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One More Reason Why Most Political Reporters Are Useless

By mikethemadbiologist on February 1, 2008.

Because they don't understand stuff. To wit, Mike Allen in The Politico:

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs surveillance of telephone calls and e-mail traffic of suspected terrorists, expires on Friday. After that, any monitoring that's currently authorized could continue, but no new surveillance could begin.

Actually, what is set to expire is the Protect America Act ('PAA'). The reason the PAA is set to expire is that the retroactive immunity provisions for law-breaking companies in the new PAA are opposed by the Democrats, but the Republicans refuse to pass a reauthorization bill without retroactive immunity, even though the PAA is The Most Important Anti-Terrorism Legislation EVAH!

FISA allows wiretaps with a retroactive warrant: the government has 72 hours after the wiretap is started to apply for a warrant from a FISA court, which has denied just two requests out of thousands made.

Also, FISA doesn't expire.

So, is Allen stupid or lazy? Seriously, I don't expect high-level legal analysis from a reporter, but I'm not a lawyer either, and I get this. It's just not that hard, particularly if it's your job to pay attention and write about this stuff.

Tags
Civil Liberties
Fucking Morons
news media
Propaganda
terrorism

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Ever since the war on terror began there have been people walking the fine line between civil rights and national security. It's a passionate debate because they are both extremely important subjects! I am not sure where I land on every part of it but I do find myself feeling sorry for those who have had to jump in with both feet and then defend their stance against those, ( who again I sympathize with), who are diametrically opposed to their stance.
Dave Briggs :~)

Seriously, I don't expect high-level legal analysis from a reporter, but I'm not a lawyer either, and I get this. It's just not that hard, particularly if it's your job to pay attention and write about this stuff.

That's not his job. His job is to pad out sufficient column inches so that (a) the advertising can be arranged in a pleasing manner, and (b) some suckers will buy the rag. The idea that reporters have some kind of duty to the truth is so obsolete.

"That's not his job."

Oh, but they think it is. At least in the beginning. But after a while, reality sets in, and that's why so many reporters end up doing other things. That and poor pay for all but those at the top.

Ever since the war on terror began there have been people walking the fine line between civil rights and national security<\i>

Well....yes, but that isn't really Mike's complaint. Mike Allen wrote something that is completely untrue. i don't see how this kind of reporting helps balance these legitimate concerns. While it is tempting to interpret this report as lying, complete incompetence seems more likely.