Hall Of Shame: Congress Votes For Warrantless Surveillance Of Americans. The government is not your friend; it is your enemy. Quit supporting a political system designed to enslave you. People are the answer, not power-hungry political tyrants.

Score one for Technocracy. The House of Representatives had a chance to stop warrantless surveillance of American citizens. It failed, in spite of the Fourth Amendment and in the face of 75 percent of Americans who say the Feds should always get a warrant before conducting a search. The tie-breaking vote was cast by the Speaker of the House, a Republican.

It is assumed that all your electronic data is already available: phone calls, emails, letters/packages sent/received via the post office, GPS tracking data, DMV records, income tax filings, financial transactions, et cetera ad infinitum. Do you really want some law enforcement agency digging through your “file” looking for criminal activity on a whim?

According to The Dispatch, abuses are routine and shocking:

These violations include alarming abuses. Among many other examples, the government has performed baseless searches for the communications of members of Congress, journalists, and 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign. The FBI has performed “tens of thousands” of unlawful searches “related to civil unrest,” including searches targeting 141 people protesting the murder of George Floyd and more than 20,000 people affiliated with a group suspected of involvement in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Most recently—and despite procedural changes implemented by the FBI to stem abuses—FBI agents performed improper searches for the private communications of a U.S. senator, a state senator, and a state court judge who reported alleged civil rights violations by a police chief to the FBI. 

In fact, in 2021 alone, the FBI conducted a record 3.4 million warrantless searches. 

⁃ TN Editor

Eighty-six House Republicans on Friday voted against an amendment to require a warrant for surveillance of Americans’ communications.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) proposed an amendment to the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), a bill that would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Section 702 is a law that is meant to target foreign adversaries, but often surveils Americans’ private communications without a warrant.

The amendment tied at 212-212 in the House; a tie in the House means that the measure fails. Although Biggs’s amendment did receive support from a majority of Republicans, 86 House Republicans failed to support the proposal.

A warrant requirement is overwhelmingly backed by Americans. A YouGov poll commissioned by FreedomWorks and Demand Progress found that 76 percent of Americans support a warrant requirement, while only 12 percent oppose.

Only one member of House Republican leadership voted with the majority of the House Republican Conference on warrants requirements: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN). Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) voted against the warrant requirement.

Johnson used to support closing the backdoor search loophole, or the ability to surveil Americans through Section 702, which is meant to target foreigners. However, he changed his mind after seeing a classified briefing after becoming Speaker.