Trump Cries About Wiretaps

In case there is someone out there in Internetland who has not heard, Donald Trump has dominated Twitter, yet again, with yet another petty complaint. This time, it is an accusation against Barack Obama; specifically, that he had the phones at Trump Tower wiretapped during the election. Here's what he said, among other things:

While it is tempting to simply write this off as another stupid sounding complaint by an unqualified and ill-elected president, it is important to note the reaction of Kevin Lewis, Obama's spokesman, prior to passing judgement.  "A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false, " Lewis stated.

This is interesting. A president cannot order the wiretapping of any American citizen's phone, or any unconstitutional invasion of privacy. If Donald Trump does not know this, and must reach out to his Twitter audience for an answer, he is too stupid for the oval office. Another very telling aspect of Lewis's remark is what he said about DOJ investigations. As it happens, there actually WAS a warrant, which was not obtained by the White House, but by the FBI, to investigate communications at Trump Tower. It centered on a server which was found to be communicating with Russia's Alfa Bank, which has strong ties to Vladimir Putin. It seems that Mr. Trump just found out about the FBI investigation yesterday.

As long as an investigation is ongoing, the FBI is usually not inclined to comment or speak publicly about it. Had Donald Trump just resisted the urge to tweet, many, many Americans would not be aware, today, that the FBI has been investigating his computer and email activities, in connection to his relationship with entities in Russia. It seems plausible that we will hear more about this in the future.

Just A Reminder

 

Just to remind everyone of something, before voting. I stole the meme from Facebook.

Private Message

To the person whose signal hails from somewhere in the vicinity of Upper Montgomery County, in Maryland; I know you have been looking intently at several posts, in particular, on this site. Yes, he really did it, and by the time his warrants caught up with him, he had done it in another state, as well. If you are curious about this person, I think you should give him a miss. Seriously.

You can email me if you have any questions, and you can also leave a comment here, and mark it "private", and I will message you and not publish the comment.

Forensic Evidence In Kendrick Johnson Case

Kendrick Johnson's untimely death at his Georgia school last year is finally gaining some national attention. It would be nice to think it was also the subject of serious investigation, but over a year has passed, and local law enforcement initially had no intentions of any honesty with Kendrick's family; from the cause of death to the possible suspects. Judging from community reaction to this, it appears that school officials and others in the community are displeased with the determination of Kendrick's parents to find out exactly what happened to their son. Some members of the community actually think that Kendrick's family should just forget that they ever loved him, and "move forward with their lives", accepting the community's judgment that it is okay to victimize some people, and that the feelings, lives, and children of those people do not matter.

"Move forward and get on with your life." Communities who push that philosophy usually push it on minority populations, and it is most feverishly pushed on those targets when special non-minority segments of the population, such as the children of law enforcement or prosecutors, have committed crimes that the teachers, policemen, school administrators, and Christian ministers would rather see unprosecuted.

Brad Cook Missing From Olathe, Kansas

Brad Cook is missing from Olathe, Kansas, and was reported missing by his family when he didn't come home on October 20. In today's world, three days is a long time to let one's email and facebook go unchecked, and to abstain from making phone calls or using one's credit cards or bank account. If you know have any information concerning Brad's whereabouts, please call the Johnson County Kansas Sheriff's Department at the number on the poster above.

 

Facebook Felony

Luckily for all of us, Senators Al Franken, (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have introduced introduced legislation to narrow the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or the CFAA, which was enacted primarily to prosecute malicious hacking, such as identity theft and bank larceny done via computers. Lately, there has been discussion by lawmakers about all sorts of things that are done online every day by innocent computer users, such as using an online moniker that is not one's actual name on a social networking website or checking one's email at work on an employer's computer. Even more shocking is the idea that using a nickname on Facebook can even be construed as a felony! A couple of cases wherein defendants have been charged and prosecuted have involved violations of the Terms Of Service agreements for various networks......but while it is understandable that a network can reserve the right to delete the account of an errant user, how is this defined, by law, as a crime, particularly a felony? The other widely committed act that is done by many, many people is the act of using a workplace computer for unauthorized purposes, such as checking one's email or surfing social media sites. It seems like a boss should have the option to reserve the right to terminate an employee who sits on Facebook or Google Plus all day, but should the employee go to jail, after being prosecuted under CFAA, and have a felony record over using an online moniker other than a legal name?