Rand Paul: U.S. Should Spend More Time Monitoring “People Who Speak Arabic”

[bronc_fan23]

Rand Paul: U.S. Should Spend More Time Monitoring “People Who Speak Arabic”

hxx p://www.buzzfeed.com/christophermassie/rand-paul-us-should-spend-more-time-monitoring-people-who-sp?utm_term=.jsx0WQ3JK#.urbrgeDPN

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said on Friday that the United States government spends “billions of dollars scooping up” Americans’ phone records when it should be focusing more of its resources on Arabic speakers.
“We spend billions of dollars scooping up all the phone records of millions of Americans and sending them to Utah, to a multi-billion-dollar science-fiction sort of headquarters there, to house all these records, when in reality what we ought to do is maybe spend more time on people who speak Arabic, people who are looking at public avenues and public access to see who are the ones talking and might want to harm us,” Paul told radio host Dave Price.
Paul made the comment in response to a question about how to prevent shootings like the one in San Bernardino, California on Wednesday. Paul’s campaign did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News on what Paul specifically meant when he said “people who speak Arabic” and ” people who are looking at public avenues and public access.”

They sure know how to make a click bait headline, don't they?

 

[hells_unicorn]

hxx p://www.buzzfeed.com/christophermassie/rand-paul-us-should-spend-more-time-monitoring-people-who-sp?utm_term=.jsx0WQ3JK#.urbrgeDPN

They sure know how to make a click bait headline, don't they?

All I can say is thank you for breaking the link, because I'm picturing every bone-head pundit on buzzfeed being dropped into a river with concrete shoes.

 

[Indy Vidual]

I don't recall Ron endorsing racial profiling based on fear of the ones who "might want to harm us".

 

[enhanced_deficit]

Arabic can seem scary at times :

Arabic speaking man of Jewish faith shot dead in Jerusalem


But fear is child of ignorance.. and NY schools are already on it:

Arabic mandatory at New York city public school

 

[CPUd]

http://buzzfeedorclickhole.com/

 

[GunnyFreedom]

Buzzfeed is a good name for it. You have to be on crack to appreciate it.

 

[Dianne]

No chit.. Start with Obama "Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/opinion/06kristof.html?_r=0

 

[GunnyFreedom]

Unfortunate and disappointing, but most likely the result of how he tends to frame these issues as a 'break it gently' process. Not "stop all foreign aid" but "stop foreign aid to countries that burn our flag." This has been his go-to framework for whenever he believes the truth is too hard for people to hear yet. Also, the BF article takes it way out of context.

 

[LibertyEagle]

Good for Rand. It wasn't 80 year old caucasian grandmothers, wearing diapers, who bombed us. It was largely Saudis. To not give them more focus, would be illogical.

 

[ThePopinator]

Good for Rand. It wasn't 80 year old caucasian grandmothers, wearing diapers, who bombed us. It was largely Saudis. To not give them more focus, would be illogical.

Ron Paul has said that before.

 

[PierzStyx]

Ah, just when I thought Rand couldn't get worse he comes out and supports violating the human rights to privacy and personal property as well as the Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, and most likely the First Amendment in regards to religion and speech. At one time I thought there was a fundamental difference between Rand and the neocons, but at this point he has blurred the line enough to where I am failing to see a substantial difference. Everyone has rights, everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and this kind of support for spying on people is sickening. Anyone who claims to believe in inalienable human rights and supports Rand this point is engaging in some powerful doublethink and hypocrisy. Everyone has rights, even Arabic speakers. And none of this even begins to address how stupidly impossible this would be as a workable source of intel.

 

[CPUd]

Ah, just when I thought Rand couldn't get worse he comes out and supports violating the human rights to privacy and personal property as well as the Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, and most likely the First Amendment in regards to religion and speech. At one time I thought there was a fundamental difference between Rand and the neocons, but at this point he has blurred the line enough to where I am failing to see a substantial difference. Everyone has rights, everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and this kind of support for spying on people is sickening. Anyone who claims to believe in inalienable human rights and supports Rand this point is engaging in some powerful doublethink and hypocrisy. Everyone has rights, even Arabic speakers. And none of this even begins to address how stupidly impossible this would be as a workable source of intel.

He's talking about stuff posted in the public domain, where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

He's talking about stuff posted in the public domain, where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.

Shhh. Don't let silly things like facts get in the way of a haterant.

 

[LibertyEagle]

Shhh. Don't let silly things like facts get in the way of a haterant.

There's this new device called a dictionary. Check it out sometime.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

There's this new device called a dictionary. Check it out sometime.

And what exactly is your problem now?

 

[LibertyEagle]

He's talking about stuff posted in the public domain, where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.

How do you know Rand meant any different?

 

[PierzStyx]

He's talking about stuff posted in the public domain, where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.

Sounds like the same argument the government uses to scoop up metadata. Its just public information. Never mind that, as Edward Snowden noted, when the government starts monitoring you they can gather information about every aspect of your private life from "public" information that they use to track you and monitor you.

Further, how do you think he will be able to monitor those who "speak Arabic" exactly? Not only does anything in that quote suggest he would only monitor publicly available information, just that he wants to spy on those who he thinks are a threat to the public, promoting the absurd idea that anyone who speaks Arabic is automatically a threat, the fact that the government is monitoring you, tracking you, keeping tabs on you, is the government spying on you. That is a violation of your basic human rights all by itself. For Americans in constitutes the violation of their constitutional rights as well. After all it sounds to me that he is talking about all people who speak Arabic, including US citizens. Despite calling himself an advocate of privacy, what he is promoting here is just another massive government spying program, there are in fact 3 million Muslims in America alone, plus all those who speak Arabic who aren't Muslim. And that massive spying program is focused on innocent civilians, people who haven't done anything wrong, who have committed no acts of violence, issued no threats, who have in fact done nothing but "speak Arabic." Guilty until proven innocent indeed. Sickening is what it is, and depressing that people who were up in arms when they found out Barack Obama was spying on Americans are jumping all over one another to justify it when their guy is promoting something similar. It is the triumph of politics over values, or party over ideas.

 

[CPUd]

Today, the United States government engages in the bulk collection of personal data from every American with a cell phone. The founding fathers would be ashamed if they could see the massive growth of government that has taken place at the expense of our constitutional liberties.

I believe that every American has a constitutionally guaranteed right to privacy which must be protected. Simply put, the phone records of law-abiding Americans are none of the government's business!

If the government has probable cause that an individual is a criminal or suspected terrorist, then they must first go to a judge and obtain a warrant as required by the Fourth Amendment. Mr. Verizon, Mr. Sprint, and Mr. AT&T are not individuals and "general warrants" which authorize this dragnet surveillance on millions of Americans violate the very intent of the Fourth Amendment. Simply owning a cell-phone does not mean you forfeit your constitutional rights. From your phone records, the government can discern the most intimate details of your life--whether you smoke, whether you gamble, what books you read, what magazines you read, whether you see a psychiatrist, or what medications you take. This domestic NSA spying is simply not acceptable in a free society.

As President of the United States, I will immediately end the NSA's illegal bulk data collection and domestic spying programs and protect the Fourth Amendment rights of all Americans. We must remember that our rights are unlimited, unenumerated, and given to us by God. Your rights are who you are, your rights are what you are, your rights are in your DNA – and the government can get over it.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

Sounds like the same argument the government uses to scoop up metadata. Its just public information. Never mind that, as Edward Snowden noted, when the government starts monitoring you they can gather information about every aspect of your private life from "public" information that they use to track you and monitor you.

Further, how do you think he will be able to monitor those who "speak Arabic" exactly? Not only does anything in that quote suggest he would only monitor publicly available information, just that he wants to spy on those who he thinks are a threat to the public, promoting the absurd idea that anyone who speaks Arabic is automatically a threat, the fact that the government is monitoring you, tracking you, keeping tabs on you, is the government spying on you. That is a violation of your basic human rights all by itself. For Americans in constitutes the violation of their constitutional rights as well. After all it sounds to me that he is talking about all people who speak Arabic, including US citizens. Despite calling himself an advocate of privacy, what he is promoting here is just another massive government spying program, there are in fact 3 million Muslims in America alone, plus all those who speak Arabic who aren't Muslim. And that massive spying program is focused on innocent civilians, people who haven't done anything wrong, who have committed no acts of violence, issued no threats, who have in fact done nothing but "speak Arabic." Guilty until proven innocent indeed. Sickening is what it is, and depressing that people who were up in arms when they found out Barack Obama was spying on Americans are jumping all over one another to justify it when their guy is promoting something similar. It is the triumph of politics over values, or party over ideas.

You are talking as though this were some kind of intricately articulated policy position when nothing could be further from the truth. It was an off the cuff answer to a question where Rand is trying to push away from universal surveillance by citing the worthlessness of universal surveillance.

 

[CPUd]

Sounds like the same argument the government uses to scoop up metadata. Its just public information. Never mind that, as Edward Snowden noted, when the government starts monitoring you they can gather information about every aspect of your private life from "public" information that they use to track you and monitor you.

It's not even close to the same argument. Phone metadata is not public information.

Further, how do you think he will be able to monitor those who "speak Arabic" exactly?

It's actually quite easy.

Not only does anything in that quote suggest he would only monitor publicly available information, just that he wants to spy on those who he thinks are a threat to the public, promoting the absurd idea that anyone who speaks Arabic is automatically a threat, the fact that the government is monitoring you, tracking you, keeping tabs on you, is the government spying on you.

"public avenues and public accesses". His stance on private data such as phone records, he has clearly articulated on his website and every public appearance where the topic comes up.

That is a violation of your basic human rights all by itself. For Americans in constitutes the violation of their constitutional rights as well.

Are your rights violated when police or anyone else dig through your trash out on the curb?

After all it sounds to me that he is talking about all people who speak Arabic, including US citizens. Despite calling himself an advocate of privacy, what he is promoting here is just another massive government spying program, there are in fact 3 million Muslims in America alone, plus all those who speak Arabic who aren't Muslim. And that massive spying program is focused on innocent civilians, people who haven't done anything wrong, who have committed no acts of violence, issued no threats, who have in fact done nothing but "speak Arabic." Guilty until proven innocent indeed. Sickening is what it is, and depressing that people who were up in arms when they found out Barack Obama was spying on Americans are jumping all over one another to justify it when their guy is promoting something similar. It is the triumph of politics over values, or party over ideas.

I've really got no problem with it, assuming the data they are looking at is no different than the data everyone has access to. Anything further than that should require a specific warrant.