Roger Vinson: Judge Responsible For NSA Surveillance Reveals Hypocrisy in Past RulingsOn Wednesday, the Guardian broke the story that the National Security Agency is "currently collecting the telephone records of millions of U.S. customers of Verizon " under a top secret court order issued in April." The order, issued by the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on April 25, gives the NSA the authority to collect Verizon phone records "on an ongoing daily basis thereafter for the duration of this Order," ending on July 19, when it must be renewed. The judge that issued the most recent order? Roger Vinson, of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
Looking further into Vinson's record, a lack of consistency arises that muddles his views on the role and authority of the federal government. With this recent order, Vinson comes off as a hypocrite, going against previous rulings that find limits to the federal government's power.
Vinson served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from May 4, 2006 until May 3, 2013. Former President Ronald Regan originally nominated him as a federal judge in 1983, and he served as chief judge of his district court from 1997 to 2004. Vinson has been active for over two decades, and this isn't the first time he's garnered media attention. MUCH MORE
Finally, I did take exception to your remark that Edward Snowden was not a "Whistleblower." I agree that Bradley Manning's case is far more complicated than that of Edward Snowden. When Bradley Manning released information that unmasked some of our military personnel gunning down unarmed Journalists from a Helicopter Gunship that was Whistleblowing. Other information that Bradley Manning gave to Wikileaks without first checking through the material and making sure there were no Classified Documents of any sort other than the helicopter incident is unfortunate, and in my opinion, makes Snowden's case different than that of Bradley Manning and whether you like it or not, "Whistleblowing" is when an individual releases information that demonstrates the President of the United States, along with the NSA was involved in operating an illegal and unconstitutional program against Average American citizens who had done nothing to break the law. This is the epitome of a "Whistleblower Case! Using your rationale, we would have never heard of the Iran Contra Affair, Watergate, The Pentagon Papers and a host of other Whistleblower cases.
President Obama, it's also obvious that you're simply irritated that your illegal and unconstitutional Surveillance Programs were revealed to the public by an individual who has more courage in his little finger than you have in your entire body. Let's face it, you were screwing the American people and we wouldn't be having this conversation if it wasn't for Edward Snowden, and somehow, you believe that your position as President of The United States somehow gives you the right to treat us as if we didn't have any Constitutional protections and reveals a contempt of the American people by you that should be enough to impeach you for systematically lying to the American people, disrespecting your base, pretending during the elections that you were a Progressive, and last but not least, giving in to the GOP during your first term when it wasn't necessary. From what I have been able to ascertain, it was the White House that called in the GOP to negotiate cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Food Stamps. You have no ethics in dealing with the people and rather than being a Progressive, it's obvious that you're mostly a stealth Republican, and thankfully, they are too dumb because of their racial hatred of you to realize they are ganging-up on one of their most important allies against the American people.
If you expect any of the American people to support you or have any faith in you what-so-ever, the issues I listed in this "Open Letter" are extremely important to millions of American people. Addressing these several issues in a truthful manner would go a long way in reestablishing your relationship with the American People, and if you choose not to answer our questions, you will never be allowed to forget it.
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