Any claims the FISA court is not a real court fail hard if the above is correct. Which is pretty much has to be for the current system to work.
extraordinary rendition
waterboarding
indefinite detention in a location beyond the reach of the judicial system
shoot to kill via drone
spying on the populace on a scale that the stasi could only dream of.
Spying on allies as well as enemies
What kind of a regime is that?
It might still be secretly legal, though.
I don't know about the USA, but the UK government recently passed a law stating exactly that.
And they want to abolish the Human Rights Act. I can't think why.
[1]http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/20...
You keep saying FISC "is not a real court" and is some kind of optional decoration on top of powers the executive branch already has.
So, which is it? Does FISC have judicial branch powers? Or do these penalties amount to administrative detention in judicial branch drag?
However, what possible reason would the person have to remain silent about the real reason they're in prison once they're already in prison?
Look at Qwest CEO Nacchio's case. He claimed exactly that, see e.g. http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/13/jailed-qwest-ceo-claimed-t... and what happened?
He's jailed for 6 years, I'm sure most people believe it's because he's eeevil capitalist scum, and whatever the truth, everyone else in his position has to take it as likely they'd suffer the same fate.
Now that this seems to have turned a corner it might play out differently, but "Do you feel lucky, punk?"
Probably threats against family members and threats of increased jail time.
here goes another one down the drain.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS, GOVERNMENTS ARE INSTITUTED AMONG MEN, DERIVING THEIR JUST POWERS FROM THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED, --THAT WHENEVER ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT BECOMES DESTRUCTIVE OF THESE ENDS, IT IS THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO ALTER OR TO ABOLISH IT, AND TO INSTITUTE NEW GOVERNMENT, LAYING ITS FOUNDATION ON SUCH PRINCIPLES AND ORGANIZING ITS POWERS IN SUCH FORM, AS TO THEM SHALL SEEM MOST LIKELY TO EFFECT THEIR SAFETY AND HAPPINESS. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
(emphasis mine)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_In...
Do yourself a favor and take a few minutes to read the full document. Now, if you really care, play with it a little, modify the Indictment to reflect current events and relevant grievances.
Frankly, it scares me. This is a 237 year old document that feels like we might consider writing it almost verbatim today. I have to say that I have never lived in fear of what my country might become. Now, with the actions of this and the prior administration I really don't know what to think. Obama and his regime have accelerated our descent into something indistinguishable from what I remember as the country I genuinely love with the deepest corners of my heart and mind. It really saddens me to the core in a manner that is hard to express with words.
This is now the domain of tears, not words.
Who's fault it this? It's that of the political fundamentalists. Those among us who choose not to think critically and, instead, vote like sheep, year after year, always supporting their ridiculous parties, Democrats and Republicans either out of self-interest or ignorance. This is on you and nobody else.
You ought to be ashamed. All of you. You bunch of assholes. You now have a front seat from which to enjoy the destruction of our Nation from the inside out. This is almost like a slow motion train wreck happening right in front of our collective eyes. Will you do anything to help fix it or will you sit quietly watching the train wreck? Will you break ranks and vote the morons out of office in a united show of political force by the people and for the people. Will you hold all those you supported accountable for their lies and actions? You probably wont. You will probably continue to vote like sheep, supporting your petty fucking causes, missing the forest for the trees.
Fucking cowards.
We need to offer a competing vision to present-day America, which is an increasingly totalitarian bureaucratic state with some vestigial democratic pageantry.
The majority do not care, as they believe that they have nothing to hide. They do not realize that this will strike at our very core of being human.
Would I be comfortable talking with my friend in person at my home when I know that our XBOX One, Phones, Google Glasses are all 'listening' to us.
And something I tell my friend in a private conversation might send me to prison ?
What the traditionally disenfranchised are thinking is: welcome to the fucking club.
2+2=4 even if you are one of those awful people with the misfortune to be born white.
"Fundamentalists" is an awfully odd word to use there. The problem is the people who don't stick to their ideals, but let their views be mediated by the talking heads of their social class. They angrily dissent when their team is not in power, becoming wary of government and having seemingly independent thoughts. But when election time comes, they fall right into line supporting their team's status quo, because they've been told that the alternative is horrible and scary. And when their team wins, they relax and start approving of the government because their chosen propaganda has switched emphasis to telling that everything is alright.
It's a remarkably elegant setup for converting widespread discontent into tacit support.
-- Oh, he is on conspiracy theory now! Let's ignore him.
I feel like this would be Kim Dot Com's favorite thing in the world to do (sticking his finger in America's legal eye). Why haven't they rolled out a privacy focused email service. Their tagline is the "the privacy company."
I wonder if it is a rendering trick or something intentional for tracking.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/04/the-cu...
It's co-operate, not "coop-erate". Also sometimes in dissimilar vowels as naïve, or in a finial vowel as in Brontë. The practice is older and more formal, but still correct.
How do you mean?
