Morning Roar: NSA Reveals Mistakes On Xmas Eve, Cop Who Asked for Nude Pics Won't Be Charged, Jeb Still Leads GOP
Welcome back to what is hopefully a very short week before getting back to holiday revelry. Your Morning Roar awaits...NSA Reveals "Decades Worth" of Domestic Spying Mistakes on Christmas Eve We all know that Santa was watching to be sure we were good boys and girls all year, but unfortunately so was the NSA, and unlike Santa, spied on millions of Americans without cause and without the promise of a fantastic gift waiting under the tree. Helpfully, the NSA has tracked those mistakes (to assuage our fears of abuse) and oh so helpfully released the records on Christmas Eve, when virtually no one would be paying attention. Nice.From Mashable:
The documents were released Wednesday afternoon, in response to an ACLU lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. They cover the agency's activities from mid-2001 through early 2013 — and they are heavily redacted."NSA goes to great lengths to ensure compliance with the Constitution, laws and regulations.” (claims the executive summary)Many of the reports begin with the same message to the chairman of the Intelligence Oversight Board, stating:"Except as previously reported to you or the President, or otherwise stated in the enclosure, we have no reason to believe that intelligence activities of the National Security Agency ... were unlawful."Or: We don't think we did anything wrong when we weren't doing the stuff that was wrong.With the redactions, it is difficult to tell exactly how sensitive information was when it was accessed "in error."Patrick C. Toomey, a staff attorney with the ACLU's National Security Project,said the documents show that more oversight of the NSA's activities is needed.“The government conducts sweeping surveillance under this authority — surveillance that increasingly puts Americans’ data in the hands of the NSA,” he told Bloomberg, which first reported the new documents. “Despite that fact, this spying is conducted almost entirely in secret and without legislative or judicial oversight."
Of course the NSA doesn't think what it was doing was wrong - but then again, how often does any overarching governmental organization look at itself and its moral compass and ever blame itself?Cop Who Demanded Nude Teen Pics To Erase Underage Drinking Charge Gets Off In New Hampshire a particularly odious case has been resolved, however completely unsatisfactorily to anyone with a sense of justice. From the Union Leader:
Speaking publicly for the first time, Janelle Westfall said state laws failed her after New London's former police chief made her a proposition: If she posed nude for him, the underage alcohol charges against her would be dropped.Westfall, who was 18 at the time, was arrested by Seastrand, then 50, on March 2, 2013, as she walked home from a party. She was charged with giving a false name and for being in possession of a beer can.Four days later, Seastrand called her to the police station. The former chief told Westfall he needed to meet with her alone, and began discussing alternative measures of punishment, like community service, for the misdemeanors.Because of Westfall's complaint, David Seastrand will never be allowed to serve as a police officer again. She also received a $70,000 settlement from the town.
Well that seems perfectly fair, doesn't it? The cop "can't work as a police officer again", but is free to go about his life after abusing his power. And since he simply retired from the force, I'm willing to bet he's likely to retain his pension.And why couldn't Seastrand be prosecuted? Well, according to those very prosecutors...
They later explained that the only law applicable to the case was the abuse of power statute, under which a public official is guilty of a misdemeanor if he or she knowingly commits an unauthorized act "which purports to be an act of his office" or "knowingly refrains from performing a duty imposed on him by law or clearly inherent in the nature of his office."
It seems horribly disturbing that this is the only comeuppance for a man who has doubtless propositioned many more girls than just Westfall during his time with the police force. We need laws that punish officers who abuse their power in this manner, specifically because of the role they have chosen to play in society that entitles them to so much power over others. This man should have gone to jail for at least some amount of time to pay for mentally abusing this young woman.Jeb Bush Still Leading Echoing an earlier article I wrote, Jeb Bush is still leading the pack for potential GOP candidates, this time in a CNN poll. The big news in this poll, however, is that Jerry Jones high-fiving imbecile, Chris Christie now is in second. Previously, Rand Paul and Paul Ryan were tied for second, and Paul now lies in 4th with 6%.
Jeb Bush is the clear Republican presidential frontrunner, surging to the front of the potential GOP pack following his announcement that he's "actively exploring" a bid, a new CNN/ORC poll found.He takes nearly one-quarter — 23% — of Republicans surveyed in the new nationwide poll, putting him 10 points ahead of his closest competitor, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who tallied 13%.
Now, this is only one poll, but it stands to (shocking) reason that with two in the bucket and more to come, Jeb does in fact seem like the frontrunner - at least until he starts getting torn down, as every candidate does. It's beginning to look a lot like election season...with 1.5 more years to go.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!
