability?”

While Duncan acknowledges that the IRS has an enforcement division, he questions if that level of firepower is appropriate when they could coordinate operations with other agencies, like the FBI, especially in a time of austerity.

“I think Americans raise eyebrows when you tell them that IRS agents are training with a type of weapon that has stand-off capability. It’s not like they’re carrying a sidearm and they knock on someone’s door and say, ‘You’re evading your taxes,’” Duncan said. Read more from this story HERE.

Federal Agencies Subjecting all Americans to Phone, Web Surveillance – Except for Muslims at US Mosques

Photo Credit: upyernoz

Homeland Insecurity: The White House assures that tracking our every phone call and keystroke is to stop terrorists, and yet it won’t snoop in mosques, where the terrorists are.

That’s right, the government’s sweeping surveillance of our most private communications excludes the jihad factories where homegrown terrorists are radicalized.

Since October 2011, mosques have been off-limits to FBI agents. No more surveillance or undercover string operations without high-level approval from a special oversight body at the Justice Department dubbed the Sensitive Operations Review Committee.

Who makes up this body, and how do they decide requests? Nobody knows; the names of the chairman, members and staff are kept secret.

We do know the panel was set up under pressure from Islamist groups who complained about FBI stings at mosques. Just months before the panel’s formation, the Council on American-Islamic Relations teamed up with the ACLU to sue the FBI for allegedly violating the civil rights of Muslims in Los Angeles by hiring an undercover agent to infiltrate and monitor mosques there.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Threatens Veto of Religious Protection for Military

Photo Credit: Breitbart

Breitbart News reported last week that Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) passed an amendment in the House Armed Services Committee protecting religious speech of service members in the military. President Barack Obama has now threatened to veto the bill if it passes the full House and Senate.

The White House released a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on H.R. 1960, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014. Among other items, the SAP includes as an objection to the bill:

Expansion and Implementation of Protection of Rights of Conscience of Members of the Armed Forces and Chaplains of Such Members: The Administration strongly objects to section 530, which would require the Armed Forces to accommodate, except in cases of military necessity, “actions and speech” reflecting the “conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the member.” By limiting the discretion of commanders to address potentially problematic speech and actions within their units, this provision would have a significant adverse effect on good order, discipline, morale, and mission accomplishment…

In other words, Obama says he will veto any bill that forbids his appointees or officers from telling a soldier that he cannot mention Jesus during prayer or have a Bible on his desk, or that keeps those appointees from telling a chaplain (who is an ordained clergyman) what religious teachings he is allowed to give in worship services, or what spiritual counseling he can give to another soldier.

Read more from this story HERE.

Snowden Threatens to Reveal More ‘Explosive’ NSA Secrets

Photo Credit: AP

Former U.S. spy Edward Snowden on Wednesday vowed to fight any bid to extradite him from Hong Kong and promised “explosive” new revelations about Washington’s surveillance targets, The South China Morning Post reported.

Specifically, Snowden reportedly showed the newspaper “unverified documents” describing an extensive U.S. campaign to obtain information from computers in Hong Kong and mainland China.

“We hack network backbones, like huge Internet routers, basically, that give us access to the communications of hundreds of thousands of computers without having to hack every single one,” he told the newspaper.

Officials have confirmed that Snowden may have more secret material.

Read more from this story HERE.

Bill Maher Mocks Trig and Sarah Palin Responds, “I Hope One Flattens Your Lily White Wimpy A#*”

Photo Credit: Twitter

By Breitbart News. Conservative Ron Futrell knew to expect plenty of left-of-center jibes when he settled into his seat to see Bill Maher at The Pearl Theater in Las Vegas June 8.

Futrell didn’t think he’d hear the HBO personality mock former Gov. Sarah Palin’s special needs child or hear the crowd laugh right along.

Futrell, a former Las Vegas sports broadcaster and Breitbart News contributor, says on his blog that Maher used the term “retarded” to describe young Trig Palin during the comedy performance… Read more from this story HERE.

_______________________________________________________________

Sarah Palin Responds to Bill Maher’s ‘Hateful Mockery’ through Twitter:


_____


_____


Photo Credits:Twitter

Biden: Al Gore ‘Was Elected President of the United States’

Photo Credit: AP

Vice President Joe Biden praised former Vice President Al Gore at a Washington fundraiser for U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Ed Markey after stating that Gore actually won the 2000 presidential election.

“This man was elected president of the United States of America,” Biden said, according to the media pool report. “No, no, no. He was elected president of the United States of America. But for the good of the nation, when the bad decision, in my view, was made, he did the right thing for the nation.”

Biden, a potential 2016 presidential candidate himself, complimented Gore’s acceptance of the Supreme Court decision to halt recounts in Florida, a decision which effectively gave the election to his Republican George W. Bush.

“I can’t think of very many who would put his country first like that, at a really, really, really difficult time,” he said, according to Yahoo News. “There’s an awful lot of folks Al and I both know who have run for president and still haven’t gotten over it.”

Before turning his attention to Markey, Biden remarked that history would favor Gore over Bush.

Read more from this story HERE.