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Intelligence Program Gives US Government Direct Access to Customer Data on Apple Servers [Update: Apple Denies]

If anyone here is shocked by this news, then you really haven't been paying attention. We here in the good ole' USA checked out of the privacy business a long time ago. The USA PATRIOT act was a panicked and poorly considered response to 9/11, one that a panicked and unthinking population demanded.

If you are worried about the Gubmint shuffling through the more embarrassing photos on your Facebook feed, maybe you ought to start asking yourself why you put them up there in the first place.
 
JoEw said:
No but what is the "real" motive? The ultimate goal of having access to all your data?

I really think a lot of people think they stand out in the "system" and have such interesting lives that the government is just snooping around looking at our lives. I think that is unrealistic. Just saying.
Click to expand...

In my examples or in the case of PRISM and Obama's dealings?

I'll address the latter but the same incentive would hold true for my examples: to create ultimate government dependence, and eradicate all opposition and skepticism, while rendering citizens powerless.

Let me encourage you to watch this video again if you haven't already:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIOF5R-7rx8

Did you know in N. Korea, during Kim Jung Un's memorial, if you didn't cry you were executed?

Also, twitter is banned from their country, because freedom of information poses a major threat to their tyrannical thing they got going on over there.

What would be the point of video taping what goes on in the bedroom, and snooping personal finances? Well, it'd sure as hell make for a wonderful smear campaign. People still HATE Romney (and he is weird, don't get me wrong) as if he is the one responsible for ugly things that have occurred under Obama's watch. Reality check: Propaganda is a powerful tool, and Romney isn't in the WH.

Also, so Obama will be toast in 2016 at the latest, if not the re-elections next year, and then so what? He'll be out and it will all be over with. Well, Obama just gave Hillary his endorsement, after Hillary has denounced Obama many times (including when running for democrat primary obviously) as well as Bill Clinton calling him incompetent and useless essentially, but now that they have his endorsement, they have nothing but glowing things to say about it. Oh and funny, Hillary and Obama both are intricately tied to Monsanto Corporation-- I'll bet that's just a coincidence, huh?

Hillary will carry Obama and the machine's torch in 2016 if elected. If the Republicans choose another terrible primary 'option.' Which goes back to feeling like you have a say in this democratic state about the outcome of things, two parties neither of which care about your interests.

If Obama is so pro gay, why did it take him YEARS to make an official statement on the matter, when it was politically convenient as opposed to coming out with it right away? If I were gay, I'd be outraged he sat by the sidelines for as long as he did. If he's so pro middle class, why is the middle class suffering more than ever? If the IRS admitted to being at fault for scandals, why did he give a speech saying 'if they are fault' -- he's in denial over something that even they came out with, clear as day.

Try voting republican in a blue state or voting democrat in a red state. Good luck getting your voice out there, assuming the system isn't rigged and corrupt anyways, whereby you can win by a landslide in electoral vote, but by popular vote, be splitting hairs.

I'm not encouraging this, but I wonder given Turkey's outrage right now, if Americans will ever storm Federal Hill and protest back when they used to actually do things for activism. Or if we're just going to sit back on our couches, and assume any opposition to the current administration is "crazy talk" and "anti-American" and focus on meaningless, smaller details of our own insignificant lives.

So many people ARE ignorant to what's going on in the world, much less their own country, that the opposition might become small enough to be wiped out but large enough to pose a threat that they could be silenced or ousted without most people giving two craps and continuing to post pictures of their meals on Instagram and hashtagging away -- the ultimate faux democracy.

If complete invasion of privacy is somehow turned into some esoteric, partisan issue, what also is? The desire to have oxygen and food and water (of which Monsanto has its hand in it anyways)?

What will it take to get people to care and feel the impact of something that is not good? Having Obama kill babies in broad daylight? Even then "I'm sure he has his reasons." :rolleyes:
 
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krravi said:
And where was the uproar when the "previous guy" did it anyway?
Click to expand...

The uproar has been continuing since then. I've been a vocal opponent of it since day one. Regardless... continuing on the same horrible path as his predecessor does not take the blame off of the successor.
 
Bush criticism is both ubiquitous and exhausted (and irrelevant), lets not entertain this question anymore.
 
Obama supporters

As a centrist non partisan outsider I can only say one thing to the Obama supporters that try to justify this (continuation?) loss of liberty:

I does not matter what the other presidents did, they lost and they are no longer serving. What DOES matter is that your president ran and won playing the DEMOCRACY and JUSTICE ticket

As far as I can see he is not delivering, far from it. The more skeptical less gullible people knew very well this was just political banter and that he would be no panacea to the worlds problems but if you voted for him, YOU should demand he does what he said he would do.

No justifications…
 
thadoggfather said:
In my examples or in the case of PRISM and Obama's dealings?

I'll address the latter but the same incentive would hold true for my examples: to create ultimate government dependence, and eradicate all opposition and skepticism, while rendering citizens powerless.

Let me encourage you to watch this video again if you haven't already:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIOF5R-7rx8

Did you know in N. Korea, during Kim Jung Un's memorial, if you didn't cry you were executed?

Also, twitter is banned from their country, because freedom of information poses a major threat to their tyrannical thing they got going on over there.

What would be the point of video taping what goes on in the bedroom, and snooping personal finances? Well, it'd sure as hell make for a wonderful smear campaign. People still HATE Romney (and he is weird, don't get me wrong) as if he is the one responsible for ugly things that have occurred under Obama's watch. Reality check: Propaganda is a powerful tool, and Romney isn't in the WH.

Also, so Obama will be toast in 2016 at the latest, if not the re-elections next year, and then so what? He'll be out and it will all be over with. Well, Obama just gave Hillary his endorsement, after Hillary has denounced Obama many times (including when running for democrat primary obviously) as well as Bill Clinton calling him incompetent and useless essentially, but now that they have his endorsement, they have nothing but glowing things to say about it. Oh and funny, Hillary and Obama both are intricately tied to Monsanto Corporation-- I'll bet that's just a coincidence, huh?

Hillary will carry Obama and the machine's torch in 2016 if elected. If the Republicans choose another terrible primary 'option.' Which goes back to feeling like you have a say in this democratic state about the outcome of things, two parties neither of which care about your interests.

If Obama is so pro gay, why did it take him YEARS to make an official statement on the matter, when it was politically convenient as opposed to coming out with it right away? If I were gay, I'd be outraged he sat by the sidelines for as long as he did. If he's so pro middle class, why is the middle class suffering more than ever? If the IRS admitted to being at fault for scandals, why did he give a speech saying 'if they are fault' -- he's in denial over something that even they came out with, clear as day.

Try voting republican in a blue state or voting democrat in a red state. Good luck getting your voice out there, assuming the system isn't rigged and corrupt anyways, whereby you can win by a landslide in electoral vote, but by popular vote, be splitting hairs.

I'm not encouraging this, but I wonder given Turkey's outrage right now, if Americans will ever storm Federal Hill and protest back when they used to actually do things for activism. Or if we're just going to sit back on our couches, and assume any opposition to the current administration is "crazy talk" and "anti-American" and focus on meaningless, smaller details of our own insignificant lives.

So many people ARE ignorant to what's going on in the world, much less their own country, that the opposition might become small enough to be wiped out but large enough to pose a threat that they could be silenced or ousted without most people giving two craps and continuing to post pictures of their meals on Instagram and hashtagging away -- the ultimate faux democracy.

If complete invasion of privacy is somehow turned into some esoteric, partisan issue, what also is? The desire to have oxygen and food and water (of which Monsanto has its hand in it anyways)?

What will it take to get people to care and feel the impact of something that is not good? Having Obama kill babies in broad daylight? Even then "I'm sure he has his reasons." :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

So i read long rant about Obama thanks for answering my question. You are dependent on the system that is the definition of government. So we can govern each other. But okay your insight proved my theory.
 
palmharbor said:
The Republican sponsored Patriot Act passed in 2002 makes all this legal.
Bush signed it....see if Republicans will revoke the bill. THEY WON'T, but they forgot they all signed it. Where were you guys then??
Click to expand...

You can't blame this on the Republicans.... If I remember correctly, only two members of the legislature voted against this bill, this includes the House and Senate. Don't toss this out there like this is some kind of partisan move... all the idiots were on board with this bill. I doubt there has been such a power-grabbing bill since that has had this much bipartisan support.

And don't lump me in the with the GOP crowd.... thank you.
 
They should rename it the National Snooping Agency. We have the same crap in the UK and have had for many years. Politicians are all evil, power mad morons.

Thank heavens for hard working investigative journalists who bring us the truth.
 
JoEw said:
So i read long rant about Obama thanks for answering my question. You are dependent on the system that is the definition of government. So we can govern each other. But okay your insight proved my theory.
Click to expand...

I answered your question already, but allow me to answer it once more because it seemed to have already escaped your vacuous mind:

to create ultimate government dependence, and eradicate all opposition and skepticism, while rendering citizens powerless.

True independence from the government will never be achieved, nor do I think it should be achieved, but call me controversial by saying: they have overstepped their boundaries one too many times. Apparently they never have and if they have, not enough times by your calculations though. Fortunately, I do not care.

You should get a job under Eric Holder's supervision, sounds like you'd be a great fit!
 
I'm going of the grid. Cash is king along with hand written letters. In even considering dropping Facebook. We are feeding the NWO. (Hatchet hits Ethernet cable)
 
tigres said:
Serious question: what boundaries? appears to me there are fewer and fewer as time passes here in the states.
Click to expand...

Solidified with indifference, I agree.

This is a large part of my disgust for the relentless-tolerance-for-Obama-and-turn-a-blind-eye bandwagon.
 
chedda said:
I'm going of the grid. Cash is king along with hand written letters. In even considering dropping Facebook. We are feeding the NWO. (Hatchet hits Ethernet cable)
Click to expand...

Cash might come in handy to make a fire when your cold!!!!

your better off having some livestock if your going off the grid (good luck to you!). Can remember my grandmother telling me that during the war they used to pay for everything using a couple of eggs or milk that had not been confiscated (hidden from government!) Cash was not worth anything. Now thats a real life example for you.
 
cmChimera said:
The program began under Bush. Good luck with learning how to think critically.
Click to expand...

Ha ha.

I love it. Thanks for the laugh.

And Obama hasn't had more than four years to make changes?

The key to successful government misdeeds is keeping partisan-focused people bickering between themselves about which party is responsible.

As long as we do that, the noose just keeps getting tighter and tighter. Meanwhile, the politicians who are adversaries when the cameras are on are laughing behind closed doors at the ease with which the public is manipulated.

Bush lovers, just keep blaming Obama.
Obama lovers, just keep blaming Bush.
Everything will be just fine...
 
Rafterman said:
Obama oversaw the expansion of the program? How do you know that? No, you do not know that one bit. This is a top secret program and you have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER what Bush was doing with the information and NO IDEA WHATSOEVER what Obama is doing with it. And not one news story or government person has said anything about the program being expanded or not expanded. You only "think" its expanded because you are just hearing about it now. You cannot just make up accusations to fit your political view.
Click to expand...

Yeah, no. The expansion has been reported in the news:

It was followed by Yahoo in 2008; Google, Facebook and PalTalk in 2009; YouTube in 2010; Skype and AOL in 2011; and finally Apple, which joined the program in 2012. The program is continuing to expand, with other providers due to come online.
Click to expand...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data

“The highly classified program, code-named PRISM, has not been disclosed publicly before. Its establishment in 2007 and six years of exponential growth took place beneath the surface of a roiling debate over the boundaries of surveillance and privacy. Even late last year, when critics of the foreign intelligence statute argued for changes, the only members of Congress who know about PRISM were bound by oaths of office to hold their tongues.”
Click to expand...

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/06/pm-note-all-up-in-your-business/
 
Someone needs another update to this article, adding the gov't's confirmation of this program.
 
MacRumors said:
prism.jpg
Click to expand...

Well, that tells me the US gov needs to hire better designers for their PowerPoint... ;)
 
Why This Policy is Necessary

Its pretty clear from the comments here, and elsewhere, that most people have essentially no clue how intelligence services operate, nor how the proliferation of essentially "disposable" digital communications devices have complicated their task. Mix into this the expectation that precisely zero terrorist incidents will be tolerated by the American people, and you have the recipe for PRISM, and operations like it, to proceed.

As a hypothetical case, say that you are a senior Al-Quaeda operative in, for example, Yemen. You get a call from another Yemeni al-Quaeda operative there (which is intercepted by the NSA) saying: "Our agent located in Philadelphia, USA, is going to call you from a disposable cell-phone, tomorrow at 10.00 am your time. He will tell you only the number of another disposable cellphone, which you are to call back two hours later - and give him, on that new number, instructions for the construction of an explosive device."

This is pretty standard tradecraft. There is no way possible that a warrant tied to a particular name, or even telephone number, would be able to identify the Philadelphia agent.

The only way the NSA would be able to identify the call would be by looking at patterns: ie. Having access to every US call to Yemen at noon Sanaa time. And in order to identify patterns, in real time, the NSA needs access to the metadata of not just a single named cellular account, but indeed the entire universe of US registered cellular phones.

If you happen to be a totally honest US citizen who, just by chance, happens to call your buddy in Sanaa at noon on the day in question: Bad news: You are going to have your call listened in on by a bunch of spooks sitting in the Virginia suburbs. But even if you confess, during that call, to your smoking an awesome amount of marijuana the preceding weekend - I wouldn't sweat it. The NSA guys don't care. They are looking for conversations about brisance and det cord.
 
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nascimento said:
Cash might come in handy to make a fire when your cold!!!!

your better off having some livestock if your going off the grid (good luck to you!). Can remember my grandmother telling me that during the war they used to pay for everything using a couple of eggs or milk that had not been confiscated (hidden from government!) Cash was not worth anything. Now thats a real life example for you.
Click to expand...

That's a good point the barter system always wins out. I have hoarded rice since the mayan prophecy then the Cyprus bail in. Homeland security is a scam along with all the false flags. I want out of it all i never voted, it's time to turn the tables. (hastily spliced ethernet cable)
 
The more news I read regarding this issue, the less faith I have in the future.

At the risk of seeming a conspiracy theorist, which I'm not, I was thinking about past administrations. There has always been at least a few "scandals" that have made headlines since, well, JFK, and I'm certain well before. This is a loooooooong list, so I expect "TL;DR" posts, so skip to the last paragraph for my point.

Reagan:

- Iran/Contra Affair
- "Just Say No"
- Keating 5
- Casper Weinberg
- National Security Advisor Robert C. McFarlane, pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors and was sentenced to two years probation and 200 hours of community service and was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine. He was also pardoned by Bush.
- Alan D. Fiers was the Chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's Central American Task Force. He pleaded guilty in 1991 to two counts of withholding information from Congress and was sentenced to one year of probation and one hundred hours of community service. He was also pardoned by Bush
- Richard R. Miller - Partner with Oliver North in IBC, an Office of Public Diplomacy front group, convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States
- Clair George was Chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's Division of Covert Operations under President Reagan. George was convicted of lying to two congressional committees in 1986. He was pardoned by Bush.
- Richard Secord was indicted on nine felony counts of lying to Congress and pleaded guilty to a felony charge of lying to Congress
-Department of Housing and Urban Development grant rigging

and it goes on...

G.H.W.B.

- "No New Taxes"
- The Panama Deception
- George H. W. Bush (R) President. during his election campaign, Bush denied any knowledge of the Iran Contra Affair by saying he was "out of the loop." But his own diaries of that time stated "I'm one of the few people that know fully the details ..." He repeatedly refused to disclose this to investigators and won the election.
- Iran-Contra Affair pardons. On December 24, 1992, George H. W. Bush (R) granted clemency to five convicted government officials and Caspar Weinberger, whose trial had not yet begun. This action prevented any further investigation into the matter
- Clarence Thomas
- David Durenberger Senator (R-MN) denounced by Senate for unethical financial transactions and then disbarred (1990). He pled guilty to misuse of public funds and given one year probation (1995)

Surprisingly not much under his four year term.

Clinton:
- Webster Hubbell Associate Attorney General, pled guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion while in private practice
- Ronald Blackley, Chief of Staff to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy, was sentenced to 27 months for perjury. Secretary Espy was found innocent on all counts.
- Bill Clinton President (D) Impeached by the House of Representatives for perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying under oath about sexual relations with intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was acquitted by the Senate and remained in office for the rest of his term. Clinton subsequently was cited for contempt of court and agreed to a five-year suspension of his Arkansas law license (1998).[129] On October 1, 2001, Bill Clinton was barred from practicing law before the Supreme Court of the United States (2001)
- "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" - in his defense, the Republicans (Ken Starr) began a witch hunt for gay's in the military. Forcing Clinton's hand to choose to either allow women and men to be dishonorably discharged or serve with questions and discussions regarding sexual orientation be banned. The Republican controlled Congress in 1994 agreed to those terms, although Clinton later admitted regret in not pushing it further.
- Ronald Blackley, Chief of Staff to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy, was sentenced to 27 months for perjury. Secretary Espy was found innocent on all counts.
- Henry Cisneros Secretary of Housing. Resigned and plead guilty (1999) to a misdemeanor charge of lying to the FBI about the amount of money he paid his former mistress, Linda Medlar while he was mayor of San Antonio, Texas. He was fined $10,000 (1999)

G.W.B.:

Where to begin, there's too much. I'll pick the most known and leave the rest for those to read.

- "Lawyergate" Or the Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy refers to President Bush firing, without explanation, eleven Republican federal prosecutors whom he himself had appointed. It is alleged they were fired for prosecuting Republicans and not prosecuting Democrats. When Congressional hearings were called, a number of senior Justice Department officials cited executive privilege and refused to testify under oath and instead resigned, including:
Michael A. Battle Director of Executive Office of US Attorneys in the Justice Department.
- Bradley Schlozman Director of Executive Office of US Attorneys who replaced Battle
- Michael Elston Chief of Staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty
- Paul McNulty Deputy Attorney General to William Mercer
- William W. Mercer Associate Attorney General to Alberto Gonzales
- Kyle Sampson Chief of Staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
- Alberto Gonzales Attorney General of the United States
- Monica Goodling Liaison between President Bush and the Justice Department
- Joshua Bolten Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush was found in Contempt of Congress
- Sara M. Taylor Aide to Presidential Advisor Karl Rove
- Karl Rove Advisor to President Bush
- Harriet Miers Legal Counsel to President Bush, was found in Contempt of Congress

- Bush White House e-mail controversy
During the Lawyergate investigation it was discovered that the Bush administration used Republican National Committee (RNC) web servers for millions of emails which were then destroyed, lost or deleted in possible violation of the Presidential Records Act and the Hatch Act. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Andrew Card, Sara Taylor and Scott Jennings all used RNC webservers for the majority of their emails. Of 88 officials, no emails at all were discovered for 51 of them. As many as 5 million e-mails requested by Congressional investigators of other Bush administration scandals were therefore unavailable, lost, or deleted.
- Jack Abramoff Scandal in which the prominent lobbyist with close ties to Republican administration officials and legislators offered bribes as part of his lobbying efforts. Abramoff was sentenced to 4 years in prison.
- Kyle Foggo Executive director of the CIA was convicted of honest services fraud in the awarding of a government contract and sentenced to 37 months in federal prison at Pine Knot, Kentucky. On September 29, 2008, Foggo pleaded guilty to one count of the indictment, admitting that while he was the CIA executive director, he acted to steer a CIA contract to the firm of his lifelong friend, Brent R. Wilkes.
- Julie MacDonald Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Interior, resigned May 1, 2007, after giving government documents to developers
- John Yoo An attorney in the Office of Legal Counsel inside the Justice Department who, working closely with vice president Dick Cheney and The Bush Six, wrote memos stating the right of the president to –

- suspend sections of the ABM Treaty without informing Congress
- bypass the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allowing warrentless wiretapping of US Citizens within the United States by the National Security Agency.
- state that the First Amendment and Fourth Amendments and the Takings Clause do not apply to the president in time of war as defined in the USA PATRIOT Act
- allow Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (torture) because provisions of the War Crimes Act, the Third Geneva Convention, and the Torture convention do not apply
- Timothy Goeglein Special Assistant to President Bush resigned when it was discovered that more than 20 of his columns had been plagiarized from an Indiana newspaper.
- Lewis Libby Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney (R). 'Scooter' was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Plame Affair on March 6, 2007. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000. The sentence was commuted by George W. Bush (R) on July 1, 2007. The felony remains on Libby's record though the jail time and fine were commuted.
- Karl Rove Senior Adviser to President George W. Bush was investigated by the Office of Special Counsel for "improper political influence over government decision-making", as well as for his involvement in several other scandals such as Lawyergate, Bush White House e-mail controversy and Plame affair. He resigned in April 2007.
- Richard J. Griffin Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security appointed by George W. Bush who made key decisions regarding the department's oversight of private security contractor Blackwater USA, resigned in November 2007, after a critical review by the House Oversight Committee found that his office had failed to adequately supervise private contractors during the Blackwater Baghdad shootings protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq.
- Howard Krongard, Republican contributor was appointed Inspector General of the US State Department by President George W. Bush in 2005. After he was accused by the House Oversight Committee of improperly interfering with investigations into private security contractor Blackwater USA, concerning the Blackwater Baghdad shootings. Krongard resigned in December 2007.
- Bush administration payment of columnists with federal funds to say nice things about Republican policies. Illegal payments were made to journalists Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher and Michael McManus (2004–2005)
- Bernard Kerik nomination in 2004 as Secretary of Homeland Security was derailed by past employment of an illegal alien as a nanny, and other improprieties. On Nov 4, 2009, he pled guilty to two counts of tax fraud and five counts of lying to the federal government and was sentenced to four years in prison.
- Plame affair (2004), in which CIA agent Valerie Plame's name was supposedly leaked by Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State, to the press in retaliation for her husband's criticism of the reports used by George W. Bush to legitimize the Iraq war. Armitage admitted he was the leak but no wrongdoing was found.
- Thomas A. Scully, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), withheld information from Congress about the projected cost of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, and allegedly threatened to fire Medicare's chief actuary, Richard Foster, if Foster provided the data to Congress. (2003) Scully resigned on December 16, 2003.
- NSA warrantless surveillance – Shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001, President George W. Bush (R) implemented a secret program by the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on domestic telephone calls by American citizens without warrants, thus by-passing the FISA court which must approve all such actions. (2002) In 2010, Federal Judge Vaughn Walker ruled this practice to be illegal.
- "The Patriot Act" - Allowing the government to access private information on citizens in order to secure information on possible terrorist attacks after 9/11, the elimination of "Due Process"/the right to detain anyone for 48 hours.
- FEMA - governments severe inability in responding to thousands in New Orleans after the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Many under the GWM administration, such as head of FEMA Brown, were accused of improper response as well as mishandling funds in projects in protecting New Orleans from further devastations. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heavily criticized for spending a week in NYC spending thousands of dollars on shoes, clothing, fine dining and attending broadway shows, was booed by other attendees before a "Spamalot" production, resulting in Rice leaving for New Orleans.

Dozens more.

Obama:

- PRISM - Verizon wiretapping scandal reported first by British news report Glen Greenwalt (notorious anti-American reporter and accused of being "the worst possible person to begin this debate" by many) of "The Guardian", shedding light on many corporations working under the GWB and Obama administration under extensions of the GWB "Patriot Act" and renewal under the Obama Administration for wiretapping millions of American's phone and internet usage. Privacy in question for American's and whether it is outside the scope of "The War on Terror". Data mining claimed to be "less intrusive than airport security and worth it if it prevents future terrorists attacks". Scandal currently revealing more information at this time.
- Terence Flynn an appointee of Barack Obama to the National Labor Relations Board resigned in May 2012 after being accused of serious ethical violations by leaking information to the National Association of Manufacturers.
- Martha N. Johnson head of the General Services Administration fired two top GSA officials and then resigned herself after it was revealed that $822,000 had been spent in Las Vegas on a four-day training conference for 300 GSA employees. (2010).
- IRS Scandal - admitted to inappropriate investigation of conservative political groups associated with the Tea Party. President Obama demanded and accepted the resignation of the Acting Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Steven T. Miller. Obama labeled the IRS’s actions “inexcusable.” Joseph Grant, commissioner of the agency's Tax-exempt and Government entities division, resigned on May 16.
- John Ensign (R-NV) resigned his Senate seat on May 3, 2011, before the Senate Ethics Committee could examine possible fiscal violations in connection with his extramarital affair with Cynthia Hampton. In May 2012, aide Doug Hampton (R) in what became the John Ensign scandal reached a plea deal with prosecutors, the details of which have not yet been released,
- Tom DeLay (R-TX) On November 24, 2010, a Texas jury convicted DeLay of money laundering connected to the Jack Abramoff scandal. (2010) On January 10, 2011, he was sentenced to three years in prison in Texas.
- G. Thomas Porteous Federal Judge for Eastern Louisiana was unanimously impeached by the US House of Representatives on charges of bribery and perjury in March 2010. He was convicted by the US Senate and removed from office. He had been appointed by Democrat Bill Clinton. (2010).
- Samuel B. Kent Federal District Judge of Galveston, Texas, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for lying about sexually harassing two female employees. He had been appointed to office by Republican George H. W. Bush in 1990.
- Benghazi Scandal - Four American's killed in Benghazi, resulting in investigations on White House cover-up(s) before 2012 elections. Accusations against the Obama administration include lack of proper response, handling of information and more. Investigations currently underway.

Certainly more will come as the years pass. I highlighted some points that are relevant to the current discussion on recent revelations on the GWB and Obama administrations access to information on private citizens while further eliminating due process and civil liberties.

My point:

Every administration has experienced scandals that have undermined their ability to focus on their doctrines. Most of these "scandals" seem well timed, forced and/or questionable in nature. I wonder how these scandals are leaked. Are the administrations complicit for reasons unknown? Surely scandals as extreme as those reported were fully known by the administrations. How can these scandals get out while so much more is kept tightly controlled?

Is the public being purposely mislead through disinformation or scandals, causing focus over here while focus is taken off of actions elsewhere that would have greater implications than the reported scandals? Have the media and past/current administrations been working together, complicit in acts in order to keep other, more devastating policy/ies from making news?
 
DesterWallaboo said:
The uproar has been continuing since then. I've been a vocal opponent of it since day one. Regardless... continuing on the same horrible path as his predecessor does not take the blame off of the successor.
Click to expand...

It does not, I agree. But I see a more stark reaction to this than before.

That being said, everytime a politician(prominently republican) utters the word "Freedom" on TV, I am going to throw up.
 
bedifferent said:
Every administration has experienced scandals that have undermined their ability to focus on their doctrines. Most of these "scandals" seem well timed, forced and/or questionable in nature. I wonder how these scandals are leaked. Are the administrations complicit for reasons unknown? Surely scandals as extreme as those reported were fully known by the administrations. How can these scandals get out while so much more is kept tightly controlled?

Is the public being purposely mislead through disinformation or scandals, causing focus over here while focus is taken off of actions elsewhere that would have greater implications than the reported scandals? Have the media and past/current administrations been working together, complicit in acts in order to keep other, more devastating policy/ies from making news?
Click to expand...

I think AP being spied on has changed the tune of mainstream media defending him all the time and now revealing hurtful info as a result. They now periodically get on his case.

EVERYONE should be on his case now that we know he's not only spying on the press, which upset the press, he's spying on us, which should upset us.
 
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