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Tag: spy

Oscars CIA

CIA Goes Glam, Tweets Oscars to Delight of Elite Media

Written by Nick Hankoff on . Posted in News You Can Use, War. No Comments on CIA Goes Glam, Tweets Oscars to Delight of Elite Media

“A pretty face can hide an evil mind,” goes the swinging 60’s hit song Secret Agent Man. Now, the CIA is taking that idea to a new level with bizarre tweets during the Academy Awards. CNN called it “the coolest thing,” but will this keep Americans from seeing what’s hidden in plain view? Ratings for the Oscars rebounded from its 2018 low, and it looks like the Central Intelligence Agency is hoping to revamp its image as well. While the CIA has been on Twitter since 2014, its account is increasingly engaging with users, especially during the top annual red carpet Hollywood spectacular on Sunday. Oscars CIA The CIA tweeted about how “great for spies” it would be if the fictitious high tech in Black Panther were real. For example, the Panther Habit suit (which CNN called a habitat) that changes form by using artificially intelligent nano-particles. The CIA fantasized that they could “foil surveillance” with such technology. No offer was extended to those of us supposedly covered by the Fourth Amendment. The timing of this playful propaganda is probably not an accident. From drone wars to overthrows of foreign heads of state, this past decade has not been so secretive for the agency. Social media has certainly played a role in lifting the mask off this arm of the deep state. So, the CIA should become more active than less, as issues like US intervention in Venezuela animate the crowded Democratic presidential primary campaign. To maximize this effort, what if instead of questioning the Trump administration’s policies under CIA Director Gina Haspel or her predecessor Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, wouldn’t it be “the coolest thing” if CNN highlighted how fun the CIA can be and, in fact, is? And CNN wasn’t alone in showcasing the CIA’s quizzes and games played with Twitter users. The true experts of cool at Vice News were totally into it, but like only ironically. Duh. “Apologies to whatever CIA social media intern had to sacrifice their Sunday for this,” they lamented. Nowhere in these “reports” is there mention of the atrocities waged and directed by the CIA. Not “politically incorrect” enough for the new breed of bleeding hearts on the SJW left. Checking your privilege isn’t necessary when the privilege is ordering secret airstrikes in Afghanistan or deposing governments in Ukraine or Libya, or attempting to in Syria. This year should be one where the CIA faces more scrutiny than ever. Journalist Stephen Kinzer, who’s written extensively about the CIA’s anti-constitutional origin and history, has a new book on Project MK-ULTRA entitled Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control, due out in September. Hawaiian Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a Democratic presidential primary contender, has for years routinely targeted the CIA by name in her condemnation of US intervention. Don’t expect the CIA to tweet about them. And don’t count on the mainstream media to tell the truth about the CIA’s relation to Americans and their liberty.  

Image credit: Prayitno

Your Tax Dollars Are Helping Local Law Enforcement To Spy On You

Written by Alice Salles on . Posted in Liberator Online, News You Can Use, Personal Liberty, Property Rights. No Comments on Your Tax Dollars Are Helping Local Law Enforcement To Spy On You

The fight for a more libertarian society begins with the identification of policies that make us less free precisely because they are enacted by a centralized power. As we learn about these restrictive rules and programs, we also learn about how the federal government uses any tool at its disposal to ensure smaller, more local government organizations fall in line.

As expected, these smaller entities end up becoming effective arms of the federal government in its fight against personal freedoms, mostly due to the fact federal government agencies and regulatory bodies often have special influence over state agencies.

This is the case with surveillance policies.

In a December 2016 report released by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reforms, lawmakers confirmed that federal agencies give state and local law enforcement extra funding so they may purchase stingray devices.

The stingrays, as they are known, are cell site simulators that spoof cell phone towers, capturing data from devices within their range. As the phones targeted get tricked into connecting directly to the stingray, officials are able to primarily track and locate targeted devices. But depending on the technology in use, systems may be modified to also gather data from these phones such as text messages.

As these stingrays are used without a warrant, targeting any cell phone within range, the use of this technology is a blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment. Still, feds provide the incentives that push local law enforcement to ignore the Constitution.

What’s worse is that you and I as taxpayers are paying the federal government to spy on us illegally.

According to the report, the bulk of funding for this program comes from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), but the grant programs are administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA.)

Up until 2016, this program had officially cost taxpayers $1.8 million, but the real number could be much higher as the DHS “does not maintain a separate accounting of grant funds used to purchase cell site-simulators,” the report concludes.

If local or state officials want to participate and get the extra dough from the feds, they may obtain grants through a variety of programs such as the Citizen Corps Program, the State Homeland Security Program, the Emergency Management Performance Grants, the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program, the Urban Areas Security Initiative, the Transit Security Program, the Intercity Passenger Rail Program, and the Buffer Zone Protection Program.

Still, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has denied that it funds local stingray purchases, despite claiming there were a “handful of instances” where the DOJ knows grant money was used to purchase stingrays — not to our surprise. As it turns out, the Tenth Amendment reports, the congressional report does not go deep enough as state and local agencies that purchase stingrays often sign non-disclosure agreements with both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the company behind the device As such, both the feds and the companies that produce these towers end up shrouding the exchange in secrecy.

With clauses in place that guarantee law enforcement won’t make it clear that data or records obtained in a criminal investigation were gathered via stingray use, local law enforcement agencies have nothing to lose.

Due to the secrecy surrounding these programs, the public is left in the dark, completely oblivious that, perhaps, their local law enforcement bodies might be gathering their personal information even if they were never formally accused of any crime.

Despite being told that stingrays should not be authorized, the federal government still acts exactly as you would expect: It tells you to relax because the government has it all under control.

Unfortunately, this isn’t  anywhere close to what the Founding Fathers envisioned, as any program that is used to violate our privacy should be under great scrutiny, especially as the data collected by local and state law enforcement is sent to state and local governments.

End the PATRIOT Act Now

Written by JJones on . Posted in Foreign Policy, Issues, Liberator Online, Libertarian Stances on Issues, Middle East, News You Can Use. No Comments on End the PATRIOT Act Now

End the PATRIOT Act Now

This article was featured in our weekly newsletter, the Liberator Online. To receive it in your inbox, sign up here. Last week, the a panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the National Security Agency’s bulk phone metadata collection program is not authorized by Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act. The ruling is a setback for congressional leaders who are trying to reauthorize the provision before it expires at the end of the month. A lower court deferred to the Obama administration, upholding the legal basis for the domestic surveillance program, but the three-judge appellant panel reversed the decision, setting the stage for the case to go before the Supreme Court. Patriot “This case serves as an example of the increasing complexity of balancing the paramount interest in protecting the security of our nation – a job in which, as the President has stated, ‘actions are second‐guessed, success is unreported, and failure can be catastrophic,’ with the privacy interests of its citizens in a world where surveillance capabilities are vast and where it is difficult if not impossible to avoid exposing a wealth of information about oneself to those surveillance mechanisms,” wrote Judge Gerard Lynch for the panel. “Reconciling the clash of these values requires productive contribution from all three branches of government, each of which is uniquely suited to the task in its own way.” “[W]e conclude that the district court erred in ruling that Section 215 authorizes the telephone metadata collection program,” he continued, “and instead hold that the telephone metadata program exceeds the scope of what Congress has authorized and therefore violates Section 215.” As one might expect, the decision was hailed by privacy groups – including the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit to end the NSA’s domestic surveillance program. Hawkish Republicans were quick to condemn the decision, invoking the September 11 attacks and the rise of the Islamic State to promote fear in the minds of Americans. During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) complained “[t]he more we make this more difficult, the more likely we’re going to have [bad] event.” Rogers was one of the most vocal defenders of the NSA’s domestic surveillance efforts when he served on Capitol Hill. He’s long insisted that the program is necessary to prevent attacks inside the homeland, although government panels have concluded that it didn’t play a role in preventing terrorist attacks. Although Rogers is no longer rooming the halls of Congress as an elected official, others, such as Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), are pushing for reauthorization of Section 215, using fear to advance their unconstitutional cause. The House of Representatives will likely vote on the USA FREEDOM Act on Wednesday. This bill, according to Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), is flawed because it actually authorizes the bulk collection of innocent Americans’ phone metadata. Absent passage of worthwhile reforms, there could be enough votes in Congress to deny reauthorization of Section 215 before the provision expires, particularly in the Senate where there may be the votes to filibuster any extension. Still, that may not be enough. Some have speculated that the administration could continue the program without Section 215. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out, but no matter how it ends, we’ll find out soon who in Congress actually believes the rhetoric they espouse on the campaign trail and who is willing to cast aside privacy protections of the Constitution to give the federal government almost unlimited power to spy on Americans.

Don’t be surprised when Garland is used as an excuse to renew the Patriot Act

Written by JJones on . Posted in Foreign Policy, Liberator Online, National Defense, News You Can Use, Personal Liberty, Property Rights. No Comments on Don’t be surprised when Garland is used as an excuse to renew the Patriot Act

Don’t be surprised when Garland is used as an excuse to renew the Patriot Act

This article was featured in our weekly newsletter, the Liberator Online. To receive it in your inbox, sign up here. Supporters of the NSA’s domestic spying programs say that a vast data collection effort is needed more than ever to prevent terrorist attacks in the United States, but they are unable to point to any specific example of foiled terrorist plots through these unconstitutional, privacy-violating programs. In June 2013, Gen. Keith Alexander, then the Director of the NSA, claimed that the spying programs prevented “potential terrorist events over 50 times since 9/11.” Testifying before a Senate committee in October of the same year, Alexander backtracked after Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) grilled him for misleading the American public. Spy “There is no evidence that [bulk] phone records collection helped to thwart dozens or even several terrorist plots,” said Leahy. “These weren’t all plots and they weren’t all foiled. Would you agree with that, yes or no?” he asked the NSA chief. Alexander, realizing he had been put on the spot for peddling misinformation, simply replied, “Yes.” Of course Alexander was more honest than his colleague, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who lied about the NSA domestic surveillance program in a March 2013 Senate hearing. He was accused of perjury, although the allegation went nowhere in a Congress filled with pro-surveillance members. Two government panels – President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board – have since determined that NSA’s domestic spying programs have not played a role in thwarting terrorist attacks. The attack on Sunday evening in Garland, Texas at the “Draw Muhammad” event hosted by an anti-Islam organization will undoubtedly be used as a reason to reauthorize a soon-to-expire provision, Section 215, of the USA PATRIOT Act by which the federal government claims the vast authority to spy on Americans. But such claims should be met with a large dose of skepticism. One of the suspects involved in the attack had already come across the FBI’s radar. The United States’ top law enforcement agency began investigating him in 2006 on the suspicion that he wanted to join a terrorist group in Somalia. The alleged attacker lied to federal authorities. He was convicted in 2010 of making false statements and sentenced to three years of probation. He was, however, able to avoid being placed on the “no-fly” list. The alleged attackers in Garland are precisely are the needle for which the federal government claims that it needs the haystack, and intelligence and law enforcement officials failed to prevent what could have been a mass murder. The NSA’s resources are spread too thin. Collecting the phone calls of virtually every American – the proverbial “haystack” – even if the people on the call are not suspected of any terrorist involvement, not only betrays the constitutionally protected rights defined by the Fourth Amendment, but also makes Americans less safe because intelligence agencies may not be able to connect the dots efficiently and effectively. Rather than using the Garland attack as tool to further reauthorization of Section 215, which expires on June 1, lawmakers should seriously reexamine the approach to intelligence, requiring agencies like the NSA to focus on actual terrorism suspects as opposed to innocent Americans calling their families and friends.

They Said It… Andrew Sullivan, H. L. Mencken And More!

Written by James W. Harris on . Posted in Liberator Online. No Comments on They Said It… Andrew Sullivan, H. L. Mencken And More!

(From the They Said It section in Volume 19, No. 12 of the Liberator Online. Subscribe here!) Senator Rand Paul
RAND PAUL’S ADVICE TO SILICON VALLEY:
“Don’t be depressed with how bad government is. Use your ingenuity, use your big head to think of solutions the marketplace can figure out, that the idiots and trolls in Washington will never come up with.” — Sen. Rand Paul(R-KY), speaking to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs at the Lincoln Labs Reboot conference, July 18, 2014.
THE DESTRUCTION CAUSED BY POT PROHIBITION: “America’s four-decade War on Drugs is responsible for many casualties, but the criminalization of marijuana has been perhaps the most destructive part of that war. The toll can be measured in dollars — billions of which are thrown away each year in the aggressive enforcement of pointless laws. It can be measured in years — whether wasted behind bars or stolen from a child who grows up fatherless. And it can be measured in lives — those damaged if not destroyed by the shockingly harsh consequences that can follow even the most minor offenses.” — journalist Jesse Wegman, “The Injustice of Marijuana Arrests,” New York Times, July 28, 2014.
CUT THE CRAP ABOUT THE GENDER PAY GAP: “A gender pay gap, albeit one that is rapidly decreasing, still exists; but the good news is that when occupation, contracted hours and most significantly age are taken into account, it all but disappears. In fact, the youngest women today, even those working part-time, are already earning more each hour than men. We need to ask why this is not more widely known and question the motives of those who seem so desperate to cling to a last-ditch attempt to prove that women remain disadvantaged. We should be telling today’s girls that the potential to do whatever job they want and earn as much money as they please is theirs for the taking, rather than burdening them with the mantle of victimhood.” —Joanna Williams, Spiked, “Cut the Crap About the Gender Pay Gap,” July 29, 2014.
President Barack Obama
OBAMA — U.S. TORTURED: “In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we did some things that were wrong.We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did things that were contrary to our values.” — President Obama, commenting on the new U.S. Senate report on CIA crimes, Aug. 1, 2014.
BUSH AND OBAMA VS. AMERICAN VALUES:
Andrew Sullivan“Either the rule of law applies to the CIA or it doesn’t. And it’s now absolutely clear that it doesn’t. The agency can lie to the public; it can spy on the Senate; it can destroy the evidence of its war crimes; it can lie to its superiors about its torture techniques; it can lie about the results of those techniques. No one will ever be held to account. … And so the giant and massive hypocrisy of this country on core human rights is now exposed for good and all. The Bush administration set the precedent for the authorization of torture. The Obama administration has set the precedent for its complete impunity. America has killed the Geneva Conventions just as surely as America made them. … The GOP ran a pro-torture candidate in 2012; they may well run a pro-torture candidate in 2016. This evil — which destroys the truth as surely as it destroys the human soul — is still with us.” — Andrew Sullivan on the new U.S. Senate report on CIA crimes, “We Tortured. It Was Wrong. Never Mind,” The Dish, Aug. 3, 2014.
Sheldon RichmanWHY WE SPEAK OUT: “How does one stand by in silence when one is forced by the tax collector tounderwrite aggression around the world against the poorest individuals imaginable? Innocent people — so many children — are killed and maimed, their homes and communities shattered, with the bombs, bullets, mortar shells, tanks, airplanes, helicopter gunships, and drones paid for by you and me through a government that claims to act in our names — while lying as a matter of course. Who can know these things and not speak out — no matter how wearying that may be?” —Sheldon Richman, The Future of Freedom Foundation, “I Can’t Help That I’m a Libertarian,” Aug. 1, 2014
Noted and Re-Quoted
ENDLESS HOBGOBLINS:
H.L. Mencken“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.” — H.L. Mencken, from In Defense of Women (1918), quoted by Ralph Benko at Forbes.com.