Finally. .. The patriot act expires..

[Green Bottle]

''Quote
Now if we could just post bush and blair in a container to the middle east as an offering..''

Aye, downtown Kabul will do..

[Mike Cl]

Now if we could just post bush and blair in a container to the middle east as an offering..

Fantastical idea!

[The Skeletal Atheist]

Good news.

Hmmm. But wouldn't they need another big one to reinstate something like that? Patriot Act passed in days, because of 9/11 and afterwards, people have constantly been fed by the fairy tale of the weapons of mass destruction, 'the end was nigh' and then invasions came etc. It looked like, it was so shocking, there was this extending moment shared by American people that everything was in danger and so most people probably saw it as an urgent neccessity. 14 years ago. And even then there were many criticism about it.

However, now, it is very different. How would they legitimise something like that a second time, in a country where all domestic politics, understanding of political dissidence is virtually based on some inflated idea of individual freedom? 

Esp. with that kind of constitution you have, trying to pass something like that again now, without any obvious reason would simply mean, 'Hey we cannot change the constitution or the related certain set of laws as we like, so we'll keep imposing some acts to override that shit. Thank you for your cooperation.' 

They will or not, this could be the new big towel between two sides to bite to pull in near future. Like some new big issue between rubes and democrats. Rubes will stand up and shout after any possible terroristic event about this, you'll see. And they will tie anything related to Obama administration and democrats every time it comes up. But again, this would need some big terroristic act with serious body count to become a serious issue, but then where is the international part to support? Now, people are used to the general idea of terrorism. There is a generation who grew up in it and others got to their adulthood with it.

I'd like to think that American people wouldn't buy into something like that under these circumstances, because after all ressurecting something like Patriot Act also a way to scare or prosecute the people of the land who are rightfully fighting against certain policies for progress. Can you imagine Republicans coming into power with that, having an excuse to reinstate that shit, NOW, after that 8 years of process of putting them in their place? I guarantee you it would be used for anything, but protection against terrorism.

Besides all that, is anyone that stupid? I don't know, it is politics everything is possible. But without any solid good reason, trying to do something like that looks like a suicide to me in aspect of general American culture. This is messing up what Americans are proud of and call themselves Americans. The equality and democracy of law in the country. Doesn't have to be real, it is not, but it HAS to be by the book. So wouldn't it be like messing up with baseball in that land?  

Anyway, good riddance as Savior put it and let's hope it is not coming back.

They don't have to legitimize it, that's the fun part. All you have to do is slip it in another bill, keep it all hush hush, and hope no one finds out. If it works no one is none the wiser.

[SGOS]

Congress outlawed the use of asbestos back in the 80s or 90s.  They all patted themselves on the back for looking out for the public good.  A few years later they snuck it back into law in one of those other bills, and never said a word.  I didn't even know this happened until ten years ago or less.  Right now, I couldn't tell you whether asbestos is legal in products, or not.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

They're already working on the "US Freedom" act which is the same shit.. They should rename it the Martha Washington  smelly ass and turd act of 2015.. 

[drunkenshoe]

Fine. OK then. 

We just had ssomething like this in this year 2015, because of the big protests in 2013.

[Savior2006]

On CF, there was a jackoff who went by the name Garfield. "Proud Autistic Conservative." He could be counted on, in any Bush conversation, to tell you that you had "derangement syndrome" if you were less than pleased with that hayseed's performance. Meanwhile, he believed nearly every single fucking lie some conservative told him about Obama, because (wait for it) Garfield wasn't drinking the Kool-Aid. If you didn't buy his story, then you were "naive"; and if you called him out on any of his obnoxious behavior he told you that you needed to grow up. I imagine that's the reason he's been "absent" since the beginning of April.

On the subject of the domestic spying, Bush did it because he loves America, and Obama did it because he hated America. After all, Bush had "more regulations" in place, forgetting that a shitty bill is a shitty bill regardless if someone comes along and makes it shittier.

It's nice to come here and cleanse my palate of the bullshit I choked down on that forum. And I'm glad I'm not the only one hating the Patriot Act regardless of who's signing it.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

On Sunday, the Senate went home without extending expiring provisions of the Patriot Act â€" including one that the NSA has used to justify the bulk collection of our phone call data.

You read that correctly. Section 215 officially "sunset."

This is historic, and something we couldn't have ever thought possible. But before you celebrate, we already face serious threats to what hundreds of thousands of you have fought for.

The Senate has bowed to pressure from surveillance agencies and voted to advance the USA FREEDOM Act closer to passage. It's a bill that would reinstitute Section 215 under the guise of supposed reform.

Even worse, the NSA's backers in Congress are trying to water down what modest reforms the bill actually contains.



Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed amendments to USA FREEDOM which include really bad ideas like delaying the modest reforms the bill actually contains and letting the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Court â€" the very same court that blessed mass surveillance under Section 215 to begin with â€" continue to operate in the dark.

In other words, his amendments would further silence the majority of Americans who want a meaningful end to warrantless mass surveillance and a restoration of their basic civil liberties.

Keep in mind that this is cut and pasted from a fundraising email so take it with a grain of salt. . I graciously spared you the begging parts to RUSH $$$$ to the sender..

[stromboli]

Doesn't matter

http://upyernoz.blogspot.com/2015/05/revising-patriot-act-doesnt-matter-much.html

Bulk surveillance and warrantless wiretapping was illegal even after the Patriot Act was passed and the NSA did it anyway. When the illegal wireless wiretapping program was revealed to the public in 2005, there was a legal effort to hold government officials responsible for the illegal program but that failed because courts would not give anyone standing to sue. When public interest groups opposed to the program finally had some success by suing the telecoms that participated in the illegal programs, Congress passed the 2008 FISA Amendments that gave telecoms retroactive immunity for their illegal conduct. Even though those programs were clearly illegal prior to the amendment's passage, the NSA and the officials who authorized the illegal conduct never suffered any legal consequences for their actions.

So while I guess that this amendment to the Patriot Act is better than not having this amendment, I do not believe it will do anything to change the NSA's behavior. Part of our problem is that the post-9/11 legal regime allows all sorts of abuses in the name of national security. But our bigger problem is that even when the powers that be violate the legal limitations on their surveillance powers, there are no consequences.

The Patriot Cat covers a specific set of laws and regulations. No one is pulling the plug on NSA, and they have plenty of lawyers finding ways around any law changes, and the courts aren't going after anyone in any case. Rand Paul is just trying to get elected. Smoke and mirrors and a load of BS.

[Mike Cl]

Doesn't matter

http://upyernoz.blogspot.com/2015/05/revising-patriot-act-doesnt-matter-much.html

The Patriot Cat covers a specific set of laws and regulations. No one is pulling the plug on NSA, and they have plenty of lawyers finding ways around any law changes, and the courts aren't going after anyone in any case. Rand Paul is just trying to get elected. Smoke and mirrors and a load of BS.

I knew that when the Patriot Act was passed that it would never go away.  No matter what promises were made, govt. and the President were just not going to give up intel gathering of any kind.  And they haven't and they won't.