Google "pressure cookers," get a visit from the Cops

Friends,

Did you see this??  Google 'Pressure Cookers' and 'Backpacks,' Get a Visit from the Cops

A woman searches the Internet for information about pressure cookers.  Her husband checks out backpacks online.  Then...six law enforcement investigators show up at their home and start asking questions.  

But the government assures us no one is reading our emails or spying on our Internet searches.  They are just collecting data -- a LOT of it -- in case they need it to protect us.

Yes, government has a responsibility to protect us, but it also has a rather solemn obligation to protect this, the 4th Amendment to the Constitution:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Clearly, the President and Congress aren’t interested in protecting the 4th Amendment.  They are the ones attacking it.  So...It’s up to you and me. Will you help me?

America has fought wars and shed blood to defend the liberties embodied in the Constitution.  But who’s defending those liberties now?  It certainly isn’t the politicians.  That’s why the Our America Initiative has launched a special Live Free Project specifically to mobilize and give voice to Americans who are ready to push back against the assault on our freedoms.  Your contribution today at Stand Up 4 the 4th will help us knock on the government’s doors before they come knocking on ours -- just because somebody in the house Googled “pressure cookers”.

This week, I was on the Mike Huckabee Show talking about the NSA and other threats to liberty. Next week I will be in Los Angeles for more events and national media appearances. That’s my job with the Our America Initiative -- to speak up and speak out.  But I can’t do it alone.  We need to reach millions of Americans and help them take action.

Your contribution of $10, $25, $50, $100 or more will make that possible.

Liberty IS under attack, and the politicians won’t stop until we stand up and speak out loudly enough that they HAVE to listen.  You and I can make that happen.  I’m ready. Are you?

I look forward to hearing from you.  We have a great deal of work to do.

Thanks!

 

Gov. Gary Johnson

Honorary Chairman

P.S.  With your help, we CAN restore the 4th Amendment’s protections.  But we can’t wait.  Go to Stand Up 4 the 4th today and help us do some door knocking of our own.

Ron Paul's Independence Day message

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Far from being mere words on paper, the defense of these God-given rights sparked our forefathers to put their own lives, fortunes, and sacred honor on the line against the most powerful nation on earth two hundred and thirty seven years ago.

As we gather with friends and loved ones to celebrate today, I hope we’ll remember not only the principles our Founders fought for, but the boldness with which they made their stand.

I’m thankful that Campaign for Liberty members have also refused to bow the knee in the face of ever-growing, ever-intrusive government.

Thanks to your support, C4L has grown from an idea to a nationwide grassroots force of almost three quarters of a million members in only five years.

C4L’s ability to mobilize Americans to advance liberty was showcased when my Audit the Fed bill passed in the U.S. House last summer.

I believe that historic moment in our fight against the Fed’s secrecy was only a taste of successes to come.

Just think of how many have learned about sound money and transparency through this one project – over 70% of Americans now support Audit the Fed!

There seems to be no limit to the Big Government attacks coming out of Washington, D.C. and state capitols these days, but C4L members continue to push back.

Just some of the other issues Campaign for Liberty has worked on these past five years include protecting the Second Amendment, promoting health freedom, defending civil liberties, and upholding Internet freedom against unrelenting assaults from the taxman and the spyman.

In fact, C4L was instrumental in 2010 in defeating the free speech-infringing “Disclose” Act that was directly targeted at our donors’ privacy.

They also joined with my son Rand in 2011 to nearly derail renewal of key “Patriot” Act provisions.

This year, C4L’s efforts have stunned the lobbyists and special interests by helping to stall the Internet Tax Mandate, and C4L staff is continuing to grow the opposition to stop this tax entirely.

C4L members have also been successful on the state level. State C4L groups have defeated state tax hikes, gun grabs, ObamaCare expansion, and other power grabs. 

Just this past week, Campaign for Liberty activists in Delaware led an effort to defeat HB 88.  HB 88 would have given new powers to state bureaucrats to deny Delaware citizens their Second Amendment rights by declaring them “mentally ill.”

Despite pulling out all the stops — including a special weekend session and lobbying from Attorney General Beau Biden — the bill’s supporters could not stop Campaign for Liberty from defeating this gun-grabbing bill.

In the face of unprecedented challenges to our freedoms, we are making great strides in its defense.

So as you and I celebrate today, may we renew our commitment to pursuing our cause to victory.

Thank you for all you do to keep C4L at the forefront of the fight for liberty.

In Liberty,

Ron Paul
Chairman

VIDEO: A National ID Card for YOU!

National ID is on the Senate floor. 

And Harry Reid could force a vote at ANY hour - ANY day now. 

Zach, I can't stress enough how critical it is you watch the special video I made about how YOU can help defeat this dangerous scheme. 

With Harry Reid calling the shots in the U.S. Senate, there's literally not a moment to waste. 

So please watch the video below and take action IMMEDIATELY! 



In Liberty, 

Ron Paul
Chairman

Source: C4L

Join Rand Paul in fighting the NSA

Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and their allies in both parties believe they can disregard the Constitution and seize your phone records without even seeking a warrant or informing you! 

Now, Senator Rand Paul has introduced the Fourth Amendment Restoration Act (S. 1121) to explicitly forbid the federal government from looking at your phone records without a warrant or probable cause to believe you are engaged in criminal or terrorist activity. 

Passing this legislation will be one of the most crucial battles of the year. 

So please sign your Stand with Rand Petition and make your most generous contribution to help C4L recruit even more Americans to stand up to Barack Obama's surveillance state.

In Liberty,

John Tate
President

Source: C4L

NSA Snoops and National ID Card - Vote Next Week

The vote on the new National ID system may take place as soon as NEXT WEEK.

Already, Barack Obama's snoop-state insiders at the NSA have a massive database full of BILLIONS of emails, phone records, and Internet usage of American citizens.

Imagine all of that information being tied to a tamper-proof, National ID Card with biometric tracking technology that EVERY American is required to own and carry.

It sounds like something out of George Orwell's 1984.

But without your IMMEDIATE action, I'm afraid this Orwellian nightmare will be a harsh reality for every man, woman, and child in America.

Zach, the battle over a National ID Card set to occur in the U.S. Senate next week is one of the most critical fights we've faced in years.

The outcome of this fight could determine whether America turns back toward Liberty - or continues down a slide toward full-scale tyranny.

That's why I hope you'll watch the exclusive video I made about how you can help DEFEAT this dangerous scheme. 

Based on the recent revelations that Barack Obama's National Security Agency (NSA) has been snooping through the emails and phone records of millions of Americans each and every day, I'm convinced a National ID Card is the statists' crown jewel.

You see, the NSA has been gathering audio, video, email, photographic, and Internet search usage of Americans who use major providers such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Yahoo.

Their ultimate goal is an America where federal bureaucrats can track our every move.

And the biometric tracking technology contained within the over 800-page "Immigration Reform" monstrosity would allow them to do just that.

So please take a moment to watch the video I made just for you.

After you watch my video, I need you to make a generous contribution to help Campaign for Liberty alert millions of Americans to this critical fight.

The fate of our fragile Republic could be determined as early as next week.

Please take IMMEDIATE action!

In Liberty,

Ron Paul
Chairman

Source: C4L

Rand Paul - Big Brother Really Is Watching Us

Big Brother Really Is Watching Us
By Senator Rand Paul

Photo by the Associated Press

When Americans expressed outrage last week over the seizure and surveillance of Verizon's client data by the National Security Agency, President Obama responded: "In the abstract, you can complain about Big Brother . . . but when you actually look at the details, I think we've struck the right balance."

How many records did the NSA seize from Verizon? Hundreds of millions. We are now learning about more potential mass data collections by the government from other communications and online companies. These are the "details," and few Americans consider this approach "balanced," though many rightly consider it Orwellian.

These activities violate the Fourth Amendment, which says warrants must be specific—"particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." And what is the government doing with these records? The president assures us that the government is simply monitoring the origin and length of phone calls, not eavesdropping on their contents. Is this administration seriously asking us to trust the same government that admittedly targets political dissidents through the Internal Revenue Service and journalists through the Justice Department?

No one objects to balancing security against liberty. No one objects to seeking warrants for targeted monitoring based on probable cause. We've always done this. 

What is objectionable is a system in which government has unlimited and privileged access to the details of our private affairs, and citizens are simply supposed to trust that there won't be any abuse of power. This is an absurd expectation. Americans should trust the National Security Agency as much as they do the IRS and Justice Department.

Monitoring the records of as many as a billion phone calls, as some news reports have suggested, is no modest invasion of privacy. It is an extraordinary invasion of privacy. We fought a revolution over issues like generalized warrants, where soldiers would go from house to house, searching anything they liked. Our lives are now so digitized that the government going from computer to computer or phone to phone is the modern equivalent of the same type of tyranny that our Founders rebelled against.

I also believe that trolling through millions of phone records hampers the legitimate protection of our security. The government sifts through mountains of data yet still didn't notice, or did not notice enough, that one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects was traveling to Chechnya. Perhaps instead of treating every American as a potential terror suspect the government should concentrate on more targeted analysis.

To protect against the invasion of Americans' privacy, I have introduced the Fourth Amendment Restoration Act. I introduced similar Fourth Amendment protections in December and again just last month. Both measures would have prevented the data-mining we're now seeing, but both bills were rejected by the Senate. We will see if this time my colleagues will vote to support the Constitution that they all took an oath to uphold.

I am also looking into a class-action lawsuit to overturn the decisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that allowed for this to happen. I will take the fight all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. My office has already heard much enthusiasm for this action.

The administration has responded to the public uproar by simply claiming that it is allowed to have unlimited access to all Americans' private information. This response is a clear indication that the president views our Constitutional "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects" as null and void. 

If this is the new normal in America, then Big Brother certainly is watching and it's not hyperbolic or extreme to say so. Nor is it unreasonable to fear which parts of the Constitution this government will next consider negotiable or negligible.

Mr. Paul, a Republican, is a senator from Kentucky.

 

A version of this article appeared June 11, 2013, on page A15 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Big Brother Really Is Watching Us.

Source: Wall Street Journal