The Lies Your Government Tells You About NSA Surveillance
from the all-in-one-place dept
The folks over at ProPublica have collected a series of flat-out lies by government officials concerning NSA snooping and put them all together in a short video.
It includes statements from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, NSA boss Keith Alexander, Senate Intelligence boss Senator Dianne Feinstein and President Barack Obama — all stating false claims about NSA surveillance publicly. It then shows how those statements were false. We’ve said it before but as these very same officials now are trying to assure us there’s nothing wrong with the program, given their past lies, how can we take them seriously?
Filed Under: barack obama, dianne feinstein, james clapper, keith alexander, lies, nsa, nsa surveillance
Comments on “The Lies Your Government Tells You About NSA Surveillance”
No snarky remark from me this time. I’m being totally honest when I say, I will never trust another word that leaves their lips.
All their credibility is gone for good. The NSA leaks have left us without a shadow of a doubt, who is honest and who is not.
But do you still believe others in politics / administration?
Last year, you were telling us Hilary Clinton was supporting freedom. Pffft! And you trot out Wyden or Grayson or Paul at least excuse, as if DC isn’t more uniformly totalitarian than the Politburo ever was. So, Mike, we really need to know if you’re still so foolish as to believe ANYONE in the system…
Re: But do you still believe others in politics / administration?
Everyone believes something,
I believe I’ll have another beer.
Re: Re: But do you still believe others in politics / administration?
Nice fear reference!
Re: But do you still believe others in politics / administration?
I would like to believe that someone like you couldn’t possibly exist.
Re: Re: But do you still believe others in politics / administration?
I’d like to make myself believe that planet Earth…
doesn’t suck. But it does.
Re: But do you still believe others in politics / administration?
seriously, it is time to see Neurologist, the tumor is soon going to be to big to save you.
Re: But do you still believe others in politics / administration?
I only trust Justin Amash
Lies?
I think this is called freedom of expression, isn’t it?
They are just telling you what you want to hear.
Sleep well…
Re: Lies?
They are just telling you what they want you to hear.
ftfy
in a world where lobbying can get anything done no matter how bad it is for you.
in a world where beer is “cool” and opinions are unfolded as if anyone gives a damn
watch out, dun dun dun…
…….
…….
…….
I forgot
Re: Re:
and then something happens, I just can’t remember
Re: Re:
Apparently – lobbying does not get “anything you want” done.
Open your eyes and look around.
Beer is best served cold and opinions are like assholes, what’s the point?
Re: Re: Re:
it was 3:30 am, there was no point.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
the person who has the most lobbying dollars seems to always win.
I didn’t say anything “I” or “you” want done
What I find surprising is the Director of the NSA going to the Defecon convention to try and explain things, and I wonder why.
Re: Re:
They like using the hacks found / developed by those they refer to as terrorists.
Re: Re:
Director of the NSA going to the Defecon
Is it named that because he’s going to be spewing shit?
It depends on who they're lying to
You see, there’s two types of people that they know are going to hear this:
1. Non-techy, trusting people who think that the government never lies to them. That’s the majority of the voters. You know them, they keep voting for people like Feinstein and King, no matter how stupid they are.
2. The smart people, who not only don’t listen to their lies, they understand them to be lies, and will always distrust them.
Too bad the majority of Americans fall into the first category, and not the second, because we’d have a revolution if that were the case.
The government knows this and laughs at everyone. They know they can get away with anything they want because they have the power to do it, and we don’t.
“See, we are the government, we lie and we don’t care if you care about it. Whatcha gonna do about it?”
Re: It depends on who they're lying to
False dichotomy.
I realize it makes life easier to deal with when things are simple, but that is hardly ever is the case – things are just not that simple.
For example, “there are two types of people”. This is obviously incorrect as there are many different pigeon holes in which people can be stuffed. In addition, your stereotype presents the incorrect inference that non technical people are not smart.
In addition, I would like to see the data which you used in the determination that a majority of Americans fall into the first of your two buckets.
I see blog comments about revolution but this could mean anything from civil disobedience to armed insurrection. The latter of the two is something you should think twice about as it is never as sweet as you see in Hollywood movies, in fact it would quite miserable. There are many non violent ways to address the issues which face society today. It is discouraging to see the low voter turnout numbers and the attempts at disenfranchisement, but not all is lost.
Oh – btw, it’s not us vs them … it’s us vs us and we are losing.
Re: It depends on who they're lying to
Dude, if you think you’re the smart one and that everyone else is stupid, chances are that you’re the idiot.
Re: It depends on who they're lying to
I don’t think revolution would be necessary if there were more type 2 Americans. We would just vote in other type 2 politicians and actually get this country running well instead of re-electing failed lawyers.
Revolution would happen if there were enough type 1’s that aren’t getting their basic needs meet and then revolt out of pure FUD. In which case we would end up repeating the process.
Re: Re: It depends on who they're lying to
That would be a good start, although it would not be enough.
The problem of corruption needs to be reduced, although it will probably never be eliminated. It seems we continually put in place conflicts of interest, only to later act shocked that it became a problem.
The influence of money and resulting regulatory capture is an unsustainable form of government if one wishes to avoid the eventual public revolt. Sure you can beat them down with clubs, tazers and drones but you will never get their respect nor their cooperation. That is a hell of a way to live and a rather shitty society.
Re: Re: Re: It depends on who they're lying to
Making contributions to elections from any entity besides an individual should be made illegal.
Lobbying by groups should be made to have each and every dollar funding that group accountable to an individual.
Otherwise it is never us vs us. That’s an excuse to mask our incapacitation. We are effectively, for the most part, marginalized.
Re: Re: It depends on who they're lying to
solving the problem would involve much more than just america.
you could put an entire new government and president in place and it wouldn’t solve the problem. it may do a bit of good but the root of the problem isn’t just in a single country.
Re: Re: It depends on who they're lying to
Type 2 Americans? You mean those who don’t have to take insulin shots?
Re: Re: Re: It depends on who they're lying to
I don’t know what he’s referring to, either, unless it’s enneagram personality types.
Government and Lying
I have heard recently that it is not just a matter of government lying to us. The NSA has been lying to the government as well.
The $$ rules
No matter what the situation, complaint, overwhelming evidence money will always prevail.
Unfortunately the majority of people are not willing to stand up and be counted. Most think that elections are the only time they really have a say.
Unbeknown to the people is they have the power to change policy by simply having a majority disobey a law
The biggest lie is right there in it’s name: National Security Agency which gives the impression that they provide some sort of security when in fact it is abundantly clear that they are really the National Surveillance Agency. Be it at home or abroad the only service they provide is surveillance and any actionable information they find has to be passed to another agency who then provides some protection.
It’s clear that the main purpose of the National Surveillance Agency is to keep an eye on public citizens worldwide to find trends in public thinking so that government can react to any substantial political movements that may threaten the existing power structure.
I Blame the Lawyers .. you have no right to Privacy because we change the definitions for every word in the dictionary.
BBQ
Consider that the US and allies have very real enemies, some who have been born in the US and this fact.. They would not hesitate to skewer everyone and roast us over an open fire and drink our blood.. Now, the NSA and others not letting everyone know what actually goes on behind our backs is not a really bad thing in that light.
Re: BBQ
Yes yes, and the boogie-men eat babies for breakfast and use the tears of orphans to power their cars, could you at least try and come up with reasonable examples next time instead of camp-fire level scare stories?
Of course it’s still a moot point, because the government itself through it’s actions have done more damage to the country, it’s reputation, and the people’s trust in it, than any terrorist could have ever managed, so given that it’s not hard to see who’s the real threat to the american public and their rights.
Re: BBQ
Don’t be so coy. Name names! Who are these bloodthirsty enemies that you’re talking about?
NSA
Why is obama still in office????? NSA, Beghize men abandoned & probably gun running, fast n furious, voter fraud, IRS , the list goes on n on. I think Washington is totally corrupt on both sides and each has so much dirt on the other they both do whatever they like, never doing what they were elected to do!
Re: NSA
Why is obama still in office?????
The same reason the past POTUS were in office – they didn’t step down.
Re: Re: NSA
Or rather there were not enough people in Congress with the balls to try impeaching the president.
I almost think the impeachment of Bill Clinton was botched so badly so no one would have the balls to try it again for a long time.
Re: Re: Re: NSA
Please tell us what you think the Bill Clinton impeachment proceedings were all about.
(making popcorn)
This should be good.
Re: NSA
Please, do not spout made up scandals which have been debunked for months. It is unbecoming and only makes you appear ignorant.
Also spell checker is really cool, try it.
the lying government and the nsa aren’t the problem.
the problem is every human being on the planet as a whole. the laws and all the rest of this nonsense are nothing without you… the government, nsa or whatever you want to add. they’re not the problem.
if these people moved to a remote island where there are no people then they could write all the laws they wanted and it wouldn’t have any effect.
I could have worded it better but you get the idea
I Love...
I love big brother…
I really, really love big brother…
Avoid Big Brother’s Big Companies
Trust me...
Politicians are snake oil salesman… anyone who tells you differently is selling something.
There are HORRIBLY few congressman who actually are there to help the country. Most are there to help themselves.
So always ask yourself… how does what they say or do help them?
Obviously, the answer to how does increased, illegal, unconstitutional survellience help them is simple. Look at the last election:
1) IRS specifically (and illegally) targeted political conservative groups to prevent them from having nonprofit status, limiting the amount of contributions they could contribute to conservative candidates
2) The tax records of Mitt Romney and large donors to Mitt Romney were illegally released to the media and certain members of the opposite party
3) The IRS put an illegal (and completely false) tax lien on a conservative candidate Christine O’Donnel, causing controversy that most say cost her the election
Regardless of whether you are democrat or republican, liberal or conservative, hopefully you agree that the government should not be using its power to persecute any political, religious or other group based on beliefs or philosophies.
If you don’t agree… go move to Iran or Russia.
The fact is, the government cannot handle the power it has… and certain doesn’t deserve any more.
But they want it so that they can abuse it.
And just think… soon, because of Obamacare, they will have access to ALL of our medical histories!
NO POSSIBILITY OF USE THERE!
Re: Trust me...
In requesting an investigation, Darrell Issa requested the inspector general to only report on conservative groups that had been subjected to review of their requests, thus intentionally over looking other groups who had also been looked into.
Your silly regurgitation of talking points is cute, but sad. You really should get out more often.