Excitable Andy comes right out and admits that he cannot follow the ongoing dispute over the electronic surveillance orders that were approved pursuant to the 2007 Protect America Act, and just laps up whatever conclusion Marty Lederman spits out.
Lederman takes issue with a piece by Eric Lichtblau in the New York Times:
With Congress at an impasse over the government’s spy powers, Congressional and intelligence officials are bracing for the possibility that the government might have to revert to the old rules of terrorist surveillance, a situation that some officials predict could leave worrisome gaps in intelligence.
***
In some cases, the government might simply be unable to establish in court why it suspected that a foreign target was connected to terrorism. Part of the problem, officials said, is that communications going from one foreign country to another sometimes travel through a telephone switch on American soil and, under some interpretations of the older rules, could not be tapped without an individual warrant.
Lederman, while admitting that it is “exceedingly difficult to make any sense of this debate without access to nonpublic information,” nevertheless plows forward with his explanation of why he thinks this is not really a big deal. In particular, he asserts that:
FISA does not regulate phone communications “going from one foreign country to another,” even if the calls “travel through a telephone switch on American soil.” It is simply disingenuous of the Administration to suggest otherwise. Perhaps there are — somewhere — some “interpretations” of FISA that would support such a notion . . . but the Administration itself has (properly) rejected such interpretations.
“Somewhere” in this case would be the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, as reported in the Washington Post last September:
The intelligence court ruled earlier this year that warrants were required for foreign communications that passed through telephone or Internet exchanges inside the United States, even if both parties were overseas, according to administration officials.
That report may be in conflict with a comment from Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein later reported in the WaPo. Or it might represent DoJ’s position in legal proceedings. Or it might be a reflection of the fact that there is more than one judge on the FIS court and suggest a possible split among those judges. Or — given Wainstein’s reference to “wire communications” — the comment might reflect a lack of understanding of the tech end of the issue.
Lederman — who generally thinks that Smirky McHitlerburton yearns to sift through your spam folder for Viagra ads — may well be right to support the Administration’s position, but Lederman cannot argue that the Administration should defy the court, inasmuch as that what he accuses the Administration of doing in the first instance. Since Lichtblau reports that Democrats involved in the negotiations were worried about the summer situation, perhaps Lederman and others might want to exercise a little more humility with regard to how much of the debate requires information they simply do not have.
I don’t want people named Marty having input on the keeping us safe from terrorism thing. There’s just something deeply off about that.
Marty is more like the guy in the David Mamet play that eats jelly donuts and cheats on his wife and drinks too much. Also he probably used to play golf but doesn’t anymore cause he gets too sweaty and redfaced after like three holes.
Take the telecom immunity out and the House has revisions ready to pass.
Take the telecom immunity out and you’d have a swarm of reactionary red-diaper baby lawyers sucking the bones of every company who has ever touched an IP packet.
That would be considered a feature, not a bug Brain.
Unless it’s Marty Feldman. They’d never be able to figure out what he was going to do next.
Take the telecom immunity out and the House has revisions ready to pass.
Help the government track down terrorist and get sued. If I’m a telecom CEO, I’d be first in line to sign up for that! What a great selling point in a prospectus to shareholders!
– Forget it folks. In spite of the Lefts best efforts to cripple the countries ability to defend itself, nothing will really change in the Intercept game because the POTUS knows the SCOTUS will always find in favor of the National defense in the end, so all the ACLU lawsuits from here to the moon won’t give the fuckhead moonbats any satisfaction.
– the Left knows this, they just want to make themselves the maximum pain in the ass, using our Constitution and legal system in the worst possinle way, because other than being a constant ankle biting annoyance, they’re basically politically powerless.
“Nail ’em all up. the ones that return are authentic.” – Ric Locke
“Take the telecom immunity out and the House has revisions ready to pass.”
Allow a vote on the Senate version which includes telecom immunity and watch it pass.
PT
Take the telecom immunity out and you’d have a swarm of reactionary red-diaper baby lawyers sucking the bones of every company who has ever touched an IP packet.
And then watch every telecommunications rate sky-rocket as the telecomms jack up prices in order to cover the legal costs. And that would hurt the poor, women, and minorities hardest, right?
Mikey – It is like a fill-in-the-blank headline, that writes itself.
_______________ (insert event of your choosing) – Women, minorities, poor AND CHILDREN hardest hit.
SUN TO GO NOVA,________________
SUN TO GO NOVA – Women, minorities, poor AND CHILDREN hardest hit. President Bush responsible.
“Or  given Wainstein’s reference to “wire communications† the comment might reflect a lack of understanding of the tech end of the issue.”
I think thats a legal term, not a tech term.
On the specific issue of this power, democrats have tried to extend it before but have been stymied by the GOP. Even if the GOP comes on board to this extension, the president has threatened a veto.
On the specific issue of this power, democrats have tried to extend it before but have been stymied by the GOP. Even if the GOP comes on board to this extension, the president has threatened a veto.
Could you be any more dishonest?
“Could you be any more dishonest?
– We’ll have to wait til this election cycle is over to see if the Left can invent any new mendacities.
RON BURGUNDY COLLAPSES AND EXPIRES FROM ______________________.
Let the feast begin!
I guess Ron is suggesting the punishing businesses who helped the gov’t in the aftermath of 9/11 is the real agenda here. So much for those civil liberties going forward.
Karl – What are Ron’s other aliases?
– It shouldn’t really come as any surprise to the prolitariot that the Fascist leaders on the Left value, above everything, the eugenetic theory, and have zero interest in keeping people safe. Life perse’, is cheap to the purveyors of collectivism, where as it takes many years, and a lot of resource and energy, to brainwash a sizable gaggle of deluded faithful. Whats the death of a multitude of innocents when the very future of “Teh Revolutionâ„¢ hangs in the balance.
– Defense of the targetted country cannot be permitted. The cult must survive, for the greater good! – Kgt Hunter – notes from “Summer of the Change”
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Re “amdrea,” every so often we get a commenter who takes a feminine handle and spouts pre-1L-level legal jargon without really understanding it. Kind of cute, in a tiresomely unimaginative sort of way. I wonder why it always takes a feminine handle?
If it’s a legal term, it’s a legal term that misapprehends the technical issues. Shocker, that. Can you say DMCA?
“Comment by Ron Burgundy on 6/11 @ 7:16 am #
Take the telecom immunity out and the House has revisions ready to pass”
Hey, Ron.
Seeing that I am already in a really bad mood, allow me to frame my answer this way:
You are a brainless, clueless asshole. Go fuck yourself, you infantile idiot.
Sorry to make you my whipping horse, but, Jeezus! Don’t you care about keeping your family alive? Or your friends? Ore even any other American?
And don’t puke “Iraq” on me. Thoese of us with brains know what is really happening there, and it ain’t your fervently wished for defeat.
The fact that teachers need better training to carry out deliberate instruction in reading, spelling, and writing should prompt action rather than criticism. ,
I may have better luck there. ,