The Exercise Of Executive And Judicial Power, Both To The Public's Detriment

First, the Executive branch, in which the DNI threatens to use the "internet of things" to spy on Americans in their home or at work:

US intelligence chief: we might use the internet of things to spy on you

(Warning: your refrigerator is telling the spooks what you snack on at midnight!)

Not to be outdone, the Supreme Court throws a spanner in the works of Obama's executive orders reducing carbon emissions:

Carbon pollution controls put on hold

(Note: today's Big Event may change what the Supreme Court does about a lot of things. See more recent post above.)

It's not so much that we need [booming Republican voice] LESS GOVERNMENT as that we need more constraints on all branches of government. Say, I know what... we need a Constitution; that should provide the necessary... oh, right; we've got one of those, and it doesn't seem to constrain much of anybody in government...

'Unleashed And Unaccountable: The FBI’s Unchecked Abuse of Authority' — ACLU Report On The FBI And Its Domestic Surveillance

Here is the document itself (.pdf, 69pp). Keep your antacid handy as you read.

Related doc's:

• Kevin Gosztola's article: ACLU Releases Report on FBI’s Development Into Abusive Domestic Intelligence Enterprise
• Matthew Harwood: A Call For FBI Reform (ACLU Blog of Rights post)
• EFF: In Response to the NSA, We Need A New Church Committee and We Need It Now (not new but very much to the point)

(I may add other articles here as I find them. The report and these articles should keep us occupied for a few days.)

ASIDE: Please join one or more of the major civil liberties, constitutional rights or related org's... ACLU, EFF, CCR, etc. I'm an ACLU guy out of habit, more than three decades of habit, but we need all of them, and they need our help as they are inundated with actions by a government increasingly inclined to disregard the Constitution when it finds it inconvenient to comply. Please do your part!

Senate Intel Committee Quashes Staffer's Interview On Oversight Process

We all know that when you enter the military, you check your fundamental rights at the door. But who knew the same was true for employees of the U.S. Senate. Brian Beutler of TPM:

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has taken the unusual step of actively blocking a former committee aide from talking to TPM about congressional oversight of the intelligence community. At issue isn’t classified sources and methods of intelligence gathering but general information about how the committee functions — and how it should function. The committee’s refusal to allow former general counsel Vicki Divoll to disclose unclassified information to a reporter was the first and only time it has sought to block her from making public comments, based on her experience as one of its most senior aides, since she left Capitol Hill in 2003.

...

Please note Ms. Divoll is prohibited from talking even about unclassified information.

The rest of the article does not reflect any better on the Committee. I suppose that's what one expects when the Senate has a committee focused on a topic it doesn't have any of. "Oh, the times, they are a-changin'..."