General Warrants, NSA Spying, And America's Unappreciated Founding Father, James Otis, Jr.

“Writs of assistance and the customs bureaus that carried them out would be among the specific complaints the signers of the Declaration of Independence laid out against King George III: “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance,” wrote  Radley Balko, also known as The Agitator. That multitude of new offices and swarms of officers to harass the people sounds a lot like today, doesn't it? Balko wrote an excellent piece, well worth the time to read it.