Washington Post identifies death of 4th Amendment

You know that the National Security Agency is spying on you, right?

It's been all over the news, consistent with the media's role as the Fourth Estate (watchdog of the powerful).

Now we're starting to get a sense of how big this problem is. See here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-broke-privacy-rules-thousands-of-times-per-year-audit-finds/2013/08/15/3310e554-05ca-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, the NSA is capturing every single phone call and email from the US overseas. Every single one! Including content!

Given that the 4th Amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure and requires that the government demonstrate in court that it has probably cause to search a person or place or property--and since the government is NOT doing this in its national security spying programs--we can thus conclude the 4th Amendment no longer exists (at least in these cases).

And think of all those people out there scared to death that the 2nd Amendment is being threatened because "the government is coming to get our guns" (even when there is literally no law or program in place that does this).

Why does the FBI spy on and infiltrate American citizen groups?

... but only when they challenge the status quo?

Isn't that "unAmerican?" And why is it not the lead story in the American media?

"Totally integrated corporate-state repression of dissent" is what The Guardian calls it.

Here is part of the story:

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, in a groundbreaking scoop that should once more shame major US media outlets (why are nonprofits now some of the only entities in America left breaking major civil liberties news?), filed this request. The document – reproduced here in an easily searchable format – shows a terrifying network of coordinated DHS, FBI, police, regional fusion center, and private-sector activity so completely merged into one another that the monstrous whole is, in fact, one entity: in some cases, bearing a single name, the Domestic Security Alliance Council. And it reveals this merged entity to have one centrally planned, locally executed mission. The documents, in short, show the cops and DHS working for and with banks to target, arrest, and politically disable peaceful American citizens.

Read more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/29/fbi-coordinated-crackdown-occupy

See the documents here:

http://www.justiceonline.org/commentary/fbi-files-ows.html

We've seen this before, no?

ACLU sues FBI

... alleges infringement of Americans' Constitutional rights based on suspicion only attributed to religious beliefs.

From the article:

"Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the FBI said Wednesday that the agency's use of a paid informant to infiltrate California mosques has left them and others Muslims with an enduring fear that their phones and e-mails are being screened and their physical whereabouts monitored.

"The claims came at a news conference announcing the lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The civil rights groups allege that former FBI informant Craig Monteilh violated Muslims' freedom of religion by conducting indiscriminate surveillance because of their faith.

"The former fitness instructor with a criminal past spied on Orange County mosques for the FBI for more than a year from 2006 to 2007, recording conversations and meetings with a device concealed on his key ring and a camera hidden in a shirt button.

"To know that he was targeting me simply because I was a Muslim, it's sad," said Ali Malik, one of three plaintiffs named in the suit. "I live in paranoia. ... I just wish the FBI didn't do this."

Like I wrote about in the book, this is happening everywhere.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_re_us/us_mosque_spy_lawsuit

Another story you won't see in the mainstream press

Due to the "relying on government official" and "anti-communist" filters self-imposed on the US mainstream media organizations, you almost never see stories like this.

So you have to rely on media organizations like Common Dreams to learn of them.

From the article: "We are being targeted for the work we do to end U.S. fundig of the Israeli occupation, ending the war in Afghanistan and ending the occupation of Iraq," says Maureen Murphy, editor of the news outlet The Electronic Intifada and one of those subpoenaed on Tuesday. "What is at stake for all of us is our right to dissent and organize to change harmful US foreign policy."

I cannot wait to see my FBI file. I know I have one and pretty much know what to expect what is probably in there. When I get it in the mail I will be sure to post it!

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/12/22-6

US government still spying on citizens

I think I will actually go ahead and request my file.

From the article: "The localities are often left without guidance from the Department of Homeland Security, which can lead to confusion about the counter-terrorism actions they're supposed to be carrying out. Virginia's fusion center named historically black colleges as "potential" terrorism hubs; Maryland State Police infiltrated local groups that lobbied for bike lanes and human rights; and a contractor in Pennsylvania writing an intelligence bulletin flagged meetings of the Tea Party Patriots Coalition and environmental activists.

Does anyone think this actually makes us safer?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101220/ts_yblog_thelookout/the-5-most-surprising-revelations-from-the-posts-monitoring-america-investigation