Are all telephone calls recorded and accessible to the US government?

Are all telephone calls recorded and accessible to the US government?

 

The Guardian ^ | May 4, 2013 | Glenn Greenwald

 

Posted on Saturday, May 04, 2013 7:17:38 PM by beaversmom

 

obamadash (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

 

 

CLEMENTE: “No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It’s not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out.

 

 

 

Judge Napolitano on Obama’s War Against the Fourth Amendment – Hit & Run : Reason.com

English: Judge recording an episode of at CPAC in . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Judge Napolitano on Obama’s War Against the Fourth Amendment

 

May. 2, 2013 7:00 amTalk Radio News ServiceTalk Radio News Service

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Obama administration wants legislation enacted that will punish Internet service providers who fail to cooperate with FBI requests and court orders.

 

gophum (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

 

 

The FBI has revealed that its agents often “lack the time” to obtain search warrants, writes Judge Andrew Napolitano, and so they have gotten into the bad habit of asking Internet service providers to let them in without warrants.View this article.

 

 

 

Judge Napolitano And Shep Smith Take On IRS E-Mail Snooping Without Warrants: ‘Stay Out Of Our Stuff!’ | Mediaite

With Tax Day less than a week away, Fox News reported this afternoon on the American Civil Liberties Union obtaining IRS documents via the Freedom of Information Act that show the federal tax collection agency routinely searches Americans’ emails, possibly in violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable search and seizures.

 

gophum (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

 

 

Reporter Jonathan Hunt noted to host Shepard Smith that the controversy over the Internal Revenue Service’s practices largely stems from the fact that the agency uses an “administrative summons” to decide to search an email without a search warrant or any form of court order.

 

 

 

(Gunny G: Please, Read Reader Responses, Folks!) ~ IRS claims it can read your e-mail without a warrant [Obama Treats 4th Amendment Like Toilet Paper]

IRS claims it can read your e-mail without a warrant [Obama Treats 4th Amendment Like Toilet Paper]

 

CNET ^ | 4/10/13

 

obamadash (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

 

 

Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2013 9:47:49 AM by SoFloFreeper

 

The ACLU has obtained internal IRS documents that say Americans enjoy “generally no privacy” in their e-mail messages, Facebook chats, and other electronic communications.

 

 

 

The Internal Revenue Service doesn’t believe it needs a search warrant to read your e-mail.

 

gophum (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

 

 

Newly disclosed documents prepared by IRS lawyers say that Americans enjoy “generally no privacy” in their e-mail, Facebook chats, Twitter direct messages, and similar online communications — meaning that they can be perused without obtaining a search warrant signed by a judge.

 

 

 

Prison Planet.com » All Over America Government Control Freaks Are Forcing Preppers Back On To The Grid

In recent years there have been huge numbers of Americans that have sought to go “off the grid” and live a more independent lifestyle. It has been estimated that there are now approximately 3 million “preppers” in the United States, and many of them just want to be left alone so that they can take care of themselves and their families on their own land.

isdees (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

But that is not the way America works anymore. In many areas of the country, government control freaks have essentially declared war on preppers and are attempting to force them back on to the grid. In some states, “nuisance abatement teams” are conducting armed raids on off the grid properties. Property owners are being cited for “code violations” and are being told that they are “bothering the neighbors”. In some cases, trees and gardensare being forcibly removed. In other cases, entire structures are being relocated or torn down.

drronpaulrev (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

Was the TV Show ‘Doomsday Preppers’ Used to Convict Another Prepper in Court? « SGTreport – The Corporate Propaganda Antidote – Silver, Gold, Truth, Liberty, & Freedom

A number of times in the past, I have warned about how dangerous I think T.V. shows like Doomsday Preppers are to the prepping community. In my opinion, these prepping shows do nothing to help people prepare and are designed to do only one thing – To make Preppers look like complete Wackjobs!

Things often overlooked by preppers

More Americans are joining the ranks of “preppers” every day.

My last two columns discussed the growing trend of people taking steps to ensure they can be as self-sufficient as possible over the short term in; the event of a natural or manmade catastrophe.

(Al Dutton) Prepper Sentenced to 21 Months In Prison For Stockpiling “Destructive Devices”

The other key reason we don’t talk about our preps, especially the sharing of critical details like what we store and where we store it, is that you are a potential domestic terror suspect with respect to newly disseminated bulletins from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

Case in point: Alfred C. Dutton was recently convicted of possession of unregistered destructive devices after sharing his preparedness lifestyle with his ex-wife’s boyfriend.

Kansas ‘Doomsday Prepper’ sentenced to prison – KansasCity.com

Government exhibits included grenade bodies, powder and fuses. Prosecutors said five incendiary bombs were found in a storage locker leased to Dutton in Eureka in southeastern Kansas.

Dutton’s defense said he was preparing for the collapse of the economy and collecting medical supplies, non-perishable foods and other items.

The defense submitted to the court an excerpt from a National Geographic documentary on “Doomsday Preppers” to illustrate his state of mind.

High court: warrant needed for GPS tracking

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects.

The decision was a defeat for the government and police agencies, and it raises the possibility of serious complications for law enforcement nationwide, which increasingly relies on high tech surveillance of suspects, including the use of various types of GPS technology.

–snip–

“The use of longer term GPS monitoring in investigations of most offenses impinges on expectations of privacy,” Alito wrote in an opinion joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. Sotomayor in her concurring opinion specifically said she agreed with Alito on this conclusion.

SWAT team’s shooting of Marine causes outrage [Jose Guerena Ortiz]

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Jose Guerena Ortiz was sleeping after an exhausting 12-hour night shift at a copper mine. His wife, Vanessa, had begun breakfast. Their 4-year-old son, Joel, asked to watch cartoons.

An ordinary morning was unfolding in the middle-class Tucson neighborhood — until an armored vehicle pulled into the family’s driveway and men wearing heavy body armor and helmets climbed out, weapons ready.

They were a sheriff’s department SWAT team who had come to execute a search warrant. But Vanessa Guerena insisted she had no idea, when she heard a “boom” and saw a dark-suited man pass by a window, that it was police outside her home. She shook her husband awake and told him someone was firing a gun outside.

Family Says Police Killed Their Dogs and Slammed Grandmother to Ground

Family Says Police Killed Their Dogs and Slammed Grandmother to Ground

WHO-TV (NBC) Des Moines, Iowa ^ | November 18, 2011 | Aaron Brilbeck

Posted on Sunday, November 20, 2011 8:50:57 PM by bamahead

Matthew Spaulding says he and his family were terrorized at their own home by police who slammed his grandmother to the ground and shot his dogs– missing his head by less than an inch. “Told us to get on the ground. I got on the ground they put me in handcuffs,” Spaulding recalls, “Then they threw my dad to the ground and my dog Sadie was right here sniffing my head. She was next to me. They shot her. The blood got on my face and then she took off running behind me and they shot her like three more times.”

Tuesday morning, Greene County Sheriffs Deputies and Perry Police officers arrived at Spaulding’s Jefferson farmhouse to deliver a search warrant. The Spauldings say they were immediately ordered to the ground.. even Matthew Spauldings’ disabled father, Chris. “My son hit the ground I hit the ground but I didn’t make it too fast so (the officer) jumped on the middle of my back, shoved his knee in and held a gun to the back of my head and handcuffed me. After they shot my first dog my mom come out”

“They had taken me to the ground,” Chris Spauldings’ mother Susan Mace says, “So I was laying with my face in the ground. And I asked them why they shot the dog because the dogs weren’t close to them”

SWAT Team Kills Marine Veteran at Home

TUCSON (CN) – A widow says a regional SWAT team killed her husband, a Marine veteran, in a botched raid not even aimed at him, riddling their house with 72 bullets while she and their 4-year-old son were in it.

Vanessa Guerena says police refused to allow paramedics to help her husband, 26-year-old Jose Guerena, after the SWAT team shot him repeatedly while serving a search warrant on May 5.

Couple in shock after drug raid (more WOD buffoonery)

A massive drug raid in Roswell last week targeted dozens of people at homes across the city.

But one of those homes didn’t have what police were looking for, and their unexpected visit left the people inside shaken and upset.

It started shortly after Nancy Parker’s husband came home from work Friday evening.

“There came this huge bang on the door, front door, sounded like the door was going to fall in,” recalled Parker.

She said her husband opened the door to multiple officers in raid gear with guns drawn.

“We were completely shocked, upset,” she continued. “I was panicked because I’ve never had anything like this happen to us before, never.”

She said the officers demanded to come inside her home.

“And my husband asked, ‘Do you have a warrant? Who are you looking for?’ and they said, ‘Gerald Sentell,’” Parker said. “We don’t even know this person.”

DEA agents said Sentell is one of the fugitives officers were looking for during last week’s drug bust.

A DEA spokesperson told News 13 the agents were following up on a citizen’s tip that Sentell was at the home.

Parker said she and her husband were wary of cooperating because they weren’t sure what was going on.

When asked if she thought the officers could have been imposters, Parker replied, “Yes. That’s very much what we thought, and that’s why my husband said no, you’re not coming in this house without a warrant.”

The DEA spokesperson said the agents left when they were denied entry by the couple.

Parker said she’s still not over the incident.

“I felt like I was in a nightmare, you know this doesn’t happen to us,” she said. “All I could tell you is I couldn’t move, I couldn’t even hardly think, I was so afraid.”

DEA officials said every officer involved in the raid had vests with the word, ‘Police’ clearly marked, and that guns were out of their holsters but were not directly pointed at anyone in this case.

The DEA said all of the officers involved in the raid were following procedure and did nothing wrong.

Police are still looking for Sentell, along with many other suspects from the drug raid.

via Couple in shock after drug raid (more WOD buffoonery).

Deputies Arrest Couple for Running Bar and Drug Operation in Garage

JACKSON COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) — A couple has been arrested for running a bar in their garage and dealing drugs.

Sheriff’s deputies tell WSAZ.com Gary Frontz, and his wife, Lisa Frontz ,both 42, of Ripley, were arrested Friday and charged with delivery of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Click here to find out more!

For several weeks, deputies were investigating, with the help of an informant, to make several controlled buys from the Frontz home along Carnian Road.

Investigators say the couple was dealing prescription medication, marijuana and alcohol shots without a liquor license.

The couple turned their garage into a bar, calling it “Groovin’ Gary’s Garage,” where Gary Frontz worked as the bartender and served alcohol and dealt drugs, according to investigators.

Deputies executed a search warrant on September 2, and seized 13 bags of marijuana, 98 bottles of liquor, $2,000 in cash and numerous liquor receipts.

Also seized were several items investigators say were purchased using the profits from the marijuana deals.

The couple remains in jail.

Keep clicking WSAZ.com for the very latest.

via Deputies Arrest Couple for Running Bar and Drug Operation in Garage.

SWAT Team Busts Through Door Searching for Drugs, No Arrests Made

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Police in SWAT gear busted through a door and searched a Cedar Rapids home for drugs Thursday morning, but came up empty.

At least 12 officers surprised the tenants at 1135 33rdSt. NE when they arrived around 7 a.m. with a narcotics search warrant. Sgt. Cristy Hamblin, a police spokeswoman, later confirmed that nothing was seized from the house.

No one was taken to jail, but the tenants of the house, Justin Davis, 28, and his girlfriend, Erica Lewis, 26, were charged with disorderly house and signed a promise to appear in court, police said. No one was injured during the raid.

Davis said his 5-year-old daughter was in her room when officers busted a hole in the front door. He said he came to the door when he heard a K-9 unit dog barking, and was pulled outside, where he was told to lie face down in his front yard. He said the officers had him at gunpoint.

Davis was visibly upset after police left and mentioned moving out of the area.

“What do you think my neighbors think about me now?” Davis said. “My character has been assassinated, and I’m really upset about that.”

Davis said he and Lewis were handcuffed while officers searched. They were told police had information that there was drug activity at their house.

Hamblin said search warrants are issued only after a judge reviews the evidence collected and signs the warrant. In general, police investigate tips about drug activity by interviewing neighbors, looking through trash and using a drug-sniffing dog, Hamblin said.

“We don’t take just one person’s word, under normal circumstances,” Hamblin said.

Davis said he is on probation and it would be stupid for him to be involved with drugs.

“They should have made sure they had concrete evidence before they knock in someone’s door,” Davis said.

Disorderly house is described as a building or room where someone “resorted to for” illegal activity involving drugs, alcohol, gambling or prostitution, according to a city ordinance.

via SWAT Team Busts Through Door Searching for Drugs, No Arrests Made.

A new U.S. law-enforcement tool: Facebook searches | Reuters

A Reuters review of the Westlaw legal database shows that since 2008, federal judges have authorized at least two dozen warrants to search individuals’ Facebook accounts. Many of the warrants requested a laundry list of personal data such as messages, status updates, links to videos and photographs, calendars of future and past events, “Wall postings” and “rejected Friend requests.”

Federal agencies seeking the warrants include the FBI, DEA and ICE, and the investigations range from arson to rape to terrorism.

The Facebook search warrants typically demand a user’s “Neoprint” and “Photoprint” — terms that Facebook has used to describe a detailed package of profile and photo information that is not even available to users themselves.

These terms appear in manuals for law enforcement agencies on how to request data from Facebook. The manuals, posted on various public-advocacy websites, appear to have been prepared by Facebook, although a spokesman for the company declined to confirm their authenticity.

The review of Westlaw data indicates that federal agencies were granted at least 11 warrants to search Facebook since the beginning of 2011, nearly double the number for all of 2010. The precise number of warrants served on Facebook is hard to determine, in part because some records are sealed, and warrant applications often involve unusual case names. (One example: “USA v. Facebook USER ID Associated with email address jimmie_white_trash@yahoo.com,” a sealed case involving a drug sale.)

via A new U.S. law-enforcement tool: Facebook searches | Reuters.

Leader of Pima County’s GOP faces removal effort (Criticizing botched SWAT raid that killed Guerena)

Pima County Republican Party leaders voted late Thursday to take party chairman Brian Miller’s keys to the GOP headquarters away and call a special meeting to try to remove him from his post.

Miller has been under fire from party stalwarts for the past month, with multiple meetings called in recent weeks after he criticized a SWAT raid in May that resulted in the shooting death of a man law enforcement officers said they suspected of involvement in drug dealing.

Several elected officials and party leaders have complained that his comments pitted the party against law enforcement at a time when city elections are looming and candidates are gearing up for bigger 2012 races.

After questions were raised about the amount of police force used in serving a search warrant Miller said he hoped the incident would foster community discussion of “the policies that routinely lead to heavily armed and militarized local police invading private homes and a renewed interest in the civil liberties codified in our Bill of Rights.”

After Miller refused to resign, the executive committee voted 10-2 to order Miller to cease and desist from acting as an agent of the county committee and return his keys.

Barney Brenner, a member of the committee who voted to seek Miller’s removal, said he wished Miller had resigned to help heal the party.

Brenner said the action doesn’t reflect a rift between more libertarian-leaning Republicans, like Miller, and other more traditional party members.

“This is solely about the best interests of the Pima County Republican Party,” Brenner said, adding regardless of whether Miller meant it to happen, his words damaged the party and the ability of its candidates to raise money and support.

Miller said it is the executive committee that has kept the controversy in the forefront, by continuing to call these meetings to complain about his leadership.

He said he’s been consistent in defending the constitution.

“This is a political witch hunt,” he said, adding, “If they wanted it dropped, they would have dropped it three weeks ago.”

The meeting has yet to be scheduled. A two-thirds vote of the elected precinct committeemen will be required to remove him from office.

Miller said if he survives, he will then call a special meeting of his own to ask the precinct committeemen to vote on the performance of each member of the executive committee.

via Leader of Pima County’s GOP faces removal effort (Criticizing botched SWAT raid that killed Guerena).

Sheriff releases video of SWAT shooting into house of ex-Marine

Sheriff releases video of SWAT shooting into house of ex-Marine

Sheriff releases video of SWAT shooting into house of ex-Marine: “The Pima County Sheriff’s Department released a video Thursday that shows a SWAT team shooting into a suspect’s house. He died after being shot 60 times.

Jose Guerena, 26, was shot and killed May 5 when Pima County authorities served a search warrant on his home.

The Sheriff’s department says five SWAT team members fired more than 70 rounds in less than 10 seconds after the former Marine pointed an assault rifle at officers. His wife contends the family thought the officers were robbers. He was shot 60 times

(Excerpt) Read more at kold.com …”

Posted by Gunny G at Friday, May 27, 2011

via BLOGGER.1984.GUNNY.G: Sheriff releases video of SWAT shooting into house of ex-Marine.

Death Squad Damage Control in Tucson by William Norman Grigg

Death Squad Damage Control in Tucson by William Norman Grigg

Death Squad Damage Control in Tucson by William Norman Grigg:

“As reported by the Arizona Star, Storie insisted that if the Guerena family had permitted the armed intruders into their home, those inside ‘probably … wouldn’t have been arrested.’ This is because the ‘warrant was not directed at any particular person, and Guerena’s home was not mentioned, but it was targeting whoever might be inside the residence….’

That is to say that this was not a legitimate search warrant, under the requirements imposed by the Fourth Amendment (and expressly incorporated in Arizona law through the state constitution). The instrument used as supposed justification for the armed assault was akin to the ‘writs of assistance’ used by British soldiers during the years leading up to the American colonial rebellion.

As Judge Andrew Napolitano summarizes, writs of assistance were ‘self-written search warrants’ that ‘enabled [British] soldiers and government agents to enter any private building or dwelling and search for whatever they had authorized themselves to search for.’

In this way, occupation forces could invade any home or business they chose, confiscate any item they suspected might be contraband, and haul away in irons anybody who attracted their malevolent attention.”

Posted by Gunny G at Wednesday, May 25, 2011

via BLOGGER.1984.GUNNY.G: Death Squad Damage Control in Tucson by William Norman Grigg.

Attorney: Tucson man killed by SWAT linked to home invasion case

Attorney: Tucson man killed by SWAT linked to home invasion case

Attorney: Tucson man killed by SWAT linked to home invasion case:

“The man shot and killed by Pima County SWAT officers was linked to a home-invasion crew, the attorney representing the officers said Thursday.

Michael Storie said authorities found rifles, hand guns, body armor and a portion of a law enforcement uniform inside the house where Jose Guerena was shot by officers serving a search warrant May 5.

(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com …”

Posted by Gunny G at Sunday, May 22, 2011

via BLOGGER.1984.GUNNY.G: Attorney: Tucson man killed by SWAT linked to home invasion case.

PCSD responds to SWAT shooting controversy (the spin is in)

PCSD responds to SWAT shooting controversy (the spin is in)

PCSD responds to SWAT shooting controversy (the spin is in): “PCSD responds to SWAT shooting controversy (the spin is in)

KVOA – Tucson ^ | 5/19/2011 | not stated

Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2011 5:41:55 PM by GunsAndBibles

Pima County Sheriff’s Department today responded to the controversy surrounding the death of a man shot and killed by deputies earlier this month.

Attorney Mike Storie says that contrary to what the Guerena’s wife’s attorney said, the SWAT team made it very clear they were police and they were there to serve a search warrant.

Storie says they used lights and sirens, and eventually pounded on the door for about 45 seconds before going in. Once inside, Storie admits the victim did not fire at the SWAT team, but he says the victim’s actions still warranted the response that law enforcement took.

Storie went on to say the items found inside the home help prove these allegations – PCSD found several weapons, drug material and even equipment similar to police uniforms that he says could have been used to raid drug houses posing as police.

(Excerpt) Read more at kvoa.com …”

Posted by Gunny G

via BLOGGER.1984.GUNNY.G: PCSD responds to SWAT shooting controversy (the spin is in).

SWAT raid fatal drama is revealed in 911 call

SWAT raid fatal drama is revealed in 911 call

SWAT raid fatal drama is revealed in 911 call

Arizona Daily Star ^ | 5/14/2011 | Fernanda Echavarri

Posted on Saturday, May 14, 2011 10:04:25 AM by petitfour

The wife of a Tucson man killed in a Pima County SWAT raid May 5 pleaded for five minutes with 911 dispatchers to send an ambulance for her mortally wounded husband, audio records show.

Often through tears and sometimes in broken English, Vanessa Guerena, tells 911 operators that her husband had been shot by a “bunch of people” who opened the door of their southwest-side home and “just shoot him.”

Meanwhile, dispatchers worked to determine if she was calling from a house where the SWAT team was serving a search warrant, audio released Friday by Drexel Heights Fire Department reveals. It takes about an hour for waiting medics to know what happened, and the man is dead before fire crews are allowed into the home.

Jose Guerena, 26, a former Marine, was sleeping after the graveyard shift at Asarco Mission mine about 9:30 a.m. when his wife woke him saying she heard noises outside and a man was at their window. Guerena told his wife to hide in a closet with their 4-year-old son, his wife has said. He grabbed an AR-15 rifle and moments later was slumped in the kitchen, mortally wounded from a hail of gunfire.

(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com …

via BLOGGER: GUNNY.G.1984.+: SWAT raid fatal drama is revealed in 911 call.

Medical care blocked for Marine Veteran killed by SWAT – update

Medical care blocked for Marine Veteran killed by SWAT – update

Medical care blocked for Marine Veteran killed by SWAT – update

KGUN9-TV ^ | May 11, 2011 | KGUN9-TV

Posted on Thursday, May 12, 2011 7:38:06 AM by WaterBoard

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) – 9 On Your Side has uncovered startling new information in the case of a man SWAT team members killed Thursday.

Medical attention was standing by to try to save Jose Guereña.

Paramedics waited more than an hour.

Then deputies sent them away

By then Guereña was dead.

(Excerpt) Read more at kgun9.com …

via BLOGGER: GUNNY.G.1984.+: Medical care blocked for Marine Veteran killed by SWAT – update.

Former Marine killed by SWAT was acting in defense, family says

Former Marine killed by SWAT was acting in defense, family says

Former Marine killed by SWAT was acting in defense, family says

kgun9.com ^ | May 11, 2011 | Joel Waldman

Posted on Wednesday, May 11, 2011 7:48:15 PM by WaterBoard

Jose Guerena, 26, was killed when a SWAT team came to his house to serve a search warrant

Guerena’s wife, Vanessa, said the SWAT team did not identify themselves

Thinking it was a home invasion, Guerena got his rifle

Now, Pima County Sheriff’s officials are refuting original claims that Guerena fired at the SWAT members. In fact, they confirmed his safety was still on when his gun was recovered. Also, officials said that reports that some SWAT officers’ shields were riddled with bullets are also untrue.

SWAT gunned Jose down with 71 rounds fired in just about seven seconds; officials said they did not expect Vanessa to be home with their four-year-old son, Joel, who ended up witnessing his dad’s death. Now he has questions about what happened, like so many others.

“The only thing he asked me, ‘Mom, my dad a bad guy? They killed my dad! Police killed my dad? Why? What did my dad do?’” explained Guerena.

Jose’s relatives want his children to know he did his best to be a great husband, dad and patriot.

(Excerpt) Read more at kgun9.com …

via BLOGGER: GUNNY.G.1984.+: Former Marine killed by SWAT was acting in defense, family says.