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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObama Will Reform the NSA Just Like He Closed Gitmo
The fix has always been in on any meaningful accountability or reform for the NSA under the Obama regime and Sunday morning's state media propaganda forums indicate just how powerless that the American people truly are. Appearing on NBC's Press the Meat were the NSA Stasi's two biggest cheerleaders, apple pie authoritarian House Intelligence Committee capo Mike Rogers and Senate Intelligence Committee boss Dianne Feinstein. Both of whom are an ongoing disgrace to any concept of a free country as well as two serial violators of their oaths to uphold the Constitution and they gushed approvingly over Barry's Friday speech at the Department of Injustice where he also demonstrated the requisite level of contempt for the U.S. Constitution necessary for a post September 11, 2001 president by refusing to do anything that would reign in the runaway spy machine.
Now that the initial wave of spin has been unleashed it will be hammered home by the state media and Obama himself as he ramps up to make his pitch to the American people in the upcoming State of the Union address. Friday's speech had to be one of the most cynical that Obama has ever made as he did his job in selling the need for mass warrantless surveillance and data storage while providing a few small concessions along with no details on how they will be implemented. My money is on that they won't as Americans have extremely short attention spans and after all, who cares if they are spying on them if they aren't doing anything wrong. The speech was peppered with so many references to "the day when everything changed' that it could have been given by George W. Bush:
The horror of September 11th brought these issues to the fore. (to this day there has been no accountability for those on watch on that day, normally when one is that incompetent they are fired)
It is hard to overstate the transformation America's intelligence community had to go through after 9/11. (Even harder to overstate how much taxpayer money that could have been better spent began to be funneled into the greatest growth industry of the 21st century: the surveillance industrial complex)
We saw, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, our government engaged in enhanced interrogation techniques that contradicted our values. (The torture continues but has been outsourced)
more...
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Obama-Will-Reform-the-NSA-by-Donn-Marten-American-Facism_Domestic-Spying_Domestic-Surveillance-Wiretapping_Fascism-140120-371.html
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OilemFirchen
(7,143 posts)Obama regime
state media
NSA Stasi
capo
Barry
How colorful!
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)OilemFirchen
(7,143 posts)I'm disappointed.
At least there's this, from the final paragraph of the linked etymological compost:
"our narcissist in chief"
That'll have to do, I guess.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)
polichick
(37,152 posts)- including the NSA - has its own ideas about being reformed or not.
Response to polichick (Reply #2)
mindwalker_i This message was self-deleted by its author.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/12/congress-cooperates-obama-pushes-hard-and-closing-gitmo-has-a-chance.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/Decoder-Wire/2013/0524/Obama-vows-again-to-close-Guantanamo-What-are-the-sticking-points-video
The list goes on and on and on. I guess you did miss it.
randome
(34,845 posts)You can't do shit if Congress stands in your way.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]“If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.”
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]
mindwalker_i
(4,407 posts)if he doesn't try. Gitmo was one thing, and I believe that Obama would have liked to close it. Domestic spying is a whole different thing, in that Obama doesn't want to stop it and won't.
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)
Progressive dog
(6,900 posts)and some people seem angry that we didn't. Or maybe they think we did, but he isn't their kind of fascist.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)MiniTruers to say it's the GOP's fault, like the weather"
BelgianMadCow
(5,379 posts)out loud! Stand by for IP droning.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"Obama Will Reform the NSA Just Like He Closed Gitmo"
...things are looking up!
NEW YORK – At a press briefing today, President Obama restated his belief that the prison at Guantánamo should be closed. Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, responded to the president's comments by detailing immediate actions the president could take.
"We welcome the president's continuing commitment to closing Guantánamo and putting an end to the indefinite detention regime there," Romero said. "There are two things the president should do. One is to appoint a senior point person so that the administration's Guantánamo closure policy is directed by the White House and not by Pentagon bureaucrats. The president can also order the secretary of defense to start certifying for transfer detainees who have been cleared, which is more than half the Guantánamo population."
"There's more to be done, but these are the two essential first steps the president can take now to break the Guantánamo logjam," Romero said. "We couldn't agree more with President Obama's statement that the 'idea that we would still maintain forever a group of individuals who have not been tried – that is contrary to who we are, it is contrary to our interests, and it needs to stop.'"
http://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform-human-rights-national-security-prisoners-rights/aclu-statement-presidents
WASHINGTON – President Obama today appointed lawyer Clifford Sloan as the State Department's special envoy in charge of closing the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
"The appointment of a new envoy at the State Department for closing Guantánamo puts in place one of the last pieces of the puzzle for getting the prison closed," said Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "The president now has ordered the restart of transfers out of Guantánamo, lifted the moratorium on transfers to Yemen, and appointed top officials at the White House and State Department to get it done. Once President Obama makes the necessary appointment at the Pentagon to begin transferring detainees out of Guantánamo, he should immediately begin doing so. With more than half of the detainees already cleared for transfer or release, and dozens more being held without ever being charged or tried, it's time to start sending these men home."
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-comment-appointment-envoy-close-guantanamo
WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today appointed Paul Lewis as the special envoy for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. In his new position, Lewis will work with the State Department on transferring detainees out of the prison to other countries.
Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel at the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office, had this comment:
"The American Civil Liberties Union is pleased that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has filled the important position of Defense Department envoy for closing the Guantanamo detention facility. We had been concerned about the lengthy delay in filling this critical job that the president ordered created as part of his National Defense University speech in May,” said Anders. “Paul Lewis has three decades of experience working on national security and rule of law issues at the highest levels of government. In his new position, he will play a critical role in carrying out the president’s commitment to close Guantanamo for good."
https://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-comment-appointment-envoy-close-guantanamo-bay-detention-facility
WASHINGTON – The Senate late last night passed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2014, which will ease transfer restrictions for detainees currently held at the military detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, most of whom have been held without charge or trial for over a decade. The bill, which passed the House of Representatives last week, cleared the Senate by a vote of 84-15. The improved transfer provisions were sponsored by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin and were strongly supported by the White House and the Defense Department.
"This is a big step forward for meeting the goal of closing Guantánamo and ending indefinite detention. For the first time ever, Congress is making it easier, rather than harder, for the Defense Department to close Guantánamo – and this win only happened because the White House and Defense Secretary worked hand in hand with the leadership of the congressional committees," said Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel at the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office. "After years of a blame-game between Congress and the White House, both worked together to clear away obstacles to transferring out of Guantánamo the vast majority of detainees who have never been charged with a crime."
The current population at Guantánamo stands at 158 detainees, approximately half of whom were cleared for transfer to their home or third-party countries by U.S. national security officials four years ago. Also, periodic review boards have recently started reviews of detainees who have not been charged with a crime and had not been cleared in the earlier reviews. While the legislation eases the transfer restrictions for sending detainees to countries abroad, it continues to prohibit the transfer of detainees to the United States for any reason, including for trial or medical emergencies.
"There has been a sea change on the Guantánamo issue, both in Congress and at the White House. With the president’s renewed commitment to closing it, and the support of Congress, there now is reason to hope that the job of closing Guantánamo and ending indefinite detention can get done before the president leaves office," said Anders. "As big as this win is, there is more work left to be done. The Defense Department has to use the new transfer provisions to step up transfers out of Guantánamo, and Congress needs to remove the remaining ban on using federal criminal courts to try detainees."
President Obama is expected to sign the defense bill into law before the end of the year.
https://www.aclu.org/national-security/senate-eases-transfer-restrictions-guantanamo-detainees
By Julian E. Barnes
WASHINGTON—The Pentagon said it has transferred the last three ethnic Uighur Chinese nationals from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Slovakia in what it called "a significant milestone in our effort to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay."
Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a written statement that Yusef Abbas, Saidullah Khalik and Hajiakbar Abdul Ghuper are "voluntarily resettling in Slovakia," leaving 155 detainees at Guantanamo.
The three men were the last of 22 ethnic Uighurs captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and ordered released from Guantanamo under an Oct. 7, 2008, federal court ruling. The 22 men have ended up being resettled to six different countries, the Pentagon said.
Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel for advocacy group Human Rights Watch, said the transfer was an important moment. "The Uighurs had nothing to do with any conflict with the United States," she said. "It is a stark symbol of what was wrong with Guantanamo, with what was wrong with just sweeping people up and detaining them in an offshore facility."
- more -
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304361604579292270871879140
Fortunately and finally, at the end of 2013, the Uighurs--a persecuted religious minority from China--have left Guantanamo.
https://www.aclu.org/national-security/free-uighurs
Wawayanda
(21 posts)How can anyone say that he has failed to close Gitmo?
He's been trying to close it since day one. Did folks forget there are checks and balances and Republicans and their Xenophobic fear mongering have made it extremely difficult to shut it down? He needs FDR Democratic majorities in Congress to get anything done these days.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)
Bobbie Jo
(14,341 posts)some apparently hold advanced degrees from the Fox School of Journalism. 
spin
(17,493 posts)Perhaps someone who is a lot like "Tricky Dick" Nixon.
Imagine the power that Nixon would have had with access to NSA mega-data.
Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein or their editors would have probably feared publishing any information about the Watergate scandal and "Deep Throat" would have probably realized that Nixon would have been quickly able to find out who he was, and would have never talked to any reporters.
Hekate
(90,644 posts)nt
