Dear Senator Feinstein: What part of Operation Spy On *Everyone* did you not understand?

[MannyGoldstein]

Last edited Tue Mar 11, 2014, 07:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Did you not think that you were part of Everyone?

Did you still think that Congress was somehow special when you saw the Executive branch lie to you so easily and without remorse? That Congress would be the only group in the world not subject to unlimited surveillance and disruption without meaningful oversight?

Really?

Let this be a lesson. Now go out there and start doing your job. Working with the Judicial branch, there's still some time, but perhaps not much.

Do. Your. Job.

Your house is fabulous enough; your bank accounts are bursting at the seams.

Now. It's. Time. To. Do. Your. #%^*ing. Job.

[winter is coming]

1. No, she did not think she was part of Everyone.

She thought Everyone was just the little people.

[treestar]

56. No, the operation was not to spy on everyone

just on important people.

Though it appears to be a waste of time, unless Senators might be involved in something really shady. Which is possible.

[Autumn]

2. I think she understands very little.

Unless it benefits her.

[rhett o rick]

5. I second that. nm

[MannyGoldstein]

25. Or outrage when *she's* the one watched by the shadows

Good. Let her feel some pain.

[questionseverything]

53. so today's new reveal is

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024650667

the nsa has mirror web sites they redirect us to, to infect our computers with malware so they can listen when they want, take pics when they want , change communications when they want

and all with tax payer money

[Enthusiast]

31. I get the same impression.

[jsr]

43. It's really a lifelong habit.

[spanone]

3. it only matters when applied to them....

[quinnox]

4. Feinstein is a committed national surveillance state supporter

A veritable hero to the pro-spying/authoritarian crowd.

Because we all are potential terrorists, and should be monitored closely by our benevolent government, which would never lie to the people, about anything.

[erronis]

9. But only for the NSA (and NRO, CIA, DIA, etc.) spying on others (some foreigners)

I wonder if this congressperson has stopped to consider how big her dossier is at her favorite 3-letter company (shhhh - it's the N.S.A). Does she think because she has been a steadfast supporter of NSA peeking at everyone's selfies that they won't look at hers (ouch!)?

While I want to love the democrats (isn't that the name of this forum) I don't think many of them are above blame for the growth of this clairvoyant industry. It's hard to be a realist when the big brass belly-up to podium and start throwing the freedom/terrorist/patriotism/leftist words around.

J.E.Hoover would have been in hog heaven with all the goods that are floating in the (in)secure nets.

[quinnox]

10. Yep. And remember, citizen, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear

[delrem]

30. Yet you no doubt see that the pro-spying/authoritarian crowd

is already citing Dianne Feinstein as an example of how liberal/progressive they, and Dianne Feinstein as premiere example, are: publicly questioning the authority of the CIA/NSA/, of hallowed 3-letter agencies, and even suggesting possible illegality.

I expect a strongly worded pronouncement or even a (gasp!) written edict to come down, saying tut-tut.

My memory or recall of the post-Bush (post "9/11&quot NSA/CIA shit that has come down is somewhat spotty.
It isn't so spotty as not to know that there has been a game-changing shitload (much as R. Reagan brought the world a game-changing shitload of grief).

I remember some heavy duty sessions in US fed gov, with Sen. Patrick Leahy doing some amazing eyeballing of suspects, some portentous questions - and all sorts of people exclaiming about how something must be done - and I remember that nothing whatsoever has actually been done. Like: it was theater, it was done and it was done well, and now it's finished and has no other meaning. I'm reminded of that thing folk say to likely bullshitters: "you talk a mean game, but can you play it?"

[2banon]

57. spot on.. n/t

[ashling]

6. Excellent post

[butterfly77]

7. K&R..

[YoungDemCA]

8. Never really liked Feinstein

Always thought she was far too conservative, particularly on foreign policy issues, and particularly by the standards of the California Democratic Party.

[JDPriestly]

52. I agree, but she is strong on environmental issues.

Her speech at the climate change all-nighter is at about 4:20-4:44:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?318185-1/us-senate-climate-change

[sueh]

11. Fantastic post, Manny!

[gulliver]

12. Snort, snort.

No one can resist this.

[truedelphi]

13. Manny, Manny, Manny,

Dragon Lady is doing her job(s)

One of her jobs as Party Leader here in California was to ensure that the Republicans won the gubernatorial contests not once but twice. She did this by selecting virtually unknown people to run against Action Movie Star Arnold Schwartzennegger. How much she got, or what her family will be given by the foes of the Democrats will possibly never be revealed.

Her other job is to ensure that she sits at the top of several prestigious committees inside the US Senate,a nd then she leaks information from those committees to her spouse, one Richard Blum.

Her seat on Defense Committees allowed her sweetums Richard to secure 3/4 of a billion dollars worth of contracts in IRaq. One big upside for Richard was that since she had much fore knowledge of the military game plan in Iraq, he could be sure and bid on projects in places that soon would be under fire. So can anyone tell if a sanitation or road went into Bum, Fuck Iraq, just shortly before the place was blown to smithereens?

Now she is on the US Senate Intel Committee, and Richard is, as I type this, now securing contracts that have to do with Surveillance projects.

[BobbyBoring]

15. Unbelievable!

NOT! If there's a hell, a special place is reserved for these fine folks~

[truedelphi]

16. Natutrally, no major media "news source" outlets would carry the tale of

The tawdry career of one Diane Feinstein, but a little yet most excellently run weekly newspaper from Sonoma County, California, "The Bohemian," gave writer Peter Byrne the platform to bring his serious investigative journalism to the public.

Not only that but in early 2009, Byrne received quite the award:

For investigative journalism:

2008 Project Censored Top 25[8] for Dianne Feinstein: A Question of Ethics by Peter Byrne[9] This series was also a finalist for an award from the Investigative Reporters and Editors association.[10]

Byrne has a couple of interviews and YouTubes up that allow people to listen to his tale of Feinstein's corrupt ways.

[DJ13]

27. Maybe thats why she's scared of being spied on

[jsr]

44. +1

[2banon]

60. Hey Neighbor!!

Sonoma County is my old stomping grounds for 40+ years!

I really miss reading Peter Byrne in the Bohemian.. and Project Censored has done amazing work since it's inception.

Thanks for the heads up on Peter Byrne youtubes on the subject!! I'll check them out!

[delrem]

21. Like Cheney, she has totally gotten away with it. nt

[sibelian]

33. But she's a DEM

And all that stuff means you hate OBAMA.

[nationalize the fed]

39. Dick is also selling off the post offices

It was recently learned that the United States has entered into a contract with one firm to sell 56 buildings that currently house U.S. Post Offices. The government has decided that it no longer needs these buildings (many of which are located on prime land in towns and cities across the country).

The sale of these properties will bring in billions of dollars and, with that, millions of dollars in commissions for the one Company that is in charge of handling the sale and negotiation of the new leases.

What makes this such a matter of concern is that the company that the Government has contracted with to conduct the sales (and the corresponding leases for the new locations of the displaced post offices) is owned by Richard Blum.

Does that name mean anything to you? Maybe it should re-phrased and say that the person who owns the company that is solely in charge of this multi-million-dollar transaction is Richard Blum the husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein.

In June 2013 the USPS' Office of Inspector General issued an audit report which noted that "outsourcing real estate management services to one supplier is a fundamental change from how the Postal Service previously managed its real estate portfolio" and was critical of several aspects of the contract between USPS and CBRE, but Richard Blum's marital relationship with Senator Feinstein was not among the conflict of interest issues cited in that report:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/blum.asp

[2banon]

62. And here I thought you were referring to Dick Cheney.. Difi's husband is the Dick in this operation

well apparently, the entire matter of "conflict of interest" was thrown out the window. Maybe that's part of the reason why certain chief justices were given a pass on their own venture investment firms conflict of interests, given that the anti-trust legal suits are brought to SCOTUS.. so there you have it...

[2banon]

58. Her husband is now securing Surveillance projects? ohh the fucking irony. n/t

[bkanderson76]

14. Maybe Ms. Feinstein and her likes might realize now that their privileged endowment allowing

them to stand higher in food chain like that of a Lion is of no use when in all actuality they are the meat.
Suck it up buttercup and welcome to America.

[a2liberal]

17. spot on

I laughed when I heard about her complaint on the radio... such a hypocrite

[blkmusclmachine]

18. DiFi always been a ConservaDem, so no, I'm sure she didn't think

[pragmatic_dem]

19. She's been apologizing for spying for so long, CIA/NSA has determined that she can't be trusted...

After all, if you want to know which groups are a threat to the nation, start with the metapologists. They must be hiding something more than common sense.

[DeSwiss]

20. ''MANNY, I THOUGHT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT THE LITTLE PEOPLE!!!!!''

[center]
''Not us, the elites.''[/center]

- The ''D'' after Diane's name isn't for Democrat, it stands for Demiurge.

K&R

[elzenmahn]

22. Senator Frahnkenfeensteen understands the universal language...

...of $$$$$$$$.

The older she's gotten, the more of an embarrassment she has become to the State of California.

[KoKo]

23. DiFi and many others KNEW about this from the GET GO!

Her Husband and her Fortune is MIC...hubby is Military Defense Contractor.

She always pops up with her peeps.. She and Schumer.

It's about HER ...her Fortune and Influence.

I think they think we Democrats are IDIOTS! (the ones of us on the LEFT...not the ones who WINE & DINE the PRESIDENTS.

But her schtick is getting OLD....saying the same old stuff that she does that the Media Whore Press Picks up and thinks we will all swoon over.

Sorry DiFi! WE KNOW that YOU KNEW ALL ALONG...and it's all GAMING for YOU!

[Hotler]

24. "Do. Your. #%^*ing. Job."

[diabeticman]

26. Thank you for posting! I was thinking how much of a hypocrite she sounds like.

[minivan2]

28. As a Californian

I am ashamed to have her as a senator, she needs to resign.

[PowerToThePeople]

29. she needs to go bye bye

A fascist hiding behind a D. There are more than her, but she is one of the worst...

[Enthusiast]

32. My love for Senator Feinstein will never be diminished by anything so petty.

[tomp]

34. wow! nt

[FiveGoodMen]

65. And you will never pollute my screen again.

[Enthusiast]

66. I didn't think I needed the sarcasm thingie.

[FiveGoodMen]

67. Sorry! Guess I was having a bad day.

I've just read so many crazy things around here that it's hard to know what to think sometimes.

[dreamnightwind]

35. As despicable as she is...

she might actually be a formidable opponent for the spy-masters. This woman is powerful. How powerful? I've lived in California pretty much all of my life, and can't recall a single person saying anything good about her. Yet she wins, every time. That's power. It makes no difference to her what we think of her, she wins anyway.

The irony is over the top, she's the NSA's best friend in the Senate, or certainly one of them.

Now that they've violated her personal space, grab some popcorn, two immoveable forces that never lose appear to be locking horns.

Things to watch for: a DiFi sex scandal, a half-assed attempt at reform that does little more than give assurances to Senators that they will not be spied on allowing DiFi to declare victory before continuing her profiteering form of public service, or she goes away quietly to spend more time with her "family". Ideally we'd get some real reform out of this, unlikely though.

[Bohunk68]

36. What you said.

100%

[BlueJac]

37. But, but, but, but.............

[Fumesucker]

38. ...

[KansDem]

40. To paraphrase Leona Helmsley...

"Only the little people get spied on!"

[jsr]

41. Well, the Senator has standards

A different set of standards for herself.

[randome]

42. What part of 'Operation Spy On Everyone' has evidence to support it exists?

Unless you count metadata storage as the same thing. Which seems silly to me.

The difference between this CIA incident and the NSA is that the NSA had legal warrants for the metadata.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[2banon]

59. omg.

[SmittynMo]

45. If anyone needs to be spyed on,

it's you useless people. I agree, go back to doing whatever you call "a job". Unlikely, but maybe we can get something done before November.

[AngryAmish]

46. What Sen. Feinstein is alleging is much worse than snooping

Let me begin by saying that Sen. Feinstein has allowed this awful secret police situation to get out of hand.

However, she is not saying that they looked over the computer that the senate investigators used. THere has been an ongoing review of CIA torture for many years. First, the CIA stonewalled. THen they said, ok, you can look at documents but only at CIA. They dumped 6.2 million docs, without an index. THen they said every document must be redacted. This has taken many, many years. There was an internal CIA review that said the CIA broke a bunch of laws and tortured people. Then these documents started to disappear from the oversight computer. SOme hard copies were made and is now in a safe in the Senate.

Basically, the CIA is attacking their oversight. This cannot be allowed to happen.

From the CIA's point of view, Bush II told them to take off the gloves and get these people. And the CIA did, laws be damned. They think there is a bunch of Monday morning quarterbacking going on. THey don't want to go to jail and destroy their families (and lose their pension). A bunch of CIA folks went to jail after the Church Committee and the CIA knows this.

A way out is a truth commission. Get these folks out of government. Good luck with that.

[libodem]

47. Thanks Manny

They needed that.

[CJCRANE]

48. Here is Dianne Feinstein's statement:

Statement on Intel Committee’s CIA Detention, Interrogation Report

http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=db84e844-01bb-4eb6-b318-31486374a895

[MannyGoldstein]

49. That's very, very useful, thanks.

And very terrifying.

[Iggo]

50. Wow!

[woo me with science]

51. For thee, not me.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

54. God forbid that the overseers do some oversight and bring torturers to justice.

[uponit7771]

55. +1

[dickthegrouch]

61. You have to read very carefully between the lines on these things

My take is that she's outraged that the CIA conducted a search about Americans on US soil against its charter. Maybe some spoliation of evidence, but that's *IT*.

Please don't confuse NSA spying on everyone with CIA doing something completely different.

I listened to General Hayden recently talking about the NSA mess and he's quite happily convinced himself that the NSA is filling a gap in the intelligence gathering apparatus and sees no problem whatsoever with sharing information with the "appropriate law enforcement entities" (FBI, CIA, Local LEO) when they discover something. That's when so-called "parallel construction" of probable cause and evidence chains start. I was VERY impressed that "The Good Wife (CBS, Sunday) took up this hot button.

I think Hayden is entirely wrong. The 4th amendment has not yet been formally repealed. IMHO anyone who contravenes it has committed an egregious offense. If the government can't be bothered to get 350,0000,000 search warrants, it can't collect 350,000,000 people's information. If I were defense lawyer, I would try to call all probable-cause hearings and findings into question.

[marble falls]

63. Its sensible and simple request.

[Phlem]

64. Typical.

They must think we're not paying attention.



-p