How can this possibly be legal without some form of remediation or Due Process?
Americans willing to trade security for privacy. Congresspeople too unimaginative and too enthralled by the surveillance state to even consider alternatives.
All the objections that were raised against the Patriot Act… all of them still stand. It was a mistake then, and it’s a mistake now, and the only thing that changed is that people kind of forgot about it.
And courts far too willing to accept “national security” as a legal wild card that shuts down all scrutiny.
Another example of why the Obama administration has one of the worst records on respect for civil liberties of all presidents, Republicans and Democrats.
Why does it have to be legal for it to be done. Illegal acts are a regular feature of government.
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
— Benjamin Franklin
Tech is different now. You think Nixon didn’t wish he had this kind of apparatus?
At one point it was reported that there were over a million names on the terrorist watch list, but we’re told that has been reduced by eliminating duplication etc. If there were a million terrorists we would all be wearing helmets and body armor. 
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the President and Congress mandated that federal executive departments and agencies share terrorism information with those in the counterterrorism community responsible for protecting the homeland. In 2003, the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) was created to fulfill that mandate. (FBI)
As of June 2016 the list is estimated to contain over 2,484,442 records, consisting of 1,877,133 individual identities. (wiki)
ALSO the problem with the Watchlist is that transforming Arabic-lettered names into English-lettered names is ‘really’ problematic. I remember we had the head o Libya called Khadaffy, Ghadaffy, Gadaffi, and about 6 variations on those names too.
One of the major findings of the 9-11 commission was that the various intelligence agencies weren’t sharing information and that was a weakness in the system that led to 9-11. You can believe that or not, but that’s what prompted this.
There’s a Russian agent in the WH …
Gives a whole different perspective on what they’re worried about ’ sharing ’ …
The wrongs being done would not be made OK if the watch list were effective, but it’s not even remotely effective. We have active shooters who were on the list, active shooters who should’ve been on the list but weren’t for one reason or the other, and active shooters with no record who appear to come out of nowhere.
Meanwhile, I keep thinking of all the Asian-Americans I’ve known over the years with American first names, and it makes me wonder how hard would it be for a devoted terrorist to evade the whole system. And how wrong would it be to force an innocent person, whose name may carry personal, cultural or religious significance to them, into changing it for the sake of making thmselves presentable to airport screeners.
Just the private elite.
That’s the point of the objection.
And even if it’s ostensibly just shared with “law-enforcement-related” entities everyone else can figure out who’s on the list by observing how those entitities interact with people.
Yes, because clearly this all originated with Obama and he bears the sole responsibility for all of this. Thank goodness we have you here to focus on what’s really important.
It of course originated under Bush but somehow persisted for 8 years of the Obama administration. I guess you’re OK with that. Sorry, not part of the Obama Could Do No Wrong camp.
Neither am I. Thank you so much for the complete non sequitur.
If you’re looking for non sequiturs, you need look no further than this:
which was not part of georgeh’s claim. The fact that the policy did not originate with Obama, and the fact that he does not bear sole responsibility for the policy, in no way defeats georgeh’s stated claim. Obama bears responsibility for continuing the policy for the 8 years of his administration – longer, in fact, than any other administration: longer than Bush, and longer (so far) than Individual 1.
Thanks for playing.
I didn’t need to “defeat georgeh’s stated claim” because georgeh did absolutely nothing to support it. It was his usual mindless, knee-jerk response to anything that even remotely touches on Obama.
Thanks for playing.