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New York Times: Government Conducting Broader Searches Of Emails and Text Messages Than Previously Reported

President_Barack_ObamaOn the heels of President Barack Obama again assuring that public that there is no domestic surveillance programs on their communications, the New York Times is reporting even broader surveillance by the Administration than previously reported.

The New York Times is reporting this morning that the National Security Agency is “searching the contents of vast amounts of Americans’ e-mail and text communications into and out of the country.”

This includes people referencing names or emails according to this newspaper. Government officials are saying that it is all perfectly legal because Congress has given them carte blanche in the area. It is certainly true that Democrats have joined Republicans in stripping privacy to the bone. What is most striking is how our politicians, including Obama, continue to misinform the public despite these weekly reports and confirmations of surveillance. The disconnect is truly Orwellian. As shown by his appearance on Jay Leno, the President appears now to be relying entirely on his hold over many Democrats with a pitch that amounts to “who are you going to believe me or your own eyes?” The fact that the most detailed statements of the President would come on a comedy talk show only captures our current theater of the absurd.

Source: NY Times

37 thoughts on “New York Times: Government Conducting Broader Searches Of Emails and Text Messages Than Previously Reported”

  1. “The fact that the most detailed statements of the President would come on a comedy talk show only captures our current theater of the absurd.”

    Yep. And there’s more to come…

  3. “These are all phony scandals.” Now here, how about some govt. money. It’s not your money, IT’S OURS, but you can have some as long as you get in line and shut up.

  5. THe administration courts Hollywood because it can spoon feed it the information it wants and in exchange for the access and promotion that benefits Hollywood, Hollywood then creates a magic image of politicians and the president.

    Hollywood isn’t an old school reporter who will take the politicians to task. So the administration and the pols bully the reporters, creates its own news source and distracts the public with circuses courtesy Madison Avenue and Hollywood.

  6. Mike Spindell – I completely agree with you. Both parties in this country are completely corrupt. They have no redeeming social value at all. Every single thing, that every single government leader or person in uniform says is a lie. They are out for themselves and those who back them – and they are the same people. Neither party is for or against any thing but Mammon and Power. Civil rights are a non-issue for both.

    I am sure they sit up there and laugh at how stupid we are – how we keep sending them back time after time so they can steal more. However, I am sure they reserve their biggest laughs for those of us stupid enough to actually join their parties, work for free, cheer for them and chant their name believing the lies they tell us. How stupid does anyone who went to a rally and chanted “Hope & Change” feel now ???

    Every single thing Obama said during either campaign is a lie. Since they both lie – 100% of the time – what the hell is left for us to do about it, other than move ?????

  7. Is there any Democrat left out there who is either misguided enough, or of sufficiently limited intelligence, to believe that Obama is any less of a narcissistic, power hungry megalomaniac with a God complex than Bush is/was?

  8. This brings to mind the classic sketch from Woody Allen in the movie “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask”. Woody was shown in the marital bed with another woman. His wife comes home unexpectedly and is confounded by the situation to the point of incoherence. As his mistress dresses and put her makeup on Woody keeps up a continuous stream of patter denying his wife’s accusations and saying she’s seeing things. The mistress dresses and leaves. Woody says to her “What are you talking about, look around, there’s nobody here.” There is a fadeout with the camera on the wife’s face showing confusion and perplexity.

    We the citizen’s are playing the part of the wife. We are being subjected to a constant stream of patter and denial. We are told to forget the revelations of Snowden and concentrate on his “treason”. We are being told we are paranoid in thinking our government would ever spy on us and we are told at the same time that they need to do spying to protect us. Who are we to believe, our lying eyes or our government?

  10. More like a low level GS employee decides what your privacy rights aren’t, Mark.

  11. With terms like: inadvertent overcollection, ambiguity in the law, secretly approved, approved by the surveillance court, dragnet surveillance, etc. … it’s no wonder the Administration is running around like a bunch of headless chickens.

    Now then … ever gotten “spam” email from a foreign source? Bet you have. Guess what … you can now, legally, be monitored.

  13. And if you are not already disturbed enough here’s the real kicker from The Guardian:

    “The documents also show that discretion as to who is actually targeted under the NSA’s foreign surveillance powers lies directly with its own analysts, without recourse to courts or superiors – though a percentage of targeting decisions are reviewed by internal audit teams on a regular basis.

    A low level GS employee decides what your privacy rights are?

  15. Really, really lucky we have constitutional scholar for president to protect our rights.

  16. This needs to stop now. I wonder if these Congressional clowns believe they and their families are exempt. I hope they aren’t. On Current TV last night Rep. Grayson (D-FL) mentioned that a Congressional colleague asked for his file. He was denied. Certainly said that Congress has treaded away our civil liberties for the bogus pretense of “protecting us”. Franklin and Lord Acton come to mind.

  17. Simply assume that every electronic communication — cell phone, e-mail, blog post, internet search, and data stored on any computer — is stored at the NSA (as it appears to be) and thus may be read some time in the future.

    Welcome to the Brave New World.

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