GQP Snowflake Doubles-Down On Her Anti-Anti-Racism Bill

Update to GQP Anti-Anti-Racism Bill To Impose Not Teaching Any History Which Makes A White Snowflake ‘Feel Discomfort’. Rep. Michelle Udall, R-Mesa, is a truly pathetic individual. Definitely not cut from the same stock as Stewart and Morris Udall. She besmmirches the family name and reputation. She should be ashamed. And scorned. This GQP “snowflake” doubles-down … Read more

Federal Gov’t Spying on Citizens: Big Brother Really Is Watching

Keyboard-578-adj-crop-sig-sm72by Pamela Powers Hannley

Several weeks ago, after the US intelligence agencies found the Boston Marathon bombers in a matter of days, I posted this story: Who Is Homeland Security Watching? Off-the-grid Fertilizer Plant vs On-the-Grid Citizenry.

When I said that the federal government was watching “real people, not corporate people,” I had no idea how prophetic that statement was. In the few short weeks since that story, there has been one revelation about government spying on American citizens and news organizations after another.

Gov’t Obtains Wide AP Phone Records in Probe
First we learned that the feds obtained months worth of telephone records from Associated Press (AP) reporters. AP called this “a ‘massive and unprecedented intrusion’ into how news organizations gather the news.”

US gov’t collecting huge number of phone records
Although there was a huge media uproar over the AP story when it broke, it pales in comparison to what we learned this week. Senator Diane Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, confirmed that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been collecting cell phone records for millions of Americans on a regular basis for years. This ongoing surveillance of American citizens began during the warrantless wiretapping program initiated under President George Bush’s reign. Verizon, Sprint, and At&T have complied with court orders to provide customer data. Verizon alone has 121 million customers. More details and links after the jump.