Friday, January 29, 2021

So much for the Constitution and our privacy . . .

 

It seems that the intelligence (note that I do not say intelli-gent) side of the US government thinks it can get away with defying a Supreme Court order, and ignoring the constitution.


The [Defense Intelligence Agency]'s justification for its warrantless spying is breathtaking. It argues that because it is not law enforcement, it is not subject to the constitutional restraints imposed upon law enforcement as interpreted by the Supreme Court. This is an argument that the court has never accepted. The DIA, apparently, thinks it is a law unto itself.

It also claims that because it can purchase the [cellphone] tracing software commercially, it can use it freely, just like any other purchaser. Such a rationale utterly defies the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Private purchasers are not bound by the Fourth Amendment -- but the government is.

. . .

The DIA and other domestic American spy entities -- there are 16 that the government acknowledges it operates -- have taken the view that because the tracking software is available commercially, and because the domestic spies are intelligence and not law enforcement, they need not obtain a warrant. Stated differently, because the DIA did not seek to use its powers to compel a warrantless search of phone records, but rather stole phone signals, it committed no wrong!

This is a profound and direct violation of the Fourth Amendment, which was written for the very purpose of upholding the quintessential American right -- the right to be left alone.

. . .

The Fourth Amendment serves a dual purpose. The first is to prevent fishing expeditions -- such as the very acts the DIA now admits it utilizes -- in violation of the natural right to privacy. The second is to compel the government to focus its resources on those suspects as to whom it has a judicially recognized probable cause of crime.

The depth of the government’s admissions are staggering. Its architecture is a decrepit three-legged stool on which sits totalitarianism, arrogance and lawlessness.

One leg of the stool upholds a self-crafted immunity from compliance with the laws of the land. The second leg supports ways to avoid constitutional norms while still appearing licit in the eyes of the public. And the third and weakest leg offers its interpretation of the Constitution -- separate and apart from what the Supreme Court has ordered.

This stool should be cast into the dustbin of history. It was built by those who have been unfaithful to their oaths to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States -- the very same Constitution that is only as valuable as a safeguard to freedom as is the fidelity of those into whose hands we have reposed it for safekeeping.

We have put it into the hands of madmen.


There's more at the link.

To put it as simply as possible, we can no longer trust our government with power.  It's become drunk on the fumes of its own arrogance.  Let Thomas Jefferson remind us of the peril that creates.


Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.


Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.


The man was a prophet.

Peter


12 comments:

Aesop said...

It's time to close the entire shop, court-martial the officers under Articles 81, 92, 94, 133, and 134, and imprison every member of the Agency for crimes against humanity and violation of their oaths of service.

If we're extremely lenient, they should be eligible for parole in 100 years or so.

This gross and willful insubordination is a military dictatorship in word and deed.

Old NFO said...

Once again, NOTHING you do is private anymore if you use any electronic medium... Why people don't get this, I don't understand.

dogsledder said...

Why single out the DIA when EVERY SINGLE agency, bureau, department, commission, administration and part of the Federal government is TOTALLY EVIL with the possible exceptions of the military and the Veterans Administration ? And those exceptions likely will be turning evil under the dictatorship of the Soviet States of America under the thumb of president Xiden, the Chinee communist /democrat party, and their butt buddy whores the RINO republicans.

The Neon Madman said...

You have no privacy. Even your car keeps track of what you do - the black box inside is constantly recording your actions. In any city, there are cameras everywhere. Ditto for any store or gas station. Anything you do online is traceable. Your cellphone is a personal monitoring device, so is your TV if it is connected to your WIFI.

Paranoid? I have been called that. I have not trusted my government for years, but now I actively fear them.

Dad29 said...

Experience has also shewn that revolutions have been fought and won over far less.

drjim said...

Jefferson was well versed in history and human nature.

TheOtherSean said...

Welcome to the BidenReich.

ErisGuy said...

Plumbers apprentice to learn how to be better plumbers. Automotive techs go to school to learn to be better auto tech. Lawyers go to school to learn how to evade the law, not how to write laws better. Only 1776 & 1865 have lawyers attempted to write laws to further liberty.

MauserMedic said...

Went to the link. How utterly appropriate:

"Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/constitution-for-sale-andrew-napolitano" on this server.
Reference #18.6760617.1612019651.3458e710"

Maniac said...

Let's not forget that a good portion of the blame can be placed at the cloven hooves of the W. Administration with their Patriot Act bathroom tissue. He's the reason I shied away from the GOP and went Constitution about ten years ago.

BillB said...

The link to Andrew Napolitano's is broken but the article has not been deleted from Fox News Opinion.

I never thought that the 4th Amendment applied to just law enforcement. When overseas courtesy of the U.S. Government 40 years ago, we were told that our communications, written and electronic, could be intercepted by the Government but that was only because we were outside the U.S. Otherwise, when in U.S. territory, the 4th applied. We even saw that in the interception of Trump personnel; though they were outed by unscrupulous individuals, initially they could not be identified directly on international communications.

Our own government has become the peoples enemy.

Aesop said...

I'm not singling out the DIA.
It's just that you have to start somewhere.

beginning with them would rope the entire military back into the fold, and after that, the lesser arms of government tend to fall in line far more quickly.