“Dubya would never have done this to us“…  Support/Approval for George W Bush now exceeds President Obama.

WASHINGTON DC – The FBI has dramatically increased its use of a controversial provision of the Patriot Act to secretly obtain a vast store of business records of U.S. citizens under President Barack Obama, according to recent Justice Department reports to Congress. The bureau filed 212 requests for such data to a national security court last year – a 1,000-percent increase from the number of such requests four years earlier, the reports show.

The FBI’s increased use of the Patriot Act’s “business records” provision — and the wide ranging scope of its requests — is getting new scrutiny in light of last week’s disclosure that that the provision was used to obtain a top-secret national security order requiring telecommunications companies to turn over records of millions of telephone calls.  (continue reading)

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The long run. The lifelong commitment.  The big picture. The foundational truths. These are the elements that feed the reactors that are burning deep within the hearts and minds of those who make a difference, whether or not they are flamboyant as they do it.  Such  people are deliberately self-aware but not self-conscious, because their focus is on what desperately needs to be done in response to what others are doing.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy is the title by Eric Metaxas that documents the short life and astounding work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who lived all four of those identities to the full.

It is a mistake to think of Hitler having a meteorically sudden rise to power, and it is a great misreading of events to think that those who actively resisted him did so out of the anxiety of a moment, implementing plans only drawn up under the pressure of we must do something right now.  Bonhoeffer and and others who actively resisted both inside and outside of government and military service, were far more thoughtful than such a perception would suggest.

What follows is a two page excerpt from Metaxas’ 2010 biography and may provide some food for thought as we find our places in our own national mess, perhaps feeling as he did, that we have so little ground under our feet because of the entrenched betrayals and deceptions that are dissolving the world as we knew it. (more…)

……. [Excerpt From CFP]  The present administration is going after leakers, media sources, anyone and everyone who is even suspected of ‘betrayal.’ That’s what they call it, ‘betrayal.’…This administration considers anyone telling the truth about Benghazi, the IRS, hell, you name the issue, ‘betrayal,’” he said.

“We know all this already,” I stated. He looked at me, giving me a look like I’ve never seen, and actually pushed his finger into my chest. “You don’t know jack,” he said, “this is bigger than you can imagine, bigger than anyone can imagine.  …. If you are a website owner with a brisk readership and a conservative bent, you’re on that list. It’s a political dissident list, not an enemy threat list,”…  (continue reading)

Either they provided the information, OR, the administration is accepting the NSA tapping into the massive computer servers that drive the internet.

GUARDIAN UK – Two different versions of the PRISM scandal were emerging on Thursday with Silicon Valley executives denying all knowledge of the top secret program that gives the National Security Agency direct access to the internet giants’ servers.

The eavesdropping program is detailed in the form of PowerPoint slides in a leaked NSA document, seen and authenticated by the Guardian, which states that it is based on “legally-compelled collection” but operates with the “assistance of communications providers in the US.”

Each of the 41 slides in the document displays prominently the corporate logos of the tech companies claimed to be taking part in PRISM. (more…)

fyi, an insider detail – We can secondarily confirm the information provided within this Wall Street Journal report. Those of you who have been with the Treehouse community since the beginning may remember a conversation thread about the “new age” credit cards that allow capability of RFID transmission. [symbols: ((( )))  and Ξ ]  One of our close friends actually quit his job in disgust over the use of his computer program -a central component to the RFID system- being used to embed internally into credit cards with the expressed intent on tracking user id, location, history etc.  He knew the potential risk several years ago, and sent a warning – we shared – it appears this is now coming to light.

WASHINGTON (WSJ) —The National Security Agency’s monitoring of Americans includes customer records from the three major phone networks as well as emails and Web searches, and the agency also has cataloged credit-card transactions, said people familiar with the agency’s activities.

The disclosure this week of an order by a secret U.S. court for Verizon Communications Inc.’s phone records set off the latest public discussion of the program. But people familiar with the NSA’s operations said the initiative also encompasses phone-call data from AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp., records from Internet-service providers and purchase information from credit-card providers.

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…he sees you when your sleeping, he knows when you’re awake;  He knows if you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake.   You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why….

WASHINGTON DC – The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time.

The highly classified program, code-named PRISM, has not been disclosed publicly before. Its establishment in 2007 and six years of exponential growth took place beneath the surface of a roiling debate over the boundaries of surveillance and privacy. Even late last year, when critics of the foreign intelligence statute argued for changes, the only members of Congress who know about PRISM were bound by oaths of office to hold their tongues.

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Several recent developments are really beginning to highlight what happens when Radical Alinskyites take hold of political power. What we are all seeing in the national headlines, and the stories the liberal media are trying to ignore, is confirmation of how anti-American the progressive left actually is.

Consider:

•  Today we shared with you how the man in charge of making sure racism is appropriately addressed in this country had to quit his job because he was told to carry out a racist leftist agenda.   Do not sell this factual story short on the importance scale.   Sure the media will not report it – But it is actually a fact.

The man in charge of insuring racism is absent from government has to quit his job because the government is now telling him it’s his job to be racist.  (link)

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WASHINGTON DC – Valerie Jarrett, a top adviser to President Barack Obama, says she and the rest of the White House remain “very upbeat” despite the series of scandals that have engulfed the Obama administration in recent weeks.

“In any given day, our administration has about 2 million employees, and things happen,” Jarrett tells the Boston Globe. “We put in process procedures to make sure if there has been any wrongdoing, there will be appropriate consequences, and we will move on.”

Jarrett just wants to move on from the scandals. And, she says, the American people want these scandals not to serve as a distraction. (more…)

On the heels of the recent reports about the Dept. of Justice beginning to crack down on Free Speech, under the auspices of protecting civil rights, we need to focus attention like a laser beam on the potential collapse of freedom.

We are the only site that (I’m aware of) willing to tell people about the Federal Dept Of Justice – Community Relations Service (the CRS).   As is the case with all progressive endeavors, the initial function of the CRS was sold to the politicians who fund it, as an entity organized to insure community racial cohesion.

However, it quickly devolved into an entity whose sole purpose was to use Politically Correct leverage, and cultural Marxism, to protect the image of racial minorities from the public visibility of their own behavior. (more…)

Folks, let me be the first on record associated with this Treehouse. THIS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO STAND. We will lead an effort to push back against this ridiculous “UNCONSTITUTIONAL” mandate being put forth by the Holder/Perez Dept. of Justice.

People ask me all the time about the Community Relations Service;  Most have never heard of it.   The CRS is the super-secret and federally protected stealth sect within the DOJ Civil Rights Division.   When I explain the depth of the broad power granted to the CRS – people look at me cross eyed with a stare that says – “no way”!  My response? Yes, way.

Many people cannot wrap their mind around what they hear, it just doesn’t reconcile with everything they have ever thought about freedom.  Even more refuse to consider what is presented to them.  Just like many fine folks in the Treehouse who cannot grasp that there exists a Federal Entity which can, without explanation, force a judge to make a decision or ruling in a way the CRS dictates. It just strikes as unbelievably UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

So this factual example about how the Federal DOJ going to arrest and/or prosecute anyone who defames Islam is aimed more toward those people who refuse to accept the information about the scope of the CRS power: (more…)