BLOWBACK: Defense lawyers insist on clients’ right to use NSA records.

One of the lawyers who contacted Dore was John Steakley in Cobb County, Ga., where he represents a client in a double homicide case.

“I have a double homicide where witnesses called each other upon hearing gunshots,” Steakley said in an e-mail to El Nuevo Herald. “If those calls took place before my client arrived in the area [we have his records], then he couldn’t have done the shooting. I’ve tried to get the records of those phone calls, but the cell companies no longer have the records. If the NSA has been stockpiling the data, I’d like to get it.”

Steakley said on Thursday that he plans to file a motion demanding NSA phone records for those calls.

More lawyers became interested in filing motions after Reuters broke the story on the DEA’s unit to combat drug-trafficking Latin American cartels through a partnership with the NSA and other federal agencies that include the CIA, Homeland Security, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The DEA’s Special Operations Division’s practice of feeding tips on suspects to local law enforcement has drawn criticism because the initial source of the information, possibly NSA intercepts of phone data, has not been revealed when cases reach the courts.

According to Reuters, the original tip was concealed from judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys because of the classified nature of the unit. The tip generally was relayed to a state trooper who was told by investigators to search a specific vehicle in which drugs would be found.

In court, investigators would say that the case began with the vehicle search, not the SOD tip. Investigators called the procedure parallel construction.

The subterfuge has upset some legal experts who feel that court cases in which the practice was used have been compromised.

The John Steakley quoted above is my former student, and a regular InstaPundit reader, not the late John Steakley who wrote Armor, who confusingly also emailed me occasionally. . . .

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Thorsby teacher charged with rape and sodomy of a juvenile male. “A Thorsby sixth grade teacher was suspended after her arrest Friday on rape and sodomy charges involving a juvenile male, according officials and court records. . . .Warrants filed in court show that McNeill is charged with having had sexual intercourse with a juvenile male less than 16 years of age, but older than 12, between April 10, 2012 and June 28 of this year.”

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Huma Abedin’s Murky Role at State Department Under Scrutiny. “For months,Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has been questioning why Abedin was made a “special government employee” by the State Department in June 2012, allowing her to stay on as an adviser to the secretary of State while working for Teneo, a consulting firm founded by a former aide to Bill Clinton, and being privately employed by the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton personally. Now the New York Times has joined in Grassley’s quest, but both Abedin and the State Department remain less than forthcoming about her arrangement. . . . For those keeping score (or searching for ammunition to use against Hillary in 2016), this is the third controversy to emerge this summer about the murky roles of those involved in various Clinton-related ventures.”

CHARLES GLASSER: Confidential Sources: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. “Now ask yourself how the following would sound in court: ‘Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I know I said Mr. Jones was a swindler. I have a source that told me so. I promised the source confidentiality, so I can’t tell you who it was. But trust me, I’m a journalist.’ This is straight out of the Lionel Hutz playbook.”

Plus: “The promise of confidentiality is often considered a binding contract, and sources who are burned have the right to sue a publisher or reporter for financial compensation for lost wages, business opportunities and other expenses. The only way to avoid this possibility is to obtain a written waiver from the source allowing you to name him or her in the event you are sued.”

MICKEY KAUS ON IMMIGRATION: Pay no attention to the executive order behind that curtain.

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Mich. Family Violently Targeted After Standing Against Teacher Who Molested Their 8th Grade Son.

PRAISE THE LORD, and pass the ammunition.

SOME RECOMMENDED READING FROM Victor Davis Hanson.

EVERYONE’S A CRIMINAL NOW: Changing IP address to access public website ruled violation of US law.

“SMART DIPLOMACY:” Obama gambled on Kerry, ElBaradei partnership and lost America’s credibility.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Nonprofit executive overseeing the White House’s Obamacare youth video contest is the disgraced ACORN group’s former top lobbyist.

WHY GO OUTSIDE WHEN YOU HAVE AN IPHONE? America’s national parks struggle to attract young visitors.

NOAM CHOMSKY: Hey, you know, Palin was right about Obama.

JEFF JARVIS: The White House Credibility Deficit: The NSA leaks ended the power of Obama officials to ration access. No self-respecting journalist believes what they say. “That is the punchline of the Snowden affair: when we can’t trust what government tells us, we come to trust those whom government doesn’t trust. Thus, we no longer necessarily care what the official line is and who delivers it. And when that happens, access – the currency of the Beltway – becomes worthless. Ah, the irony.”

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Can You Spot the Vital Gun Safety Rule Violated at Mayor Bloomberg’s Press Conference on Massive Seizure of Firearms?

CAIRO CORRESPONDENT: Muslim Brotherhood Spreading Terrorism in All of Egypt.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 8 Reasons Being Married a Long Time Beats Being a Newlywed. In my experience, being married a long time — if 19 years counts as a long time — does in fact beat being a newlywed. Even though being a newlywed was pretty great. And yes, the sex does improve.

I’VE SEEN A COUPLE OF THESE MYSELF: The New Fad Taking The Country By Storm: “Overpasses For Obama’s Impeachment.” Note the signs about drones and the NSA.

UPDATE: More crushing of dissent.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Aide in union contribution swap hosts California fund-raiser for McAuliffe. “A controversial figure in Democratic Party fund-raising circles Monday night is hosting a California gala for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe. Laura Hartigan served as deputy to McAuliffe when he chaired the Democratic National Committee. In 1998, Senate investigators alleged that Hartigan participated in efforts to swap party contributions with the Teamsters Union. . . . On March 19, 2001, The New Republic wrote that McAuliffe tried to ‘illegally launder contributions’ through the DNC to Carey’s campaign against James Hoffa for president of the Teamsters.”

ESCAPE FROM AMERICA: Is It Time To Say “Goodbye” To Uncle Sam?

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: DNA nanotechnology positions components to optimize single-molecule fluorescence.

ARE YA FEELIN’ THE HOPE AND CHANGE? Obama administration asks Supreme Court to allow warrantless cellphone searches.

TECHNOLOGY: Canadian Military Developing Stealth Snowmobile.

AT AMAZON, High-Tech Science Fiction.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN FOR TOMORROW IS UP: Scandals Costing Us American Exceptionalism. “Enough breaches of trust — and I haven’t even started to hit all the scandals out there, by a long shot — and ordinary people will start to assume that the whole system is corrupt. And if that happens, people will quit following the law because they think it’s the right thing to do, and only do so to the extent they’re afraid of getting caught. Plenty of countries operate on that principle. They’re just not as nice to live in as countries where the law has moral stature.”