Tag Archives: Barack Obama

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We are not questioning the legality under the Patriot Act of the court order disclosed by The Guardian. But we strongly object to using that power in this manner. It is the very sort of thing against which Mr. Obama once railed, when he said in 2007 that the surveillance policy of the George W. Bush administration “puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we provide.”
President Obama’s Dragnet (Editorial, New York Times)

The front page of the Huffington Post showing their feelings about the latest intelligence gathering revelations in the US. The New York Times also posted a critical opinion of their president. Ironically, Barack Obama’s office tweeted about providing wifi in schools earlier.

NSA taps in to internet giants’ systems to mine user data, secret files reveal (Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill / The Guardian)

Guardian pic via Simon N Ricketts

Previously: They’re Bugging Everyone

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A furious Barack Obama accused members of Congress of caving to the gun lobby on Wednesday after the best chance of reform in over a decade fell at the first hurdle.
Moderate Republicans and four Democrats bowed to pressure from the National Rifle Association and blocked a bipartisan Senate amendment that would have expanded background checks for gun purchases to gun shows and online sales.
Despite hopes that the national outrage which followed the Newtown school shooting would force Washington to act, a limited compromise amendment proposed by Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Joe Manchin received 54 votes, short of the 60 votes needed.
As the measure fell, Patricia Maisch, a survivor of the mass shooting in Tucson, shouted “Shame on you” from the visitors gallery where she was sitting near bereaved Newtown families.

 

Obama condemns Senate for ‘shameful’ failure to pass gun control reform (Dan Roberts, Guardian)

Obama Blasts Gun Lobby After Failed Vote (Wall Street Journal, Washington Wire)

(Pics: AFPGetty Images/Getty Images)