Tell Congress to rein in NSA spying

From Rand Paul 2016:

It's illegal.

That's what the New York-based 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously said about the NSA's bulk collection of American phone records earlier this morning.

As I've stated since the very beginning, the NSA's program of collecting billions of innocent Americans' phone records, texts, emails, Internet searches, and social media posts is blatantly unconstitutional.

The Founders included the Fourth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution to protect Americans' right to privacy from government snooping.

But the court didn't even need to address the program's constitutionality!

Please join me in taking our country back by adding your name right away.

While spy-state apologists point to the so-called "PATRIOT Act" as the source for legal authorization, the court noted the bill does nothing of the sort!

The entire scheme is flat-out ILLEGAL. Period.

I'm sure this is going to make my colleagues' skin crawl in Congress.

They want nothing more than to keep the national security spy state growing until it tracks, traces and catalogues virtually every detail about every aspect of our lives.

To them, the safety Americans yearn for can only be had under the watchful eye of Big Brother.

Of course, I know the legal wrangling over the NSA's domestic spying programs is far from over.

But with a fight brewing over renewal of the "PATRIOT Act" in Congress, I suspect this court's decision will only embolden some of my colleagues to enshrine the NSA's ILLEGAL and UNCONSTITUTIONAL spying schemes in federal law.

That's why I'm counting on your IMMEDIATE action.

Won't you please sign your End Illegal NSA Spying petition immediately?

It's absolutely critical that you do so.

I'm going to fight them with everything I have -- if I can count on your help.

The Founders understood liberty cannot long survive without privacy.

Most conservatives know government registration of firearms would ultimately lead to gun confiscation.

It's no different with the rest of our lives.

Once government bureaucrats know every aspect of our lives -- what we watch, what we buy, what we eat, where we worship -- it won't be long until they try to run them "for our own good."

After all, the Washington machine believes bureaucrats know best.

They couldn't be more wrong.

Out-of-control government has gummed up the wheels of our economy, leading to only 0.2% growth in the first quarter of this year.

It's sunk our nation in $18.2 TRILLION in debt.

Meanwhile ObamaCare is driving up health insurance premiums, shuttering hospitals and worsening the quality of American healthcare.

I know they say, "trust us."

But how can we?

How can we after the IRS targeted conservative organizations for harassment and intimidation?

How can we after the Justice Department spied on reporters who dared criticize this administration?

Even this entire NSA spying scheme is another example of an out-of-control government bureaucracy breaking the law to get what it wants.

Yet, more and more voices are now admitting these unconstitutional programs don't even work.

If our government used the legal tools it has to target terrorists -- instead of sifting through innocent Americans' information -- we could fight terrorism and uphold the Constitution.

But it's going to take a President who is willing to take the oath to uphold the Constitution seriously.

I ran for office because I feared the Washington machine was out of control.

I believed it was time for true patriots -- not career politicians -- to stand up and stop the madness.

Today, I'm running for President because we need a true, uncompromising voice for liberty.

And I'm going to fight any attempt by my colleagues in Congress to disguise the NSA's unconstitutional spying programs with a veil of legality.

But I must be able to count on your support.

First, please sign your End Illegal NSA Spying petition right away.

Second, please chip in your most generous contribution.

I don't know what you can afford.

My hope is you will be extra-generous and chip in $250, $100 or even $50.

If that's too much though, please chip in $25 or even $10.

The fight over NSA spying on innocent Americans is about to heat up in Washington, D.C.

I'm ready.

But I'm counting on you to please stand with me.

In liberty,

Rand Paul

Edward Snowden is a hero

Edward Snowden

As far as I'm concerned Edward Snowden is a hero. He exposed a massive invasion of the American people's privacy by a corrupt government. This goes beyond the Whitehouse this contaminates Congress as well. We find that one of the president's biggest Republican cheerleaders,Senator Lindsay Graham-SC,defending what the NSA and in turn,what the Whitehouse did. In fact if Graham wants us to surrender who rights and privacy he can go first. Other statists are coming forward as well to condemn Snowden. The good thing is we are finding out who the statists are and when their terms are up we can kick their sorry butts out of office. They're pissed that Snowden didn't go through proper channels. What was he supposed to do? Give that information over to higherups at the NSA? Go to the Holder Justice Department? Trust statists like Graham? If he did any of those he would be Osama Bin Laden's roommate by now. The fact that he handled the way he did shows he's not stupid. Not by any means. Let's see where this goes.

A father's plea

From Demand Progress:

Over the past five months, I have been heartened to see the memory of my son galvanizing such a powerful movement for change. I can tell you, it's what Aaron would have wanted.

It has been your efforts that have led some lawmakers to pursue an investigation of Aaron's vindictive, cruel and disproportionate prosecution. When the Justice Department appeared before the Judiciary Committee to discuss Aaron's case, Senators Patrick Leahy, John Cornyn, and Al Franken all pushed for answers. And for that they deserve thanks.

Click here to join me in thanking these Senators for their efforts and urge them to keep pushing for answers about Aaron's unjust prosecution.

At the request of these senators, the Department of Justice recently briefed Senate Judiciary Committee staffers on their prosecution of Aaron -- but more questions remain.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: my son was destroyed by a system and prosecutors that still don’t understand the nature of what they did.

They destroyed my son by their callousness and inflexibility.

Click here to thank those lawmakers who've aided our effort to expose the absurd and abusive nature of Aaron's prosecution.

The work of changing that system -- of getting answers to our unanswered questions about Aaron's prosectution -- remains before us.

For now, it's important that those lawmakers who've already joined our cause know that we are thankful, and that we will continue to stand with them as they use their power to hold the DOJ to account and seek justice for Aaron.

Click here to join me in thanking them for pursuing the investigation, and let them know that we'll stand with them as they keep pressing forward.

Thank you,

Bob Swartz

Petition:click here

Let's demand answers in the death of Aaron Swartz

Tens of thousands of people have used the White House's petition site to demand that President Obama fire Aaron Swartz's prosecutor Carmen Ortiz -- easily surpassing the 25,000 signature threshold that's supposed to guarantee a response.

Aaron died more than two weeks ago, but the White House still hasn't even issued a statement.

We've been waiting far too long. Help us demand answers from the White House. It's enough already: They need to respond to our calls and fire Ortiz.

Just click here to tell the White House to stop stonewalling and fire Ortiz.

There's actually some good news to report: The House Oversight Committee has responded to our requests and is calling for a briefing on Aaron's prosecution from the Department of Justice.

That's because what happened to Aaron looks far more like a persecution than a prosecution: Ortiz wanted him to serve upwards of 35 years in federal prison for downloading too many ACADEMIC ARTICLES.

We've demanded answers, Congress is demanding answers. It's time for the White House to stop ignoring us.

Click here to tell the White House to stop stonewalling and fire Ortiz already!

To sign the petitions click here

35+ simply for downloading academic articles? If he wasn't doing anything illegal why the heavy-handed methods? The government did what it could to silence him. There are some that are saying Swartz was the recipient of an assisted suicide.