Gunrunner: Judge rules the Department of Justice must release Fast and Furious log

America's Watchtower

  It has been quite a long time since there has been anything to write about Fast and Furious. In fact since Eric Holder ran to Barack Obama and begged the president to use Executive Privilege to seal the documents which I believe show the upper level of the Obama regime to have been complicit in the scandal the investigation has been dead for all intents and purposes.

  But today Darrell Issa, and all those who want to learn the truth about the scandal which left Brian Terry and Jamie Zapata dead, won a small victory.

  Here is more:

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NSA’s Bill Stinney interview | Bill Still

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Can Police Search Your Cell Phone Without a Warrant? The Supreme Court is About to Decide | Liberty Blitzkrieg

Two very important cases related to the 4th Amendment protection of cellphone data went before the Supreme Court yesterday. At issue here is whether or not police can search someone’s cellphone upon arrest. As usual, the Obama administration’s Justice Department is arguing against the citizenry, and in favor of the (police) state. Let’s not forget that the “Justice” Department also argued in favor of the police being able to place GPS tracking devices on people’s cars without a warrant back in 2011. Fortunately, the Supreme Court ruled against it.

Naturally, the feds in the current case will discuss all of the criminals they were able to bring to justice as a result of these privacy violations, but they will certainly not point out America’s current epidemic of unlawful arrests, as well as arrests for petty non-violent crimes that happen each and every day. For instance, let’s not forget statistics that came out last fall from the FBI that showed police make an arrest every two seconds in the USA. I covered this in detail in my post: Land of the Free: American Police Make an Arrest Every 2 Seconds in 2012.

Wikileaks Was Just a Preview: We’re Headed for an Even Bigger Showdown Over Secrets | Matt Taibbi

…Still, it seems like an insane amount of pressure to apply, given the other types of crimes (of, say, the HSBC variety) where stiff sentences haven’t even been threatened, much less imposed…..

But in all of these cases, the government pursued maximum punishments and generally took zero-tolerance approaches to plea negotiations. These prosecutions reflected an obvious institutional terror of letting the public see the sausage-factory locked behind the closed doors not only of the state, but of banks and universities and other such institutional pillars of society. As Gibney pointed out in his movie, this is a Wizard of Oz moment, where we are being warned not to look behind the curtain….

via Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone.

It’s legal: cops seize cell phone, impersonate owner | Ars Technica

Everybody loves texting (click to jump to source article)

In November 2009, police officers in the state of Washington seized an iPhone belonging to suspected drug dealer Daniel Lee. While the phone was in police custody, a man named Shawn Hinton sent a text message to the device, reading, “Hey whats up dogg can you call me i need to talk to you.” Suspecting that Hinton was looking to buy drugs from Lee, Detective Kevin Sawyer replied to the message, posing as Lee. With a series of text messages, he arranged to meet Hinton in the parking lot of a local grocery store—where Hinton was arrested and charged with attempted possession of heroin.

Fast and Furious Falling Apart | American Thinker

When BATF agents first blew the whistle on what is now known as Operation Fast and Furious, the rationale offered by DoJ for such an evidently foolish operation was that it was designed to allow BATF to track and prosecute the leaders of the Mexican drug cartels.  As more information surfaced from the Mexican government and the BATF’s Mexican bureau chief specifying that none of them knew anything of this operation, many of us who were paying a bit closer attention to the case immediately smelled the first foul scent of corruption.

The Hutaree Case: Next Time, They’ll Just Send In The Drones | Pro Libertate

Next time the Regime identifies a group of people as “domestic terrorists,” the result might be summary execution, or imprisonment in military custody, rather than a trial. This is one very plausible result of the dismissal of “seditious conspiracy” charges against members of Michigan’s Hutaree militia.  Thanks to the legal environment created by the NDAA, the Feds won’t have to run the risk involved in submitting the next “domestic terrorism” case to the scrutiny of a court… via Pro Libertate

Holder 1995: We Must ‘Brainwash’ People on Guns

No Checks or Balances in Warrantless Wiretapping Despite Holder’s Assurances | EFF

Attorney General Eric Holder gave a much publicized speech at Northwestern law school on Monday, in which he attempted to explain the Obama administration’s constitutional authority for killing U.S. citizens abroad without judicial oversight. Holder in part claimed that there is a difference between “due process” and “judicial process”, the latter of which—according to him—is not guaranteed under the Constitution. The speech was predictably and widely criticized in legal circles on Fifth Amendment grounds (see here, here, here, here, and here), but an overlooked section of his speech should also give constitutional experts pause: Holder’s stance on the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) and warrantless wiretapping.

Here’s Why the Government Thinks It Can Kill You Overseas | Danger Room | Wired.com

Thus spoke Attorney General Eric Holder:

“…The Constitution’s guarantee of due process is ironclad, and it is essential — but, as a recent court decision makes clear,” Holder argued, “it does not require judicial approval before the president may use force abroad against a senior operational leader of a foreign terrorist organization with which the United States is at war — even if that individual happens to be a U.S. citizen.…” go here to Wired.com.

Wait, what!? This is a bad dream, right?  See here for full text of Holder’s speech?

Friday Night ‘Document Dump’ Shows Eric Holder Knew ‘Fast And Furious’ Gun Killed U.S. Agent | IBD

Scandal: For incompetence alone, Attorney General Eric Holder should resign in the wake of the illegal “Fast and Furious” gunrunning scandal. But fresh news that he knew of it and is covering it up warrants impeachment…

via Investors.com.

Outrage of the Day – NDAA 2012 | Ol remus and the woodpile report

Outrage of the day.   The lights are going out all over America. The House and Senate have passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, Sections 1031, 1032 and 1034 of which allow the arrest of U.S. citizens by the armed forces, without laying charges, without evidence or legal representation, with indefinite detention. The Senate passed it 93 to 7 as S. 1867art-link-symbol-tiny-grey-arrow-only.gif. The House passed it 283 to 136 as H.R.1540art-link-symbol-tiny-grey-arrow-only.gif. Those who pose as our representatives have committed yet another egregious act of betrayal, and as is becoming routine, the Senate did it largely behind closed doors. Mr. Altenhofel summarizes it this way:

No due process or evidence required—just a unilateral accusation that you may be involved in or supporting terrorism. Part of the DOJ/FBI criteria for being a terrorist is having at least one of the following traits: large amounts of ammunition, more than a week’s worth of food, a finger that is damaged or missing, etc. Brian Altenhofel, altenhofel.com/blog

These are the same powers Beria’s NKVD and Himmler’s Gestapo employed. Both relied on anonymous tips and extrajudicial proceedings—no evidence, no trial, no accountability, the populace was merely violated and terrorized as a sort of perpetual preemptive strike. Now the entirety of America is declared to be a wartime battlefield and the enemy has been identified. Even if we were to believe DC’s intentions are honorable, or that the stated bounds will respected, or that there are no secret provisions, or that state and local police won’t be federalized outright—even if we believed all this, it’s an open-ended enabling act without so much as a sunset clause. And there’s another dimension, a truly malignant dimension, one which alarms every student of history, one which humiliates every parent and every veteran, perhaps intentionally:

This would violate not only the spirit of the post-Reconstruction act limiting the use of the armed forces for domestic law enforcement but also our trust with service members, who enlist believing that they will never be asked to turn their weapons on fellow Americans. US Marine Generals (Retired) Krulak and Hoar, nytimes.com

DC should pause in their dismantling of the Constitution long enough to consider, it protects us equally from each other, governance and governed. One part can’t be obviated without deligitimizing the entirety of it. Put another way, just because the hole is in the back of the boat doesn’t mean the front won’t sink with it. Should DC believe itself comfortably and decisively distanced from the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, to which the Consitution is pendant, plainly put the obligation of free men. Incarceration without warrant or redress is kidnapping, no light and transient cause. We’re a ways yet from appointing new guardians of liberty, and may it remain so, but with state sanctioned vigilantism and summary justice in the offing the notion seems less remote. DC should have a care, they’ve not yet seen a genuine civil rights movement.

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. Ayn Rand

via ol remus and the woodpile report.

Inside President Obama’s War On The Fast & Furious Whistleblowers | Forbes

…No one at DOJ is known to have been held accountable for this attack on Dodson. Meanwhile, the whistleblowers who blew the top off Fast and Furious are paying the price.

• Agent John Dodson, after nearly a year of harassment, including being given menial assignments and being barred from areas of the ATF building in Phoenix, is in the process of trying to sell his home in Arizona so he can transfer to South Carolina.
• Agent Larry Alt transferred to Florida. He still has unresolved legal claims against the ATF.
• Agent Pete Forcelli was demoted to a desk job after he testified before Congress. He has requested an internal investigation to address retaliation targeting him.
• Agent James Casa took a transfer to Florida.
• Agent Carlos Canino, who was a deputy attache in Mexico City, was moved to Tucson.

Meanwhile the officials who went along with the operation and its subsequent cover up have mostly been rewarded.

• Former Acting ATF Chief Ken Melson, after refusing to be a scapegoat for this operation, became an adviser in the Office of Legal Affairs in Washington, D.C.
• Acting Deputy Director Billy Hoover is now the special agent in charge of the D.C. office.
• Deputy Director for Field Operations William McMahon—he’d received detailed briefings Fast and Furious—is now at the ATF’s Office of Internal Affairs.
• Former Special Agent in Charge of Phoenix William Newell—he oversaw Fast and Furious and lied by saying guns hadn’t been allowed to go south of the border—is now at the Office of Management in Washington, D.C.
• Phoenix Deputy Chief George Gillette is now in to Washington, D.C., as ATF’s liaison to the U.S. Marshal’s Service.
• ATF Group Supervisor David Voth—he managed Fast and Furious out of the Phoenix office—is now in a management position in Washington, D.C.
• Agent Hope McCallister—she had management duties on the team that ran Fast and Furious—was given a “Lifesaving Award” after it came to light she’d ordered agents to stop tailing suspects who the ATF had allowed to buy guns.

via Inside President Obama’s War On The Fast & Furious Whistleblowers – Forbes.

Documents: ATF used “Fast and Furious” to make the case for gun regulations | CBS News

Documents obtained by CBS News show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ATF discussed using their covert operation “Fast and Furious” to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.

In Fast and Furious, ATF secretly encouraged gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to go after the “big fish.” But ATF whistleblowers told CBS News and Congress it was a dangerous practice called “gunwalking,” and it put thousands of weapons on the street. Many were used in violent crimes in Mexico. Two were found at the murder scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

via Documents: ATF used “Fast and Furious” to make the case for gun regulations – CBS News Investigates – CBS News.

No Surprises Here– BATFE Wanted Fast and Furious to Justify Gun Control | NRA-ILA

“… this week, CBS News reported that the BATFE “discussed using their covert operation Fast and Furious to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.”

In particular, agency officials wanted guns to fall into Mexican drug cartel hands and be traced back to gun dealers in the U.S. to make a case for requiring dealers to report individuals who buy more than one detachable-magazine semi-automatic rifle over .22 caliber in a five day period.

According to CBS, “emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called Demand Letter 3. That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or ‘long guns.’”CBS singled out a July 14, 2010 email sent by BATFE Field Operations Assistant Director Mark Chait to Bill Newell, the agency’s Special Agent in Charge in Phoenix, from which Fast and Furious was based. In the email, Chaits asked Newell to “see if these guns were all purchased from the same [licensed gun dealer] and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales.”

Pro-Second Amendment U.S. Senator John Cornyn Texas, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee, quickly responded to CBS’s revelation, saying “If these reports are true, even by Washington standards this reaches a new level of arrogance and corruption.” With Attorney General Holder again appearing before Congress to testify about Fast and Furious this week, Sen. Cornyn added, “again, the Attorney General has some explaining to do.”

via NRA-ILA :: No Surprises Here– BATFE Wanted Fast and Furious to Justify Gun Control.

Liberty vs White House Plan For Homegrown Extremism | Modern Survival Blog

“… The White House has unveiled a new strategy Strategic Implementation Plan “to fight homegrown terrorism”, named, the “Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States”.“The plan outlines enhanced coordination between ‘local partners’ including schools and community groups, and federal law enforcement, and seeks to empower communities by teaching local officials to recognize violent extremism…”

via Liberty vs White House Plan For Homegrown Extremism – Modern Survival Blog – surviving uncertain times.

Was Fast and Furious All About Gun Control? | Power Line

“… If the Obama administration did arrange for the shipment of arms to Mexican drug gangs, not for any legitimate public purpose but in order to advance a left-wing political agenda, and those guns were used to murder hundreds of Mexicans and at least one American border agent–which they were–then we are looking at a scandal that dwarfs any in modern American history…”

via Was Fast and Furious All About Gun Control? | Power Line.

see later post, here, above, Dec. 11, 2011.

Just As We Suspected, The Fast And Furious Program Was A Gun-Control Plot After All – Investors.com

” … As we observed in June, the way Fast and Furious — the government’s gun-running operation that resulted in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry — was conducted made no sense unless its intent was to facilitate violence with U.S. weapons in the interests of pursuing the administration’s gun-control agenda. “

via Just As We Suspected, The Fast And Furious Program Was A Gun-Control Plot After All – Investors.com

and see here: Gunwalker Goes ‘Legal’: Obama Admin Massively Increased Gun Sales to Mexican Military

and here: See, I Told You So: E-Mails Show Fast and Furious was Vehicle for Gun Control (Rush Limbaugh)