Federal Court Rulings, BETA Tests?, Protesters Have No Free-Speech Rights At Supreme Court

Federal court rules in favor of NSA bulk snooping, White House happy

Despite the opposition of the US public and lawmakers to NSA surveillance, the courts keep handing the Obama administration the license to snoop. A US appeals court just threw out a 2013 verdict against the NSA, to White House approval.

The decision vindicates the government’s stance that NSA’s bulk surveillance programs are constitutional, the White House said Friday.

Three judges at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the plaintiffs, Larry Klayman and Charles Strange, had no standing to file the original claim, since they could not prove the NSA actually collected any of their records. While Klayman and Strange objected that the NSA refused to provide the evidence, the judges said that was working as intended.

“Plaintiffs complain that the government should not be allowed to avoid liability simply by keeping the material classified. But the government’s silence regarding the scope of bulk collection is a feature of the program, not a bug,” Judge Stephen F. Williams wrote.

Klayman and Strange initially won their case before US District Court Judge Richard Leon in December 2013, challenging the NSA’s bulk collection program under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. The controversial section expired at the end of May, after a bipartisan group of lawmakers filibustered to prevent its extension.

Under the subsequently passed USA Freedom Act, the collection of metadata will be entrusted to telecom companies, and the NSA will be able to obtain the records through seeking a warrant from the FISA court.

Within hours of the USA Freedom Act being signed into law, the Obama Administration petitioned to the FISA court to authorize the continuation of NSA’s bulk collections under Section 215, citing the new law’s provision allowing for a 180-day transition period. The court ruled in favor of the government, allowing the NSA to restart the program it had to shut down on May 31, and run it through November 2015.

The NSA’s blanket phone record collection program was kept secret from the public until a contractor for the agency, Edward Snowden, disclosed it to the media in June 2013. The program involved capturing the metadata of millions of phone calls, such as call length and the numbers that were dialed.

The program was originally ruled unlawful in the December 2013 case Klayman v. Obama. The US government has maintained that the program was authorized under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows the government to collect business records.

Reports Of SNAP EBT Down Nationwide - Was Yesterday Another BETA Test Leading Up To September Event?

Reports to Down Detector about SNAP EBT cards not working began coming in at a furious pace on Friday across the nation. From Virginia to Iowa to Alabama to Minnesota to New Mexico to Missouri to Idaho, reports of non-received payments to 'can't purchase anything on it' came flooding in as seen in the screenshot comments below. One commenter warned back: 'LOL!!! You SHEEP haven't seen anything yet...This is just a BETA test to see how you idiots will react. The REAL event is going to happen this September.' Investment Watch Blog is reporting upon this EBT 'glitch' as well.

91% of those reporting problems reported issues receiving payments while the other 9% reported website problems. While some might try to dismiss these issues as 'technical glitches', all we need to do is look at another story from yesterday Daily Mail to learn that HSBC also blamed a 'glitch' for the fact that up to 275,000 people were not paid 'hundreds of millions of dollars' with a bank holiday on Monday, effectively ruining the weekends of hundreds of thousands, some of whom were asking how they were going to eat this weekend. 

Were yesterday's 'glitches' that brought down HSBC and caused SNAP/EBT card problems for countless Americans a BETA test as suggested by the 1st comment below? What would happen suddenly if millions and millions of Americans across the country were no longer able to have access to the most basic necessities - hygenics articles, toilet paper, food, water, medical supplies - because of the catastrophic failure of our computer systems, a major nationwide 'glitch'?

As we warned yesterday, America is very close to a catastrophic failure of our healthcare systems; courageous men and womenacross the country who have served America are unable to get medical care; hundreds of thousands of US Veterans have died as a result of it. 

With reports of a 'major event' now just weeks away that will change the landscape of the world, is the weight of the entire system about to come crashing down upon itself, leaving those completely dependent upon it crushed? More below including the new X-22 Report with a warning from a British insider to 'start prepping'.

Protesters have no free-speech rights on Supreme Court’s front porch - The Washington Post

The Supreme Court is designated as the ultimate protector of constitutional rights, but the guarantee of protest and free speech ends on the steps to the plaza in front of the court’s grand marble temple, a unanimous federal appeals court panel ruled Friday.

Demonstrators are allowed on the sidewalk in front of the court but not any closer to the famous portico promising “Equal Justice Under Law,” three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided.

The fight over where protesters get to protest has been going on for years.

The appeals court judges upheld a 1949 law that forbids demonstrations on the grounds of the high court, on the premise that protests at the court’s doorstep might lead to the perception that the justices are swayed by vox populi rather than the dictates of the law.

Critics have found the no-speech zone around the Supreme Court ironic if not hypocritical. The current court considers itself a fierce protector of political speech, knocking down restrictions on corporate spending on elections, for instance. The justices also struck a Massachusetts law that limited speech around abortion clinics.

“If citizens cannot stand out in the open and voice their disapproval of their government, its representatives and its policies without fearing prosecution, then the First Amendment is little more than window-dressing on a store window — pretty to look at but serving little real purpose,” said the institute’s president, John W. Whitehead. “Through a series of carefully crafted legislative steps and politically expedient court rulings, government officials have managed to disembowel this fundamental freedom.”

Also see:

Elite Hiding in Bunkers to Escape War with China: “Intended Survivors Are Moving Underground” | SilverDoctors.com

Report: FBI Clinton email probe becoming 'extremely serious' | Washington Examiner