2nd Circuit Court Of Appeals: NSA Spying Program Illegal

Secular Talk

Sources state that on Thursday, a panel of three federal judges from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the NSA’s bulk-phone records spying program was illegal.

Reuters states:  “Ruling on a program revealed by former government security contractor Edward Snowden, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the Patriot Act did not authorize the National Security Agency to collect Americans’ calling records in bulk.

“Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch wrote for a three-judge panel that Section 215, which addresses the FBI’s ability to gather business records, could not be interpreted to have permitted the NSA to collect a “staggering” amount of phone records, contrary to claims by the Bush and Obama administrations.”

Also, According to the National Journal, more court decisions are on the way:

“Two other appeals courts have in recent months heard arguments considering the legality of the NSA bulk telephone program, but neither has issued a ruling yet. Any split among the courts likely will prompt a Supreme Court review.

Boing Boing and The Electronic Frontier Foundation state:

1. When Congress gave the NSA the power to gather “relevant” information and do so for an “investigation,” they didn’t mean “gather everything and store it forever in case it becomes relevant later.”

2. Having your data collected by the NSA gives you the right to sue them — even if the NSA never looked at that data.

3. Metadata is sensitive information, and the NSA can’t argue that its mass-spying is harmless because it’s collecting metadata instead of data (the fact that you called a suicide hotline is every bit as compromising as what you said while you were talking to them).

4. The judges have “concerns” about the constitutionality of mass spying (though the didn’t go so far as to say that it is unconstitutional, partly because the ACLU had already won on the statutory language alone).

5. One judge added: The government shouldn’t have secret laws. The government argued that its interpretation of surveillance laws was a secret, and the court spanked them for it, saying that a law that’s “shrouded in secrecy” lacked legitimacy.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/us-usa-security-nsa-idUSKBN0NS1IN20150507

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/federal-appeals-court-says-nsa-phone-records-program-illegal-n355271

http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/federal-appeals-court-rules-nsa-spying-illegal-20150507

http://boingboing.net/2015/05/10/what-did-the-courts-just-do-th.html

John Oliver Interview With Edward Snowden

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

A huge T.V. event on Easter Sunday came and went without any fanfare whatsoever.

John Oliver, HBO’s comedy newscaster, aired a lengthy interview with none other than N.S.A. whistleblower Edward Snowden. The interview starts in the video above around the 13:45 mark.

CNN:

“The comedian surprised viewers on Sunday night by revealing that he visited Russia last week and met with Snowden, who leaked a trove of documents about the American government’s mass surveillance programs to journalists in 2013.”

Strange Situation At NSA

Officers opened fire after two men allegedly dressed as women refused to stop a stolen vehicle Monday at the National Security Agency gate at Fort Meade in Maryland. The stolen vehicle smashed into a police vehicle blocking the road, officials said.

One of the men died, and the other man and an officer were hurt.

Officials claimed that there were plenty of chances for the incident to end nonviolently.

The NSA released a statement Monday afternoon saying the driver of the sport utility vehicle disobeyed instructions from an NSA police officer and failed to stop shortly before 9 a.m.

Investigators are looking into whether the men were under the influence of drugs following a night of partying, a federal law enforcement official said.

A man reported his car stolen from a hotel not far away from NSA Headquarters and said he had been with two men who had taken his car. Cocaine was found in the vehicle. The Howard County Police Department confirms that a Ford Escape reported stolen in Howard County, Maryland, is the vehicle involved in the incident.

The FBI said they did not think terrorism was related to the incident.

MSNBC

More here

Morning Joe: Who Will Have The Better Legacy, Bush Or Obama?

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough recently said that historians would put together George W. Bush and Barack Obama over their inability to successfully manage the government.

Kyle Kulinski of Secular Talk disagrees.

Secular Talk video.

Uncomfortable Exchange With The NSA At Job Fair

A student and his friend press the NSA on spying and legalities at a job fair. The NSA man must have felt he was between a rock and a hard place…

The above video was taken at the University of New Mexico.

Several NSA UFO Sightings Declassified

In 1980, a civil action lawsuit was brought against the National Security Agency by a group called Citizens Against Unidentified Flying Objects Secrecy.  Since that time, the NSA has declassified several reports on UFOs.

Here’s a look at three incidents in one decalssified document. Much information has been redacted, making it difficult at times to piece together the findings. Most of the sightings were done by radar, and some are visual.

Most of the sightings are brushed off as satellites, space debris, or propaganda balloons (balloons that distribute propaganda leaflets).

The first one is a ball of light that splits into three balls of light.

(Screenshot/NSA.gov)

It states:

“[Redacted] saw an elongated ball of fire moving … [redacted] … high rate of speed. After covering some distance, it split into three balls of fire.”

Another reporting describes yellow or green UFOs that “usually appear at (the) same time during afternoon hours for approx. two minutes, flying in groups of two or three…”

(Screenshot/NSA.gov)

The report states that the UFOs seem to drift over an area (again unspecified).  A total of 33 were sighted in the area.  The report says, “Unless amplifying [illegible] received, most plausible explanation of UFOs is that they are either [redacted] or [redacted] propaganda balloons.”

Another sighting also detects multiple UFOs at the same time daily, and also describes them as yellow or green.

(Screenshot/NSA.gov)

This one states “…highlights.  1.  Air: A. UFO’s over (redacted) There have been radar sightings of UFO’s from (redacted).  UFO’s usually sighted about 19:30H hours.  In vicinity of (redacted) and normally traveling (sic) into prevailing wind.   Maximum estimated height about 50,000 feet and largest number at one time has been eight.  Reported first radar sighting of UFO’s on (redacted).  K-2, is sending five man electronics team to (redacted) on (redacted) for approx ten days to investigate.”

Multiple UFOs were detected on radar usually between the time of 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. traveling against the wind. The largest number observed at one time was eight, and they were estimated to be flying at a height of 50,000 feet.

Experts were sent to investigate, and it seems one person thought the UFOs could be sophisticated devices of some sort.

The report also states: “Possibility that UFO’s some kind of sophisticated [redacted] device appears remote though this is what [redacted] suspects.”

You can look at the actual documents here:

http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/declass/ufo/

Click to access comint_part_j.pdf

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/740237-3-ufo-sightings-recorded-in-declassified-nsa-document/