President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

Where are the civil libertarians when you really need them? These columns support broad surveillance powers for national security, but executive officials need to be accountable if those powers are abused. If congressional oversight of U.S. intelligence operations is going to be worth the name, then it should include the unmasking of a political opponent by a senior official in the White House.

Democrats certainly raised a fuss during the Bush years and after Edward Snowden kicked off the debate about “metadata,” which are merely telephone numbers without names. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden went so far as to introduce a bill in 2013 to strengthen the ban on “reverse targeting”—in which intelligence agencies surveil foreigners but with the goal of capturing U.S. citizen communications.

 

I didn't read the story, but she doesn't have any reasonable expectation of privacy if she's peeing outside on the grounds of a golf course (or on public land surrounding the course).

 

I sure hope the offense puts together a drive soon so you can get off the field and get some oxygen.

 

Too bad we wiped our collective ass with the Fourth Amendment 16 years ago.

If only there was a way to see this kind of thing coming...

 

The erosion of the Fourth Amendment, hypocrisy, and other things, drove you away from the Republicans. And that's fine.

But, when you make excuses for it when the Democrats do the very things that outraged you when Republicans did it, it's pretty disappointing.

 

Don't forget that Walgreens management invited Trump to their game.

 

For the 74,973rd time, we'd be a lot closer to getting things right if we stopped framing it in Democrat/Republican terms. Do what's right. That should be party-neutral.

 

Who's making excuses?

I'm just answering the "Where are all the civil liberties advocates now?" pearl clutching.

We're certainly not empathizing with the same people who couldn't have cared less until they knew it could happen to them, too.

 

I worry about nepotism in the Trump administration with Ivanka and her hubby as trusted advisors. What about the other kids?

Seems you should spread it around more. The Godfather trusted Fredo with a hit every now and then.

But Donald Jr. and What's His Name just seem to make food runs and tee times.

And poor Tiffany! Can't she get a federal judge spot or something?

 

The anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination seems like a fitting occasion to point out that US government surveillance of individuals and efforts to disrupt perfectly legal political activity go back much further than 2001. They have been going on for longer than I have been alive.

 

Foreigner wanting to visit the USA? You might have to give up your social media passwords, contacts in your phone and financial records (which is more than Trump has done).

Trump Administration Considers Far-Reaching Steps for ‘Extreme Vetting’

 

And it's totally the same in scope in the digital age as it was in the 1950s.