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Thom's blog
DEA officials conspired to hide NSA spying
New documents obtained by Reuters show that the Drug Enforcement Administration is helping the NSA cover up government surveillance. The Special Operations Division of the DEA, otherwise known as SOD, funnels secretly-obtained information to authorities around our nation to initiate criminal investigations of American citizens. And, these aren't people suspected of terrorist plots; this DEA program targets common criminals and drug dealers. The documents obtained by Reuters indicate that agents are trained to “recreate” the source of the investigations, to conceal how the information was originally obtained. Agents aren't just hiding these tactics from the defense attorneys representing alleged criminals, they're concealing the true source of information from prosecutors and judges as well.
According to Reuters, some experts say that this practice violates a defendant's Constitutional right to a fair trial, as it prevents those accused of a crime from accurately challenging the validity of the evidence presented against them. Former federal judge Nancy Gertner said, “It is one thing to create special rules for national security. Ordinary crime is different. It sounds like [these DEA agents] are phonying up investigations.”
Of course, the Justice Department declined to comment on the program, but DEA officials, who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, defended the practice. They said that trying to “recreate” an investigative trail isn't just legal, it's a practice that's used “almost daily.” Once again, government officials maintain that government spying is legal, yet say nothing about the program's constitutionality.
Since the news of secret NSA surveillance programs broke, officials from the security agency have claimed that Americans are not being spied on, and that these tactics are necessary to keep us safe. As many NSA opponents predicted, those claims have been proven false yet again. Reuters asked a former federal prosecutor about the program, and he said, “You can't game the system. You can't create this subterfuge. These are drug crimes, not national security cases. If you don't draw the line here, where do you draw it?”
-Thom
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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 9pm... Who is the press? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT, and catch past shows on Youtube)
Need to Know: Who is the press?- Craig Aaron, Free Press 
Screwed: Actress Melissa Fitzgerald speaks out on child soldiers- Melissa Fitzgerald, After Kony: Staging Hope
The Best of the Rest...
Rep. John Conyers on the NSA- Congressman John Conyers (D-MI, 13th District)
EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG: Climate change and violence now linked together- Professor Solomon Hsiang, University of California at Berkeley
Daily Take: Are you prepared to shoot the hostage?
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Friday's Daily Stack 
Hour One: Student loan debt causes loss of wealth- Neil McCluskey, Cato Institute
Article: " Letter to Samuel Kercheval" by Thomas Jefferson, June 12, 1816 " No other depositories of power [but the people themselves] have ever yet been found, which did not end in converting to their own profit the earnings of those committed to their charge".
Hour Two: Why we need a modern day Glass Steagall...
Hour Three: The real cause of the Detroit bankruptcy- Mark Williams, Mark Talk
Speech: " 1944 State of the Union Address". FDR's Second Bill of Rights or Economic Bill of Rights Speech, January 11, 1944. " we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being... For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world."
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Monday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET
Hour Two: Why don't you want polluters to pay to clean up their own waste?- William Yeatman, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Hour Three: Are you prepared to shoot the hostage?
And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...
The Thom Hartmann Program...your media support group for "we the people"...
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Tuesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET
The President will be giving a speech on housing in Phoenix, AZ tomorrow and the right wingers are already grumbling about it...I'll challenge conservative Tanya Marchiol of Team Investments...
Plus, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...
The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"...
Remember...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...
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Thom's Poll
Will Republicans succeed in shutting down the government?
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Watch & Listen to Thom
Watch the Full "Big Picture" Show...
Full Show 8/2/13: Obamacare Repealed for 40th Time
Tonight's "Big Picture Rumble" discusses the 40th house vote to repeal Obamacare, how the USPS is taking pictures of our mail and why we need to reinstate Glass-Steagall. In tonight's "Conversations with Great Minds" Thom talks with Michael Moss, New York Times Investigative Reporter and Author of the new book "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us."
Thom Hartmann on the news: August 2, 2013
Caller: Education Provides More than Just Financial Gain
Caller: Use the Military to Take Control from Modern Robber Barons
Time to go Back to Boring Banking!
The real cause of the Detroit bankruptcy
Student Loan Debt Causes Loss of Wealth
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