USA Freedom Act is a nice start but it doesn't go far enough without the Poe-Lofgren Amendment

From Demand Progress:

Yesterday, legislation was introduced in Congress that purports to rein in the NSA’s mass surveillance programs. It’s called the USA FREEDOM Act (as was a similar bill last year), and we don’t think that it goes far enough.

USA FREEDOM might do something very modest to constrain the NSA's behavior under the particular authorities that that agency has exploited to collect information about all of Americans’ phone calls.

But it also does some definitively terrible things, like giving companies immunity for facilitating government spying — and extending the very authority the NSA has manipulated to engage in mass surveillance.

Here's the thing: time is already running out — a committee vote on USA FREEDOM is expected TOMORROW. Can you make a call to your member of Congress and ask them to oppose USA FREEDOM because it doesn't go far enough — and to support key amendments to make it better?

Moreover, USA FREEDOM doesn’t address the fundamental problem: That the NSA is a rogue agency that operates under a cloak of darkness without meaningful oversight or checks on its power, and will lie and violate the law with impunity.

Even if the NSA’s ability to spy on us is constrained slightly, for now, we can expect it to do all in its power to warp the law — and torture the English language — to find justifications for ever more-expansive surveillance.

And because oversight is so limited, because Congressional leadership and the House and Senate Intelligence Committees are so captured by the surveillance agencies and contractors, we won’t even find out about the NSA’s new schemes until another whistleblower surfaces in 10 or 20 years.

To learn more about why we are opposing this bill, you can read our press release about USA FREEDOM here.

If you agree with our take on the USA FREEDOM Act, can you make a call to your member of Congress right now?

Yes, I'll make a call to my member of Congress.

No, I don't have time to make a call — but I'll click here and chip in $10 to help Demand Progress in this fight.

Thanks for standing strong.

—David, Daniel, Mark, Sara and the rest of the Demand Progress team

Tell the Obama administration to practice transparency when it comes to TPP by posting it online for the general public

From Credo:

Our campaign to pressure President Obama's administration to immediately make all secret trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) just got a massive boost.

President Obama is lashing out at activists and our elected representatives who have called for transparency around secret negotiations, calling us “dishonest.”

In response Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown added their voices to Senator Bernie Sanders’ call for the Obama administration to immediately release the full text of the TPP. In a letter to the president, Senators Warren and Brown wrote:

The American people should be allowed to weigh in on the facts of the TPP before Members of Congress are asked to voluntarily reduce our ability to amend, shape, or block any trade deal. The press and the public should be allowed to examine the details that corporate executives and lobbyists have already been allowed to influence for years. Members of Congress should be able to discuss the agreement with our constituents and to participate in a robust public debate instead of being muzzled by classification rules. Before Congress votes to facilitate the adoption of the TPP, the American public should be allowed to see for themselves whether it's good deal for them.1

Stand with Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown and Bernie Sanders: Add your name and tell President Obama to immediately release the full text of the TPP before Congress votes on Fast Track. Click here to sign the petition.

Senators Warren and Brown sent the letter in response to the president's recent attacks on progressive activists fighting to stop Congress from rubber-stamping a Fast Track bill for the biggest trade deal in our history. President Obama has even gone so far as to compare our objections to the deal being negotiated with corporations and foreign governments to Sarah Palin’s invocating of “death panels” during the health care debate.

The Warren-Brown letter specifically points out that President Obama's "trade transparency record is worse than that of former President George W. Bush," noting that even Bush "published the full negotiation texts of a major free trade deal with Latin America several months before Congress had to vote on giving the deal fast track benefits."2

This letter gives our ongoing campaign to rally around Senator Bernie Sanders’ call for transparency on all pending trade deals a huge lift. We need to do our part by pushing even harder for transparency now.

Add your name and tell President Obama to immediately release the full text of the TPP before Congress votes on Fast Track. Click here to sign the petition.

It would be outrageous for the Obama administration to allow the Republican leadership and their corporate allies within the Democratic party to ram through Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority without allowing all members of Congress, their staff, and the American public to read what is in trade agreements such as the TPP. And as Senators Warren and Brown point out, it would be worse than George W. Bush!

In fact, the reason why the corporate lobby is pushing hard for Fast Track is that they know the TPP could not get through Congress without this extraordinary power grab.

This secret "trade" deal would eviscerate broad swaths of regulations that protect consumers, workers, the environment and the soundness of our financial system. And it would set up a legal regime where corporate profits trump the policy priorities of sovereign governments.

It’s ironic that the president claims critics of the TPP "don’t know what they’re talking about" when it’s his administration that is refusing to release the text of his secret trade agreement to the public – only providing extremely limited access to members of Congress. The Obama administration should immediately release the TPP text to the public, and Congress, so we can have a spirited and informed public debate on the largest trade deal in our history.

Stand with Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, and Bernie Sanders: Add your name and tell President Obama to immediately release the full text of the TPP before Congress votes on Fast Track. Click the link below to sign the petition.

To sign petition

Thank you for your activism.

Murshed Zaheed, Deputy Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets

Support Trey Gowdy in holding Hillary accountable

From Stop Hillary PAC:

Trey Gowdy is coming under fire for forcing Hillary Clinton to testify...and now he's in danger.

We don't have a moment to lose.

As you know, Trey Gowdy has summoned Hillary Clinton to appear before the Select Committee on Benghazi for a fully transcribed, under oath interview, AND Hillary has refused!

And now, the full weight of the Clinton machine is out to crush Rep. Gowdy.

Let me explain: in an attempt to hide the truth, Hillary's offered a "limited," public appearance before the Select Committee where she can "appease" the media and avoid answering deep, hard-hitting questions in the name of "protecting national security" and claiming that she's already answered for her use of a personal email server.

But the truth is, Hillary will do ANYTHING to avoid tough questioning and face accountability for her actions.

South Carolina Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy has done an expert job leading the Congressional Select Committee on Benghazi, but as he faces his largest attack yet from Hillary Clinton, her campaign apparatus, and the left wing elite media -- he needs your immediate support.

That's why I'm leading the charge to support Trey Gowdy.

Friend, the truth can only be found through a transcribed interview to secure the public interest and ensure the committee has the unvarnished truth. And Hillary knows that could spell the end of her political career.

Gowdy's affirmed -- in light of her wiping clean the email server -- that Hillary MUST appear separately to discuss EACH of these events -- Benghazi AND her "illegal" email practices.

Remember those that dared to uncover the truth about the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton affair and Clinton's lies under oath about it? The Clintons and their friends in the media methodically destroyed the careers and reputations of those that dared to lead the impeachment proceedings, including Congressmen Bob Livingston, Bob Barr, Henry Hyde, Newt Gingrich, Helen Chenoweth, and Dan Burton.

Bottom line?

If Americans want Congressman Gowdy to uncover the truth about Benghazi and Hillary's role in it, Gowdy will need our support.

We need to let him know he has the support of Americans across the country and that we will have his back when faced with the mud slinging onslaught that is sure to come his way.

If Congressman Gowdy can finally uncover the truth, then, perhaps we can stop Hillary once and for all...because, she MUST BE STOPPED.

And in order to achieve that goal, WE NEED YOU ON OUR TEAM TODAY.

For America!

Senator Ted Harvey

P.S. Trey Gowdy is our best hope to finally get the answers Americans deserve, but he needs our help now more than ever. Chip in just $5 (or more if you can afford it) so we'll have the funds to support Gowdy and protect him from the Clinton media machine as he digs to clear the federal stonewall!

To find out how you can help go Stop Hillary PAC

Congressman Gowdy is the fight of his career. He is standing up to the Clintons and holding them accountable. Unfortunately the team of Billary Clinton don't like that so they aim their venom at Trey Gowdy today just like they did to Newt Gingrich,Bob Barr and Bob Linvingston in 1994. The Congressman needs your support. You can give him a call in his Washington DC office at (202)225-6030 and let him know the American people have his back and want him to continue holding Hillary accountable. If you live in Gowdy's district then vote for him if not try to support him. Gowdy is one of the last leaders in Congress who has any balls by holding Hillary accountable. If he is replaced by a democrat Hillary sympathizer then Hillary will skate-possibly into the White House. No one wants that so support Trey today.

We won Comcast backs off from the merger

From Fight For The Future:

Big news: Comcast officially called it quits on merging with Time Warner! The mega-deal that would have given them control over more than half the country’s Internet users is dead.1

It was supposed to be the largest cable merger ever, combining the two largest, most hated cable companies into a single, massive political and economic monopoly. And now, thanks to hundreds of thousands of people like you taking action, that deal is not going to happen. This happened because of our power and ability to work together.

This win means we should be smart and take steps right now to protect the free and open Internet. We know Comcast is putting more energy into attacking net neutrality in Congress and in the courts, trying to get their way by throwing huge amounts of money anywhere they can.

That’s why we created Comcast Customer Help — a site where you can see which members of Congress are doing Comcast’s bidding and make them stop. Click here to check out the worst offenders.

2015 has been an amazing year for Internet users because we’ve made it a terrible year for Comcast's schemes to control the Internet. Together, we won net neutrality and put an end to their schemes to be a gatekeeper to what we see and do on the Internet. Today, we stopped them from merging with Time Warner and creating a single, hyper-powerful cable monopoly.

We beat a monopoly twice in one year. That never happens. We're in this interesting moment where because we've been smart, coordinated, and powerful, we're creating a domino of wins in our issue area. Everything little thing you do now can have an exponential effect for good.

That's why we can’t stop here. Comcast is trying to use special rules in Congress to overturn the new net neutrality rules — and given the millions of dollars they spend every year lobbying Congress, we can’t let up for a second.

Help us hold Comcast’s biggest Congressional allies accountable. Check out Comcast Customer Help now.

For the Internet,
Fight for the Future

P.S. This huge win is proof that the campaigns we’re running work -- and a reminder that when we come together as Internet users we wield an incredible amount of influence.

1.Source

Tell these 8 Senators to oppose Section 215 of the Patriot Act if it remains in its unconstitutional form

From FreedomWorks:

End the NSA's Lawless Spying
468 calls reported

The NSA’s unconstitutional, warrantless spying needs to end!

Obama is using a short-term provision in the Patriot Act to spy on all of your electronic records. Obama’s snoops are exploiting Section 215 to make sure they can collect all of your phone, email, and electronic data without a warrant!

There will soon be a vote to reauthorize Section 215 of the Patriot Act. When the Patriot Act is reauthorized, the temporary section (Section 215) must be reformed to protect your 4th Amendment constitutional rights. The government must get a specific warrant before searching your personal phone data.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to give Obama exactly what he wants: a clean reauthorization of Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

8 Republican senators can stand up to him and protect our privacy. Our right to privacy shouldn’t be violated by the NSA.

Call these 8 Republicans today. Urge them to stand against any reauthorization of Section 215 of the Patriot Act that doesn’t end bulk collection of phone data!

Talking points:

- Mitch McConnell wants to pass a clean reauthorization of Section 215 of the Patriot Act – and give President Obama everything he wants.

- Right now, Obama's NSA is unconstitutionally collecting the phone data of innocent Americans without specific warrants.

- If Section 215 of the Patriot Act is going to be reauthorized, then it needs to be reformed so that a specific warrant is required to collect the phone data of innocent Americans.

- Stand up for the 4th Amendment and stop any reauthorization of Section 215 that doesn’t end bulk collection of data without a warrant.

These are the U.S.Senators to contact:

Senator John Boozman
Office Phone: (202) 224-4843
Email

Senator Mike Enzi
Office Phone: (202) 224-3424
Email

Senator Joni Ernst
Office Phone: (202) 224-3254
Email

Senator Deb Fischer
Office Phone: (202) 224-6551
Email

Senator Pat Roberts
Office Phone: (202) 224-4774
Email

Senator Mike Rounds
Office Phone: (202) 224-5842
Email

Senator Dan Sullivan
Office Phone: (202) 224-3004
Email

Senator Thom Tillis
Office Phone: (202) 224-6342
Email

Support the Community Broadband Act

From CREDO Action:

Huge news: Comcast just announced that it is giving up on its proposed $45.2 billion merger with Time Warner Cable.1

This is a tremendous victory that shows that when we stand up for what is right and fight back against the big corporations and the rightwing, we can win.

CREDO activists have been fighting this merger since February 2014, just a few days after it was proposed. In total, more than 280,000 CREDO activists signed petitions or submitted public comments against the merger to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the California Public Utilities Commission.

With public opinion supporting them, antitrust lawyers at the DOJ were preparing to intervene to advise against the merger. And then six senators – Al Franken, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, Richard Blumenthal and Ron Wyden – wrote the FCC and DOJ strongly urging them to block the merger.

When liberals stand up and fight, we can win. CREDO activists were a huge part of this victory. Here’s what we did to help make this crucial victory possible:

February 2014: Just days after the merger was proposed, Representative Chellie Pingree launched a petition on CREDO Mobilize urging Attorney General Eric Holder to block the merger because it was “not in the best interests of American consumers and threatens the free and open nature of the Internet.” More than 160,000 CREDO activists signed Rep. Pingree’s petition.2

August 2014: More than 106,000 CREDO activists submitted public comments to the FCC telling it to reject the merger because it would “lead to decreased competition and higher Internet and cable costs for tens of millions of Americans.”3

February 2015: More than 17,000 CREDO activists in California signed our petition telling the California Public Utilities Commission to stop the merger from moving forward because it would “create a massive media conglomerate unlike anything we’ve seen before.”4
Just this week, responding to reports that staff attorneys at the DOJ were leaning toward recommending that the antitrust division intervene to stop the merger, another 24,000 CREDO activists signed our petition urging the DOJ to do just that.5

While this is a huge victory, it is important to recognize that it was a defensive one. Grassroots pressure from CREDO activists and others stopped this mega-merger from moving forward, but the cable and broadband Internet industries remain under the control of just a handful of corporations. And Comcast – or one of its rivals like Charter Communications – could soon make moves to further consolidate the industry. All of us need to remain vigilant and work to stop future mergers, as well as look for opportunities to support independent, local and publicly owned media, cable and Internet companies.

Beyond celebrating this victory, one key thing you can do right now is fight for the ability of cities and municipalities to offer broadband Internet access to their residents. There are 19 state laws currently on the books that make it illegal for them to do so.

Senators Cory Booker and Claire McCaskill have introduced the Community Broadband Act, which would preempt these state laws and allow municipalities to compete directly with big cable companies by offering their own broadband service. If you haven’t done so already, please sign our petition in support of of the Community Broadband Act.

Sign the petition: Allow cities to offer fast and affordable Internet access. Click here to sign the petition now.

Thanks for everything you do.

Josh Nelson, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

Sources:1,2,3,4,5

Comcast is on the ropes now is time to deliver the knockout punch

From Demand Progress:

Comcast is already America's most-hated corporation — but now it wants to take over Time Warner Cable and expand its empire to include the wires that reach into 60% of Americans' homes.

The Federal Communications Commission heard us and supported our demands for Net Neutrality, but the massive cable monopoly that Comcast wants to build will have the market and political power to circumvent or strip away critical consumer protections.

Will you submit a comment to the FCC and tell them to block Comcast?

But all of a sudden things aren't looking great for Comcast. For the second time in just a few months, activists and consumers have one of the country's most powerful corporations on the ropes. You can help us throw the knockout punch.

Reports over the last week or so make it clear that we have allies inside of two regulatory bodies that would need to approve the merger: The attorneys who oversee the proposal for the Department of Justice look poised to urge that it be blocked. And the FCC is forcing the proposal through a particularly rigorous process.

It's not a done deal yet, but Comcast is flailing — let's finish them off. Just click here.