FISA

The NSA is still listening to you

James Bamford — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:19:00 PDT

This summer, on a remote stretch of desert in central Utah, the National Security Agency will begin work on a massive, 1 million-square-foot data warehouse. Costing more than $1.5 billion, the highly secret facility is designed to house upward of trillions of intercepted phone calls, e-mail messages, Internet searches and other communications intercepted by the agency as part of its expansive eavesdropping operations. The NSA is also completing work on another data warehouse, this one in San Antonio, Texas, which will be nearly the size of the Alamodome.

Report: Bush's surveillance program larger than previously thought

Gabriel Winant — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:10:00 PDT

When Congress passed its amendments to our surveillance laws a year ago, part of the compromise -- much-criticized among liberals -- required the inspectors general of a number of federal agencies to review the warrantless wiretapping programs. Now, a year later, the report is complete, and has been partially declassified.

Another brutal year for liberty

Glenn Greenwald — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:12:00 PST

Befitting an administration that has spent eight years obliterating America's core political values, its final year in power -- 2008 -- was yet another grim one for civil liberties and constitutional protections. Unlike the early years of the administration, when liberty-abridging policies were conceived of in secret and unilaterally implemented by the executive branch, many of the erosions of 2008 were the dirty work of the U.S. Congress, fueled by the passive fear or active complicity of the Democratic Party that controlled it. The one silver lining is that the last 12 months have been brightly clarifying: It is clearer than ever what the Obama administration can and must do in order to arrest and reverse the decade-long war on the Constitution waged by our own government.

More evidence of Bush's spying

Jon B. Eisenberg — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 03:20:00 PDT

For almost three years now, the Bush administration has insisted that the nation's security depends on keeping secret a part of its war on terror that was first exposed in the media back in 2005: its extralegal spying inside the United States. Bush lawyers have relied on the state secrets privilege to block numerous lawsuits challenging the administration's reported spying on Americans and others without warrants, claiming that even to acknowledge such allegations would put the country's security in jeopardy.

Let's give "Blue Dogs" the boot

Glenn Greenwald — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:35:00 PDT

In American politics, exceedingly few positions generate overwhelming agreement across the ideological spectrum. Even propositions that ought to be uncontroversial -- such as whether there is scientific evidence for evolution or whether Saddam Hussein personally planned the 9/11 attacks -- produce sizable portions of the citizenry lined up on each side. One notable exception to this rule is the issue of whether the current U.S. Congress is doing a poor job. That question produces a remarkable consensus that is close to unanimous.

No, let sleeping "Blue Dogs" lie

Ed Kilgore — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:30:00 PDT

DINOs. Vichy Democrats. Bush Dogs.

Exposing Bush's historic abuse of power

Tim Shorrock — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:00:00 PDT

The last several years have brought a parade of dark revelations about the George W. Bush administration, from the manipulation of intelligence to torture to extrajudicial spying inside the United States. But there are growing indications that these known abuses of power may only be the tip of the iceberg. Now, in the twilight of the Bush presidency, a movement is stirring in Washington for a sweeping new inquiry into White House malfeasance that would be modeled after the famous Church Committee congressional investigation of the 1970s.

Flip-flopping to the White House

Mike Madden — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:51:00 PDT

At first, when the chant started at the Republican convention four years ago, it was hard to figure out what was going on. What were George W. Bush's faithful shouting back and forth across Madison Square Garden at each other? And why, even before the night's first speaker had taken the podium, did it look like the GOP delegates were doing the wave?

The motivation for blocking investigations into Bush lawbreaking

Glenn Greenwald — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:16:00 PDT

(updated below - Update II)

Why progressives should keep organizing on MyBarackObama.com

Mike Stark — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:30:00 PDT

A little over two weeks ago, Barack Obama announced that he would vote in favor of FISA legislation even if it bestowed retroactive immunity upon the lawless, but deep-pocketed, telecom companies. This announcement reversed his earlier stance and came as a great disappointment to a swath of Fourth Amendment defenders who ran clear across the political spectrum. Many of them, myself included, were loyal Barack Obama supporters.

Learning to live with the "new" Obama

Ed Kilgore — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:16:00 PDT

Amid the anguish being expressed in the progressive net roots about Barack Obama's vote for FISA legislation (and to a lesser extent, his recent positioning on the death penalty, Iraq, abortion and faith-based initiatives), there's an interesting subtext of resignation about the presumptive Democratic nominee's basic ideological nature.

Interview with ACLU re: constitutional challenge to new FISA law

Glenn Greenwald — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:10:00 PDT

(Updated below - Update II - Update III - Update IV)

Was Obama's FISA vote "calculated"?

Ed Kilgore — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:50:00 PDT

The fallout from Barack Obama's vote Wednesday for a FISA reauthorization continues to rain down on his campaign from vast swaths of the blogosphere and the MSM, and from within his own supporter base. The words "betrayal" and "sellout" occur very often, along with threats to take retaliatory actions ranging from the withholding of financial support to the withholding of votes in November.

Betrayed by Obama

Joan Walsh — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:49:00 PDT

What an interesting week: I came back from vacation to find the two presumptive presidential nominees running away from their bases. Suddenly John McCain is evading, not embracing, the media, limiting access and getting testy with the very people whose formerly friendly coverage made him a popular "maverick." Meanwhile, Barack Obama is complaining that his "friends on the left" just don't understand him -- he's not moving to the center, he is "no doubt" a progressive, just one who now supports the scandalous FISA "compromise" and Antonin Scalia's views on gun rights and the death penalty, no longer plans to accept public campaign funding, and wants to make sure women aren't feigning mental distress to get a "partial-birth" abortion (the right's despicable term of choice; the correct phrase is either late-term or third-trimester abortion).

Suing George W. Bush: A bizarre and troubling tale

Jon B. Eisenberg — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:59:00 PDT

On July 3, Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court in California made a ruling particularly worthy of the nation's attention. In Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation Inc. v. Bush, a key case in the epic battle over warrantless spying inside the United States, Judge Walker ruled, effectively, that President George W. Bush is a felon.

Time magazine uncritically prints Nancy Pelosi's "justifications" for the FISA "compromise"

Glenn Greenwald — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:31:00 PDT

(updated below)

Obama says he supports FISA compromise

Alex Koppelman — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:10:00 PDT

Barack Obama has just released a statement regarding his position on the controversial compromise reached in Congress on the president's wiretapping powers, and clarifying his support for the compromise.

Blacklisted by the Bush government

Tim Shorrock — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:24:00 PDT

One day in March 2004, Soliman Hamd Al-Buthe, a former member of Saudi Arabia's national basketball team and a government official in the city of Riyadh, picked up his phone for an urgent call with two American lawyers in Washington, D.C. Most of the call concerned a growing confrontation between the U.S. government and the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation in Ashland, Ore., the U.S. branch of a global Saudi Arabian charity organization under investigation for possible links to terrorism. Al-Buthe had been an advisor to Al-Haramain from 1995 to 2002 and was a member of the Oregon foundation's board of directors. Just weeks prior to the call, the foundation -- a respected fixture in the Ashland community run for years by an Iranian-American Muslim named Pete Seda -- had been raided by U.S. law enforcement agents.

What backroom conniving are Steny Hoyer and the Chris Carney Blue Dogs up to on FISA?

Glenn Greenwald — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:50:00 PDT

(updated below - Update II)

The DOJ comments on the Mukasey controversy

Glenn Greenwald — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:35:00 PDT

(updated below)