Sign Up for the Politicker.com Wake Up Call

National

RSS Feeds

Syndicate content Add to Netvibes Subscribe with Bloglines
Add to Technorati Favorites
Add to Google

Send suggestions to: editor@politicker.com

National: Fisa

January 22, 2009 - 05:00 am
NEWS FEED: Daily Kos

Investigations, Anyone? Maybe a Prosecution or Two?

By mcjoan

Russell Tice, one of the NSA whistleblowers who exposed the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program, is speaking out now that the Bush administration is gone. On Countdown, Tice described, partially, the extent of the illegal wiretapping program.

First, on the scope of the data monitoring:

OLBERMANN: Let's start with the review. We heard the remarks from Mr. Bush in 2005, that only Americans who would have been eavesdropped on without a warrant were those who were talking to terrorists overseas. Based on what you know, what you have seen firsthand and what you have encountered in your experience, how much of that statement was true?

TICE: Well, I don't know what our former president knew or didn't know.

Read More at Daily Kos >
There have been 15 comments posted in response to this story.

January 16, 2009 - 10:56 pm
NEWS FEED: Daily Kos

Holder on Executive Authority

By mcjoan

What a breath of fresh air Eric Holder's confirmation hearing was. From "Waterboarding is torture," to this exchange, we're going to have a real lawyer at the helm again.

FEINGOLD: Is there anything in the FISA statute that makes you believe that the president has the ability under some other inherent power to disregard the FISA statute?

HOLDER: No, I do not see that in the FISA statute.

That's important for the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal and for the LA Times to note. Here's Media Matters:

A January 16 Wall Street Journal

Read More at Daily Kos >
There have been 16 comments posted in response to this story.

January 16, 2009 - 03:30 pm
NEWS FEED: Daily Kos

"A Case Study in 8 Years of Lying and Ignorance"

By mcjoan

Glenn gets it absolutely right.

Ever since The New York Times, on December 16, 2005, first reported that President Bush ordered spying on Americans without the warrants required by FISA, the clear illegality that was unveiled -- FISA said that X was a felony and Bush admitted to doing X -- was continuously obscured by a combination of deceit on the part of Bush followers and ignorance, sloth and confusion on the part of the media.  Beginning within the first days of the controversy, Bush followers who literally had no idea what they were talking about offered factually false claims and even distorted quotations from the statute to justify what was done.

Read More at Daily Kos >
There have been 17 comments posted in response to this story.

January 15, 2009 - 05:25 pm
NEWS FEED: Daily Kos

NYT: Court to Rule Wiretapping Power Legal

By mcjoan

The New York Times Eric Lichtblau is reporting today that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review is going to rule that the Protect American Act is constitutional.

WASHINGTON — A federal intelligence court, in a rare public opinion, is expected to issue a major ruling validating the power of the president and Congress to wiretap international phone calls and intercept e-mail messages without a court order, even when Americans’ private communications may be involved, according to a person with knowledge of the opinion.

But, as BTD point out at TalkLeft, it's actually unclear from Lichtblau's reporting that that lede is correct--is the court validating executive authority, or limited to ruling on the Protect America Act?

.

Read More at Daily Kos >
There have been 14 comments posted in response to this story.