Marco Rubio Wants To Permanently Extend NSA Mass Surveillance (nationaljournal.com)

SonicSpike writes: Marco Rubio wants Congress to permanently extend the authorities governing several of the National Security Agency's controversial spying programs, including its mass surveillance of domestic phone records. The Florida Republican and 2016 presidential hopeful penned an op-ed on Tuesday condemning President Obama's counterterrorism policies and warning that the U.S. has not learned the "fundamental lessons of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." Rubio called on Congress to permanently reauthorize core provisions of the post-9/11 USA Patriot Act, which are due to sunset on June 1 of this year and provide the intelligence community with much of its surveillance power. "This year, a new Republican majority in both houses of Congress will have to extend current authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and I urge my colleagues to consider a permanent extension of the counterterrorism tools our intelligence community relies on to keep the American people safe," Rubio wrote in a Fox News op-ed.

Comments

Link to the Op-Ed Piece

[GoCrazy]

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion...

And not just a summary of summary of the op-ed.

Re:Fundamentals

[Minion of Eris]

And next week the chocolate ration will be increased from 5 grams to 3. Remember: War is peace, Freedom is slavery, and Ignorance is strength.

How about we treat the rest of the world better?

[Anonymous Coward]

If we should have learned anything from 9/11, it's that we should stop pushing terrible foreign policies on other nations. Also, stop meddling too much in their affairs. It is much easier to protect out nation by getting other countries to like us, instead of beating them into temporary submission.

Truth

[Anonymous Coward]

Freedom is more important than safety. Privacy is a freedom that you are too willing to throw away. Please stop being such a pussy.

Thanks,
An American Citizen.

Oh good, a reason

[Kobun]

I hadn't read or heard much about this guy, but since he seems like he'll be the #3 between Cruz and Trump (who are both so unelectable it hurts) it's good to know that he's as awful a candidate as anyone else the Republicans have up.

Never expect anything from a politician, and you might be disappointed by them only half the time ...

Re:Oh good, a reason

[bored]

I don't think Sanders is that extreme, I might be wrong, but by himself (especially with a republican congress) he won't be effective enough to create the kind of environment you envision.
In that regard as president he would be a good counterbalance to the crap that we have been living with for the last 40 years, that has resulted in massive shifts in wealth in this country. Just reversing or stopping that trend (and no, more tax cut's aren't the answer to our shitty infrastructure, and shrinking middle class) a little would make him massively successful in my book.

Re:Oh good, a reason

[amicusNYCL]

Sanders isn't going to be able to wave a magic wand and have all of his desired policies implemented. I welcome the change in attitude that he represents. He can do a lot of good even without fulfilling some of the things that he'd like to see done the most.

Re:How about we treat the rest of the world better

[Firethorn]

Indeed. Our post WWII conduct with other countries was often extremely shameful. I termed my service as 'cleaning up the messes of our parents and grandparents'.

We should have a policy of conducting ourselves with honor - we make a deal, we keep it. We don't support people who are anti-ethical to our beliefs. Democracy isn't wrong, even if the population doesn't like us. Keep acting honorably and they'll eventually change their minds.

Re:Fundamentals

[bored]

I was sitting across from a couple guys sitting in the BBQ joint in Texas two weeks ago. And they were badmouthing the iran prisoner exchange, and then they started agreeing with each other they that bringing the "terrorists" to the US for prison was a terrible idea. I basically asked them "So your afraid of a couple unarmed guys guarded 24/7, who for the most part have less than a high school education who grew up in caves?"

The thing that kills me about gitmo is the all the "brave mericans" running around crying about how dangerous it is to bring the remaining guys from gitmo to the US. What happened to "land of the free, home of the brave?" I guess that went out of style when GW Bush told everyone to go shopping.

Who didn't see this coming?

[Striek]

I saw this coming the moment the US enacted the "temporary" Patriot Act, and I've reminded people every time they extended it. Once the government has power, they never give it back. I can't find examples to quote (other than the 1st Rule of Acquisition), but I'm sure everyone can think of at least five cases in history where this pattern has been repeated.

The only sane course of action when governments try to enact legislation like this, for any reason, is to block it at every available opportunity. These laws never get repealed, and the "temporary" emergency laws always become permanent.

Fuck 9/11. History already taught me that governments never waste a good opportunity to grab power, that all emergency powers become permanent, and that no government, ever, can be trusted with these powers.

Re:Fundamentals

[nehumanuscrede]

I believe the leadership of this country are the ones failing to understand " the fundamental lessons of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 ".

That lesson being: Quit trying to force your will on the rest of the world. Regime changes to install US friendly governments tend to piss a lot of people off. Maybe the leadership should take a good look at our foreign policy and realize " The more we intervene in the Middle East, the greater the likelihood of retaliatory action. " ( Retaliatory action. See entry: Planes flying into buildings )

The short version: Don't want to worry about terrorism ? Quit bombing shit.

I also don't think our leadership understands that they are the only ones truly afraid of a terrorist attack against this country. Most of us realize the odds are right up there with winning the lotto, so we don't tend to put a lot of concern into the matter. To be honest, I am far, FAR more concerned with our own Governments behavior and Law Enforcement than I am any potential terrorists.

As for any actual terrorists, you guys are targeting the wrong folks. Blowing up people who have zero say so in the decision making process is a complete waste of everyone's time. It may make the news for a day or two, vanish just as quickly and absolutely nothing will have changed. Put some thought into what you're doing and weigh the likely outcome vs what you hope to achieve.

Re:Fundamentals

[Lunix Nutcase]

The government might have to prove their charges in a court of law? My god, how evil that idea is. Clearly they must be bad guys if its claimed they are so.

No.

[damn_registrars]

a socialist trying to give away free everything to anybody

Sanders is not trying to "give away" anything. Nobody who supports Sanders expects to get things for "free", either. He openly states that taxes will have to go up or other parts of the budget will have to be cut. However, Sanders supporters are intelligent enough to realize that these are - absolutely and without challenge - the best investments that the government can possibly make. Money spent in prisons is never recouped. Money spent on education is recouped on average 5-10 times over (and often much more than that). Money spent on war is almost all lost. Money spent on health care is almost always returned.

The only people who think that Sanders is going to "give away" anything for "free" are the people who hate him too much to bother listening to what he actually says.