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Thread: Senate Swamp Defeats FBI/FISA Reform Amendment

  1. #1

    Senate Swamp Defeats FBI/FISA Reform Amendment


    https://twitter.com/FreedomWorks/sta...89126455300097


    https://twitter.com/FreedomWorks/sta...94258756730888
    Last edited by Brian4Liberty; 05-13-2020 at 01:10 PM.
    "Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
    "Beware the Military-Industrial-Financial-Pharma-Corporate-Internet-Media-Government Complex." - B4L update of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
    "Debt is the drug, Wall St. Banksters are the dealers, and politicians are the addicts." - B4L
    "Totally free immigration? I've never taken that position. I believe in national sovereignty." - Ron Paul

    Proponent of real science.
    The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own, and do not represent this forum or any other entities or persons.



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  3. #2
    Sen. Mitch McConnell Looks To Undermine Efforts to Protect Americans From Secret FBI Surveillance
    An amendment to a FISA renewal bill would let the FBI snoop on your online browser history.
    Scott Shackford | 5.12.2020

    If you needed a reminder that several Republican lawmakers only care about secret surveillance when their guy is the target, keep an eye on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R–Ky.).

    This week the Senate is expected to vote to renew some Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities that expired in March. As part of the renewal, some privacy-minded senators from both sides of the aisle are attempting to attach some reforms to better protect Americans from warrantless surveillance.

    On Monday, Spencer Ackerman at The Daily Beast reported that McConnell, who is urging senators to reject these reforms, is circulating an amendment that would actually expand the authority of the FBI to secretly snoop on citizens.
    ...
    McConnell's amendment is clearly intended to replace and subvert a rival amendment by Wyden and Sen. Steve Daines (R–Mont.). The amendment would forbid the FBI from warrantlessly demanding a person's website browsing or search history.

    Another amendment by Sens. Mike Lee (R–Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D–Vt.) would bolster Americans' privacy protections by calling for amicus curiae—outside advisers—to work with the FISA court to advocate on behalf of the privacy rights of Americans who may be targeted in these secret investigations. McConnell has also introduced an amendment to subvert Lee and Leahy's amendment by limiting the review by these attorneys to cases involving a campaign for federal office or somebody who may have violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
    ...
    Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) is trying to amend the FISA law to simply demand warrants from a conventional court when surveilling American citizens, period. McConnell is warning against Paul's bill. A fact sheet being sent around to the Senate (that was also provided to Reason) states that Paul's amendment would lead to "annihilating FISA and putting Americans in danger."
    ...
    More:
    https://reason.com/2020/05/12/sen-mi...-surveillance/
    "Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
    "Beware the Military-Industrial-Financial-Pharma-Corporate-Internet-Media-Government Complex." - B4L update of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
    "Debt is the drug, Wall St. Banksters are the dealers, and politicians are the addicts." - B4L
    "Totally free immigration? I've never taken that position. I believe in national sovereignty." - Ron Paul

    Proponent of real science.
    The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own, and do not represent this forum or any other entities or persons.

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Pinochet is the model
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Liberty preserving authoritarianism.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Enforced internal open borders was one of the worst elements of the Constitution.

  5. #4

    Here's Who Just Voted to Let the FBI Seize Your Online Search History Without a Warrant

    May 14, 2020


    FBI Director Christopher Wray arrives at a full committee hearing on “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation” on Capitol Hill February 5, 2020, in Washington, DC.
    Photo: Brendan Smialowski (Getty)



    A bipartisan amendment that would have prohibited law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, from obtaining the web browsing and internet search histories of Americans without a warrant failed to pass in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday by a single vote.

    Twenty-seven Republicans and 10 Democrats voted against the amendment to H.R. 6172, which will reauthorize lapsed surveillance powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The amendment offered up by Sen. Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, and Sen. Steve Daines, Republican of Montana, would have forced the government to get a warrant before obtaining the internet search history of Americans.

    Under Section 215 of the Act, the government can compel phone companies and internet service providers to turn over such data, if it is deemed vaguely “relevant” to a terrorism or counterespionage case.

    In a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, Sen. Wyden questioned whether law-abiding Americans should have to “worry about their government looking over their shoulders” at all times of the day.

    “The typical American may think to themselves, I’ve got nothing to worry about. I’ve done nothing wrong. The government has no reason to suspect me of anything. Why should I worry?” Wyden said. “Unfortunately, the question is not whether you did anything wrong. The question is whether a government agent believes they have the right to look at your web searches.”

    “The warrantless collection of Americans’ web browsing history,” added Wyden, “offers endless opportunities for abuse.”

    Wyden and Daines had mostly overlapping reasons for wanting to change the law. But even where their motivations diverge, both’s interest is inevitably served. Each, for example, holds up President Trump as a primary reason of why their amendment is sorely needed. Each lawmakers’ impetus is opposite, but would still ring true if one stood in the other’s shoes.

    Wyden, for instance, pointed to Trump’s frequent calls for investigations into his political enemies and noted the attorney general, William Barr, had “injected himself” into investigations that personally affect Trump’s political interests; a likely nod to the Justice Department’s recent bid to exonerate Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. (A U.S. district judge put a hold on that effort Tuesday, saying he expects third-parties will seek to intervene in the case.)

    Handing the agents of a future Democratic president broad, new surveillance powers, particularly given the moment’s deep partisan mistrust, obviously does nothing to serve the Republican Party’s interests. Who would disagree?

    It was Daines’ contention, meanwhile, that partisan agents could weaponize this authority in some future attack on a White House hopeful—party yet unchosen. “We saw what a handful of scornful government bureaucrats did to President Trump when they abuse FISA to serve their political motives,” Daines said. “Our own government spied on an American citizen, a political adviser to then-candidate Trump with no oversight. And what happened to President Trump can happen to anybody, for any purpose. And that is a very serious problem.”

    In December, an inspector general report outlined what the New York Times’ Charlie Savage called a “staggering dysfunctional and error-ridden process” in reference to the FBI’s procurement of a FISA wiretap warrant for Carter Page, a former Trump campaign advisor. The litany of problems with the FBI’s surveillance applications, Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, said at the time, “demonstrates how the secrecy shrouding the government’s one-sided FISA approval process breeds abuse.”

    “For far too long the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, commonly referred to as FISA, have been used to trample the civil liberties of American citizens,” Daines said in floor speech Tuesday morning.

    In a statement to Gizmodo after the vote, Daines said he would continue pressing for reforms to FISA, saying it is “critical” to the privacy of all Americans.

    The final vote on Wyden-Daines Amendment was 59-37. Sixty “ayes” were required for it to pass. Members had to be physically present to vote.

    Below is a list of senators, by party, who voted against the reform (and those who didn’t vote at all):

    Republicans (27):

    Barrasso, John (R-WY)
    Blackburn, Marsha (R-TN)
    Blunt, Roy (R-MO)
    Boozman, John (R-AR)
    Burr, Richard (R-NC)
    Capito, Shelley Moore (R-WV)
    Collins, Susan M. (R-ME)
    Cornyn, John (R-TX)
    Cotton, Tom (R-AR)
    Fischer, Deb (R-NE)
    Graham, Lindsey (R-SC)
    Hyde-Smith, Cindy (R-MS)
    Inhofe, James M. (R-OK)
    Johnson, Ron (R-WI)
    Lankford, James (R-OK)
    McConnell, Mitch (R-KY)
    Perdue, David (R-GA)
    Portman, Rob (R-OH)
    Roberts, Pat (R-KS)
    Romney, Mitt (R-UT)
    Rubio, Marco (R-FL)
    Shelby, Richard C. (R-AL)
    Thune, John (R-SD)
    Tillis, Thom (R-NC)
    Toomey, Patrick J. (R-PA)
    Wicker, Roger F. (R-MS)
    Young, Todd (R-IN)


    Democrats (10):

    Carper, Thomas R. (D-DE)
    Casey, Robert P., Jr. (D-PA)
    Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA)
    Hassan, Margaret Wood (D-NH)
    Jones, Doug (D-AL)
    Kaine, Tim (D-VA)
    Manchin, Joe, III (D-WV)
    Shaheen, Jeanne (D-NH)
    Warner, Mark R. (D-VA)
    Whitehouse, Sheldon (D-RI)


    Four members did not cast votes: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA).

    Sen. Alexander is currently in self-quarantine due to a member of his staff testing positive for covid-19. Senators Sanders, Sasse, and Murray did not respond to a request for comment. We’ll update if they do.

    Sen. Mark Warner’s office said that while the Virginia senator is “sympathetic” to the reforms offered up by Wyden and Daines, the security and law enforcement authorities in the bill are too important. Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, remains concerned that changes to the bill will delay its passage in the House, perhaps permanently.


    Update, 4:45pm: A separate amendment proposed by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was passed by the Senate. It includes various provisions designed to protect Americans and their civil liberties. Among other reforms to the role of amicus curiae, the amendment requires the FISA court to appoint “one or more” individuals with privacy and civil liberties expertise in cases that raise “significant concerns” with respect to First Amendment-protected activities.

    It further enshrines specific requirements for the mandatory disclosure of exculpatory material, saying the government must bring forth any information that “might reasonably call into question the accuracy” of a surveillance application, or any information that would “otherwise raise doubts” with respect to the findings required under the application process.

    Sean Vitka, a senior policy counsel at Demand Progress, called the amendment’s passage “a major victory for Americans’ civil liberties,” despite the Wyden-Daines Amendment being shot down earlier this afternoon.

    “The Lee-Leahy amendment ensures an independent voice has access to and can raise issues with FISA surveillance targeting religious groups, political groups, and the media. The underlying bill remains broken, but adoption of the Lee-Leahy amendment represents a privacy victory well beyond what many believed to be possible,” said Vitka, adding that it marks a “long-awaited turn for privacy in Congress, and the start of many more fights to restore it.”

    The full amendment can be read here.


    Update, 7pm: Sandra Fulton, government relations director at Free Press, said in a statement:

    “Leadership of both parties and in both chambers of Congress attempted to force these sweeping surveillance powers through without any amendments or public debate. Thankfully, a bipartisan group of senators derailed the bill on the Senate floor in March, and secured a deal to debate privacy-strengthening amendments.”

    The push by members of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s own party to shield Americans from a more privacy-invasive bill shows, Fulton said, just how “out of touch” he is, “even within his own party.”

    “While it was hard to lose by one vote on an amendment that would have secured our internet-browsing and search histories with a warrant, the adoption of an amendment expanding the role of amici curiae is a huge win for civil-liberties champions,” she said, adding: “The amendments are a step in the right direction, and the House should do more to protect the rights of everyone before granting intelligence agencies any such authority.”


    https://gizmodo.com/heres-who-just-v...arc-1843445032
    ____________

    An Agorist Primer ~ Samuel Edward Konkin III (free PDF download)

    The End of All Evil ~ Jeremy Locke (free PDF download)

  6. #5

  7. #6
    fk ing useless portman!
    FLIP THOSE FLAGS, THE NATION IS IN DISTRESS!


    why I should worship the state (who apparently is the only party that can possess guns without question).
    The state's only purpose is to kill and control. Why do you worship it? - Sola_Fide

    Baptiste said.
    At which point will Americans realize that creating an unaccountable institution that is able to pass its liability on to tax-payers is immoral and attracts sociopaths?

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by jkr View Post
    fk ing useless portman!
    I would say the same about Inhofe and Lankford, but clearly Lucifer finds them useful enough tools.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    We believe our lying eyes...

  9. #8
    The Republicans & Democrats are united behind Donnell's Deep State Swamp surveillance police state.

    Hillary & Jeb! are loving it.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    You only show up to attack Trump when he is wrong
    Make America the Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave again



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  11. #9
    Disappointed that one of my Senators voted for this.
    "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration is minding my own business."

    Calvin Coolidge

  12. #10
    You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to PAF again. - (for the update)

    $#@!ing Feinstein.

    and now with contact tracing you will be tracked. smdh
    Last edited by Pauls' Revere; 05-14-2020 at 11:38 AM.

    We're being governed ruled by a geriatric Alzheimer patient/puppet whose strings are being pulled by an elitist oligarchy who believe they can manage the world... imagine the utter maniacal, sociopathic hubris!

  13. #11
    In a moment of instant karma, this happened to Burr the very next day:


    FBI seizes Senate Intel chairman Richard Burr’s cellphone amid probe of coronavirus stock sales
    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/14/fbi-...les-probe.html


    Senator Burr Resigns As Intel Committee Chairman Amid Escalating Stock Sale Probe
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisette.../#154569615680


    All I can say is good.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Pinochet is the model
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Liberty preserving authoritarianism.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Enforced internal open borders was one of the worst elements of the Constitution.

  14. #12
    Where was Bernie?


    With Sanders Missing, Anti-Surveillance Amendment Fails by One Vote in the Senate
    A 59–37 edge for the yeas is not a winning margin.

    By JIM NEWELL
    MAY 13, 2020

    The Senate on Thursday took up a key bill to reauthorize domestic surveillance programs while making changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with several substantial amendments on the line. One of the amendments, introduced by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Republican Sen. Steve Daines, would have required authorities to obtain a warrant to access internet users’ search histories and browsing information. Uh, yes, pass that??

    The amendment, however, met an extremely Senate grave: It “failed” with 59 yeas to 37 nays, one short of the 60-vote threshold it needed to overcome the streamlined vestigial filibuster. The splits didn’t fall neatly along partisan lines: 24 Republicans voted for it, while 10 Democrats voted against it. (Would you like to see the names of the Democrats who voted against it? Their names are: Tom Carper, Bob Casey, Dianne Feinstein, Maggie Hassan, Doug Jones, Tim Kaine, Joe Manchin, Jeanne Shaheen, Mark Warner, and Sheldon Whitehouse.)

    ...

    A Sanders spokesman has not responded to our request for comment about the senator’s whereabouts. The Vermonter was last seen on Tuesday participating remotely in a HELP Committee hearing from a room decorated with music-related campaign paraphernalia. He has not cast a vote since the Senate returned to session on May 4.

    ...
    read more:
    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...ent-fails.html
    Last edited by jct74; 05-14-2020 at 02:54 PM.

  15. #13
    Four Senators involved with stock selloff(s) after briefed in Senate.

    https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/...crashed-market

    Four senators sold stocks shortly after a January briefing in the Senate on the novel coronavirus outbreak, unloading shares that plummeted in value a month later as the stock market crashed in the face of a global pandemic.

    According to financial disclosure forms, Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) each sold hundreds of thousands of dollars in stocks within days of the Senate holding a classified briefing on Jan. 24 with Trump administration officials on the threat of the coronavirus outbreak.

    The sales raise questions about whether the senators violated the STOCK Act, a law that bans members of Congress from making financial trades based on nonpublic information.

    We're being governed ruled by a geriatric Alzheimer patient/puppet whose strings are being pulled by an elitist oligarchy who believe they can manage the world... imagine the utter maniacal, sociopathic hubris!

  16. #14
    While senators agreed to add the Lee-Leahy bill, they also rejected two other amendments: one from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) preventing FISA warrants from being used against Americans and one from Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) preventing law enforcement from obtaining internet browsing and search history without a warrant.

    More at: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/...ew-protections
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    While senators agreed to add the Lee-Leahy bill, they also rejected two other amendments: one from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) preventing FISA warrants from being used against Americans and one from Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) preventing law enforcement from obtaining internet browsing and search history without a warrant.

    More at: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/...ew-protections
    What was the vote on Rand’s Amendment?
    "Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
    "Beware the Military-Industrial-Financial-Pharma-Corporate-Internet-Media-Government Complex." - B4L update of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
    "Debt is the drug, Wall St. Banksters are the dealers, and politicians are the addicts." - B4L
    "Totally free immigration? I've never taken that position. I believe in national sovereignty." - Ron Paul

    Proponent of real science.
    The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own, and do not represent this forum or any other entities or persons.

  18. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty View Post
    What was the vote on Rand’s Amendment?
    Lawmakers voted 85-11 to reject the measure by Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican.

    More at: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...sa-court-appr/
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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  20. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by PAF View Post
    May 14, 2020
    A separate amendment proposed by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was passed by the Senate. It includes various provisions designed to protect Americans and their civil liberties. Among other reforms to the role of amicus curiae, the amendment requires the FISA court to appoint “one or more” individuals with privacy and civil liberties expertise in cases that raise “significant concerns” with respect to First Amendment-protected activities.
    And what about the fourth amendment? I mean we are talking about search and seizure here.
    My two daughters and I were gang-raped by some of the Newcomers. It landed us in the hospital for 3 weeks as several bones were broken. I don't blame them, it was a sexual emergency and I wasn't about to go all white privilege and deny them the release they needed, especially after being stuck in a hotel for months. I see the Newcomers as family now. They are on our side and will help us stop Trump. It is a small price to pay. Anything but Trump.

    -GLP poster

  21. #18
    Also not surprised that Turtle Boy wants that FISA reform bill defeated.
    "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration is minding my own business."

    Calvin Coolidge

  22. #19
    Supporting Member
    Michigan



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    And Mitch won’t be calling up any investigations for the Obamagate either. The swamp continues!

  23. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by KEEF View Post
    And Mitch won’t be calling up any investigations for the Obamagate either. The swamp continues!
    Correct. It is very sad that these cretins will never face any justice.
    "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration is minding my own business."

    Calvin Coolidge

  24. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Lawmakers voted 85-11 to reject the measure by Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican.

    More at: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...sa-court-appr/
    Figures.
    "Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
    "Beware the Military-Industrial-Financial-Pharma-Corporate-Internet-Media-Government Complex." - B4L update of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
    "Debt is the drug, Wall St. Banksters are the dealers, and politicians are the addicts." - B4L
    "Totally free immigration? I've never taken that position. I believe in national sovereignty." - Ron Paul

    Proponent of real science.
    The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own, and do not represent this forum or any other entities or persons.

  25. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by KEEF View Post
    And Mitch won’t be calling up any investigations for the Obamagate either. The swamp continues!
    The two party system protects itself.

    We're being governed ruled by a geriatric Alzheimer patient/puppet whose strings are being pulled by an elitist oligarchy who believe they can manage the world... imagine the utter maniacal, sociopathic hubris!



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