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The FBI and DoJ Were Granted a FISA Warrant to Monitor a Trump Campaign Aide Last Summer
A FISA warrant was obtained to monitor Trump campaign aide Carter Page before the election:
The FBI obtained a warrant to secretly surveil former Donald Trump aide Carter Page last summer under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), according to a Tuesday Washington Post report.
The FBI and Justice Department demonstrated probable cause that Page is acting on behalf of a foreign state in order to be granted the warrant.
The FISA warrant was part of the FBI's investigation into possible ties between Russia and Trump campaign associates, law enforcement and U.S. officials told the Post.
"This confirms all of my suspicions about unjustified, politically motivated government surveillance," Page told the Post Tuesday. "I have nothing to hide."
Page has not been accused of committing a crime.
Also at MarketWatch.
DiGenova: Rice Ordered 'Spreadsheets' on Calls Involving Trump, Aides
Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Former President Barack Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice ordered U.S. spy agencies to produce "detailed spreadsheets" of legal phone calls involving Donald Trump and his aides when he was running for president, according to former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova.
"What was produced by the intelligence community at the request of Ms. Rice were detailed spreadsheets of intercepted phone calls with unmasked Trump associates in perfectly legal conversations with individuals," diGenova told The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group Monday.
[...] Other official sources with direct knowledge and who requested anonymity confirmed to TheDCNF diGenova's description of surveillance reports Rice ordered one year before the 2016 presidential election.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 17 2017, @06:19PM (9 children)
People are inherently evil. That is why there should be some government. The purpose should be to coerce people into not harming other people. Most people just want to work and have a decent life. Crooks do not. Government should stop the crooks. But once the crooks realize that they need to move into and take over government, then it seems like "government is inherently evil". But really it's just the crooks in power that are evil. Voting against the common good in exchange for corporate bribery.
A second purpose of government should be to organize common resources to build common infrastructure that benefits everyone. Schools. Roads. GPS. Weather satellites. I suppose there is then the issue of common defense. Back to my first sentence. Since people are inherently evil, the government needs checks and balances. Problem is, eventually the crooks figure out how to game the system no matter what safeguards are designed.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Monday April 17 2017, @07:11PM (1 child)
Well we really fixed that "corporate bribery" problem this time, by electing a corporation to be President. And I'm sure the numbers worked out. It has to be WAY cheaper to just partially pay for getting elected, and then get a bunch of legislation passed that personally benefits you, than to have to pay someone else to enact each change separately. It's like buying bulk at the grocery store.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 17 2017, @07:35PM
It's certainly a lot more efficient to have a corporate puppet.
In the 21st century it ought to be possible for corporations to have direct control of the voting buttons in the halls of congress. That way congress critters don't have to actually show up to push their voting buttons. Corporations could do it remotely for them.
New legislation could be uploaded as a PDF and remote corporate voting conducted at rapid speed.
Congress critters would still be involved. They would just spend their time at luxury golfing resorts and other distractions. With such generous corporate support, they wouldn't have to spend so much time on the phones raising money to get re-elected.
Oh, wait! What if Google could help you cast your vote remotely on election day!
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 17 2017, @07:15PM (3 children)
You don't see any contradiction here?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 17 2017, @07:31PM (2 children)
Not everyone acts on every bad impulse. I would even suppose that most people don't. But everyone has their price.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 17 2017, @09:39PM (1 child)
So... you still don't see your contradiction???
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday April 18 2017, @12:54PM
No. Maybe you could explain it to me.
As I see it . . .
People have impulses to do bad things.
Some people give in to minor impulses, like steal a cookie when nobody is looking.
Others give in to much worse impulses like robbery, rape, murder, etc.
Government, of the people, creates laws against things like robbery, rape, murder, etc.
Government coerces people that do these things not to do them, or face punishment.
Government is made up of people, but hopefully not the people who give in to their worst impulses.,
Over time we have ended up with a government where the worst people have recognized that the best way to commit their crimes is to get into government.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 17 2017, @10:41PM (1 child)
People are not inherently evil.
People are taught to believe that they can only be salved through salvation, because they are evil. That's just guilt manipulation.
It is views that this, that everyone is evil, that erode our privacy and security and allow for the fearful and good to enable the evil people that proceed to commit crimes you reference.
You should try to meet new people. They don't have to be born again to realize it pays dividends to behave altruistically, or at least express tolerance if they do not particularly like something. Evil sees evil where good does not.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday April 18 2017, @01:01PM
> People are not inherently evil.
We can simply disagree on that.
You seem to think that maybe I am intolerant. I would hope my posting history shows otherwise. I frequently poke fun at discrimination. Especially that of the current administration.
I would also hope that my posting history shows that I am strongly, rabidly against mass government surveillance and spying on everyone.
You seem to have a LOT of stereotypes of what I believe. I very much think that people, saved or not, are capable of both breaking the law or obeying the law. Of being kind to other people, or being unkind.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Tuesday April 18 2017, @04:30AM
Voting against the common good in exchange for corporate bribery.
Right. The corporations here are US government agencies in espionage and law enforcement. They are far more powerful than any corporation you are thinking of.