Thursday, September 11, 2014

I WAS ROBBED

No, no-one came up behind me with a knife or gun and demanded my money.  It was far more traumatic than that because frankly, I have a unique and specific set of skills that your tax dollars paid for.  I didn't go to the bank and find that my account had been emptied by someone who had stolen my identity.  I know how to track those people down and recoup my losses.

I went to bed thirteen years ago to wake up to a totally changed world.  The American Government and it's people had become complacent believing that the distance and waters separating us from our enemies would keep us secure within our borders and that for some unknown reason, The United States were immune from terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

I had spent what I considered to be my entire life in service to this Great Nation defending Her against t all enemies foreign and domestic.  Ironically, I served almost all of my military career overseas actually aiding other countries in the defense of their borders and freedoms.  I stood in West Berlin Germany 110 kilometers inside Communist East Germany at the height of the Cold War.  While there, we believed that each and every time we were placed on "alert" status, that the Russian Hoard was coming over The Wall and that we were the last hope for the citizens of West Berlin and all that the "Last Bastian of Freedom" stood for.

I was back in Berlin during "The Fall of The Berlin Wall".  I was blessed to witness the end of Soviet oppression over East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the likes.  We, THE ALLIES went into to a fight with the resolve to ensure that we saw it through to the end.  Collectively, we kicked Hitler's proverbial butt and then dedicated the next 44 years to the principle that Democracy was a right of ALL people not just American people.  In 1961, the Soviets erected the Wall and for 28 years, The Americans led the way in the Occupation of Berlin along with our British and French  counterparts with a resolve that neither time nor cost would erode our commitment to seeing the Russian Hoard leave and to have Mr. Gorbachev "Tear down this wall". 

We succeeded and I witnessed first hand families who had been separated by an arbitrary line in the dirt reunite for the first time in 28 years.  I saw the Champaign flow and the reunification of Germany.  I was part of something bigger than myself.  I helped make history happen.

I continued my military service with pride and honor.  I had married, had four children, one of which was tragically taken from us at birth and I watched with pride each and every time my children stood up when The National Anthem was played or when they stopped playing while on base when Retreat sounded and the Flag was lowered for the day.  At night, they were tucked snuggly into their modest but safe beds and they rested there worry free of any evil visiting them during the night.  After all, Dad was on watch.  If I could help secure the borders of foreign lands surely, I need not worry about someone being stupid enough to try to visit harm against Americans on American soil.

Not so, it seemed.  On September 11th, 2001, the unthinkable happened.  We went to sleep and our enemies were awake and not only did they visit horrible evils upon us, we showed time and time after relentless time on the news for days.  There was no safe haven.  We were rapt in the horror that someone, anyone could have so much hatred for the Land We Love that they would die to inflict evil upon us.  Terror had hit home and I and others were left to try to explain to our children why they were no longer safe at night. 

"Dad, why are you crying?"  "Dad, why are you sitting up by my bed?"  "Dad, why would anyone do such a thing."  It was done because evil dwells in the hearts of men.  What I and generations of honorable men and women who dedicated their lives to protect "From Sea to Shining Sea" was gone in an instant.  For the first time since Pearl Harbor, Americans were attacked ruthless on our own soil.  This somehow seemed more tragic to me because in my opinion, at least Pearl Harbor was not on the Continental United States and I could justify that our physical borders were still secure. 

I like everyone else, had fallen victim to the belief that we were untouchable on our own soil.

I still apologize to my children.  I am still haunted by the thought that "WE" should have seen this coming and that The Most Powerful Nation in the World could have prevented these attacks from happening.  I was robbed of the ideals and principles I and others like me truly believed in; "NOT ON MY WATCH".  Well, it was my watch.  It did happen and no, time doesn't heal that wound.

We The People need to learn from our past that if we do not intend to complete the task, we should not take up the sword.  I want my children's children to know the serenity that I slept with as a child.  I was robbed of that.  They were robbed of that and they don't even know how to begin to understand what it is they were robbed of.

I was robbed and it was so much worse than at gun or knife point.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

NOT SO QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT


Today I was watching the morning news and there were two segments back to back that astounded me. The first was about the First Lady being in Los Angeles for a visit with her daughter, to raise funds for the DNC and to be the Key Note Speaker at a luncheon at the Century Plaza Hotel bringing light to the veterans who are unemployed, under employed and homeless in the area. According to this story, there are between 36,000 and 56,000 homeless men, women and children in the Greater Los Angeles Area of which some estimated 6,000 are veterans. Wow - we don't even have close to an accurate count.

The second story, as brief as it was, told how our new Mayor, Gil Garciette just announced that he is eager to help house the "migrant" children in the area. I took that to mean the illegal immigrants or undocumented immigrants depending on your particular preference. I would love to help each and every man, woman and child in need but as has been said, "Charity begins at home." How can the Mayor justify spending any funds on the undocumented before attempting to care for our own in need?
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Before you jump to any false conclusions, I 100% support the immortally poetic words at the Statue of Liberty National Park:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

My thought is simple - force our Government to fix the systemic problems within the greed driven politico's who wide in the fortress that is Congress, the Senate and yes even The White House so that those who would come here seeking a better life truly stand a chance. At this moment, We The People and our elected officials are ensuring that the quality of life of those tire, poor, huddled masses yearning to be free remains diminished. They live in constant fear of deportation. They work in below minimum wage jobs to live in flea, rate and roach infested slums with no hot water because they are threatened with La Migra should they attempt to file a complaint.
 
 Let We The People sound off and demand that our elected officials find a way to fix the broken system that is INS. Let US stand and demand that the political hot potato of illegal vs undocumented aliens be staffed with public servants who are trained and equipped to review the applications in a timely fashion thereby alleviating the need for those who seek freedom to enter our borders in dangerous conditions and under dubious care of Coyote's.
 
ONLY by FIXING the system at the root of the problem can we actually disempower the rest of the hot bed political issues and begin to show true compassion for those in search of a better life.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

SCOTUS PROTECTS THE 1ST and 4TH AMENDMENTS


This has been an epic week.  As I sit here quietly and reflect on the events of the past week, I actually had to stifle a giggle.  The United State Soccer Team lost the game but won the advancement to the Round of 16.  Chalk one up for the U.S.

That is however miniscule in comparison to the major shift in the Supreme Court of The United States as evidenced in the rulings of the week.  This week saw the Supreme Court Justices unite against the Oval Office and in favor of the 4th Amendment of the Constitution.  The instant matters revolved around two cases in which Law Enforcement conducted what they alleged were “searches commensurate to arrest” which included the contents of the arrestee’s cell phones. 

The Justices were exceptionally clear on Page 19 and 20 of their decision when they address the difference between the data and metadata contained on cell and smart phones.  The entire decision can be read here:  This is a direct quote from the text:

“Although the data stored on a cell phone is distin­guished from physical records by quantity alone, certain types of data are also qualitatively different. An Internet search and browsing history, for example, can be found on an Internet-enabled phone and could reveal an individu­al’s private interests or concerns—perhaps a search for certain symptoms of disease, coupled with frequent visits to WebMD. Data on a cell phone can also reveal where a person has been. Historic location information is a stand­ard feature on many smart phones and can reconstruct someone’s specific movements down to the minute, not only around town but also within a particular building."

Why bother putting this out here to the World?  Well, that is less complicated than the ruling.  For several years now, I have quietly been one of the core Plaintiff’s in KLAYMAN et al  v. OBAMA et al.  The cases hinge upon the NSA’s intrusions into the private lives of all Americans by their collection of the Metadata and all of the other violations of the 4th Amendment. 

According to the ruling this week by the Justice’s which was 9 to 0:

­Our cases have recognized that the Fourth Amendment was the founding generation’s response to the reviled “general warrants” and “writs of assistance” of the colonial era, which allowed British officers to rummage through homes in an unrestrained search for evidence of criminal activity. Opposition to such searches was in fact one of the driving forces behind the Revolution itself. In 1761, the patriot James Otis delivered a speech in Boston denounc­ing the use of writs of assistance. A young John Adams was there, and he would later write that “[e]very man of a crowded audience appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take arms against writs of assistance.” 10 Works of John Adams 247–248 (C. Adams ed. 1856). According to Adams, Otis’s speech was “the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then and there the child Independence was born.” Id., at 248 (quoted in Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616, 625 (1886)).

Modern cell phones are not just another technological convenience. With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans “the privacies of life,” Boyd, supra, at 630. The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought. Our answer to the question of what police must do before searching a cell phone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple— get a warrant.

We reverse the judgment of the California Court of Appeal in No. 13–132 and remand the case for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. We affirm the judgment of the First Circuit in No. 13–212.”

Chalk up another one for We The People.

Lastly, the Supreme Court held that the State of Massachusetts had impinged upon the Citizens’ 1st Amendment Right to Freedom of Speech. 

As time and tide progress, so will the cases in which I am involved with Larry Klayman;  against the Government’s blatant disregard for the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution of These United States. 

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

BERGAHL"S DISAPPEARANCE AND THE NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW

 
Dear Commander in Chief,
 
There are a great many of us who have questions regarding the disappearance of now SGT BERGDAHL from his unit while deployed in Afghanistan.  I trust that as the Commander in Chief, you will be able to clear these issues up for We The People.
 
1)  Is it true that SGT. BERGDAHL shipped all or most of his personal possessions back home to his family three days before going missing?
 
2)  Is it true that SGT BERGDAHL sent e-mails to his family disavowing the actions of the United States and it's military forces in Afghanistan?
 
3)  Did SGT BERGDAHL desert from the United States Army?
 
4)  Did SGT BERGDAHL aide, abet or assist the enemy in any way before, during or after his alleged capture?
 
5)  Why did Susan Rice state that this exchange was so critical at the time it took place that Congress could not have been afforded the proper notice as required by law when the video's of BERGDAHL in captivity show him eating a well balanced meal and in seeming good health?
 
6)  Is it true that SGT BERGDAHL'S father is Muslim?
 
7)  If SGT BERGDAHL had not deserted, would the six service men who were attempting to locate and rescue him have been killed or wounded?
 
8)  Is it true that you, the Commander in Chief were aware of and pressing for the release of these five high level Taliban detainees for more than two years? (That is a YES or NO question)
 
9)  This is the most important question, Why were the members of SGT BERGDAHL'S platoon ALL required to sign non-disclosure agreements regarding the circumstances of his capture?
 
These are fairly straight forward questions that as the Commander in Chief you should absolutely be able and willing to answer in an equally straight forward fashion.
 
Oh one more things before I forget Sir, have you upheld your oath of office to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic?
 
Thank you in advance for your anticipated response,
 
Signed,
We The People

Sunday, June 1, 2014

DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

WHAT DOES BOWE KNOW?

 
First let me start off by saying congratulations to the family of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl on the occasion of his release from the Taliban.  If it had been my son, I would have gone to nearly any extreme to secure his release from captivity and generally this would be about the second happiest day of my life.
 
This morning, I watched the news on ABC, please note that this was not FOX News but rather ABC and then the interview of National Security Advisor Susan Rice on the George Stephanopoulos Program,   The following is a direct quote from the dialog that ensued as taken from the above transcript published by ABC.
 
STEPHANOPOULOS:
 
Let's bring those questions to the president's national security adviser Susan Rice. Thank you for joining us this morning.
 
Let's begin with how Bowe Bergdahl is doing right now. We know he's landed in Germany. What more can you tell us about how he's doing, his health?
 
SUSAN RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, George, first of all, this is a joyous day. The fact that he is now safely in American hands and will be reunited with his family and his community is incredible.
 
He's now in Landstuhl hospital in Germany. He's going through all of the requisite evaluations and care. And he is said to be walking and in good physical condition. And we look forward to the days to come in which we'll have an even better sense of how he's doing and we look forward to when he can return to the United States, continue his rehabilitation and be reunited with his family.
 
 
 
STEPHANOPOULOS: Also questions about whether the president violated the law, that charge has come from congress as well, that he was supposed to notify members of congress before the transfer of any GITMO detainees.
 
RICE: Well, George, in fact what we had to do and what did do, consistent with the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief, is prioritize the health of Sergeant Bergdahl. We had reason to be concerned that this was an urgent and an acute situation, that his life could have been at risk. We did not have 30 days to wait. And had we waited and lost him, I don't think anybody would have forgiven the United States government.
 
I am a chess player and retired from the United States Army. I fully understand making trades of a strategic nature to win the war.  What The President did in this instance was to trade five Taliban Detainees four of which were extremely high ranking and had previously been tagged as "High Risk" for one Private First Class who by nature of his continued time in service on the rolls of the Department of Defense was promoted two pay grades while being held captive. 
 
So I am forced to ask myself, "What did Bowe know?"  What information did now Sergeant Bergdahl possess that caused The President of The United States to circumvent the Law of the Land and make a Deal With The Devil without the required notice to Congress?
 
RICE:  "We did not have 30 days to wait. And had we waited and lost him, I don't think anybody would have forgiven the United States government."
 
As a young man growing up in the Mid-West, I watched Smokey and The Bandit.  There is an appropriate line in the move where Burt Reynolds says words to the effect of:  "I have an excellent Bull Shit Detector.  I can tell when someone is pissing on my boots and telling me it's raining."
 
Folks this is not rain!!!!
 
We have a young man who may have deserted his post in time of war and either voluntarily broken his "TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGENCE" to the United States by surrendering OR may have left his post by being Derelict In The Performance of His Duties and allowed himself to be captured and now, we have a President who simply feels himself ABOVE THE LAW making a deal that may potentially costs thousands of American lives by releasing five high ranking terrorists back onto the field of battle to plot, plan and execute whatever heinous acts they have been dreaming of as revenge during their detention.
 
We all witnessed the complete embarrassment of Former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney as he fumbled to defend the last round of pointed questions put to him by the White House Press Pool.  Since Rice says that the President spoke with the Leader of QATAR on Tuesday, it seems obviously clear why CARNEY chose to resign so suddenly.  THIS IS NOT RAIN and he knows there is no way this is going to bode well.
 
Semper Vigilantes
 
 
 
 

Friday, May 2, 2014

SCA WARRANTS NOW REACH OUTSIDE THE U.S.

What is an SCA Warrant?

 
In short, an SCA (Stored Communications Act) Warrant is a device used by the Federal Government to obtain information from Microsoft and others regarding individual users actual information stored on the companies computers.  This goes beyond the normal information that the Government admits that it is already gathering regarding an account holder's usage activity and gets to the meat and potatoes of what that user searches for, message content etc....  The Stored Communications Act (SCA) was enacted in 1986 as part of the larger Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), and sought to provide 4th Amendment-like protections to the contents of electronic communications in the hands of service providers like Microsoft. 
 
Here is the scary part,  U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV, ruled last Friday that Microsoft must turn over the records sought by the U.S. Government even though the records they were seeking lay outside the United States in Ireland. 
 
 

18 U.S. Code § 2703 - Required disclosure of customer communications or records


 

(a) Contents of Wire or Electronic Communications in Electronic Storage.— A governmental entity may require the disclosure by a provider of electronic communication service of the contents of a wire or electronic communication, that is in electronic storage in an electronic communications system for one hundred and eighty days or less, only pursuant to a warrant issued using the procedures described in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (or, in the case of a State court, issued using State warrant procedures) by a court of competent jurisdiction. A governmental entity may require the disclosure by a provider of electronic communications services of the contents of a wire or electronic communication that has been in electronic storage in an electronic communications system for more than one hundred and eighty days by the means available under subsection (b) of this section.
 
 
Under the SCA, the government can obtain certain kinds of electronic information held by a service provider only upon a showing of probable cause of wrongdoing.  Obtaining the actual content of an electronic communication requires a higher showing than for, say, account information.  If the showing requirement is met, a court can issue an SCA Warrant.[2]  The SCA Warrant is served on a service provider, who then conducts a search and produces relevant communications.

The article continues and states:

In its motion to quash the SCA Warrant in this case, Microsoft’s argument was simple: warrants are not subpoenas. If the government served a subpoena on Microsoft, then Microsoft would be required to produce relevant information within its possession, custody or control regardless of where it physically resided.  But, by attempting to obtain information located on servers in Ireland via a warrant, the U.S. government sought information outside of the territorial limits of the United States.  Because Federal courts have no authority to issue warrants for the search and seizure of property outside the territorial limits of the United States, Microsoft argued it should not be required to produce the information. In support of its argument, Microsoft noted the SCA Warrant is referred to as just that, a “warrant,” and also requires to the use of warrant procedures in obtaining it.

Here is the unbelievable part:

This argument, however, failed to convince Judge Francis. After conceding Microsoft’s analysis was “not inconsistent with the statutory language” of the SCA, Judge Francis held that the SCA Warrant was not a typical warrant, but was a “hybrid: part search warrant and part subpoena.”  It is a like a search warrant in that an application is made to a magistrate upon a showing of probable cause.

This so-called Magistrate Judge has single-handedly changed the intent of the 4th Amendment single without any concern for citizen's rights, case law or waiting for the Supreme Court of the United States to consider the wide spread implications of granting the government even more power and authority to invade the reasonable expectations of "We The People".

Semper Vigilantes

Thursday, May 1, 2014

ABOUT BENGHAZI

WHY LIE?


Today I watched the entire heated exchange between Press Secretary Carney and the reporter attempting to gain clarity regarding the Administrations prior statements about what they knew regarding the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi.  That entire exchange is available for your own review here for your own review and consideration.  In this exchange, Carney attempts to deflect and redirect the journalist with regards to the contradictions in statements made by the Administration and what was found in the e-mail released to Justice Watch through their recent Freedom of Information Act Request. 

I found that contrary to Carney's assertions in the exchange that according to U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2012-38774 Doc No C054152280 Dated 04/17/2014, that on page two of the heavily redacted document production the exact following:

"Q)  What's your response to the Independent story that says we have intelligence 48 hours in advance of the Benghazi attack that was ignored?

This story is absolutely wrong.  We are not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent.  We also see indications that this action was related to the video that has sparked protests in other countries."

It is important to remember that these were admittedly the "TOPLINE POINTS" that were given to Secretary Rice to help her prepare for her Sunday Morning T.V. appearance.  The administration knew that the questions were coming and this was the response that they came up with for her to tell the entire world on Sunday morning.

The Administration has attempted to duck and dodge this issue for far too long.  They have attempted to have the public believe that this was not a preplanned attack which we now know is completely lacking in credibility.  Our former military leaders previously assigned to Germany state that the military should have been sent in.  We have former Government officials stating that they knew of the possibility of this having been a pre-planned terrorist attack and still the White House attempts to have us believe otherwise.  In the story published by USA Today, today it is clear that Air Force Brigadier General Lovell, Retired who served on the Africa Command stated: "This was no demonstration gone terribly awry."

The good General was testifying before the House Subcommittee on Government Oversight and Reform when Lovell stated:

"Lovell's testimony contradicts the story that the Obama administration gave in the early days following the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. Consulate that left four Americans dead, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Back then the administration insisted that the best intelligence it had from CIA and other officials indicated that the attack was a protest against an anti-Islam video that turned violent."

More disturbingly was Lovell's statement:

"As the attack was ongoing, it was unclear whether it was an attempted kidnapping, rescue, recovery, protracted hostile engagement or any or all of the above," Lovell said.

While people on the ground were fighting for their lives, discussions among U.S. leaders outside Libya "churned on about what we should do," but the military waited for a request for assistance from the State Department, Lovell said.

So while the White House and the Administration would have us believe that there was no real or actionable intelligence to indicate that the boots on the ground in Benghazi were at risk, the Leading Democrat on the Committee asks:

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the committee, cited the testimony of then-commander of AFRICOM Gen. Carter Ham and others who testified that the military moved a special forces unit from Europe to Sicily while the attack was ongoing, and sent a special anti-terrorism team of Marines to Tripoli within a day of the attack.

"Why are you testifying that the U.S. military did not try to save lives," Cummings asked.
Lovell said he was not disputing that information.

"I did not say we did not try," Lovell said. "What I'm speaking to is that we as a nation need to try to do more, in preparations, so that in the future ... we can support the people and have their backs."

Why then is it so important that "We The People" fall for this cover story or allow the facts to be swept away in some tide of time?  Perhaps the answer lies in the 2016 Presidential elections.  If Benghazi goes away and the entire nation suddenly gets a case of CRS (Can't Remember Squat), the this would not tarnish Hilary's chances at a run for the oval office.  This is a woman who reportedly knew of the impending attack, allegedly knew that the boots on the ground were asking for help to defend against a potential threat which we now know was not only credible but resulted in the senseless and unnecessary loss of American lives and most importantly, she is the woman who absolutely decided to ignore all of the evidence, warnings and requests for assistance thereby signing the death warrant of our Fellow Americans.

Semper Vigilantes

Monday, April 28, 2014

4th Amendment Challenged at SCOTUS

SCOTUS TO TAKE UP 4TH AMENDMENT ISSUES

THIS TUESDAY 

While "We The People" have been quietly kept unaware by media on both sides of the isle, two very important issues have been slowly making their way through the American Judicial System. Both hinge on the 4th Amendment and specifically, the people's rights to feel safe from the Government in their possessions against unwarranted searches and seizures and to maintain a reasonable expectation of privacy.
 
According to the article published over the weekend"President Barack Obama's administration and prosecutors from states across the country have lobbied for police officers to be able to search arrestees' gadgets—at or about the time of arrest—without a warrant." 
 
As stated in the article, in both cases, the individuals had been lawfully detained.  Both suspects were then arrested. In both cases, the government (police) searched the contents of the suspects electronic devices without warrants or any obvious probable cause.  Lower courts in both cases have held that the searches were violations of the suspects rights and classified them as unlawful searches and seizures. 
 
If the government had reason to believe that evidence of the crimes for which either party had been detained was present on either of the devices in question, the law is clear that they should have moved for a warrant to search those devices for additional evidence. 
 
In one case, the evidence located in the search subject to arrest had nothing to do with the original crime and it seems that a reasonably prudent individual could not have assumed that evidence of the crimes in question could be secreted on the devices.  In the second case, the suspect was arrested for selling drugs from his car.  One could make an obvious argument that drug dealers routinely use their cell phones to set up both sales and purchases of illegal substances however, the "Plain View Doctrine" should not apply to the contents of the phone and certainly nothing on the phone's surface could be directly connected to the sale or distribution of control dangerous substances. 
 
More importantly in the case of the drug dealer, there were no exigent circumstances which would tend to show that if the arresting officers did not immediately search the suspect's phone, would have led to the loss or destruction of evidence in the matter.  Quite the opposite is true, the phone was safely taken into police custody as was the suspect.  It could have been properly safeguarded until a warrant based upon probable cause was presented to a Judge who might have issued a legitimate search warrant for the contents of the phone and the officers would have found the suspect's home and thus the additional drugs.
 
In that case, it is important to note that "Fruit of the Poison Tree" doctrine should be applied and any and all evidence obtained following the unwarranted search of the suspect's chattels should have been excluded from the trial. 
 
The other case is a bit more complex as to the issue of the suspects vehicle being searched and the police then locating illegal firearms inside the engine compartment.  The suspect was lawfully stopped and found to be driving a vehicle with expired tags and with an expired license.  In California, there is a great deal of history of the Police impounding vehicles under these exact circumstances.  It is routine to inventory a vehicle prior to impounding it so there is a strong possibility that the firearms would have been located whoever, there is a strong argument that under normal inventory procedures, the engine compartment may not have been gone through as this was an inventory not a search.  The discussion about the officers going through the electronic device of the suspect holds the same arguments as previously stated with the exception that the suspect may have been cited and released and therefore his property would have been released as well. 
 
The issue remains that these both appear to be unlawful searches and invasions of a person's reasonable expectation of privacy.  Remember that neither suspect had been tried in a Court of Law and should therefore have been presumed innocent until proven guilty.  They still maintain their Constitutional Rights and those rights appear to have been impinged by the Government.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

I AM MY BROTHERS KEEPER

I AM MY BROTHER'S KEEPER

 
I am one of the plaintiff's in the case regarding the government's blatant violations of the 4th Amendment Rights to Reasonable Expectation of Privacy within homes and possessions.  That case, Civil Action No. 1: 13-cv-00851 being heard in The United States District Court for the District of Columbia has been quietly progressing with little to no media attention because in part the press either does not wish to bring this matter to the forefront or they have been intimidated by the White House to remain as close to mute on the matter as is possible.
  
As I have noted in previous entries here, the Government's complete disregard for the 4th Amendment in it's data collection efforts is not only unprecedented by completely unconscionable. 
 
"The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights that prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause. It was adopted in response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, a type of general search warrant issued by the British government and a major source of tension in pre-Revolutionary America."
 
  
"Obama directed that from now on, the government must obtain a court order for each phone number it wants to query in its database of records"
 
Perhaps I am still just a dumb ol' country boy from small town USA, but it seems to me that the 4th Amendment was exceptionally clear in requiring the Government to obtain a Search Warrant issued by a Judge based upon Probable Cause before violating a citizen's reasonable expectation of privacy.
 
I am not a Constitutional Lawyer.  I do not profess to know all of the case law that has transpired over all the years with regards to the 4th or any other Amendment to the Bill of Rights, but I am positive that I have a clear understanding of the fears of our Founding Fathers when they determined that it was necessary to draft and ratify the 4th Amendment.  The entire purpose of the 4th Amendment was to limit the Government's ability to conduct unwarranted searches and seizures and to guarantee the citizen's reasonable expectation of privacy in their persons and possessions. 
 
For the Administration to so flagrantly disregard the intent of the 4th Amendment on such a broad scope as is being conducted under the veil of secrecy and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court without shining the light of day on their complete lack of probable cause to secretly gather, store, manipulate and farm your records and mine is the epitome of the violations our Founding Fathers set out to protect us from. 
 
Perhaps this all becomes a bit more clear when we evaluate the President's position of being "my brother's keeper". 
 
 
"The common thread of humanity that connects us all – not just Christians and Jews, but Muslims and Hindus and Sikhs – is our shared commitment to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  To remember, I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper.  Whatever your faith, believer or nonbeliever, there’s no better time to rededicate ourselves to that universal mission." 
 
Most good God fearing folk were raised to know the story of Cain and Able as it is told in the Bible.  The Bible reports in Genesis 4:9  "Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"
 
 


Thursday, April 10, 2014

A PERFECT DAY

I think that it is important to report the good as well as the bad.  Many have no idea that besides being a Retired Military Police SSG, a licensed California Private Investigator, a registered Process Server and yes, even a licensed Lock Smith that a little more than five years ago, I formed a small but effective private foundation that gives back just a bit to the families of the men and women who so bravely serve our country.  Over the past five years, the North Pole Foundation has gathered literal truck loads of toys which are delivered to the Family Readiness Officers on Camp Pendleton to be given to the children of those who were deployed in harms way or were otherwise in need to "keep the dream alive".

So yes Virginia and all those other boys and girls, there is a Santa Claus and he never sees you and never watches you open the gifts that you receive for the holidays, but it would pain him and everyone that supports his cause if you did not get those small tokens of appreciation from your unnamed benefactors.  The North Pole Foundation has also sent thousands of DVD's to the men and women serving in Afghanistan and other parts unknown because attempting to use their laptops on the Internet to pass time could result in the enemy reverse engineering their locations through the satellites and thus targeting them and their brothers and sisters in arms. 

We are doing wonderful things for the children in shelters in Orange and Los Angeles Counties and our friends are making differences to those in need in Arizona as well. 

There is more, much more but that isn't the point today.  Today was a perfect day.  Several days ago I received a phone call from the 1st Marine Logistics Group Family Readiness Officer.  He asked if I would be able to meet him on Camp Pendleton this morning because the base was honoring those who volunteered over the past year.  As always, without a moment's hesitation, I informed Gloria that we had plans and needed to be out the door by 07:30 this morning to meet Mr. Bradford.  We arrived a bit early but in my defense, I was taught that five minutes early was ten minutes late and judging traffic in southern California is never exactly easy. 

Upon our arrival at the Pacific Views Event Center, I donned my coat and tie and waited patiently with Gloria until Mr. Bradford arrived.  He greeted us with a smile and a genuine embrace and then escorted us to our table, stage center and politely informed us that 1st MLG, Brigadier General Vincent A. Coglianese and his wife Mary would be seated with us as well as the 1st MLG Sergeant Major Thrasher and his wife.  There were light refreshments and when Eric returned with a beverage, I observed that he had a program which I had not seen.  I quickly went and found the young Family Readiness Officer who was passing them out and ask for one for myself and one for Gloria.  As I returned to my seat, I opened the program and realized that I was listed as a nominee for the Civilian Volunteer of the Year Award. 

No, I was not the selected recipient of the award and honestly I think that everyone else who was nominated deserved the award far more than I.  In true military fashion, I just herd the cats that make everything happen and although it was a huge honor to be nominated, I am thrilled to have not won the award.  It is however infinitely important to recognize the efforts of so many who volunteer with the North Pole Foundation and who donate items to be auctioned off and who give toys to be delivered or spend money at events that allow us to purchase the gifts that we give. 

This was a perfect day.  I was able to listen to Mary Coglianese talk with me about her amazing spirit.  She has had diabetes for a very long time and her sight is impaired greatly.  She shared with me as if she had known me for years not moments.  As we were ending our conversation and preparing to sit down for the ceremony, Mary made a comment to me about her outlook on life and simply stated she said "At least it isn't cancer." 

This amazing woman has refined the importance of her challenges to the mantra "At least it isn't cancer."  I know that that is her version of "Retreat Hell, we just got here." and I knew instantly that her spirit is unstoppable. 

As the ceremony concluded, the General and the Sergeant Major both addressed me as if they knew me forever.  They asked about my son the Marine who was the catalyst for all of this and they were truly concerned.  When I told the General that  my son had boarded a ship on Sunday, the General said oh yea and named the vessel and then said that he had gone down to see them off yesterday. 

The questions shocked me that they remembered so much about why The North Pole Foundation was started and they impressed upon me the gratitude of so many Marines, Sailor's their wives and children who have been touched by our willingness to give just a bit of ourselves and our time and money.  I have spoken hundreds of times about how our gifts impact those we never meet but it was not until today as I was shaking the General's hand and he quietly and unceremoniously slipped me his Challenge Coin, that I realized the real gift of giving.

We make a difference.  Our small tokens of gratitude and appreciation remind those who would walk through the fires of hell for us, people they have never met and probably will never meet, understand that there service and sacrifice is noted.  In turn, the small token of a Commander's Challenge Coin slipped into an empty palm during a handshake returned the message that what we do, what we give is noted and matters.  What a perfect day.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

AT WHAT PRICE?

AT WHAT PRICE?

 
 
As the Beetles song goes, "I read the news today, Oh Boy".  Once again lives are forever destroyed and irrevocably altered on Fort Hood.  The facts are vague at best but what seems to be confirmed is that a troubled young soldier, father and husband returned from war and had been assessed with depression and "behavioral and mental" maladies.   It is confirmed that he was on anti-depression medicine and the "system" was evaluating him for possible PTSD.  The short version is that he snapped.  He killed three other patriots, injured 16 more and then when confronted by a Military Police Patrol Woman, took his own life.
 
In short, the system had an epic failure once again.  This young man arrived on Fort Hood less than three months ago.  His prior command, although treating him for his mental issues, allowed him to PCS (Permanent Change of Station) to Ft. Hood and somewhere, somehow in all of the budget cuts and bull, this kid became so messed up that he found no other solution than to claim lives, injury others and then end his own existence.
 
Even if this soldier who claimed to have suffered TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) while deployed to a combat zone had chosen to end only his own life this would be a tragic event.  The fact that the White House, Congress the Senate and yes, even senior military leaders are talking about budget cuts including those that fund veterans benefits which include assessment and treatment at the V.A. Hospitals in the face of the ever increasing post deployment struggles our young patriots are facing is, in my humble opinion, unconscionable if not at least border line criminal.
 
We are taking 18 year old kids who think that they have a clue what it is like to witness death because of the graphic nature of their video games and thrusting them in to real world horrors of war.  They are seeing sights no one should have to endure.  They are engaged by enemies who use hit and run tactics from hardened positions and then they are forced to radio up the Chain of Command and wait for authorization to return fire and defend themselves while their comrades and friends are being decimated right in front of them.  By the time the authorization comes back down the Chain of Command, the fight is over and the enemy is gone. 
 
They come home and they are mailed packets of questions that are supposed to raise flags if that service man or woman might have lingering issues from their exposure to the spoils and ravages of war.  Are you kidding me?  No one can go to war and come back the same as when they left home.  If you have never had to take a live or faced the reality of your life being taken, you have idea how to assess, treat or even establish common ground with someone who has.  In our father's father's days, the old war horses went to the VFW's and AM-VET's where they talked with others who had been there and done that.  Today, we ask our young warriors to fill in the blanks of a pre-printed form and give them no real outlet to deal with their very true and raw emotions. 
 
Yes, some have returned and feigned PTSD as a way to get out of the armed forces.  Yes, the powers that be should be cautious and complete in assessing our military members and ensuring that they get proper treatment for whatever malady they bring back with them from war. 
 
But at what price are we cutting the budgets that deal with these issues?   We have epic numbers of brave souls returning from deployments who are committing suicides or acting out in manners that most cannot understand and simply chalk up as bad behavior.  It is possible that these are their cries for help and because the powers that be are making conscious choices to cut the funding to help these veterans return to as close to a normal way of life as is possible, they are dying.  Dying literally and figuratively. 
 
So I ask you, at what price are the budget cuts coming?   Personally I would rather see a Congressman or Senator's  aide be force to drive their own car and pay the same high prices for gas as I do and send that money back into the system to treat the mental wounds of our warriors.  I would gladly witness the President taking one or two less fund raising trips a year and having the costs of Air Force One, the pilots, ground crews, security, hotels etc.. conveyed to the V.A. for the proper diagnosis and treatment of even one or two additional returning hero's.  Why not stop the White House Press Diner and take those funds to pay for a year's salary for just one true mental health professional to assess whatever additional percentage of returning service members properly without worrying about running out of funds? 
 
Lastly, I heard the banter of the news about why not allow service men and women carry concealed weapons on base.  As a retired Military Police Officer I can assure you that that would be an even bigger epic failure on the part of the Government and the Military.  Set up an additional duty roster to have soldiers actually secure their perimeters domestically as if they were abroad and in harms way, absolutely.  If you have ever made a felony traffic stop, pulled someone over who you knew was armed and dangerous, imagine being that poor young MP on patrol knowing that potentially every time you pulled someone over they might be more heavily armed than you and it is easy to see the flaws in that line of thought.  The men and women of our armed forces are highly trained in the art of war including marksmanship.  Let's protect them with common sense and place additional armed guards on the bases who may have been able to respond in a more timely manner then did the MP;s in this latest incident.  Remember that the ratio of on-duty MP's to soldier's on a standard base is minute.  The "Good Order and Discipline" of the military ensures that generally we don't need one patrol person to every hundred people on base.  Ft. Hood is 300 square miles in size.  The MP's are spread thin to say the least so the response time under the conditions was more than reasonable.  What was unreasonable was the fact that this young man was failed by the system and one or two less budget cuts within the military may have made a difference and saved lives.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE 4TH AMENDMENT?

 

We The People have lost our minds.  We are all aware of the transgressions of the Government and specifically the NSA with regards to our reasonable expectations of privacy and our right to feel secure in our homes against unreasonable searches and seizures.  Recently, the Obama administration and the President himself announced sweeping reforms that were being proposed to stop the perceived violations of the peoples rights by the government. 
 
In a March 24th New York Times article entitled "Obama to Call for End to N.S.A.’s Bulk Data Collection" the following "changes" were proposed.
 
Under the proposal, they said, the N.S.A. would end its systematic collection of data about Americans’ calling habits. The bulk records would stay in the hands of phone companies, which would not be required to retain the data for any longer than they normally would. And the N.S.A. could obtain specific records only with permission from a judge, using a new kind of court order.
 
Following my long career in Law Enforcement in the Military, I recalled being taught and having had to follow the requires set forth in the 4th Amendment to obtain a Search Warrant.  A Search Warrant is what law enforcement are required to have in order to search you, your possessions or chattels, and / or your car and home UNLESS under exigent circumstances waiting for the issuance of a warrant would cause the lass of evidence or life etc..
 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia    
 
The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights that prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause. It was adopted in response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, a type of general search warrant issued by the British government and a major source of tension in pre-Revolutionary America. The Fourth Amendment was introduced in Congress in 1789 by James Madison, along with the other amendments in the Bill of Rights, in response to Anti-Federalist objections to the new Constitution. Congress submitted the amendment to the states on September 28, 1789. By December 15, 1791, the necessary three-quarters of the states had ratified it. On March 1, 1792, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson announced the adoption of the amendment.

I am not a Rhodes Scholar nor am I the brightest bulb burning on the tree at all times, however, it seems clear to me that the Government's creation of a new kind of court order continues to circumvent the already functional and time tested method to obtain information and / or evidence.  I am all in favor of thwarting terrorist plots.  I am also in favor of stopping criminal plans before they are put fully into motion.  That said, I am still a simple country boy from the Midwest and I don't know crap from apple butter, but I do taste the difference when you spread them on bread and try to force feed them to me. 

The FISA Court is a farce.  It was created to circumvent the legal methods that were set in motion in 1792 to stop the Government from abusing its powers against "We The People".  At present, NSA is not required by the FISA Court or the Government and it's agents to show probable cause as outlined in the Bill of Rights to search your records.  They have a standing "LETTER" that orders the phone companies to turn over your calling history and other information simply because they want it.  They are doing the same with banking transactions and God only knows what else.  Yes, 9-11 was tragic and the loss of American and other lives on our soil was devastating but I had nothing to do with it.  I spent a lifetime in the Military supporting and defending the "Constitution of The United States against all enemies, Foreign AND Domestic."  I have worked in places that don't exist.  I have been entrusted with the security of persons and information that cannot to this day be discussed.  I am not a threat to the United States. 

I am a patriot.  I believe that those who can, MUST stand against injustices for those who themselves cannot or will not.  I believe that a government not kept in check will usurp all of the rights and freedoms its citizens have fought to secure and that if we do not exercise our rights and freedoms they will be forever lost to us.

A system exists that was specifically designed to establish procedures and protocols to ensure that the Government over "We The People" did not grow so big or so powerful that it could forget that it is "OF the People, BY the People and For the People".  As time and technology both advance, We The People need to be even more diligent in our efforts to ensure that Our government does not forget itself or our rights and freedoms.

Semper Vigilantes

 

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

ROMA "GODMOTHER" SENTENCED IN FLA

For one of the biggest stories effecting the Gypsy / Travel Crime Families, the media on the left coast has been decidedly quiet as Rose Marks, the "God-Mother" of the Marks Rom or clan was sentenced to just over 10 years for her part in the fortune telling fraud cases that she and her family orchestrated.  In addition, a great majority of her family plead guilty to lesser charges and the ironically, the Judge who presided over the case was not really sympathetic towards the victims. 

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra indicated that he found it difficult to understand how educated men and women could fall prey to the Marks Rom or family scams.  It is astounding to me that a Federal Judge could not wrap his head around the methods that Gypsies employ to take financial advantage of their victims.  It's simple, they listen.  They listen to what their prey relates and then mold their schemes specifically for each unsuspecting and God fearing subject and then they adapt their stories along the way as the plot of their victim's life unfolds.

They are master manipulators who are trained from birth to take up their roll in the family business.  Instead of attending pre-school and kindergarten, the Roma children are molded from the youngest of ages to listen intently to what their victims say and equally as importantly, to what they don't say and then they play into those needs, desires, weaknesses and all the while, embed themselves into every aspect of their target's life. 

They form an absolute co-dependent relationship where the victim eventually cannot make a single decision without first consulting their "spiritual advisor" and friend.  In many cases, the gypsy convinces their prey that they were related in a prior life and most importantly, they pray together.  They pray for divine intervention and that God will help them with whatever issue is at hand and then, the fortune teller simply tells the unsuspecting yet highly intelligent and highly functional victim that God spoke to them and told them that somehow, money would solve the problem.  That money of course has to be sacrificed or blessed in some way for the psychic to be able to help their "friend" and the con runs for as long as the victim has money and a willingness to part with it.

Once the prey wises up, they are either too embarrassed that they were so easily manipulated that they cannot or will not report the losses or they are intimidated into remaining silent.  Either way, with profits in the millions, the Rom is not going to let their livelihood go lightly.  The Prosecutors and Judicial Officers of the land need to get in-depth training on the methods of the Travelers and more importantly develop a willingness to understand that these are not victimless crimes.

When more gypsies begin to be successfully prosecuted, these crimes will at last begin to diminish.

See the underlying story here: 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/crime/fl-psychic-rose-marks-sentenced-20140303,0,4722066,full.story

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

What the heck did President Obama say?

Last night I watched and listened to President Obama's 2014 State of the Union Address. 

Today, I found and read the transcript because I was plagued with a burning need to find out if what I thought I heard the President say is really what had been declared by him.  Here is the direct quote from the full transcript:

That's why, working with this Congress, I will reform our surveillance programs because the vital work of our intelligence community depends on public confidence, here and abroad, that privacy of ordinary people is not being violated. (Applause.) And with the Afghan war ending, this needs to be the year Congress lifts the remaining restrictions on detainee transfers and we close the prison at Guantanamo Bay -- (applause) -- because we counter terrorism not just through intelligence and military action but by remaining true to our constitutional ideals and setting an example for the rest of the world.

I found this of particular interest and simply want to examine it briefly in light of the law suites against the government for the violations of our Constitutionally protected rights to reasonable expectations of privacy and against unwarranted searches and seizures, etc.. as written into the 4th Amendment (see blog below). 

So what the President said again was:

"That's why, working with this Congress, I will reform our surveillance programs because the vital work of our intelligence community depends on public confidence, here and abroad, that privacy of ordinary people is not being violated. (Applause.) And with the Afghan war ending, this needs to be the year Congress lifts the remaining restrictions on detainee transfers and we close the prison at Guantanamo Bay -- (applause) -- because we counter terrorism not just through intelligence and military action but by remaining true to our constitutional ideals and setting an example for the rest of the world."

Just looking at that first portion, President Obama has said that there is nothing wrong with the surveillance programs currently spying on normal everyday Americans.  Citizens who have never even been a blip on the NSA's radar in the past and now, with no reasonable suspicion and absolutely no probable cause, the Government has devised a system through the FISA Court wherein they can obtain letters authorizing them to force private companies to turn over their information on completely innocent American's. 

If, as the President would have us believe, there is absolutely nothing illegal or immoral about these programs, why then would he have declared in his State of the Union Address:

"That's why, working with this Congress, I will reform our surveillance programs because the vital work of our intelligence community depends on public confidence, here and abroad, that privacy of ordinary people is not being violated. (Applause.)"

If it was not broken, why on earth would he be working with Congress to reform it to ensure that the privacy of ordinary people is not being violated?

The President's closing portion of that train of thought was:

"And with the Afghan war ending, this needs to be the year Congress lifts the remaining restrictions on detainee transfers and we close the prison at Guantanamo Bay -- (applause) -- because we counter terrorism not just through intelligence and military action but by remaining true to our constitutional ideals and setting an example for the rest of the world."

If this president is truly concerned about remaining true to our constitutional ideals, why has he not suspended this program and demanded that the NSA, the FBI and the Government at large, "support and defend the Constitution of the United States" as sworn and immediately go back to obtaining warrants supported by probable cause to obtain the records of the citizens that the government is there to serve?

Remember that this is the same President who said that American's need to recognize that you can't have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy. 

Here is the applicable quote as taken from Huffington Post:

"I think the American people understand that there are some trade-offs involved," Obama said when questioned by reporters at a health care event in San Jose, Calif.

"It's important to recognize that you can't have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience," he said. "We're going to have to make some choices as a society. And what I can say is that in evaluating these programs, they make a difference in our capacity to anticipate and prevent possible terrorist activity."

Remember that when asked in open Court to give one single solitary example of this program ever having worked to identify and thwart a pending act of terrorism against the United States or it's citizens' the government was unable to do so. 

Since there is no quantifiable measure of success with this program and in that the President himself says that there must be reform to ensure that the "that privacy of ordinary people is not being violated." shouldn't this government admit that it crossed the lines and take every possible step to bring itself back in check "by remaining true to our constitutional ideals and setting an example for the rest of the world."

Semper Vigilantes

Monday, January 20, 2014

We the People vs. the NSA et al,



We The People vs The NSA, et al


For few of those who will read this will it come as a surprise that the Government of These United States is actively spying on its citizens.  Most of us have a basic understanding of The Fourth Amendment to The Constitution and that states:

Fourth Amendment

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
 
In his speech given on January 17, 2014, President Obama stated:

"In fact, even the United States proved not to be immune to the abuse of surveillance. In the 1960s government spied on civil rights leaders and critics of the Vietnam War. And probably in response to these revelations, additional laws were established in the 1970s to ensure that our intelligence capabilities could not be misused against our citizens. In the long twilight struggle against communism, we had been reminded that the very liberties that we sought to preserve could not be sacrificed at the altar of national security."
 
President Obama continued by admitting the "supercomputers are sifting through the data and that there is a recognized potential for abuse": 

"Second, the combination of increased digital information and powerful supercomputers offers intelligence agencies the possibility of sifting through massive amounts of bulk data to identify patterns or pursue leads that may thwart impending threats. It’s a powerful tool. But the government collection and storage of such bulk data also creates a potential for abuse."

When addressing our professionals within the intelligence gathering community, President Obama clearly admits the vulnerabilities of the U.S. citizens reasonable expectations of privacy when he says:

"They’ve got electronic bank and medical records like everybody else. They have kids on Facebook and Instagram. And they know, more than most of us, the vulnerabilities to privacy that exist in a world where transactions are recorded and email and text and messages are stored and even our movements can increasingly be tracked through the GPS on our phones."

 The President then addresses the seriousness of the threats to privacy we suffer when he states:

"Moreover, we cannot unilaterally disarm our intelligence agencies. There is a reason why BlackBerrys and iPhones are not allowed in the White House Situation Room. "

The good President then legitimizes the fears that every citizen of These United States should recognize when he says:

"But all of us understand that the standards for government surveillance must be higher. Given the unique power of the state, it is not enough for leaders to say: Trust us. We won’t abuse the data we collect. For history has too many examples when that trust has been breached. Our system of government is built on the premise that our liberty cannot depend on the good intentions of those in power. It depends on the law to constrain those in power."

So now the President wants us to feel secure in the knowledge that He is taking the following "affirmative" steps to keep "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,..."  When he says"

"And today I can announce a series of concrete and substantial reforms that my administration intends to adopt administratively or will seek to codify with Congress.
  
First, I have approved a new presidential directive for our signals intelligence activities both at home and abroad. This guidance will strengthen executive branch oversight of our intelligence activities. It will ensure that we take into account our security requirements, but also our alliances, our trade and investment relationships, including the concerns of American companies, and our commitment to privacy and basic liberties. And we will review decisions about intelligence priorities and sensitive targets on an annual basis so that our actions are regularly scrutinized by my senior national security team."

So in one breath, The President warns us that "it is not enough for leaders to say: Trust us.  We won't abuse the data we collect" then he says that "He" has granted "himself" by virtue or a new Presidential directive stronger "Executive Branch Oversight of our intelligence activities."  Isn't this truly the fox guarding the chicken coop?  The President is warning us not to trust the government that spied on dissidents in the past but to trust Him and his appointee's because they are somehow more trustworthy than their predecessors" 

"This brings me to the program that has generated the most controversy these past few months, the bulk collection of telephone records under Section 215. Let me repeat what I said when this story first broke. This program does not involve the content of phone calls or the names of people making calls. Instead, it provide a record of phone numbers and the times and length of calls, metadata that can be queried if and when we have a reasonable suspicion that a particular number is linked to a terrorist organization."

The same President who would have us believe that he and his cabinet are more trustworthy than those who have gone before then completely contradicts his own prior statements.  Remember earlier in this speech when the President said;  " digital information and powerful supercomputers offers intelligence agencies the possibility of sifting through massive amounts of bulk data to identify patterns or pursue leads" and we are to simply take his word for it that our individual data is secured while that sifting is taking place to locate potential threats to the United States? 

During the recent inquiries into this entire debacle, the Government was loathe to express one single solitary instance when this form of intelligence gathering and "sifting" had lead to the identity of one single instance where a terrorist plot had been identified and / or thwarted. 

We the People must stop following blindly a Government that admits that it sacrifices the rights and liberties provided us in the very Constitution in exchange for some alleged additional securities against terrorist threats, plots or attacks. 

Our forefathers would have been shot or hanged for treason had they been discovered while attempting to forge the lifeblood that has become this great nation.  They were willing to take the risks necessary to stand up against tyrants and injustices and We the People now more than even need to regain oversight of our Government, it's policies and it's actions.  If we do not begin to hold them accountable, who will?  At what point will we all wake up in an Orwellian state with no liberties or justices for any of us?