Wiretapping

Friday Talking Points [51] -- Some Positivity

Chris Weigant | Posted 10.10.2008 | Politics

Read More: Debate, Abuse, Demagogue, Green, Fisa, Mccain, Campaign, CAFE Standards, Sarah Palin, Gambling, Pissed Off, 2008, Midotw, Nancy Pelosi, Student Loan, Rockefeller, Most Impressive Democrat of the Week, Health Care, Energy, Jay Rockefeller, Democrat, Congress, Joe Biden, 08, Stimulus, Barack Obama, Biden, Election, 08 Election, Elections, Education, Demagoguery, Anger, Mddotw, College, Wiretapping, Warrantless, Troopergate, GI Bill, Mudslinging, Mother's Day, Mud, Obama, Democratic, Shocked, Waxman, Republican, Pelosi, Casablanca, Minimum Wage, Most Disappointing Democrat of the Week, 2008 Campaign, Report, Keating Five, John McCain, Keating, Mental Health, Angry, Medicaid, 2008 Elections, Henry Waxman, Alternative, 2008 Election, Crowd, 08 Campaign, Wall Street, Mother, Fat Cat, Palin, 2008 Presidential Race, Charles Keating, Wiretap, Telecommunications, Medicare, Head Start, Rocky IV, Fitzmas, Politics News
Chris Weigant

While we're all waiting for someone to leak the Palin Troopergate Report (which is reminiscent of waiting for "Fitzmas" during the whole Scooter Libby...

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Finally, Whistleblowers Report from the Inside on the NSA Program

Shayana Kadidal | Posted 10.09.2008 | Politics

Read More: George Bush, Jim Bamford, Center for Constitutional Rights, Nsa, Brian Ross, Wiretapping, Adrienne Kinne, Warrantless, David Murfee Faulk, Politics News
Shayana Kadidal

Finally, thanks to Brian Ross and surveillance expert Jim Bamford we have a report from the inside on what the NSA was eavesdropping on. And the facts are almost as bad as we expected.

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Government Intrudes on Troops' Privacy

Jon Soltz | Posted 10.09.2008 | Politics

Read More: Nsa, Government Surveillance, Iraq War, Patriot Act, Troops, Wiretapping, Surveillance, Iraq, Politics News
Jon Soltz

According to a new report, thanks to the Patriot Act, the government has been listening into phone calls from troops in the middle east, and passing clips of them around the office.

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Domestic Wiretapping First Hand Account: NSA Listened To Phone Sex

ABC | BRIAN ROSS, VIC WALTER, and ANNA SCHECTER | Posted 10.09.2008 | Politics

Read More: Nsa, Civil Liberties, Domestic Wiretapping, Sex, Phone Sex, Wiretapping, Fbi, Domestic Spying, FBI Surveillance, Politics News

Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropp...

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Friday Talking Points [48] -- Throwing Out The Rulebook

Chris Weigant | Posted 09.19.2008 | Politics

Read More: Gaffe, Bugliosi, Markets, Don Siegleman, Bail Out, Feinstein, Mark Pryor, Steve Bradbury, Fisa, Mccain, Campaign, Mary Landrieu, Difi, Sarah Palin, Offshore Drilling, Nation of Whiners, Bailout, 2008, National Security, Constitutional Rights, Midotw, Paris Hilton Energy Plan, Drilling, Gang of 10, Most Impressive Democrat of the Week, Kent Conrad, Torture Memo, Rove, Energy, Gang of Ten, Executive, Democrat, Basketball, Feingold, Joe Biden, 08, Justice Department, Barack Obama, Biden, Election, 08 Election, Elections, Blue Ribbon Commission, Mddotw, Wiretapping, Charles Manson, Crisis, Financial, Dnc, Spain, Warrantless, Russ Feingold, Gramm, Ben Nelson, Gang of 20, Vincent Bugliosi, Economy, Meltdown, John Yoo, Middle Class, Vermont, Regulation, Democratic, Obama, Dianne Feinstein, Media, Fourth Amendment, Republican, Bush, Savings and Loan, Siegelman, Office of Legal Counsel, Playbook, Phil Gramm, Most Disappointing Democrat of the Week, 2008 Campaign, Progressive Party, Yoo, Ken Salazar, Fat Cats, Gang of Twenty, Mental Recession, Keating Five, John McCain, Karl Rove, Rules, Msm, Attorney General, Count the Lies, 2008 Elections, Contempt, 2008 Election, Tom Carper, Oil Companies, Senior Moment, Murder, Charlotte Dennett, Blanche Lincoln, Tim Johnson, Progressive, 08 Campaign, Wall Street, Rulebook, Palin, 2008 Presidential Race, Oil, Deregulation, Torture, Prosecute, Manson, Dennett, Olc, Politics News
Chris Weigant

Back in Volume 36 of this Friday Talking Points column, I pointed out what seemed to me to be an obvious observation -- that the media was going a lot...

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New FBI Rules Would Make Domestic Surveillance Even Easier

Washington Post | Carrie Johnson | Posted 09.12.2008 | Politics

Read More: Warrantless Wiretapping, Wiretapping, Fbi, Justice Department, Justice Department Spying, Domestic Spying, Politics News

The Justice Department will unveil changes to FBI ground rules today that would put much more power into the hands of line agents pursuing leads on na...

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Jason Linkins

Slate's Mapped Diagram Of Administration Wrongdoing Demonstrates The Awfulness Of Alberto Gonzalez

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 07.27.2008 | Politics

Read More: Bush Wrongdoing, Bush White House, Torture, George W. Bush, Wiretapping, Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Scandal, Politics News

The only thing in all the world I love more than flowcharts, which are awesome, are Venn diagrams. I especially adore interactive Venn diagrams and I...

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FISA Fight: Attack Of The Epic Failure

Martin Bosworth | Posted 07.09.2008 | Politics

Read More: Mike McConnell, Government Surveillance, Politics, FISA Bill, Obama, Warrantless Surveillance, Barack Obama, Wiretapping, Fisa, Politics News
Martin Bosworth

This was a battle the Democrats absolutely could have won. Instead, they knuckled under and granted a corrupt and authoritarian president one of his greatest victories.

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Are Progressives Making Too Big A Deal Out Of FISA?

Matthew Yglesias | Posted 07.08.2008 | Politics

Read More: George Bush, Surveillance Bill, Warrantless Wiretapping, Wiretapping, Netroots, Fisa, Warrantless Surveillance, Politics News

Scott wonders if people are making too big a deal out of FISA: While I understand there are dozens of real policy difference to disagree with Pre...

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The Spying Started Before September 11 -- That's The Whole Point

Dave Johnson | Posted 07.05.2008 | Politics

Read More: Fisa, Wiretapping, George Bush, Spying, Domestic Spying, Politics News
Dave Johnson

Despite what the LA Times said on Saturday, spying actually started a few weeks after Bush took office -- at a time when the administration was ignoring the terrorist threat.

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Why We Don't Mind Uncle Sam Tapping Our Phones

Joel Schwartzberg | Posted 07.03.2008 | Living

Read More: George Bush, Warrantless Wiretapping, Humor, AT&T, The Inner Life, Privacy, FISA Bill, Phone, Satire, Political Humor, Wiretapping, Telephones, Fisa, Eavesdropping Program, Telecom Immunity, Telephone Companies Surveillance, David Letterman, Technology, Schwartzberg, Living News
Joel Schwartzberg

I guess it makes more sense to celebrate our freedom from government tyranny and interference before we give them the okay to monitor our private conversations. No one wants to be a party pooper.

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In the Theater of the Obtuse

Leslie Harris | Posted 06.23.2008 | Politics

Read More: 9/11, Government, Surveillance, Fisa, Warrantless Surveillance, Wiretapping, Politics News
Leslie Harris

The new FISA bill makes U.S. citizens' most private conversations when communicating with people abroad rendered more vulnerable to eavesdropping without adequate judicial oversight. Some in Congress see this as a compromise.

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Friday Talking Points [36] -- End The Media's Pro-McCain Bias! Now!!

Chris Weigant | Posted 06.20.2008 | Media

Read More: Boeing, Tim Russert, Cindy McCain, Nuremburg, Pow, Fisa, Immunity, Campaign, Telecom, Contract, 2008, John Kerry, Midotw, Nancy Pelosi, Glenn Greenwald, Most Impressive Democrat of the Week, Tax Return, Airbus, Amnesty, Nbc, Democrat, 08, Air Force, Democrats, Barack Obama, Election, 08 Election, Elections, Martin Luther King, Mddotw, Gotcha, Tanker, Wiretapping, 60 Minutes, Warrantless, Russ Feingold, Thomas Eagleton, Cia, Clayton Williams, Jobs, Media, Bush, Republican, Vietnam, Bias, Most Disappointing Democrat of the Week, 2008 Campaign, Waterboard, Keating Five, War Crime, Hanoi Hilton, Keating, John McCain, Mental Health, Military Record, Rape, Mlk, Prisoner of War, 2008 Elections, War Criminal, Scandal, 2008 Election, Lobbyist, Meet the Press, Northrop Grumman, Prisoner, 08 Campaign, Steny Hoyer, 2008 Presidential Race, Telecommunications, 1972, Al-Libi, Form 180, Torture, sf180, Media News
Chris Weigant

McCain has joked that the media is "his base" of support. It was a funny line, but there is a truth at its core: the media has been hard on Obama but unbelievably light on McCain. And this has to stop. Now.

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FISA: It's Time For Some Accountability

Kevin Powell | Posted 06.20.2008 | Politics

Read More: FISA Bill, Wiretapping Immunity, Right to Privacy, Phone Privacy, Wiretapping, Telecommunications, Fisa, Phone Wiretapping Information, Fisa Wiretapping, Politics News
Kevin Powell

I cannot sit idly by and watch Congress cut backroom deals on warrantless wiretapping. I urge all Congresspeople of conscious to reject any bill that would grant big telephone companies immunity.

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Senate Dems Won't Block Wiretapping Compromise

The Hill | Manu Raju | Posted 06.17.2008 | Politics

Read More: Wiretapping, Fisa, FISA Legislation, Politics News

Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday that they would not stand in the way of a compromise overhaul of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act...

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ACLU Takes Sen. Bond to Task on Telecom Immunity

Melissa Hapke | Posted 05.29.2008 | Home

Read More: FISA Court, Fisa, Richard Nixon, Aclu, Telecom Immunity, Illegal Wiretapping, Wireap, Tele, Wiretapping, Kit Bond, Telecommunications, Christopher Bond, Warantless Wiretapping, George Bush, Immunity, Telecom, Home News

The ACLU wrote that Bond's proposal, "wouldn't actually look at whether telecom companies broke the law; it would just look at what the Bush administration told telecom companies was the law."

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Debate Questions I'd (Still) Like To Ask

Chris Weigant | Posted 04.16.2008 | Politics

Read More: Al Qaeda, Debate, Assault Weapon, Cia, Marijuana, Guantanamo, Gun Control, Fisa, Medical Marijuana, Iraq, Campaign, Wright, Bush, Handgun, Democratic Nominee, Guantanamo Bay, 2008, Schedule I, Tax Holiday, Reverend, Telecom Immunity, Schedule II, 2008 Campaign, Black, Capital Gains, Democratic Debate, Taxes, Flag Burning, Gun, Gas Tax, Interrogation, Army Field Manual, Mlk, Telecom Amnesty, Democrat, 2008 Elections, 08, 2008 Election, Nafta, War on Terror, Barack Obama, Election, 08 Election, Second Amendment, Elections, Income Tax, 08 Campaign, Martin Luther King, Present Votes, Tax, Wiretapping, 2008 Presidential Race, Telecommunications, Warren Buffett, Hillary Clinton, Debates, Senate, Warrantless, Politics News
Chris Weigant

Unfortunately these questions remain largely unanswered, almost two months after the last debate.

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Pellicano Trial: How the Phone Company Helped Pellicano Wiretap, and Producer Freddie DeMann's Testimony

Allison Hope Weiner | Posted 03.27.2008 | Entertainment

Read More: Anthony Pellicano Trial, Pellicano Trial, Anthony Pellicano, Wiretapping, HuffPost at Pellicano Trial, Freddie DeMann, Entertainment News
Allison Hope Weiner

You've got to admire how all of these powerful Hollywood fellows are managing to walk away from this Pellicano mess almost completely unscathed.

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Bush's Terror Card Backfires on Spying

Ari Melber | Posted 03.26.2008 | Politics

Read More: Nsa, Surveillance, Spying, Fisa, Domestic Wiretapping, War on Terror, Counterterrorism, Wiretapping, Telecommunications, Telecoms, Domestic Spying, Politics News
Ari Melber

Will we maintain accountability, oversight and the rule of law while aggressively pursuing terrorists, or will we allow incumbent politicians to trade away our rights to increase their own power?

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Friday Talking Points [23]

Chris Weigant | Posted 03.14.2008 | Politics

Read More: House of Representatives, Economy in a Ditch, Cia, Economy, Janet Jackson, Ditch, Admiral Fallon, Surveillance, Retroactive Immunity, Fisa, Robert Anton Wilson, Ex Post Facto, Eliot Spitzer, Bush, Telecom, Unconstitutional, Hooker, Iran, National Security, House Democrats, Midotw, Nancy Pelosi, Glenn Greenwald, Most Disappointing Democrat of the Week, Most Impressive Democrat of the Week, Rule of Law, Prostitute, Fallon, John Conyers, House, Army Field Manual, Interrogation, Warrantless Wiretapping, Amnesty, Democrat, 23, Democrats, Scandal, Recession, Pelosi YouTube, Constitution, Mann Act, Mddotw, Sex, Wiretapping, Telecommunications, Wiretap, Romantic Afghanistan, William S. Burroughs, I Ching, 23 Enigma, Torture, Warrantless, Politics News
Chris Weigant

As Robert Anton Wilson pointed out (or William S. Burroughs, if you prefer), hexagram 23 of the I Ching is "breaking apart." Anyone who subscribes to...

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Jason Linkins

Alarmist Lede Drives Times Wiretap Story

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 02.27.2008 | Politics

Read More: Warrantless Wiretapping, Fisa, New York Times, FISA Bill, Protect America Act, Warrantless Surveillance, Wiretapping, Politics News

The New York Time's Eric Lichtblau is all a flutter today because, as his headline reads, "In Wiretap's Stead, Uncertainty." Harrowing, terrifying, "...

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Debate Questions I'd Like To Ask

Chris Weigant | Posted 02.25.2008 | Politics

Read More: Al Qaeda, Debate, Cia, Marijuana, Fisa, Medical Marijuana, Iraq, Campaign, Bush, Democratic Nominee, 2008, Schedule I, Telecom Immunity, Schedule II, 2008 Campaign, Capital Gains, Democratic Debate, Taxes, Flag Burning, Interrogation, Army Field Manual, Telecom Amnesty, Democrat, 2008 Elections, 08, 2008 Election, Nafta, War on Terror, Barack Obama, Election, 08 Election, Elections, Income Tax, 08 Campaign, Present Votes, Tax, Wiretapping, 2008 Presidential Race, Telecommunications, Warren Buffett, Hillary Clinton, Debates, Senate, Warrantless, Politics News
Chris Weigant

Tomorrow night may be the last debate in the Democratic primary race. This will be the twentieth debate so far, which has to be some kind of record. ...

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Court Rejects ACLU Challenge to Wiretaps

AP | MARK SHERMAN | Posted 02.19.2008 | Politics

Read More: Government Surveillance, Supreme Court, Warrantless Wiretapping, Conservative Supreme Court Justices, Warrantless Surveillance, Telephone Companies Surveillance, Wiretapping, Politics News

WASHINGTON — An attempt to blast a crippled U.S. spy satellite out of the sky using a Navy heat-seeking missile _ possibly on Wednesday night _ ...

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Friday Talking Points [19] -- A "Rare Uprising" Of Democrats

Chris Weigant | Posted 02.15.2008 | Politics

Read More: Fearmongering, Cia, Chris Van Hollen, Fearmonger, Fisa, Dianne Feinstein, Democratic, Immunity, Campaign, Endorsement, Trailers, Formaldehyde, Bush, Telecom, Spanish Inquisition, 2008, Silvestre Reyes, Midotw, Nancy Pelosi, Most Disappointing Democrat of the Week, 2008 Campaign, Speaker, Most Impressive Democrat of the Week, Senate Majority Leader, War Crime, Populism, John Edwards, John McCain, Pat Murray, Jay Rockefeller, Rush Limbaugh, House, Democrat, Fema, 2008 Elections, Majority Leader, 08, Democrats, 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Election, 08 Election, Elections, Valentine, 08 Campaign, Mddotw, 2008 Presidential Race, Wiretapping, Harry Reid, Confession, Hillary Clinton, Dnc, Senate, Torture, Warrantless, Politics News
Chris Weigant

It's been a busy week for Democrats, with a lot to cover. There has been good news and bad, but on the whole I'd have to judge the week a success for...

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Wiretap Law Expires As Dems Stand Up To Bush

TPMmuckraker | Paul Kiel | Posted 02.15.2008 | Politics

Read More: Warrantless Wiretapping, FISA Bill, Bush Fear-Mongering, Fisa, Protect America Act, Warrantless Surveillance, Wiretapping, Politics News

What happened? The administration did everything right. The invocation of "countless American lives" hanging in the balance, the specter of terrorists...

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