The head prick was quoted as saying: "Collect it all." Setting aside the obvious immorality and illegality of their actions (and ignoring all the apologists and their fig leafs), just focus on the stupidity of this approach. What good is having the worlds' best spooks looking for wheat if they are buried under metric tons of chaff?

Unless, of course, the real reason was to golden parachute into cushy, six-figure per month consulting gigs to supplement their Federal retirement packages.

This is the same 'high and mighty' group that decided their votes were far more important than actually counting the fucking votes for Gore.

...in time of War or public danger...

The Endless War on Terrorism was deliberately created to short-circuit all other rights.
There is no winning; the grand experiment of freedom and representational democracy is over.

When was the last time the federal government - let alone the independent organs of state security - paid attention to the rulings of mere judges? Even the US Marshal service now ignore them (Stingray).

They always return to their true nature.

It is left to the reader to define who 'they' are.

In the very near future 'coming out' won't be the declaration of your sexual orientation, but the refusal to knuckle under to the fascist pricks of the Spook-Industrial complex via an NSL.

Yes, it will be hard, yes, it may even be prison time but this is the whole point of repressive intimidation tactics: the hope of the power-mad that individuals stay cowed and powerless, not unified and unbowed in the face of true oppression - that actual freedom isn't free.

Can you imagine if a project of TrueCrypt's successor got an NSL and _every_ person even remotely connected to the project all appeared together in the live-streamed press conference exposing and denouncing FedGov... they're gonna prosecute all of them? All together? In a show trial, perhaps? Cockroaches hate exposure to the light.

1st in Death By Volcano: Iceland.

These guys really do make more with less and I have no trouble believing that the equipment Lerner was using was painfully obsolete and used until it died.

Guess who keeps cutting the IRS budget? The same Grover Norquist / Koch Whore pricks that are now screaming 'conspiracy'.

The real conspiracy is this: every dollar cut from the IRS budget results in SEVEN dollars robbed from the public coffers by scumbag thieves.

I still think old Hector stands an outside shot of eclipsing Benedict Arnold in the history books (assuming we will still be allowed truthful books in the near future).

you need to refresh your dimensional analysis, because you are missing a term or two

Whenever there's even a tangential mention of electricity production / consumption, I know there will be a furious sub-thread about units!

/Grabs popcorn.

We'll obviously learn details soon enough, but for now, we are left to wonder whether it'll be Apple or Google that ends up owning the automotive market.

Oh, yes; I'm sure Apple will cover the entire market, all the way from your average Bugatti down to economy cars like Audi and even BMW!

Given that the Koch brothers are bankrolling the entire Tea Party 'phenomenon', the IRS was more than justified to investigate their tissue of lies claiming to be a non-profit citizen-led organization.

And indirectly (because campaign money is now free speech), those calling for this witch hunt are also funded by the Koch brothers.

*Please* tell me you filed a complaint with the BBB and more importantly your state AG! I would also name the retailer as a co-conspirator if they left this fraudulent product up for sale even after the manufacturer confessed.

If a consumer communications provider requires their equipment be used, that equipment should meet increasingly stringent energy consumption requirements. What's good for the water heater and refrigerator is good for the DVR / cable box (AND the cable phone modem, which runs much hotter than the combo cable / router / wireless modem!).

A transparently cynical ploy to increase their pipeline of Asian / Indian H1B visa slave labor. DIAF.