Judge Napolitano: How Many Ways Does the Government Spy on You?
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Spying Eye _ Fedgov
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by Judge Andrew Napoliano
Gazillions. That’s the number of times the federal government has spied on Americans since 9/11 through the use of drones, legal search warrants, illegal search warrants, federal agent-written search warrants and just plain government spying.
This is according to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who, when he asked the government to tell him what it was doing to violate our privacy, was given a classified briefing. The senator – one of just a few in the U.S. Senate who believes that the Constitution means what it says – was required by federal law to agree not to reveal what spies and bureaucrats told him during the briefing.
The rules for classified briefings of members of Congress on areas of government behavior that the government wants to keep from its employers – the American people – are a real Catch-22. Those rules allow representatives and senators to interrogate government officials about government behavior that they are afraid to reveal, and they require those officials to answer honestly and completely. But the rules keep the interrogations secret, and they expressly prohibit members of Congress from telling anyone what they have learned.
So Paul and his colleagues who joined in the secret briefing now know the terrible truth about the government watching us, but they cannot reveal what they know. Paul – who is the son of Rep. Ron Paul, the greatest congressional defender of limited government in our era – when asked what he learned at these secret briefings and aware that he could be prosecuted for telling the truth, chose a fictitious word to describe the vast number of violations of privacy at the hands of federal agents: gazillions.
Paul’s personal courage in using a word like gazillions to convey an oblique message of truth in the face of an unjust law that commanded his silence reminded me of St. Thomas More’s silence in the face of an unjust law that commanded his assent to the king’s headship of the church.
The feds are no happier with the senator’s personal courage than the king was with St. Thomas More’s, but there is not much they can do about it. If you check out your dog-eared dictionary, you will find that if it is listed at all, it gets a mention as slang. Yet most of us hearing or seeing that word understand it to mean some huge – perhaps even incalculable – number.
The point here is terrifying. If the government derives its powers from the consent of the governed, how can it do things to us to which we have not consented? And when it does these things – like send a drone over your back yard to learn who is coming to your Saturday barbeque or to see what fertilizer you are using in your vegetable garden or to take a peek into your living room or bedroom – and when the laws the government has written prevent our elected representatives from telling us what it is doing, we are at the doorsteps of tyranny.
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Please continue reading at Tenth Amendment Center, <here>
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2012/08/12/how-many-ways-does-the-government-spy-on-you/
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August 14th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Appeals Court OKs Warrantless, Real-Time Mobile Phone Tracking BY DAVID KRAVETS 08.14.12
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/08/warrantless-gps-phone-tracking/
August 14th, 2012 at 9:28 pm
If all that the judge says here is true, than it is my understanding and opinion that all we have here is a “gazillion” oath breakers. Senator Rand Paul may share his fathers genes, but certainly none of his fathers guts. A U.S. Senator receives classified information concerning spying on U.S. citizens, is ordered not to tell (lawful order?), uses an “undefinable term” (CYA) to imply the spying (Constitutional?) is or could be wide spread and maybe a lot of it going on? Let us not forget the “personal courage” involved. Too many things come to mind concerning all of this that want to make me wretch. Oath, Honor, transparency, to name a few. Please someone, explain to me that I have it all wrong and that Rand is not now part of what we are trying to eliminate. Thank You, milt, Wauconda, Illinois. “Not On Our Watch”
August 21st, 2012 at 12:17 pm
The Newport News Police Department and the Virginia State Police call it intelligent surveillance, the FBI calls it Stellar Wind, The EFF.org calls it millimeter wave technology, victims call it torture. Voice to skull communication, frey’s syndrom, microwave auditory response, microwave lasers, tadars, all are commonplace weapons that enable law enforcement “through the wall” surveillance and torture. It is so painful. Some Congressman, Jay Rockefeller and others, object but can’t say why because of “national security”. The ability of the new technology to interpret your thoughts and communicate wirelessly. History will look back and compare these policeman with Hitler, Osama Bin Laden and Saddaam Hussein. Torture and murder (via suicide) is an atrocius, heinous act and done on a daily basis without consideration of the U. S. Constitution. If America only knew – tapping into your cell phone is nothing – what would you say if I told you they can tap into your mind? That’s really the issue today.
August 24th, 2012 at 10:37 am
I agree with Tort in Virginia. This isn’t conspiracy theory stuff. Our government has had the capability to do just what Tort said and more. I love my country and am fearful of what this means for our future generations. We aren’t free if we’re being spyed on in every aspect of our lives, and manipulated with the technology Tort is referring to.
I’m a targeted individual, subject to 24/7 covert surveillance, organized stalking, and assaults of electronic harassment. I recently won an appeal for unemployment benefits. The judge cited that I was a victim of organized stalking. In the State of Washington, an employee doesn’t have to tell their employer they are quitting if they are being stalked.