TRUMP VINDICATED ON "WIRETAPPING" CHARGE

FOURTH AMENDMENT: RIGHT TO " PRIVACY" AND AGAINST UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURES.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, SHALL NOT BE VIOLATED, and no warrants shall issue but on probable cause."

Spring has arrived father south, with the "dirty snow" season but the snow pack up here in the Greens remains clean and white and deep enough so that one still needs their bear paw snow shoes when they head out into the woods. The air is still icy cold and clear from the summit of Stratton. So the hysterics and "doings" far south in DC don't have the same direct impact they might further south. But the distance and the cold air gives one a "Green Mountain" perspective that eliminates the static and permits the hard facts to stand up in relief like these hard rock mountains.

Did President Obama (or some in his Administration) "spy" on the Trump transition team and Mr. Trump after the election and prior to the inauguration? For those of us far away from the hoopla it sure does seem like he did. Was the President elect's Fourth Amendment Rights violated? Was he spied on? You betcha! Was it just "incidental" information collected "legally" as our intelligence services legitimately listen in on foreigners, or was the Trump transition team "purposefully targeted"--we do not know yet. But our massive intelligence capability today makes it possible for the US to "target" Americans (in violation of the Constitution) when they want to. All of the carefully parsed statements and blank face denials by our top spies at Congressional hearings stating that Trump "was not wiretapped" suggests, not that they did not do it, but that they are very hesitant to reveal that they CAN DO IT.

The latest information coming out of the Congressional Intelligence Committee by its Chairman Nunez, seems to underscore the fact that Mr. Trump and his associates were "surveilled", for political purposes--as the President charged in a now infamous "tweet". Nunez' revelation may not be the formal "wiretapping" as the President claimed and it might not have happened in the Trump Tower....but for most of us it means the same thing---the violation of a citizen's right to privacy---a Fourth Amendment violation---a very serious offense indeed.

That offense against Constitutional Rights was then compounded by another crime--against US laws which prohibit the identities of individuals whose identities were revealed by "legal" and "incidental" eavesdropping to be published. These violated individuals were then "unmasked" and their identities and conversations were permitted to be leaked to the media. A third violation that may have been committed is the violation of the sacred premise that "the power of governing lies with the governed". That is the power of the electorate to express their will and pass on the power to govern through a legitimate election. The People have spoken in 2016. They elected Donald J. Trump. By attempting to frustrate the will of the People the Obama Administration may have unwittingly set in motion powers that can undermined the basis of our entire system of democratic election.

THE OUTGOING PRESIDENT (HIS ADMINISTRATION) "SPIED ON" THE NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT AND HIS TRANSITION TEAM AS THEY PREPARED TO TAKE OFFICE, THEN PERMITTED THE NAMES AND IDENTITIES OF THESE "TAPPED" INDIVIDUALS TO BE WIDELY DISPERSED THROUGHOUT THE LAME DUCK GOVERNMENT. THEN THAT INFORMATION WAS PURPOSELY LEAKED TO THE PRESS.

LET'S BE CLEAR. AFTER THE ELECTION, THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN. THE POWER TO GOVERN HAS LEGITIMATELY PASSED TO THE NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT. BY ATTEMPTING TO UNDERMINE OR DELEGITIMIZE THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE, THE PAST PRESIDENT (OR HIS AGENTS )IS UNDERMINING OUR SYSTEM AND OUR CONSTITUTION.

Why is that so significant and why should we be so concerned? one because it violates our Fourth Amendment rights. It violates US legislation which bans revealing names of individuals caught up in foreign spying. And because it abrogates the rights of the electorate...the People from whom the power to govern is derived, That power does not reside in the bureaucracy or the individuals of the out going regime. That must be very difficult for them to grasp. Having so much power then having none....in the flash of an eye. In the 2016 election the people's choice was made clear...they elected Mr Trump legitimately. Mr. Trump was prior to the inauguration and afterward the People's choice. The ex-President and his entourage had no right to SURVEIL, SPY, LISTEN IN, etc, etc,.or with the intention to undermine or attempt to delegitimize the People's choice. Yet that was his or his advocate's intention. Those that did this should be exposed and punished.