Congress wants your guns

From Campaign For Liberty:

I’m growing more and more concerned the white-hot fight over gun control in Congress last fall was merely side-tracked by impeachment.

And the really troubling part is it may have given the anti-gun statists a strategic advantage to renew their all-out assault on our Second Amendment freedoms in Congress ahead of the November elections.

You see, the gun grabbers knew a major showdown over impeachment -- hot on the heels of Red Flag Gun Confiscation -- would only deplete our ability to thwart their gun control schemes.

And after wheeling their anti-gun political machine through Richmond, Virginia, they are convinced it’s the beachhead they need to DESTROY the Second Amendment and RAM their entire anti-gun agenda into law at the federal level.

Without your immediate action, it looks like they’ll be right and you and I will see the Second Amendment eviscerated.

So I’m counting on patriots like you to step up and stop them.

Won’t you please sign your DEFEND THE SECOND AMENDMENT DIRECTIVE right away?

I don’t have to tell you our Second Amendment freedoms are the ultimate safeguard to the Liberty and freedom that so many Patriots fought and died for.

And that for you and me there’s no choice when they come after our gun rights. We have to be ready for a knock-down, drag-out brawl to save our Second Amendment rights every time the gun grabbers attack!

Momentum shifting in the gun-grabbers’ direction is bad enough.

What really has me worried are the weak-kneed Republican politicians who’ve previously expressed support for various gun control proposals.

Historically, they’re prone to collapse the closer it gets to election day. November’s coming like a freight train and our Second Amendment freedoms hang by a thread.
All it will take is some madman shooting up a “gun-free” zone and those same politicians will be clamoring to cut a “deal” and grant Big Government statists BLATANTLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL powers to:

- Seize law-abiding Americans’ firearms -- with ZERO DUE PROCESS -- through so-called “Red Flag” Gun Confiscation Orders; and

- Create a Nationwide Gun Registration -- aka “Universal Background Checks”. . . to hand Government Goons the names and firearms of every single gun owner in the country.

My friend, do you think it can’t happen where you live?
IT CAN. . . and the gun grabbers are dead set on making it a reality.

That’s why now more than ever we must be prepared to FIGHT BACK.

And why I need every single patriot to dig deep to help halt the statists’ assaults on our Second Amendment freedoms.

I'm counting on you!

Won’t you help keep building the grassroots muscle to make it 100% clear to ALL your elected officials there is no room for negotiation when it comes to our Second Amendment rights?

Please sign your DEFEND THE SECOND AMENDMENT DIRECTIVE IMMEDIATELY!

And after you have, please dig deep and chip in with as generous a contribution as you can afford to help Campaign for Liberty recruit and mobilize more patriots to defend our Second Amendment freedoms!

For Liberty,

Ron Paul
Chairman

P.S. Gun-grabbers are feeling emboldened by what we just saw in Richmond, Virginia and they’re now dead set on RAMMING their anti-gun agenda into law at the federal level.

And with impeachment over, gun-grabbing politicians like Senators Lindsey Graham, Dianne Feinstein, and all the other anti-gun statists are poised to renew the horse-trading over our Second Amendment freedoms.

You and I must do everything we can to ensure we defend the Second Amendment.

So please sign your DEFEND THE SECOND AMENDMENT DIRECTIVE and pitch in whatever you can afford right away!

The FBI is spying on Ron Paul and Campaign For Liberty

From Ron Paul for Campaign For Liberty:

Have you seen the news? The FBI is spying on Campaign for Liberty!

Now, I’m wondering if my own personal phone lines are tapped and emails being read by Peter Strzok-like agents who want to see our Liberty Movement DESTROYED.

That’s why I’m counting on your EMERGENCY action today.

With a showdown looming over PERMANENT reauthorization of the NSA’s domestic spying powers in March, I don’t think it’s an accident we’re being targeted by the Deep State.

They know Campaign for Liberty and the patriots like you who support us are their biggest remaining obstacle to their dream of turning America into a full-blown surveillance state.

They tell us it’s to “keep us safe,” and their power would never, ever be abused.

The Deep State coup they’ve led against President Trump has exposed to many Americans what a blatant LIE this is.

As I’ve pointed out time and again if they’ll go after a sitting president, what’s to stop them from coming after you or me?

The answer is nothing.

That’s why I’m counting on you to please sign your EXPOSE THE DEEP STATE petition to Congress, DEMANDING they investigate FBI spying on Campaign for Liberty and any other domestic organization they’re targeting.

You see, not long ago, Cato Institute Scholar Patrick Eddington submitted hundreds of Freedom of Information Requests (FOIA) to the FBI asking whether the bureau had ever conducted warrantless surveillance of organizations like Campaign for Liberty.

When the responses started pouring back in, the FBI effectively responded, “No, nope, nope, never, not them, nope. . .”

That is UNTIL they were asked about Campaign for Liberty.

Then the FBI issued a “Glomar” response, effectively saying, “No comment.”

These “Glomar” responses are extremely rare, used only when the FBI wants to refuse to confirm or deny whether it was collecting national security or intelligence records on the subjects of the FOIA request.

In other words, if they WEREN’T spying on me, they’d say so!

Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. . .

To the Deep State, I’m “dangerous” because I support liberty.

That’s been the message time and again, going all the way back to 2009 when the Department of Homeland Security issued warnings about people with my presidential campaign stickers on their cars!

Then, a few years later, we were targeted by the IRS seeking personal records and information on some of our largest donors (an attack we fought and ultimately WON with your help).

Deep State mouthpieces in the media have accused me of being a Russian stooge for simply standing up for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Now, this.

With a battle looming over PERMANENT reauthorization over Section 215 of the so-called “USA Freedom Act” in just weeks, I don’t think this is an accident.

This is the (UNCONSTITUTIONAL!) section of federal law pointed to by the Deep State authorizing them to spy on Americans’ phone calls, emails, Internet searches, chats, social media posts, and all the rest. . .

It’s the crown jewel of the domestic surveillance state.

And Campaign for Liberty is daring to threaten its survival!

So Deep State allies in the FBI want to intimidate me into shutting up -- something I will NEVER EVER do, so long as I have you standing beside me.

The only good news is this entire scheme can backfire -- IF I can count on your help today.

Deep State apologists in BOTH parties, from U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to Lindsey Graham (R-SC), are growing squeamish about reauthorization.

They know there’s abuse. And they know -- despite the Deep State’s promises -- domestic government spying has never done anything to catch a terrorist.

For you and me, that’s no surprise. That’s never what these schemes have been about.

From the beginning, they’ve ALWAYS been about shutting up voices like mine who support American freedom.

The good news is, if you and I can FORCE Congress to investigate the FBI’s surveillance of Campaign for Liberty, it will expose the Deep State’s true colors for all of America to see -- right as the battle over reauthorization of Section 215 of the so-called “USA Freedom Act” comes to a head.

That’s why I’m counting on your EMERGENCY action today.

So please sign your EXPOSE THE DEEP STATE petition right away.
But I hope you won’t stop there. If possible, please agree to your most generous contribution to help Campaign for Liberty:

1) Deploy targeted online Internet ads calling on Congress to investigate the FBI spying on Campaign for Liberty and any other similar organization they’re targeting. This may be THE most cost-effective way for you and me to turn up the heat!

2) Use mail and email to contact up to 12 million Americans from coast-to-coast to generate petitions just like the one I’ve linked for you to Congress;

3) Work the talk-radio lines to explain exactly why our effort to expose the Deep State’s true colors is absolutely critical to stop the reauthorization of their UNCONSTITUTIONAL spying powers; and

4) Launch an all-out email and phone mobilization campaign to explain to the American people exactly why the Deep State MUST be exposed.

With the fight over the USA Freedom Act just weeks away, we’re running out of time to raise the resources we need to fight back.

So after you’ve signed your Directive, won’t you please make your most generous contribution of $15?

I know I’ve asked a lot of you lately. But considering everything that’s at stake, I’m asking each and every Campaign for Liberty supporters to dig deep.

Of course, if that’s just too much please agree to $10 or at least $5.

The FBI and their Deep State allies have run rough-shod over Americans’ civil liberties long enough.

It’s time to take the power back -- and that begins by us demanding Congress investigate FBI spying on Campaign for Liberty and any other pro-freedom organization they’re targeting.

Please take action by signing your EXPOSE THE DEEP STATE petition and making your most generous contribution of $15, $10, or at least $5 right away.

For Liberty,

Ron Paul
Chairman

Gun Control part deux

From Ron Paul at Campaign For Liberty:

Make no mistake -- they’re coming for your guns.

When Nancy Pelosi reclaims the Speaker’s gavel, the U.S. House is going to pull out all the stops to ram through the Gun Control Lobby’s radical anti-gun agenda.

And they just might succeed if you and I aren’t prepared to stop them!

That’s why I’m counting on you to renew for 2019 right away.

As I previously mentioned, I budgeted $78,413.89 to ensure Campaign for Liberty could hit the ground running in 2019.

With everything that’s at stake, I hope you realize just how vital it is for Campaign for Liberty to raise every penny of that -- and more, if possible!

While we know the gun-grabbers are preparing to ram through so-called “Universal Background Checks,” that’s really just a code word for NATIONWIDE GUN REGISTRATION.

And I fear that’s just the beginning. Believing they have the momentum, they could soon move on their entire agenda, including:

*** Feinstein’s so-called “Assault Weapons” Ban, which would outlaw specific rifles, shotguns, and handguns -- including ones popular with hunters and sportsmen -- based arbitrarily on nothing more than certain “scary” cosmetic features;

*** Emergency “Red Flag” gun seizures, allowing friends or family members to have your guns taken away based on mere accusations without due process or trial;

*** Raising the minimum age to buy or possess a rifle, denying young adults their Second Amendment rights at home while the government continues to hand them more powerful weapons and ship them off overseas on America’s grand military adventures;

So won’t you please renew for 2019 right away with your most generous contribution of $35, $50, $100, $250 or $500 today?

Your generous support will enable Campaign for Liberty to hold the line against the gun-grabbers and beat back their attempts to gut the Second Amendment.

We must make it clear to your elected representatives there is no room for negotiation when it comes to our Second Amendment rights.

The words of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution are so easy to grasp:

". . . the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

There were no asterisks and no footnotes. There are no sentences that follow which start with the words "unless" or "however." The right to defend your life and property shall not be infringed by the government.

Period.

Unfortunately, politicians are taking a lot of flak from the anti-gun media and the re-organized and deep-pocketed Gun Control Lobby.

While we may not have the backing of BILLIONAIRES like Michael Bloomberg and George Soros, the Liberty Movement’s passion and dedication to the fight is second to none.

Because every dollar raised from each and every supporter is so critical, I’ve decided to do something this year that I’ve never done before when asking Campaign for Liberty supporters to renew.

If you can renew for 2019 with a contribution of $35 or more, I’ll send you a copy of my “Farewell to Congress” speech booklet.

And if you can agree to $100 or more, I’ll be sure to sign it for you before my staff pops it in the mail!

I realize that’s a lot to ask for. But there’s so much at stake in 2019. We have to fight like never before.

With the end of the year rapidly approaching, and so many critical battles in store for us in 2019, I hope you’ll act right away!

The Dems now control the House just as the GOP controls the Senate. With Democratic leadership the House is going to go a different direction than the GOP House did. The majority of the Dems favor marijuana legalization. Unfortunately they also favor feminism,homosexism,affirmative action and gun control. It is the last one that we are tackling today. Mexico has some of the very harshest gun control laws on the books. How has that worked to the advantage of the average Mexican citizen ? It hasn't. There are only two armed factions in Mexico. The federales and local law enforcement along with other government agents on one side (all corrupt)and the armed drug cartels and other criminal organizations on the other. The people are defenseless and at the mercy of a corrupt government and/or the criminal gangs. Is that what you want for America ? If so you are alone. On the other hand if you value America then stand up to the liberal gun control goons and stand with Ron Paul and Campaign For Liberty in defeating them.

Join Senator Rand Paul in opposing CISA

From Campaign For Liberty:

The Senate intends to pass a new warrantless surveillance bill granting government broad new authorities for collecting your personal information from private businesses, and it's up to you and me to stop them.

On Wednesday the Senate may hold its first vote on the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), S. 754.

Promoted as a "much-needed" "cybersecurity" bill, Congress devised a new way for intelligence agencies to collect your emails and sensitive data.

The bill "encourages" private companies like Google, Facebook, and Yahoo to monitor their networks and share "cyber threat indicators" broadly with agencies like the FBI, NSA, and CIA.

Worse yet, the bill allows the government to share and use your information for reasons completely unrelated to cybersecurity!

And on top of all that, this bill grants companies immunity to ensure they give the government as much information as possible...

Without having to make any effort to redact your sensitive information.

Let that sink in for a moment...

The same government that can't protect its own data on 22.1 million federal employees, contractors, and their families and friends wants private businesses to share your personal information freely with them.

And if (more likely, when) your information is misused either by government agencies, private businesses, or both, you will be unable to hold anyone accountable.

Ray, you and I can both see this isn't going to end well.

CISA is justified as necessary to stop hackers...

But sharing your Google searches and emails with Homeland Security will not stop hackers.

In fact, nothing in this bill would stop any of the cyber-attacks publicized in the press this year.

When it comes down to it, this is nothing more than a new warrantless surveillance bill.

Congress should be rolling back intelligence agencies' surveillance powers, not granting new ones.

Recently, the President of the American Library Association, Sari Feldman, spoke out against the bill saying,

"When librarians oppose a bill with 'information sharing' in its name you can be sure that the bill is decidedly more than advertised."

Businesses like Twitter, Yelp, Facebook, and Google all oppose this bill.

You only need to look at who is sponsoring this bill to realize it isn't for your benefit or mine.

Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Richard Burr (R-NC), two of the biggest surveillance state proponents in the Senate, are working diligently to ram this legislation through.

And that makes the first potential vote on Wednesday crucial.

Per standing Senate rules, the Senate needs 60 votes to proceed on the bill.

Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have all vocally opposed this legislation.

But it's going to take an outpouring of opposition from grassroots Americans like you to stop this warrantless surveillance bill from passing the Senate.

That's why it's vital you sign your emergency "Stop the Surveillance State!" Fax Petitions to your U.S. Senators today.

These petitions let your senators know you see right through the thin façade of "cybersecurity" and recognize this bill for what it is - a new warrantless surveillance bill.

At a time when Congress needs to do more to rein in the intelligence agencies to protect your privacy, many senators are trying to expand the surveillance state.

Let them know you'll have nothing of it.

Please take action today, then forward this email to your friends and family and ask them to sign their emergency "Stop the Surveillance State!" Fax Petitions as well.

Public pressure matters. And if you remain silent, don't look to blame others later for your lost liberties.

It's time the American people stand up and say, "Enough is enough!"

In Liberty,

Tim Shoemaker
Director of Legislation

To sign the petition

No more debt ceiling increases

From The National League Of Taxpayers:

They used to call it graft.

Now they call it crony capitalism and untold millions have been made by those in the know.

A case in point is Richard Blum, billionaire husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein of California:

***When the housing market crashed in 2008, Blum raked in $108 million selling foreclosed homes the government bought.

***In 2012 Blum invested $1 million in green energy company Amyris which only weeks later received $24 million from the Department of Energy.

***While Feinstein was the chair of the Senate Military Construction Subcommittee, $1.5 billion was given to defense contractors, resulting in a $5-$10 million profit for Blum.

This brand of "crony capitalism" may be legal, but it's not right.

But of course, with a government as big and out of control as ours, it could not be any other way.

Big government naturally creates a pool of big spending politicians who tax us in every way possible, and then use that money to make their cronies richer.

That’s why you and I must fight to give the power and the money back to the people, and take it away from tax-and-spend politicians and their cronies.

And why we must say no – no – no to any further expansion of government.

Sincerely,

Gary Paumen, President
National League of Taxpayers

P.S. If you have not already signed your “Just Say No to Debt Ceiling Increases" petition, click here to do so.

And after signing, I hope you will chip in with a special contribution.

The political football called "marijuana legalization"

The topic of marijuana legalization is a very controversial one. There are political dinosaurs like Bill O'Reilly that seek to keep the status quo even though the drug war is a failed one. O'Reilly's status quo is going to keep sending money to drug kingpins by keeping marijuana illegal. Not only that the quality and purity of the marijuana is in question. If it is tainted with some adulterant then it may have an negative impact versus the purity that is found in medical and recreation marijuana where allowed by law. This is a big issue and politicians need to throw out the 80's war on drugs manual. There are a lot of Republicans that want to appear "tough on drugs" by opposing legalization. That is political suicide because a lot of Democrats favor legalization and that will help them in November. Obamacare is a fiasco and the Dems needs something that is going to make them appealing to voters again. Enter marijuana legalization. If it is not the soap to wash Obamacare off it is the paper correction fluid that could whiteout Obamacare. Not all Democrats favor legalization. Senator Diane Feinstein(D-CA) is against legalization and they may politically hurt those that oppose it down the road. There are also Republicans that favor legalization like Congressman Dana Rohrabacher(R-CA). The booming sales of recreational marijuana in Colorado and soon Washington State will show the rest of the nation that marijuana legalization is not only beneficial it is imperative if we are going to stop organized crime and the resulting chaos that goes along with it.

The day we fought back was a tremendous success

From Demand Progress:

Tuesday was amazing. Working with scores of organizations, and thousands of sites, and hundreds of thousands of activists, we organized the largest online privacy protest ever.

Nearly 100,000 calls were placed to Congress on that day, melting the phone lines and making it clear that we will persist in the fight to end mass surveillance.

And please share them widely, so the whole world knows just how strong we are when we work together:

On Tuesday we sought to make a dent, while laying a foundation for escalation over the months to come: It was a tremendous success.

We demonstrated that civil society organizations, hundreds of thousands of activists, and major corporations are willing to bring coordinated pressure to bear on lawmakers.

Just a few highlights:

•Scores of organizations from across the political spectrum banded together.
•Thousands of sites urged their visitors to take action.
•Google formally endorsed the USA FREEDOM Act, which would end bulk data collection.
•Twitter tweeted to nearly 30 million people in support.
•Dozens of lawmakers issued statements of support.
•NSA acolyte Senator Dianne Feinstein was on the run from her own constituents.

We will persist, we will escalate, and we will win.

Please click here to check out the stats.

And please share them widely, so the whole world knows just how strong we are when we work together:

Onward.

-Demand Progress

Stop the FISA Improvement Act from taking away your rights

From The Free Press Action Fund:

We’ve got a problem.

A few weeks ago we told you about the USA Freedom Act — a bill that would go a long way toward ending the NSA’s overreaching surveillance efforts.

But there’s a lousy piece of legislation on the move that would do the opposite.

That bill — Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s FISA Improvements Act of 2013 — would give the NSA even more leeway to monitor our phone calls, text messages and every online move. It’s an awful bill and we need to stop it.

Tell Your Senators to Stop the FISA Improvements Act.

There’s always a big scramble in December to pass legislation by the end of the year. 'Tis the season for quietly ushering through horrible bills before Congress goes home for the holidays.

We Can’t Let the FISA Improvements Act Move Forward. Tell Your Senators to Kill This Bill.

The NSA revelations keep coming. On Wednesday we learned that the agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the location of cellphone users around the world. It’s clearer than ever that we need real reform of the government’s surveillance programs, not this fake fix that Sen. Feinstein and a handful of NSA cheerleaders are trying to sneak through Congress.

Thanks for all that you do,

Candace, Josh and the rest of the Free Press Action Fund team
Free Press Action Fund
freepress.net

P.S. The Free Press Action Fund fights every day to protect your privacy. We don’t take money from business, government or political parties and rely on the generosity of people like you to fuel our work. Please donate $15 (or more!) today. Thank you!

To Take Action

Another attempt at gun control

From the National Assoication for Gun Rights:

This is an all-out EMERGENCY.

And unless you act today, I'm afraid we'll be staring at a gun control nightmare.

Yesterday, anti-gun California Senator Dianne Feinstein strode to the microphone demanding her colleagues pass a gun control bill -- immediately -- specifically her beloved “assault weapons ban.”

Powerful House Democrat Steny Hoyer urged his colleagues to “renew” the push in the House and Senate for gun control legislation.

Hordes of gun control lobbyists have spread out on Capitol Hill today looking for new Republican and Democrat support for gun control legislation.

But facts don’t matter to the gun-grabbers . . .

Whenever a tragedy -- a revolting grave crime -- is committed, gun-grabbers ALWAYS rush to "cash in."

Always.

New media now report that the shooter was armed with a shotgun, not an “AR-15” that Feinstein wants banned and turned in by the millions of Americans who own them for self-defense.

Of course you and I both know that no specific type of gun commits a crime. Criminals and thugs do.

Others in Washington, DC, and in state capitols across the country are banging the drums for more “Gun Free Zones,” ignoring the fact that yesterday’s shootings occurred in a secure government facility in a city where guns are banned.

“Gun Free Zone” signs do not protect anyone from violent madmen.

All these signs do is guarantee killers never face anyone who can defend his or herself.

And despite the fact that the shooter had a secret government security clearance, the gun-grabbers are demanding a renewed push in the U.S. Senate for expanded federal background checks on all Americans (national gun registry).

So with anti-gun fervor raging in the national media and anti-gunners demanding gun control right now, gun-grabbers are determined to strike while the iron is hot.

You and I both know what’s at stake here . . .

Expanded or Universal “background checks” (NATIONAL GUN REGISTRATION) remains at the top of the gun-grabbers’ priority list.

After all, the ability to CONFISCATE firearms from the American people -- the gun-grabbers’ ultimate goal -- rests on knowing who owns which guns.

That’s the real purpose of these “background checks.”

Without a database of gun owners, this scheme would be largely unenforceable. There would simply be no way for our federal government to know if any citizen had broken the law.

These “background checks” were a key part of the so-called Toomey-Manchin “compromise” and is central to the newly-drafted U.N. “Small Arms Treaty,” which could come before the Senate as early as this fall.

But there’s another threat out there that I’m afraid is growing by the day.

That’s so-called “Mental Health Restrictions,” which is really code for handing federal bureaucrats the ability to STRIP law-abiding gun owners of their Second Amendment rights on a whim without trial or due process.

And the gun-grabbers believe the groundwork has already been laid to classify as many Americans as possible as mentally unstable, including:

>>> News reports that nearly 30% of the nearly 900,000 Iraq and Afghanistan War vets treated by the Department of Veterans Affairs have been diagnosed with PTSD! This is in addition to the hundreds of thousands of vets who have already been “rewarded” for serving their country with the loss of their gun rights;

>>> New estimates by the World Health Organization that roughly one in five American youngsters will have some sort of mental health problems every year;

>>> Estimates by U.S. Surgeon General Steven Galson that 46.4% of Americans experience some sort of mental illness during their lives!

To the gun-grabbers, disarming up to 50% of the American population within a year or two’s time by declaring them “crazy” without ever going through a trial sounds like a dream come true!
The good news is, you and I can fight back.

But we must mobilize quickly.

If you want to ensure your Second Amendment rights are protected into the future, I'm counting on you to act IMMEDIATELY.

Being involved in the fight has never been more important.

First, I need your signed Second Amendment Protection Petition to help drown out the anti-gun spin machine with today.

In the coming weeks I'll flood Congress with tens of thousands of pro-gun petitions proving you and I are serious about protecting our rights and we're not backing down!

Obama, Biden, McCain and Schumer vow to enact gun control

We must ensure every politician in Washington, D.C. understands America does not need new gun control laws . . .

It's more freedom.

It's more good guys armed with the power and the ability to stand up to deranged bloodthirsty loons and STOP them.

You know how we'll make the politicians understand that?

By ensuring every single one of them knows they'll pay the price with their political careers for voting for gun control schemes.

But to do that I'm going to have to mobilize Second Amendment supporters from all over the country.

I've already authorized my staff to begin broadcasting our message across the web on sites frequented by politically-active pro-gun voters.

And we're expanding from there:

Mail, email, web videos, and even hard-hitting radio, newspaper and TV ads if I can raise the resources.

I want to mobilize up to 14 million Americans.

Not next month. Not next week. But NOW.

You see, there's no time to waste.

Of course, such an ambitious program won't be cheap. But it's our one shot at winning.

So please sign your Second Amendment Protection Petition TODAY.

Obama, Biden, McCain and Schumer vow to enact gun control

But also, please chip in $10 or $20.

Thanks in advance for answering the call in this tough time.

For Freedom,

Dudley Brown
Executive Vice President

P.S. The gun-grabbers just announced they're on the warpath -- and they're not taking any prisoners -- this is an all-out EMERGENCY.

With anti-gun politicians already calling for gun control, it's never been more important to fight back.

I've already begun a campaign to mobilize up to 14 million pro-gun Americans to prove to the politicians we still stand for the Second Amendment and we're not backing down!

But such an ambitious program isn't cheap.

So after you sign your Second Amendment Protection Petition please chip in $10 or $20.

Together you and I will weather this storm and continue to stand for freedom.

To sign petition click here

The Senate wants to give the Department of Justice the authority to decide who gets First Amendment protection

Senate Amendment Would Give DOJ Power to Determine Who Is a 'Journalist'

by Ben Shapiro 13 Sep 2013 1017

An amendment is moving through the Senate Judiciary Committee that would essentially allow the government to determine who is a journalist for purposes of legal protection of sources. For purposes of protecting a source, a “journalist” under law would be anyone who:

•Works or worked for “an entity or service that disseminates news or information by means of newspaper; nonfiction book; wire service; news agency; news website, mobile application or other news or information service…news program; magazine or other periodical…or through television or radio broadcast…” These people would have to have the “primary intent to investigate events and procure material in order to disseminate to the public news or information.” Opinion journalists might not be covered.

•Bloggers and citizen journalists – citizens who commit acts of journalists without working for such an outlet – would not be covered, unless it was determined that “at the inception of the process of gathering the news or information sought, had the primary intent to investigate issues or events and procure material in order to disseminate to the public news or information.” In other words, the government – the Department of Justice – would now determine whether primary intent was news distribution or political concerns.

•Those explicitly excluded from protection include those “whose principal function, as demonstrated by the totality of such person or entity’s work, is to publish primary source documents that have been disclosed to such person or entity without authorization.” Glenn Greenwald, please contact your lawyer.

Who would decide who fell within these guidelines? A “judge of the United States” can “exercise discretion to avail the persons of the protections of this Act.” But in the first instance, the DOJ would have the discretion to determine whether a person is a “journalist” for purposes of the law. Instead of focusing on acts of journalism, the law would identify people by employment status.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said that it should not matter to citizen journalists if new protections extended to a special class of journalists created by the government, since the First Amendment does not grant any right to protect sources in the first place. “When we’re discussing the issue of adding a privilege, the issue of taking away someone’s First Amendment rights just isn’t engaged….All we’re doing is adding privilege to existing First Amendment rights, so there is, logically, zero First Amendment threat out of this,” said Whitehouse, ignoring the fact that a massive institutional advantage would be handed to approved government outlets, thereby perverting the entire system of a free press.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) launched into the proposed bill, which he said could “have the effect of excluding certain persons from enjoying the added First Amendment protections the bill would provide.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) agreed, stating, “Essentially as I understand this amendment, it protects what I would characterize as the ‘corporate media.’…But it leaves out citizen bloggers….I don’t think any protection should treat citizen bloggers who are meeting the underlying test of being primarily engaged in gathering news to report it I don’t think they should be excluded because they don’t happen to work for a media corporation.” He continued:

It strikes me that we are on dangerous territory if we are drawing distinctions that are treating some engaged in the process of reporting and journalism better than others. If we are advantaging those who happen to receive a paycheck from a corporate media entity over those who happen to be citizens….I for one would have deep troubles with legislation from Congress saying ‘we will grant special privileges if you happen to work for a corporate media interest’….It seems to me the First Amendment protects the activity, not the employment status of the person engaging in it.

Source:click here

This is very important. It means that those who are politically correct will be protected while those of us who believe in civil liberties won't be. Look for assclowns like Dave Futrelle and Hugo Schwyzer being given "journalist" protections while those of us in the manosphere will receive no protections. Do you want some judge to decide? We've all seen how the corrupt the judiary is. It has been documented on the Men's Rights Blog so we know it exists. One liberal judge could destroy everyones' rights. Not only that do you want Eric Holder to decide for you? Remember this is the same Eric Holder who covered up black on white hate crimes:here and here. The is the same Eric Holder who perjured himself in the House concerning fast and furious. Do you want to give more power to Eric Holder? I sure don't.

As far as the bill's supporters perhaps we should email them and let them know we are not fond of this bill and to leave the Constitution alone,this bill is an infringement upon the First Amendment:

Senator Dianne Feinstein contact form

Senator Dick Durbin contact form

Senator Chuck Schumer contact form

Then there are the good guys. We should thank them for standing up for not only the First Amendment but the Constitution itself:

Senator Mike Lee contact form

Senator Ted Cruz contact form

Let's let both sides know how we feel. That we value the Constitution.

CNET gets ahold of CISPA documents

U.S. gives big, secret push to Internet surveillance

Justice Department agreed to issue "2511 letters" immunizing AT&T and other companies participating in a cybersecurity program from criminal prosecution under the Wiretap Act, according to new documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

by Declan McCullagh | April 24, 2013 8:59 AM PDT

NSA director Keith Alexander, shown here in a file photo, who's also the commander of the U.S. Cyber Command.

Senior Obama administration officials have secretly authorized the interception of communications carried on portions of networks operated by AT&T and other Internet service providers, a practice that might otherwise be illegal under federal wiretapping laws.

The secret legal authorization from the Justice Department originally applied to a cybersecurity pilot project in which the military monitored defense contractors' Internet links. Since then, however, the program has been expanded by President Obama to cover all critical infrastructure sectors including energy, healthcare, and finance starting June 12.

"The Justice Department is helping private companies evade federal wiretap laws," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which obtained over 1,000 pages of internal government documents and provided them to CNET this week. "Alarm bells should be going off."

Those documents show the National Security Agency and the Defense Department were deeply involved in pressing for the secret legal authorization, with NSA director Keith Alexander participating in some of the discussions personally. Despite initial reservations, including from industry participants, Justice Department attorneys eventually signed off on the project.

The Justice Department agreed to grant legal immunity to the participating network providers in the form of what participants in the confidential discussions refer to as "2511 letters," a reference to the Wiretap Act codified at 18 USC 2511 in the federal statute books.

The Wiretap Act limits the ability of Internet providers to eavesdrop on network traffic except when monitoring is a "necessary incident" to providing the service or it takes place with a user's "lawful consent." An industry representative told CNET the 2511 letters provided legal immunity to the providers by agreeing not to prosecute for criminal violations of the Wiretap Act. It's not clear how many 2511 letters were issued by the Justice Department.

In 2011, Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn publicly disclosed the existence of the original project, called the DIB Cyber Pilot, which used login banners to inform network users that monitoring was taking place. In May 2012, the pilot was turned into an ongoing program -- broader but still voluntary -- by the name of Joint Cybersecurity Services Pilot, with the Department of Homeland Security becoming involved for the first time. It was renamed again to Enhanced Cybersecurity Services program in January, and is currently being expanded to all types of companies operating critical infrastructure.

The NSA and DOJ declined to comment. Homeland Security spokesman Sy Lee sent CNET a statement saying:

DHS is committed to supporting the public's privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. Accordingly, the department has implemented strong privacy and civil rights and civil liberties standards into all its cybersecurity programs and initiatives from the outset, including the Enhanced Cybersecurity Services program. In order to protect privacy while safeguarding and securing cyberspace, DHS institutes layered privacy responsibilities throughout the department, embeds fair practice principles into cybersecurity programs and privacy compliance efforts, and fosters collaboration with cybersecurity partners.

Paul Rosenzweig, a former Homeland Security official and founder of Red Branch Consulting, compared the NSA and DOD asking the Justice Department for 2511 letters to the CIA asking the Justice Department for the so-called torture memos a decade ago. (They were written by Justice Department official John Yoo, who reached the controversial conclusion that waterboarding was not torture.)

"If you think of it poorly, it's a CYA function," Rosenzweig says. "If you think well of it, it's an effort to secure advance authorization for an action that may not be clearly legal."

A report (PDF) published last month by the Congressional Research Service, a non-partisan arm of Congress, says the executive branch likely does not have the legal authority to authorize more widespread monitoring of communications unless Congress rewrites the law. "Such an executive action would contravene current federal laws protecting electronic communications," the report says.

Because it overrides all federal and state privacy laws, including the Wiretap Act, legislation called CISPA would formally authorize the program without the government resorting to 2511 letters. In other words, if CISPA, which the U.S. House of Representatives approved last week, becomes law, any data-sharing program would be placed on a solid legal footing. AT&T, Verizon, and wireless and cable providers have all written letters endorsing CISPA.

Around the time that CISPA was originally introduced in late 2011, NSA, DOD, and DHS officials were actively meeting with the aides on the House Intelligence committee who drafted the legislation, the internal documents show. The purpose of the meeting, one e-mail shows, was to brief committee aides on "cyber defense efforts." In addition, Ryan Gillis, a director in DHS's Office of Legislative Affairs, sent an e-mail to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee, discussing the pilot program around the same time.

AT&T and CenturyLink are currently the only two providers that have been publicly announced as participating in the program. Other companies have signed a memorandum of agreement with DHS to join, and are currently in the process of obtaining security certification, said a government official, who declined to name those companies or be identified by name.

Approval of the 2511 letters came after concerns from within the Justice Department and from industry. An internal e-mail thread among senior Defense Department, Homeland Security, and Justice Department officials in 2011, including associate deputy attorney general James Baker, outlines some of the obstacles:

[The program] has two key barriers to a start. First, the ISPs will likely request 2511 letters, so DoJ's provision of 3 2511 letters (and the review of DIB company banners as part of that) is one time requirement. DoJ will provide a timeline for that. Second, all participating DIB companies would be required to change their banners to reference government monitoring. All have expressed serious reservations with doing so, including the three CEOs [the deputy secretary of defense] discussed this with. The companies have informally told us that changing the banners in this manner could take months.

Another e-mail message from a Justice Department attorney wondered: "Will the program cover all parts of the company network -- including say day care centers (as mentioned as a question in a [deputies committee meeting]) and what are the policy implications of this?" The deputies committee includes the deputy secretary of defense, the deputy director of national intelligence, the deputy attorney general, and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"These agencies are clearly seeking authority to receive a large amount of information, including personal information, from private Internet networks," says EPIC staff attorney Amie Stepanovich, who filed a lawsuit against Homeland Security in March 2012 seeking documents relating to the program under the Freedom of Information Act. "If this program was broadly deployed, it would raise serious questions about government cybersecurity practices."

In January, the Department of Homeland Security's privacy office published a privacy analysis (PDF) of the program saying that users of the networks of companies participating in the program will see "an electronic login banner [saying] information and data on the network may be monitored or disclosed to third parties, and/or that the network users' communications on the network are not private."

An internal Defense Department presentation cites as possible legal authority a classified presidential directive called NSPD 54 that President Bush signed in January 2008. Obama's own executive order, signed in February 2013, says Homeland Security must establish procedures to expand the data-sharing program "to all critical infrastructure sectors" by mid-June. Those are defined as any companies providing services that, if disrupted, would harm national economic security or "national public health or safety."

Those could be very broad categories, says Rosenzweig, author of a new book called "Cyber War," which discusses the legality of more widespread monitoring of Internet communications.

"I think there's a great deal of discretion," Rosenzweig says. "I could make a case for the criticality of several meat packing plants in Kansas. The disruption of the meat rendering facilities in Kansas would be very disruptive to the meat-eating habits of Americans."

Source:click here

I didn't think Obama was against CISPA and I was right. I figured he approved of all the other assaults upon our civil liberties why would he be opposed to CISPA? Now we know truth.