Rand Paul may be the last patriot.
The good senator has filed a class action to stop Barack Obama and his secret police from their bulk seizure of phone records from all American citizens, and Paul explains his reasons for the lawsuit in an op-ed for CNN:
Americans do not like to think of their government as some Orwellian leviathan, engaging in surveillance tactics that we only expect to see in oppressive autocracies. That such surveillance could be going on in what is ostensibly the freest nation in the world is a chilling thought indeed.
Last year a U.S. District Judge ruled that “the National Security Agency’s daily collection of virtually all Americans’ phone records is almost certainly unconstitutional . . . on the basis of Fourth Amendment privacy protections against unreasonable searches” as reported by The Washington Post:
“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval,” said Richard J. Leon, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “Surely, such a program infringes on ‘that degree of privacy’ that the founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment.”
The unconstitutional spying by the Obama Administration against the American people was exposed by Edward Snowden who is widely viewed as a national hero deserving of clemency according to the editorial board from the New York Times:
Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community.
Meanwhile, Snowden has been the target of death threats from American officials through media outlets, and accordingly his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena is seeking added protection from Russian authorities for him as reported by Russia Today: “the lawyer said he will demand that the US authorities look into the threatening statements published in the US media, adding that their authors should be identified.”
Earlier coverage:
Christmas Message From Edward Snowden
Filed under: Government Tagged: Barack Obama, Death Threats, Edward Snowden, FBI, James Clapper, National Security Agency, Rand Paul Image may be NSFW.
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