Olbermann rant about FISA

[ElvisL1ves]

@Hamlet

Why do you engage in this kind of “debate”? I’m pretty sure you know the issues, so why do you insist on playing these kinds of games instead of dealing with the actual issues?

I think you know the answer - the ol’ party-before-country thang. Avoiding the key issues, or in fact any substantive issues at all, is a coping strategy that permits him to continue placing his absolute, unquestioning loyalty in his party. That’s what it takes anymore.

[saoirse]

@BJMoose

News shows usually use a script. Except for the occasional ad lib and, obviously, interviews, everything already has been written out.

While I have no knowledge of this, I would not be at all surprised if Olbermann has to have his Special Comment scripts vetted by an NBC lawyer before he’s allowed to read them on-air.

He may, but when you send away for a transcript of a show, the whole thing is prepared by the transcrition service, including (in the case of teh old Nightline) the interview portion and the scripted parts. I don’t know if they get the scripts themselves, but what you get to look at is their product. Anyway, Olbermann was producing his bit to heard from his mouth, rather than read from the page.

[kaylasdad99]

You know, whether Olbermann capitalized Ex Post Facto or whether he didn’t isn’t really very important.

[pantheon]

@Pochacco

It depends on what you mean by “tapping”. There might not be a human being listening to every call, but there could be other forms of data mining going on.

For example, you could run all voice traffic through voice recognition software that looks for calls that contain particular keywords: “bomb”, “attack”, etc. The source and destination numbers for these calls are logged and over time you use that information to build of a database of “suspicious” phone numbers that get closer scrutiny by actual human beings.

I’m almost certain something like this was going on. There’s absolutely no way a program like this could be approved through FISA. Since you’re not tapping an individual there’s no one to issue a warrant for. Instead you’re analyzing the data flow of the entire network and looking for patterns that might emerge.

OMNIVORE, CARNIVORE, TEMPEST, COMSEC, Magic Lantern, HUMINT, GEOINT, MASINT, OSINT, SIGINT, TECHINT, FININT, TEMPEST, SHAMROCK, MINARET, Room 641-A, Oasis, DragonWare Suite, and much, much more.

I have to go, I’ve been in one place too long.

[AskNott]

We already know that White House workers carried on official business on their Republican National Committee e-mail accounts, so there’s no clear line between the WH and the RNC. I believe it’s foolish to assume that the WH/RNC is not specifically, actively monitoring all phone and internet traffic within the Democratic Party.