Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
When Did the Obama Administration Begin Spying on Americans?
I doubt that the spying began with the Trump campaign. Opponents of the Iran deal suspected that they were spied on based on how quickly their ideas and arguments were countered by the Obama Administration. Was the Romney campaign under surveillance in 2012? It wouldn’t surprise me.
Obama grew up as a C(r)ook County Democrat. His campaign twice tried to shut down “The Milt Rosenberg Show” in 2008. Milt said that nothing like this had happened previously and he had hosted the program for more than 30 years. I think the rot was deep and it started at the top with Obama.
Published in Politics
I’m guessing Sharyl Attkisson could share some insight.
And James Rosen
Thanks! I should have cited her case.
Through all 8 years of that slimeball, I kept saying I wished everyone could be from Chicago like me. Then they’d see instantly that he was running the White House the same way the old Mayor Daley ran the city: corruption, kickbacks, cronyism, and probably blackmail too. I’m sure we don’t know the half of it. He acted the whole time like he thought he was in a back smoke-filled room in a South Side ward of Chicago. Just smarmy. Disgusting. And they were already naming schools after him before he was even out of office. It just makes my blood boil.
Daley did a better job. Chicago pretty much worked when Daley was running things. I went to high school with one of his boys. Obama was a disaster for the country. People tolerated Daley, sort of like Bill Clinton, because things worked.
Correct.
Oh you did? Wow. I remember very well how, under Daley, they called it “The City That Works.” (Then during the CTA strike they called it The City That Walks haha)
I believe the evidence suggests that when the Republicans in Congress shut down the IRS intimidation of prominent Tea Party participants in late 2012 , the partisan NSA 702 database searches of American individuals erupted. The surveillance of the American public by the FBI since has been massive. The audit ordered by Admiral Rogers in early 2016 showed that 85% of the thousands of searches audited were unauthorized politically motivated searches with the indication that these searches started going bad in 2012.
If anyone is under the illusion that Team Obama waited until the last year of his perfectly corrupt administration to exploit the powers of this machine then they just aren’t paying attention. Especially given that the machine was so willing to be his whore right from the start. (Look no further than the CBO as early as late 2009.)
Another hint: See “conservative” Chief Justice John Roberts and both PPACA SCOTUS decisions.
Want more? I’d start with FOIA requests for anything containing “Sharryl” (or other possible misspellings).
I think we need public answers about this situation. A FISA Court decision in early 2017 (heavily redacted) revealed the scandal but we don’t know who the private contractors were who were allowed access to the database or who were the individuals searched. That is, we know illegal domestic searches were conducted but do not know yet if they were politically motivated. We deserve answers.
We also need answers to who was involved in the widespread unmasking of American citizens by Obama Administration officials starting in the spring of 2016. It may be coincidence but this is when the illegal database access was discovered by Rogers and the searches stopped. At that time there was an upsurge in requests for unmasking by administration officials. In particular, records show Samantha Power (UN Ambassador) made hundreds of such requests but she has publicly denied she did so. How much unmasking was going on? Who was making the requests? Did someone do so in Power’s name? Who was unmasked?
I remember very well when the city, under Daley, signed a long-term (25 or 30 year) lease to keep Meigs Field open. Then, after the following election, they bulldozed the runways without warning. By God, Daley would have his park, and woe to those with a competing interest…and to those with aircraft that had to be trucked out.
Now that we know the Dems illegally “broke into” the opposing campaign’s “files”, the question becomes, “What did the president know and when did he know it?”
Gummy:” I think we need public answers about this situation.”
You are absolutely correct. A major failing I think of the Horowitz report on the FISA court was that it apparently did not expose NSA database search problem to the general public as it rightly should have , which kinda calls into question what was Horowitz doing and who was he protecting?
And the constant never-ending road construction on every expressway, no doubt kicking back business to donors or other “helpers.” We used to say it would be a beautiful city if they ever finished it. But I did love the mayor’s malapropisms and other verbal errors. And during the Democratic Convention in 1968 when he ordered the police to “Shoot to maim!” But of course nobody tops Jesse Jackson when he said “I resent the allegations and I resent the alligators!”
The Horowitz report was limited to the FISA Warrant. There are much broader issues involving the intelligence community, at least some of which Durham is looking at. However, I do not know if anyone is looking at the 702 issue – if not, that is a shame. I think within his scope the Horowitz report is of great value.
That was Richard M. Daley, who really couldn’t hold a candle to dad Richard J. Daley, but both of whom towered over Barry in terms of ruthlessness.
Indeed. That was out of scope, which was just Crossfire Hurricane and FISA applications. The Horowitz review started from about June 1st, 2016, which was after the FBI was getting information from Downer, that would form the basis for Crossfire. Even with the limited scope, Horowitz missed things. We really need a complete look at all the Obama spying starting in 2014 and going forward and backward.
I know that there has been an effort to get a southwest airport organized for 20 years. ORD is too far north. That is why Midway has grown but Daley had some heavy duty interests in OHare. Nothing has happened even after both Daleys are gone.
Horowitz, to be fair , has no authority outside of DOJ. Durham will do that. I just hope he avoids DC juries.
When they were first beginning the Toll Road, my father said the reason why it had the snakelike pattern was that it had to go through every piece of property owned by politicians. Illinois has been corrupt since Lincoln.
If Chicago had won in 2009 the right to host the 2016 Olympics, Daley would obviously have run for re-election since doling out the contracts would have been too lucrative. Chicago before the announcement resembled a Stalinist city with office buildings displaying signs saying we support the bid and so can you (please Mayor Daley don’t sic your building inspectors on us). I laughed when we were knocked out in the first round of the final day. On WGN radio they said in a shocked tone, “Chicago is out.” They didn’t necessarily expect us to win but they didn’t expect us to finish fourth. Obama’s legendary non persuasive skills must have been on display in the presentation to the IOC.
What is infuriating is that we have known this since President Trump entered the Oval Office.
On January 20, 2017, Susan Rice sent herself a CYA email. Because she was at the center of this spying and “un-masking” of the metadata from their surveillance.
This was not just unusual. It was Exhibit A … https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-graham-uncover-unusual-email-sent-susan-rice-herself-president-trump-s
That was Richie, wasn’t it ?
Whether or not we are ever told, I do think it is incumbent on Barr (assuming he is still AG in 2021) to fully investigate the Holder/Lynch years and deal with it at least internally.
We might have never heard of Barry without some sealed divorce records he got hold of.
Or if “Da Bears” Mike Ditka had thrown his hat in the ring …
what happened to the ugly library?
That promo video Obama made to try to entice them was just stupid.
I think “O” was also linked to a bigger agenda than anyone believed at the time, and in many ways, succeeded. Hope and change was the mantra. How many times did the CEO of Google go to the WH? I think it was literally weekly. We saw the transformation in loss of freedoms – of speech, religion, pushing the LGBTQ agendas into teaching, bathrooms, libraries, the military, supposedly spontaneous eruptions of government toppling and political fires across the Middle East, the rise of ISIS, the snubbing of our ally Israel, the fake red lines and emboldening our adversaries, loss of respect for law enforcement, pushing sanctuary cities and open borders, ruining healthcare, creating a rubber stamp teaching system, burdening business with taxes and regulation, encouraging new laws that allowed small crimes to go unpunished, more aggressive pro-abortion laws – was any of that part of the hope he promised? He needs to return the Nobel Peace Prize.
Unfortunately, I think he and his “teams” are still in the shadows, along with Soros, spinning their webs. Thank God that Hilary lost.