Pres Obama seeks more NSA bulk collection on same day he promises to end it
In a spectacular display of hypocrisy, President Obama filed a motion in court to continue bulk collection of metadata of innocent Americans just hours after signing the ‘USA Freedom Act’–you know, the new law designed to end bulk collection by the government. (See the court filing below.)
Read the full court file here.
President Obama has clearly been thinking about his legacy in the realm of civil liberties and free speech and I suppose journalists have too. After prosecuting more journalists under the Espionage Act than all previous administrations combined, I can start to understand why journalists don’t ask many hard hitting questions during White House press conferences.
Thanks to these brave bloggers/journalists for pointing out the truth and for not getting invited to cocktail parties:
1) Appellate court rules bulk collection illegal; 2) Both houses of Congress vote to end it; 3) Obama DOJ seeks re-authorization for it.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 8, 2015
June 2, 6:03pm: Obama says he’ll sign law banning bulk collection. June 2 9:50pm: DOJ asks secret court for 180 more days of bulk collection
— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) June 8, 2015