In my recent testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, I warned that, if Congress reauthorized Section 702 without major changes, we have “become a nation of chumps.” The FBI is once again before Congress after years of systemic and massive abuses of FISA and only a nation of chumps would give them the same authority. With each renewal, the FBI has pledged that it has learned its lesson and would stop its abuses . . . only to continue to abuse the authority. Now, a FISA order indicates that the FBI searched the data of a U.S. Senator, a state senator, and a judge.
Notably, in his recent testimony, FBI Director Christopher Wray tried to blame his predecessor James Comey for the abuses, a claim that was recently undermined in the targeting of Republican staff members. Now, it is equally clear that the abuses have continued on his watch.
FBI employees searched foreign surveillance data for the last names of a U.S. senator and a state senator. It also searched the Social Security number of a state judge who alleged civil rights violations by a municipal chief of police, according to the opinion by the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The problem is that Wray has continued to refuse to answer the most basic questions about the FISA abuses, including a baffling denial that he even knew what “parallel construction” means in his testimony before this Committee this week. It was akin to the head of the CDC saying that she did not know what “gain-of-function” research means.
“Parallel construction” has long been a complaint of civil libertarians and defense counsel. It avoids “poisonous tree” problems by replanting the seeds of the evidence to claim independent acquisition. It hides the true origins of evidence from courts and in some cases, Congress. While defendants are supposed to receive notice of Section 702 evidence, parallel construction can be used to evade that obligation. Yet, Wray insists that he has no idea what it means.
The choice is ours: we can be informed citizens or a nation of chumps.
During the constitutional-lawlessness during the George W. Bush era. If you were on Bush’s highly inaccurate and fraudulent blacklists (now known to be mostly false after 20 years of FOIA requests by the ACLU – roughly a 99+% failure rate based on terrorism-convictions).
If blacklisted and you simply wanted to drive to Washington DC, federal agents would illegally search your car around 3:00am the morning of your trip. Back then these lawless agents would intentionally and loudly slam your car doors after performing their illegal search – possibly for sadistic motives! Tampering with sleep does meet federal torture law violations.
Make no mistake, many of these federal agents are immature and non-professional deeming anyone blacklisted as guilty without constitutional due process. Some of these agents are greater threats than the innocent Americans they prey upon.
Today it’s likely that many Trump supporters are now on these illegal blacklists – in violation of the 4th Amendment. Blacklisted Americans after 9/11 have received almost 8000 consecutive days of harassment by local, state and federal officials for their non-crimes and non-wrongdoing.
The big question is, where are the judges and oversight agencies?
Clearly not “Justice”
Why do pundits blame informed voters for the nation’s problems? We are constantly complaining to the elected people’s representatives who completely ignore us. When we vote against them, they cheat to maintain their power. Please don’t call me a “chump”. The real chumps are the ones selling out their country to alien entities believing those aliens would never turn and overtake them.
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I, Christopher A. Wray, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
August 2, 2017
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It seems that by “the Constitution of the United States” Wray meant “Joe Biden’s ass”.
Concerning….so a fed judge pis off a muni police chief and the feds start looking him up (fed judge) for dirt? I thought muni police were “local”s….so how deep is the deep state? ? And wray knows what parrallell is….just like he knows what gray mail is. But overall more problematic is big pharma monopoly role in ads on msm….Kennedy probably won’t even get a fair shake from fox….since his platform is to get rid of big pharma ads on day one.
No solution will work without unless it includes “government employee performance rewards” (not penalties but rewards).
The vast majority of government bureaucrats are only incentivized by paychecks, health benefits and vacation time. That’s it, nothing else motivates most of these taxpayer financed public servants.
Few lose a minute of sleep over the more than 1 million people they blacklisted and destroyed after 9/11 – they could care less. Based on terrorism-conviction rates most were probably completely innocent destroyed by our federal agencies to obtain more federal money for preemption & prevention grants.
One big mistake is not using “employee performance rewards” on any of these solutions. Nothing else gets the job done!
Maybe you also would like to pay ordinary citizens whenever they go, say, a year without committing a crime?
no, they need to fire the violator and his manager 1 & 2 layers above the violator. This needs to be put into the renewal law. No warnings, no appeals. This is the only way to clean up teh FBI.
Jonathan Turley needs to write an article on the recent revelations about the book “October Surprise” written by Gary Sick.
A former Republican operative, working on behalf of then Candidate Ronald Reagan, struck a deal with foreign governments to keep the American hostages in Iran – longer – until after Reagan won the election.
In other words, Republican officials – not having presidential authority – struck deals with foreign enemies to keep our American hostages longer.
Reported by the New York Times titled “A Four Decade Secret: One Man’s Story of Sabotaging Carter’s Re-election”
That lie was completely debunked years ago. Try to keep up..
Wrong. A top Republican operative recently confirmed it was true. Since they cheated Jimmy Carter, he wanted to clear his conscience for the evil Reagan operatives committed back then. It’s also a federal crime for the Reagan folks!
See the New York Times link above.
Can the NYTimes be trusted? No. Look at their history.
https://nypost.com/2021/05/08/how-the-new-york-times-publishes-lies-to-serve-a-biased-narrative/
An interesting article with one about a NYT reporter in Germany WW2. One cannot believe anything the NYT says. It is called, “a truth-producing machine”.
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The “fabrications and distortions” he found in the Times’ coverage of major stories from Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia to Vietnam and the Iraq War “were never the product of simple error,” Rindsberg contends. …
Under Enderis, bureau reporters won Pulitzer Prizes as they drew on Hitler’s propaganda…
“Sulzberger replied that they couldn’t replace Enderis because he just had too much access. He got too many good scoops,” Rindsberg said. …
Once the United States declared war in December 1941, American journalists in Berlin were rounded up, placed under SS guard, and interned for five months in an unheated, under-provisioned hotel outside Frankfurt — except for one. …
“Enderis was allowed to remain at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin, a very posh hotel,”
https://nypost.com/2021/05/08/how-the-new-york-times-publishes-lies-to-serve-a-biased-narrative/
NYT ? Really ?
Do you have FACTS ?
“Do you have FACTS ?”
Of course not. Churchill is a sock puppet. All he has is used soiled socks that are loaded with holes.
In other words, if you go back 44 years, you can find an example of serious wrongdoing by a Republican administration. If you want an example of criminal corruption in a Democratic administration, you have to go all the way back to…yesterday.
Simple solution, repeal the Patriot Act, dissolve FISA. Go back to the pre 9-11days and have bureaucrats get a search warrant.
Absolutely.
Man what a cushy job. The FISA court justices approve every request they get. The approved stamp sits atop the desk while the rejected stamp rests in a bottom left hand drawer. Oh look it’s time for another break. Don’t you love it when we get to dip those delicious chocolate biscotti’s in our 9:30 coffee. My oh my it’s one PM. Time to get back to work. It’s a long two hours left in the day. Where’s my finger nail file?