Obama Promises to Strengthen Privacy in State of the Union Speech - Rand Paul Would End Domestic Spying
And it's way past time that lying domestic spying agency chiefs should be punished.

In his State of the Union message President Obama assured Americans that …
…while some have moved on from the debates over our surveillance programs, I haven't. As promised, our intelligence agencies have worked hard, with the recommendations of privacy advocates, to increase transparency and build more safeguards against potential abuse. And next month, we'll issue a report on how we're keeping our promise to keep our country safe while strengthening privacy.
Let's keep a sharp eye out for the report, but the response by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to unconstitutional domestic spying is much more forthright. The senator notes that Washington elites say
… "trust us, we won't violate your privacy."
But when the Intelligence Director is not punished for lying to Congress, how are we to trust them?
Are we to trust them to collect and hold every American's phone records?
Remember, these are the same people who have only a 10 percent approval rating!
The Constitution is clear. Politicians should NOT collect this information without a warrant. Warrants must be specific to an individual and there must be probable cause before government is allowed to search any American's documents.
The President created this vast dragnet by Executive Order without Congressional authority. He should immediately end this invasion of our privacy.
End it, not issue a report.
And by the way, pardon Edward Snowden.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Would this be the privacy of your med data? Or is he trying to finesse that with a Friday evening news dump?
Stinking liar...
The difference here is, Rand might actually be telling the truth. Obama has proved for nearly 7 years now that he is absolutely incapable of telling the truth about anything.
" we'll issue a report "
Oh, well OK then! Christ, I was worried for a minute. A *report* should pretty much solve all our concerns. That Snowden guy was such a negative Nancy - did anyone even tell him they were working on a report?! I bet he'd never have bothered with all the drama.
Only to be taken seriously if the "T" is not silent.
Definition 3: an explosive noise...
So he's gonna have him shot.
Definition of report, I meant to say...
Was anyone able to get through this whole speech tonight?
I heard about five minutes of "free childcare! free paid vacation! free college" before I had to turn it off.
Props to those who made it through.
It seems like it was over an hour long? I actually feel sorry for the Congresspeople in the audience.
Just over, problem was he started like 15 minutes late. They always do.
I never, ever, never ever feel sorry for Congresspeople out of a matter of principle. They should be doing that shit FOR FREE.
I would. I don't understand why anyone thinks a politician at a federal -or really even state of local for that matter- has a "hard" job.
Not saying you think that MJ, just that I never feel sorry for them. They should be forced to listen to this asshole until their ears bleed.
The administration wants to imprison one man for revealing the truth, and do nothing about someone who perjured himself before Congress. THat about right?
Not just end it -- put Mr. Clapper in prison. DiFi, too.