The US surveillance state is poised to grow more powerful under a Trump administration.
Though President-elect Donald Trump still has nearly two months until he's sworn in, his picks for Attorney General and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency are a sign that many surveillance reforms could be overturned or changed, such as the NSA's collection of telephone metadata on all Americans — a program that was reformed after it was exposed by Edward Snowden.
Trump recently appointed Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, and Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo for CIA Director. Both have advocated for the increased domestic spying that was implemented by former President George W. Bush after 9/11, according to Bloomberg.
"Congress should pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database," Pompeo wrote with coauthor David Rivkin, Jr. in a Wall Street Journal editorial in January.
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We had two Soylentils submit stories about Attorney General Jeff Sessions:
Trump fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46132348
"US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been fired by President Donald Trump.
[...] Mr Trump said Mr Sessions will be temporarily replaced by his chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, who has criticised the Russia inquiry.
[...] In a resignation letter, Mr Sessions - a former Alabama senator who was an early supporter of Mr Trump - made clear the decision to go was not his own.
[...] The president cannot directly fire the special counsel, whose investigation Mr Trump has repeatedly decried as a witch hunt. But Mr Sessions' replacement will have the power to fire Mr Mueller or end the inquiry.
[...] Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he looks forward to 'working with President Trump to find a confirmable, worthy successor so that we can start a new chapter at the Department of Justice'.
Mr Graham, of South Carolina, had said last year there would be 'holy hell to pay' if Mr Sessions was ever fired."
[...] House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said: "It is impossible to read Attorney General Sessions' firing as anything other than another blatant attempt by President Trump to undermine & end Special Counsel Mueller's investigation."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @12:19AM
His statements are all over the map* and he changes his mind daily. Until he actually does something concrete*, I'm going to stop fretting or clapping.
* No wall pun intended.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @01:27AM
Trump's already checked out. He's only taken 3 of the daily security briefings. [nytimes.com] He spends his time on twitter, watching fox news and right now, as I'm typing, he's holding a rally in front of a half-empty stadium [twitter.com] in Cincinnati because he misses the ego stroking of all the campaign rallies.
Unless its super high-profile, he just does not care. So what we have left are the statements of the people who he's installed to do the actual work of running the government. We should take them at their word because they have been very clear and consistent about their intentions.
(Score: 5, Informative) by edIII on Friday December 02 2016, @02:20AM
We need a +1 Scary-As-Fuck
If you listen to what these shitheads have been saying for years, that is incredibly frightening. Trump is already authoritarian, bombastic, and deeply ignorant of how the Internet works. Combine that with security hawk tendencies (a fucking literal wall) and I don't see why he would say no when literally everyone around him can play him like a flute just by mentioning "the bad hombres, sir, sign here, yep those bad hombres are going to be real sorry, and here... initial here, yes sir, fucking them up... this IS about shutting down parts of the Internet, you're so smart sir, I'm so glad I voted for you. Twice.".
Say hello to key escrow and absolutely zero privacy. If you were afraid before of some people, be even more fucking afraid now folks.
The Rise Of The Algorithms. Get ready to play Russian Roulette SQL query style :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @12:20AM
None of his supporters seem to care about second-order effects. When they're reminded, they'll retort that everyone only has so many more years to live anyway.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday December 02 2016, @01:18AM
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Whoever on Friday December 02 2016, @01:21AM
This is very true.
Unfortunately, the same could be said for the current President who doesn't have a stellar history when it comes to state-sponsored surveillance on citizens.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @01:46AM
It's going to be interesting who runs for POTUS in 4 or 8 years after Trump. If he actually does a good job, the next in line probably won't be a career politician.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday December 02 2016, @12:40PM
I made this same point all through the Bush and Obama administrations. You might be OK handing police state powers over to "your" guy, but what happens when those powers transfer to the "wrong" guy?
I'm certain none of these powers should ever have been granted in a country that likes to think of itself as free, and I'm pretty certain we would have found ourselves regretting their having transferred to either of the two major candidates this time when a couple years have elapsed.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday December 02 2016, @01:35AM
Let's talk about third-order effects - implied understanding that the sweeping domestic powers are to be used against Islamic and other Brown Anti-Americans rather than Joe Whiteboy in Northern California in possession of 2 30-round magazines bitching about taxes but otherwise paying them and holding a steady job.
Contrast this with the past emphasis of administrations (specifically from the mouth of Janet "big Sis" Napolitano) which demonized returning veterans and White yokels who want to mind their own business and such, for being threats. Napolitano is now the head of a large Jewish-friendly organization, the University of California system, the endowment of which is so fattened it builds official residences on Native-American burial grounds, [indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com] and has recently made the news for stating that the UC system is ordered to do their best to allow vehicularly-homicidal knife-hacking jihadi students to continue studying at her universities -- an effort coordinated with Dianne "Fifth-Columnist" Feinstein.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Friday December 02 2016, @03:14AM
Let's talk about third-order effects - implied understanding that the sweeping domestic powers are to be used against Islamic and other Brown Anti-Americans rather than Joe Whiteboy in Northern California in possession of 2 30-round magazines bitching about taxes but otherwise paying them and holding a steady job.
Implied understanding is worthless. This sort of power will be turned on whoever is deemed a target, be it "brown anti-Americans", "Joe Whiteboy" or anyone else that authorities deem inconvenient. That's the thing about politics. No faction ever really stays out of politics forever. What powers we give government will eventually be used by factions that are at odds with us.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @07:02AM
Feinstein is Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @12:45AM
The 'Freedom' Act didn't reform a god damn thing. Instead, the government merely requires that a private company holds the data (I don't think they did anything about the online spying), which doesn't address the fact that merely collecting the data is both dangerous and also a constitutional violation at all. Forcing a private company doesn't get around this because then the company becomes a de facto agent of the government and is subject to constitutional limitations. It's just a matter of getting our authoritarian courts to recognize these simple facts. There was no real reform of mass surveillance, and the pathetic reform we did get only reformed a particular type of mass surveillance while ignoring all the other types.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @12:47AM
The Sky Is Falling!! The Sky Is Falling!! Hillary Didn't Get Elected!! The Sky Is Falling!
(Score: 5, Informative) by bob_super on Friday December 02 2016, @01:17AM
Whoever believes that the problem people have with Trump is that he's defeated X, has not been paying attention to Trump's actions since the election, nor to his incoming cabinet.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @04:32AM
I think many Trump supporters are simply past the point of caring about people who cry wolf.
As a collective, the left wing media has been shouting, "IDIOT! MISOGYNIST! RAPIST! HITLER!" at the top of their lungs for many months in a row, trying to get him to back down. His movement did not back down. It won.
The left has no REAL strategy to cope with this, seeing as they professed up and down the street that they would REFUSE to find common ground with "LITERAL HITLER!" so they continue to scream - now at issues of REAL concern - but it is too late, everyone who might have cared months ago has already gone deaf. Tragic, but it is the future that was chosen.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @04:50AM
Very true sir. I've noticed the left wing really only two talking points these days: free college for everyone and vote for us because the other guy is a racist/bigot. No wonder their party is going extinct.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @07:45AM
After talking to many Trump supporters, I've noticed that they care a big deal about attacking and getting back at "the left", and they give absolutely zero fucks about the country, how its run, or any of the people in it. The only thing on their minds is bullying and retribution for perceived slights (like having a nigger in the White House).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @07:56AM
Cool story bro.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @09:45AM
I've noticed that they care a big deal about attacking and getting back at "the left", and they give absolutely zero fucks about the country, how its run, or any of the people in it.
That is the Silvio Berlosconi model. He used reality-tv level public squabbles with his critics to keep his base distracted as he looted the country. They were so invested in cheering him on against character criticisms that they were totally willing to give him a pass on policy criticisms. The only way to win that game is not to play. Let Trump spew all the bullshit he wants on twitter. But stick to substantive policy criticisms. We've literally elected a twitter troll to be president, and the best (or least worst) way to deal with a troll is simply not to feed it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday December 02 2016, @01:05PM
You're right to a degree. It's another example of why the "left vs. right" ruse is so deleterious. It's the cover under which charlatans and thieves work their nonsense. I reckon it's not actually the "left" the Trump supporters loathe, but the elites; if you listen to them, they do conflate the two. But it's the conflation that is the problem, and deceives them into thinking the "right" is ok. They're not, and during the primaries in fact you did hear the same kind of loathing directed at the elites in the RNC. Now that Trump has won, however, suddenly the RNC and the forces on the "right" are rehabilitated because it feels better to think you won a sweeping victory across Congress and the state houses than to celebrate the triumph of one candidate against the elites who comprise both the "left" and the "right." Such is the pernicious power of that meme.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @07:51AM
It's OK to be White again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @09:29PM
Actually, orange is the new black.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @06:22AM
At least this has a little more meat than the usual comparisons to Hitler and the like. I've found conservative commentary that wasn't in support of Trump to be pretty decent at picking apart the appointments. Some good, some bad- but that isn't much different from anyone else.
The damnable part will be if/when Trump does do something nefarious- can't stand with liberals as they have lost all credibility at this point. Hell, even them protesting is likely cast aspersions against others protesting. That's fucked up.
I don't think most leftist have appreciated how far into a corner they have painted themselves. They are moving from irritating to despised.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday December 02 2016, @01:06PM
Yes, and wouldn't it be epic if the "right" and the "left" could put aside those stupid, meaningless labels when that moment comes and work together?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @01:24PM
Not gonna happen. What you are forgetting in your estimation is the moderates, and they know for a fucking fact the left will turn at the first opportunity.
The left have proven themselves to be completely untrustworthy, and the right have their own issues as well.
You can't work together with someone who is only in it for themselves, and at the moment the most self-indulgent is BY FAR the left.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @03:54AM
I thought the hope and change guy didn't get a 3rd term?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @05:24AM
Trump is a puppet. NAWBO (http://www.nawbo.org/) is the puppetmaster.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @06:54AM
Not what I expected, thanks for the chuckle.