Deep Something

Disturbing and Illegal Raids in Minnesota

September 1, 2008 B. John 262 Views 1 Comment FBI, FISA, Glenn Greenwald, Judge Joanne Smith, Minnesota, PATRIOT Act, Ramsey County, republican, Republican Convention, RNC, Saloncom

Leading up to the Rethuglican National Convention in St. Paul, the federal government is leading local law enforcement in a disturbing number of high profile raids on homes and protesters. Most disturbing is the show of force involved in these raids, and the lack of evidence of any intent to commit any violence (other than protesting the state the Rethuglican have put the country in). Of course, trying to squelch these protests would be a violation of the Constitution. China has no Constitutional Protections, yet all the main stream media here in the U.S. was hand wringing over China’s efforts to quell protests during the Olympics…yet nary a peep from them about what’s going on in St. Paul.

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The Anthrax Questions

August 3, 2008 B. John 328 Views 0 Comments 9/11, Anthrax, Bruce Ivins, Dick Cheney, False Flag, Gleen Greenwald, Iraq, Pat Leahy, PATRIOT Act, Salon, Tom Daschle, War

Glenn Greenwald has an excellent article up at Salon.com discussing the unresolved issues around the 2001 anthrax incident. As everyone knows Bruce Ivins committed suicide earlier this week as a Grand Jury prepared to indict him in connection with the anthrax incident. Ivins had been a top anthrax researcher at a U.S. Government research facility for 18 years. So seven years after the incident, and after having to pay a settlement to one falsely accused researcher, we’re to believe the government had an airtight case against Ivins witnessed by his apparent suicide.

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FBI Continues Revealing Surveillance Abuses

March 14, 2008 B. John 257 Views 1 Comment Abuses, FBI, Inspector General, National Security Letters, PATRIOT Act, Robert Mueller, Surveillance

The AP reports that an audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last year’s audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600.

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News for the Week Ending September 9, 2007

September 10, 2007September 29, 2018 B. John 243 Views 0 Comments Duke University, GPS, Marijuana, Mike Nifong, Ohio, PATRIOT Act, Pot, Separation of Powers, St. Petersburg

This is a collection of shorter news stories from the week ending September 9, 2007.

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Destroying Freedom

April 20, 2007September 29, 2018 B. John 199 Views 0 Comments Civil Liberties, Domestic Spying, FBI, George Christian, Illegal Spying, justice department, Library Connection, PATRIOT Act

George Christian, executive director of Library Connection, a consortium of 27 libraries in the Hartford, Conn., area, has, since 2005, been fighting a National Security letter request from the FBI for subscription information on patrons of the library system. Because of the way the PATRIOT Act is written, he was only recently, through a court order, un-gagged to be able to testify to Congress about the experience.

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FBI Not Following NSL Requirements – Are You Surprised?

March 9, 2007 B. John 172 Views 0 Comments FBI, Glenn Fine, Inspector General, justice department, Laws, Legal, National Security Letter, NSL, PATRIOT Act

A new report by the Justice Department’s Inspector General (IG) “has found pervasive errors in the FBI’s use of its power to secretly demand telephone, e-mail and financial records in national security cases.” “The inspector general’s audit found 22 possible breaches of internal FBI and Justice Department regulations — some of which were potential violations of law — in a sampling of 293 ‘national security letters (NSLs).'”

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Oops, Patriot Act Was Used to Access Library Records

May 31, 2006September 29, 2018 B. John 177 Views Librarians, Library Records, National Security Letter, PATRIOT Act

Remember when John Ashcroft assured us that the Patriot Act wouldn’t be used to access library records? Raw Story has a nice piece that explains how the government kept the truth quiet until the Patriot Act was reauthorized.