Update from the Heartland
No.632
20.1.14 – 26.1.14
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
The follow-up news items:
-- The Justice Department accused top executives at US
Investigations Services (USIS) – the government’s largest private
security-background-check contractor – of defrauding the country of millions of
dollars by methodically filing more than 660,000 flawed background
investigations – 40% of the cases it sent to the government over a four-year
period. USIS is the company that
performed the background check on that traitorous asylum fugitive in Russia [602, 607].
-- Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring will join two
same-sex couples in asking a federal court to strike down the state’s ban on
same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. You will recall the efforts of Herring’s
predecessor, Ken Cuccinelli [610, 613, 621], who tried mightily to defend, reinstate and create new moral
projection laws to intrude upon the private lives of the state’s residents and
citizens of this Grand Republic.
-- On Friday, 24.January.2014, the Supreme Court issued a
short, direct, unsigned order exempting the Little Sisters of the Poor [629 & sub] from compliance with the
PPACA contraception provision, pending appeal before the 10th
Circuit Court of Appeals. The
Court directed the religious organization to inform the Secretary of Health and
Human Services in writing that the Little Sisters of the Poor is a religious
organization and they have religious objections to the PPACA contraception provision. The Supremes closed the short order
with a statement that the exemption order should not be construed as an
expression of the merits of the case on appeal.
The second of the recent district court
rulings, regarding the NSA’s Bulk Telephony Metadata Program (BTMP), gives us
an unusual direct comparison. Judge
William H. Pauley, III, of the United States District Court for the Southern
District of New York issued his ruling late last month in the case of ACLU
v. Clapper [USDC NY SD 13 Civ.
3994 (WHP) (2013)] – less than two weeks after Judge Leon’s decision in Klayman
v. Obama [USDC DC civil action nos. 13-0851, 13-0881 (RJL)] [630].
Judge
Pauley opened his Memorandum and Order with a relevant and illuminating example
from the 9/11 Commission Report. “Prior
to the September 11th attacks, the National Security Agency ("NSA")
intercepted seven calls made by hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar, who was living in
San Diego, California, to an al-Qaeda safe house in Yemen. The NSA intercepted
those calls using overseas signals intelligence capabilities that could not
capture al-Mihdhar's telephone number identifier. Without that identifier, NSA
analysts concluded mistakenly that al-Mihdhar was overseas and not in the
United States. Telephony metadata would have furnished the missing information
and might have permitted the NSA to notify the Federal Bureau of investigation
("FBI") of the fact that al-Mihdhar was calling the Yemeni safe house
from inside the United States.”
This is the nature of the beast it seems to me. Judge Pauley also cited three examples
offered by the USG, where BTMP contributed to the identification, localization
and arrest of Islamo-fascist terrorists inside the United States: Najibullah
Zazi [406], Khalid Oazzani, and David
Headley [492]. He noted the fact that Congress has
reviewed and renewed the authorizing legislation
seven times – §215, Title II, USA PATRIOT Act of 2001
{Uniting
and Strengthening
of America
by Providing
Appropriate
Tools
Required
to Intercept
and Obstruct
Terrorism
Act of 2001} [PL 107-056; 115 Stat.
272, 26.10.2001]. Further, 15 different FISC judges passed judgment on the law,
35 times, since the §215 authorization. Judge Pauley said, “Just as the
Constitution gives the Executive the duty to protect the nation, citizens' right
to privacy is enshrined in the Bill of Rights,” and citing Associate Justice
Jackson, “the Bill of Rights is not a suicide-pact” [Terminiello v. City of Chicago,
337 U.S. 1 (1949)]. Judge Pauley
believed the NSA complied with the law as defined by Congress and
interpreted by the FISC (in accordance with the law), in that the USG has provided
periodic reports of activities and FISC orders to Congress as required by §215. Judge Pauley
concluded, “For all of these reasons, the NSA's bulk telephony metadata
collection program is lawful.”
The
contrast between ACLU [632] and Klayman
[630] is stark and quite
dramatic. Judge Leon (Klayman)
gave the most weight to the potential for abuse, while Judge Pauley (ACLU)
stuck to the facts and law associated with the BTMP. Given the contrast between these two district court findings
and the importance of the BTMP (and other warrantless, electronic, surveillance
programs), I think it is fairly certain these rulings will be appealed through
the respective appeals courts and to the Supreme Court. In all of this judicial review, it is
important to remember that the USG is literally working a persistent, rolling,
needle-in-the-haystack search, trying to find a mere handful of enemy
operatives in a peaceful population of over 300 million spread across the
entire United States. They are
looking for signs – triggers, thresholds, connections, hints – that give the
analysts the clues to investigate more closely specific targets with the
appropriate warrants in hand. The
potential for abuse is real, palpable and must never be ignored.
News from the economic front:
-- The PRC’s National Bureau of Statistics reported the
nation’s economy grew 7.7% in 4Q2013, down slightly from the 7.8% rate in
3Q2013. According to the Wall Street Journal, many economists
expect the PRC economy to slow further as reforms are introduced to shift the
Chinese economy away from dependence on investment and trade, and more on
domestic spending and expansion in service industries.
-- The preliminary HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing
Managers Index (PMI) fell to 49.6 in January, compared with a final reading of
50.5 in December – a six-month low and another indicator of the PRC’s slowing
economy.
Continuation
from Update no.630:
“I do not understand what ‘scenario’ of mine you refer to.
In any case, my fears have nothing to do with al-Qaeda. The only information we
have of that organization comes from people who make a living from all this,
which factor makes them a poor source of information. My fear, as I failed to
make clear enough, is of NSA operatives or other spies abusing their positions,
a common situation throughout history. I need no connection to any real or
alleged ‘terrorist’ for that to take place. Neither do you. All we need is an
enemy in the wrong place.”
My reply:
The
envelope would not be sufficient, and you could not be compelled to divulge
private communications; thus, to fulfill your scenario, the USG would have to
read the content, which is beyond the BTMP.
I
share your fears of the potential of NSA abuse. As I have said, the BTMP and associated programs are
dreadfully close to the edge.
Are
you suggesting al-Qa’ida is not real, not a factor, and there is no Islamic
Fascism?
Another continuation
from Update no.630:
“Yes, the Democrats might well overdo things. But what
has come out appears more of an implosion. And now some pretty serious
stuff has been alleged beyond the bridge stoppage—getting into billion-dollar
real estate deals.
“In another situation, Virginia’s former governor and his
wife are being indicted on some serious charges as well. And the people
in Richmond (state capitol) are wishing they did more to investigate the
governor when he was in office. What makes this particularly egregious is
that he was a former attorney general who should have known better about false
statements.
“New subject- more bad press for USNA grads. Have you heard
of this guy from ’85- who apparently took advantage of his classmates among
others in Ponzi scheme?”
My reply:
Re:
New Jersey. Live by the sword, die
by the sword.
Re:
Virginia. The McDonnell situation
is just one more crooked politician joining the incessant list of corrupt
politicians on both sides of the aisle.
This is going to be bad.
Interesting
. . . Class of 1985 . . . Bryan Caisse and Lisa Nowak; did they put something
in the water that year. Never good
to have shipmates cross over to the dark side.
Comments
and contributions from Update no.631:
Comment to the Blog:
“We shall see what the Supremes say about marriage equality.
I suspect that once they are finally pinned down, they will go with the flow of
history. In the meantime we see the importance of judicial appointments.
“It is nice to see the Congress passing actual
appropriations bills. You never know, but maybe they will learn to do
constructive work.
“You counteract any respect that might be due the spy
community in one sentence: ‘Further, the real lynchpin in all this rests with
how the IC responds to the presidential guidance and reformation of the law, if
any should come.’ The spy community should not have a choice about how they
respond to either Presidential guidance or changes of law.
“Your linked article on the Dutch effort to approach
alcoholism differently surprised me and gave me food for thought. If this
reduces collateral damage in the long term it is well worth study. I will,
however, point out that it will be called socialism because it pays people who
are clearly less productive than others would be in the same job.
“LIBOR drags on. I will note here that coverage in the US is
sparse.
“Your other correspondent takes many words to support his
contention that the many (employees) should be penalized in order that the few
(employers or nuns or someone) may impose their beliefs in places where they
have no relevance. I agree with your linked article. Such concessions will
eventually be overturned under the Establishment Clause.
“I guess I may as well comment on Governor Christie's
issues. As a progressive, I had been looking forward to the Republicans having
a bloodbath primary season, and I wanted to see Governor Christie front and
center in that. Apparently, someone in the Republican Party has foreseen that and
decided to alleviate it by disposing of Christie as a factor. The specific
actions in question bear a resemblance to drug use in that they are illegal but
not unusual. The media is having a field day. This particular ‘story’ takes
place close to New York City, where all of the media corporations have large
operations in place. It generates plenty of viewers without the messiness of
sex or violence. All parties do press releases that save the media the effort
of actually digging for a story. Other than Governor Christie and those who
support this relatively moderate Republican, everybody's having a ball. The
9/11 thing is simply about inattention and people who, like me, see the
Department of Homeland Insecurity as something less than sincere and
effective.”
My response to the
Blog:
Indeed,
we shall see how the Supremes fall out on equality.
Again,
indeed, we can only hope Congress is turning over a new leaf and henceforth,
they will perform their constitutional duty on time. We can only hope.
All
laws are open to interpretation, as the courts stay in business. I know the IC will be their best to
obey the law and the presidential guidance. Just as LE interprets the law and sometimes gets it wrong .
. . again, why courts stay in business.
The IC is not this evil cabal.
They are good, decent citizens trying to do their best to protect this
Grand Republic.
Then,
I must be a socialist since I was proposing to isolate and give addicts drugs
to not hurt anyone else or anything. At least the Dutch are trying something
productive.
Re:
LIBOR. You got that right.
The
exchange regarding the rights of the individual versus the rights of the
organization is not an easy one to resolve, especially when there is a
religious issue in contest. It is
a 50-50 question I can argue either way.
I do not take kindly to imposing upon anyone. I do not like asking anyone to compromise their religious
beliefs. I resent the intrusion of
anyone into the private affairs of an individual citizen even more, which is
why I lean toward the individual over the organization.
The
shenanigans of Tammany Hall vastly exceed the Christie efforts depicted so far. Yes, I see this as a political nullification
endeavor. Forces want to eliminate
Christie as a potential candidate.
There is so much we have yet to learn, and I suspect it will trickle out
over the next two years to ensure maximum impact for the 2016 primary season. One thing is fairly certain; this is
not going to be pretty.
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
2 comments:
I am not surprised that USIS stands accused of flawed investigations, but that might apply to any of the verification services I had contact with in a former job. USIS a bit more perhaps, but professionalism is hard to come by in that business.
You note the difference between the two decisions regarding the NSA's spying on Americans is the concern about abuse versus the law as passed. (The “facts” come from one of the parties and are therefore subject to doubt.) It seems obvious, given your needle-in-the-haystack analogy that is supported by proponents of NSA power, that more cases of abuse will occur than detections of alleged terrorists. We must await Supreme Court decisions before we can debate the implications of such decisions, assuming we are permitted to continue such debates.
According to a news report that I cannot attribute right now, Virginia's former Governor McDonnell is the first Virginia Chief Executive to be indicted in a criminal matter, which places Virginia behind several other states in criminality. I do not recall New Jersey's history, but we can go back through history in all parties and understand that Governor Christie's troubles are nothing new.
I fail to understand why Naval Academy graduates would be expected to meet a higher standard than, say, Yale alumni. (“The dark side”? Interesting choice of phrasing.)
I find it hard to believe that Governor Christie's problems will last until 2016, as much as I would like to see the Republican Party divide itself over them. Fortunately for progressives, they are finding other ways. The Arizona GOP has censured Senator McCain, the Tea Party will offer a separate rebuttal to the State of the Union message from the “mainstream” Republicans, and Rand Paul will add his own viewpoint on that. By the time the dust settles, the Republicans will be out of power.
Calvin,
Re: USIS. I suspect they will be looking for other business soon, or closing down operations.
Re: NSA court cases. Those two recent cases were at the district court level. They must grind their way through the respective Appeals Courts, and then if the Supremes see a constitutional issue and/or disparity between the two appeals court rulings, then we might have the Supremes weigh in. That process could take several years, unless someone makes the argument successfully for an expedited sequence. I suspect we are a long way from the Supremes passing judgment.
No matter how hard we try, “politicians” and “corruption” appear to be inseparable and mutually inclusive terms. The real clue is always, does a politician accumulate wealth in office? Public service is not, or rather should not be, about self-aggrandizement.
The service academies have required ethics classes and have a heavy emphasis on moral integrity. Yet, as you note, no matter how good the training, there are always bad apples in every population that believe morality does not apply to them, only other schmucks like me.
The political forces at play will ensure the Christie problems will be a slow bleed for maximum penalty to the Republican Party. I watched the President’s State of the Union speech. I have not yet watched the opposition response, and Rand Paul’s perspective is a rather distant objective.
Cheers,
Cap
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