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Patriot Act Spy Powers To Expire As Rand Paul Blocks USA Freedom Act Vote
Saturday, we mentioned that three major spying powers that the U.S. government has exercised under the Patriot Act might be nixed, as the sections of the Act granting authority to use them expires. The Daily Dot reports that Senator (and presidential contender) Rand Paul today used Senate rules to block a bill which would have extended those powers, which means that as of midnight Sunday on the U.S. east coast, sections 206, 207 and 215 of the Patriot Act will have expired. Says the Daily Dot's article, linked by reader blottsie:
The reform bill, which the House passed before leaving town for a week-long recess, would end the government's bulk collection of Americans' phone records under the Patriot Act's controversial Section 215 but leaves the other two provisions intact. ... Sunday's procedural meltdown was the second narrow defeat for the USA Freedom Act. In a late-night session on Friday, May 22, the bill fell three votes short of an initial procedural step after [Senate Majority Leader] McConnell lobbied hard against it. The Senate's failure to meet its deadline was a blow to President Obama, who on Friday had warned lawmakers that the country would be vulnerable if the USA Freedom Act did not pass.
The Huffington Post was live updating the proceedings, and said this:
USA Freedom Act advances 77-17
In a stunning reversal from last week’s drama, the USA Freedom Act was passed by a vote of 77-17. The bill, which passed the House overwhelmingly several weeks ago will now move forward and is likely to receive a final vote on Tuesday.
The bill fell three votes short of the needed supermajority to advance last week but with the clock ticking on controversial provisions of the Patriot Act, supporters of NSA surveillance thought that the proposed reforms were better than letting the program expire entirely.
Rand Paul stated that the Freedom Act will likely get passed on Tuesday.
Wait... did we win or not? Isn't this just a 2-day repreive?
At least now the pretense will be gone.
Until Obama, or the puppeteers who make his mouth move and words come out, find some stooge to encourage to make some terrorist act that actually happens.
The FBI are always entrapping idiots into planning acts of terrorism. It shouldn't be too hard to see to it that one of these hare-brained schemes comes to fruition, thousands of Americans die and the American public demand to be spied on again.
I would assume thats what Obama and his masters are currently planning.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
. . . under the dictatorship of Obama - and we will make sure that all the supporters of dictator Obama will get booted from the Capitol Hill
Wait, is this sarcasm? You're gunning for the funny mod, right?
Because, A., the PATRIOT Act (writing the word "patriot" in reference to these orwellian measures makes my stomach turn, but that's not what I'm talking about here) was promulgated by Cheney Rumsfeld Bush and Co., and passed under their stern, wagging fingers, and, B., Obama operates from the White House, whereas it is the Congress whose building is Capitol Hill.
I'm confused because Paragraph 2 is an accurate representation of the current state of affairs. I mean, Obama is a far sight short of his promises, much like most Democrats these days, and totally wrong on this issue, but he is way less of a totalitarian/authoritarian than CRB executive was. And, at least one or two of his policies are meant for the benefit of the Plebs.
Actually, it's Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R, WI-5), the same guy who sponsored the Patriot Act.
I'm not a fan of political parties as a concept but just saying...
You think we have a "representative democracy" here in the US?
Representative of whom? Do you believe this government represents you? Do you think it represents the will of the people?
https://www.opensecrets.org/pa...
https://www.opensecrets.org/ov...
You are welcome on my lawn.
Joe Biden was the original author:
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/12/joe-biden-drafted-the-core-of-the-patriot-act-in-1995-before-the-oklahoma-city-bombing.html
... under the dictatorship of Obama ...
Who is the one coming out asking the Congress to extend the Patriot Act?
Was it Cheney Rumsfeld Bush and Co., or was it Obama?
What kind of a dictator "asks" Congress for anything? A proper dictator would, you know, dictate his commands, and any Congressman who refused to rubber-stamp them would be fired, or shot (or both).
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
I really can't wait until we get a new president. Then it will everyone bitching about the next one will get told to blame Obama, and then people will counter that blaming Obama is old and tired but the new president is somehow worse for not being radically different.
You know what I really honestly and non-sarcastically can't wait for? The day when you idiots stop voting these people into power. As long as the race for presidency--as long as most every political race at every level in this country-- is between a Democrat or a Republican, that will never happen.
You were critically hit for no damage. The bruise will look nice, and maybe the scars will make good party talk.
Even if that Rand Paul guy has done only one thing right that ONE THING still represents one thing MORE than all the other congress-critters (plus senate critters) on the Congressional Hill!
While I applaud him for so openly opposing the bill, he's not the only one in Congress who has. There were 121 votes against the bill in the House.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
There are many different sorts of government that feature "extreme concentration of power in the hands of very few people", and that condition is not at all the defining characteristic of fascism (which is a particular variety of regimented society).
Of all major politicians of the last 50 years, the Pauls stand out as the obvious promoters of freedom, enemies of regimentation and concentration of power.
Your complete absence of understanding is on display here; the goal is to remove power because power causes abuse.
"for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson - illustrates the proper attitude.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Sorry, dude, you have to put down the pipe and work for a living. There's no escaping the working for a living part, long-term. All we have is all we make, and so the fewer people work, the less we have - no games with money can change that. The best thing the government can do is provide incentives for people to work hard and be successful, by not punishing that. Tax everyone the same; don't create a special hated class of people who are taxed more. We shouldn't be spending more that we're all willing to pay in taxes, whether that's less or more than today - this game of "spend more and tax him over there" cannot survive much longer.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
What kind of a dictator "asks" Congress for anything? A proper dictator would, you know, dictate his commands
A clever dictator asks Congress for things he does not want, so that he can deflect the blame to Congress when they fail to pass it. You don't see presidents asking for permission about, say, drone bombings in various countries.
You do not know the meaning of fascism. Instead, you're using the term as a mere epithet.
Fascists have a view of world history in which ethnic or national groups are primary. They have a Hobbesian theory of society and the State where the nation must be reified as an individual, where disagreement and competition must be forcibly suppressed. Economic ideology is corporatist: having nothing to do with business corporations, but rather a form of guild socialism - central planning, where market competition is suppressed by the State, and sectors of society and the economy, such as agriculture, business, labor, etc. are regimented into organizations under a single governing body and forced to negotiate with each other to establish policies in the interest of each organization and the body as a whole.
Who is the one coming out asking the Congress to extend the Patriot Act?
Was it Cheney Rumsfeld Bush and Co., or was it Obama?
This argument is exactly the argument they want. because this argument leads nowhere.
The patriot act was promulgated by Cheney Rumsfeld Bush and Co. under a republican controlled congress. And it was backed by Obama under a democratically controlled congress, and - if not for the exception of one guy with a backbone - almost got pushed through a Republican controlled congress by a Democrat president again. So you are both right. What are your points?
The one thing that you two probably agree with, the one thing that polls have shown like 80% if Americans agreeing with, is that the Patriot Act is nonsense and needs to be repealed. Yet, over 99% of the elected representatives seems to want the Patriot Act passed.
Meanwhile, armchair yahoos such as yourselves are busy arguing about which politician is to blame? Balderdash! How about blaming all elected officials, except for maybe Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders? If you can only think of this through the lens of political parties, how about going with the vertebrate and invertebrate parties? I know, without their own news channels, it is hard to imagine....
Revolution is the opium of the intellectuals.