The Morning Roar: Clapper Fesses Up On Spying, CO Town Rejects Drone Hunting, and Adam Kokesh MythBusts Conservatives
Welcome to your Wednesday edition of The Morning Roar!James Clapper Admits To Warrantless Searches of AmericansJames Clapper- the top intelligence official in the Obama Administration who bold-faced lied to Congress when he claimed the NSA didn't collect any kind of data at all on Americans - has admitted to warrantless searches of Americans communications in a letter to Congress. Clapper became infamous after the revelations of Edward Snowden uncovered the massive spying apparatus that the NSA has built to monitor the electronic communications.Only a few months earlier in March of 2013 while testifying in front of Congress, Clapper was asked the simple question: "“Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”His response? "No sir...not wittingly."And now, more than a year after he blatantly committed perjury (yet retains his job), Clapper has officially fessed up to the NSA's data collection program. This is akin to Charles Manson publishing a letter in the NY Times admitting to organizing a bunch of murders. The likely response would be "Um...thanks Charlie...thanks."Of course Charles Manson is in jail and his crimes have been put to an end. James Clapper on the other hand still sits under the employ of the "most powerful man in the world" as some say, and with the Snowden revelations showing that the U.S. literally spies on the entire world the title may be more appropriate than ever. Clapper will not go to jail; better yet, he will likely end up with a nice cozy job with a government contractor of some sort and enjoy quite a comfortable life, as the crimes of the government he lied for continue on unabated.Colorado Town Rejects Drone HuntingWhile many libertarians might daydream about plucking government spy drones from the sky with their trusty musket (we're guilty of having some April Fool's day fun with this idea ourselves), the voters of Deer Trail, Colorado tend to think it might not be such a great idea. Yesterday they voted against a measure that would issue drone-hunting permits to its residents. According to the Denver Post:
The measure, some residents have said, was not meant to be taken seriously, but was rather a public display of frustration concerning government surveillance. Still, some thought that would-be drone hunters might take the measure literally and act accordingly.
As much as it might sound like a good 'ol time to watch government drones spying on citizens without warrants get shot out of the sky, actually doing so at this point would surely be a bad idea. Even if a town like Deer Trail were to issue "permits" , the Feds would certainly scoff at the naive patriot waving his drone-hunting license as they show up with the SWAT Team. To actually fire upon government property is generally a foolish idea, and it's best for libertarians to keep themselves out of jail.Still, if nothing else, going through the motions with this proposal may have served the purpose of educating a citizen or two about the federal government's plans to rapidly increase it's use of spy drones in the very near future, with up to 30,000 drones in the sky by 2020. Making others aware of government's Big Brother activities can help to show them that our system of government does not play the "protector" role we were taught about in school, and that we drastically need to rethink its role in our lives.Adam Kokesh Mythbusts "Conservatives"Say what you will about Adam Kokesh - his gun-loading stunt in Washington, DC was ill-advised and achieved little more than pain and misery for himself - it's always fun to watch him confuse both conservatives and liberals alike as he attempts to shatter the left-right paradigm. In his latest video, Kokesh speaks to a self-identified conservative at CPAC and helps him wrap himself up in his own contradictions.http://youtu.be/c8kcOAOcbZsKokesh is somewhat confusing with his language at times - "government" isn't necessarily the problem; it is that government as we know it in modern times largely acts in a tyrannical, rights-violating manner. In a free society men will likely form all sorts of voluntary organizations, and some of those may indeed by called "government." The issue is when coercion is involved in forming government as opposed to voluntary associations, which will always lead to tyranny as it is based on tyranny.Nonetheless, Kokesh has always come across to me as very principled in his views, and his videos never fail to entertain. It's great that he's back to work instead of sitting in solitary confinement, and if his efforts manage to introduce more people to the ideas of liberty, then more power to him.Read The Morning Roar every weekday Monday-Friday!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & Google+Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
