U.S. Senate to let NSA spy program lapse, at least for now - TTG

The legal authority for U.S. spy agencies' collection of Americans' phone records and other data was set to expire at midnight on Sunday after the U.S. Senate failed to pass legislation extending the controversial powers.

After debate pitting Americans' distrust of intrusive government against fears of terrorist attacks, the Senate voted to move ahead with reform legislation that would replace the bulk phone records program revealed two years ago by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.

But final Senate passage of the bill was delayed until at least Tuesday morning by objections from Senator Rand Paul, a libertarian Republican presidential hopeful who has fulminated against the NSA program as illegal and unconstitutional. As a result, the government's collection and search of phone records was set to terminate at midnight (0400 GMT on Monday) when provisions of a post-Sept. 11, 2001, law known as the USA Patriot Act expire. (Reuters)

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Well, Rand Paul did all he could short of whipping out a roscoe and lighting up the joint. Section 215 will expire tonight and will probably be replaced by the USA Freedom Act later this week. Rand realizes both this and the probability of getting some amendments passed to tighten up the Act is slim to none. He made some good speeches (and some political points). I’m hoping he further galvanized the political and public opposition to unwarranted government surveillance. Maybe it will become more of an issue between now and November 2016. 

The Administration, including Obama in his weekly address, and every surveillance hawk in the country have been stirring up the fear all week. According to them we can expect the 3rd Osama Bin Laden Shock Army to roll across our amber waving plains in a few hours and, because the NSA and FBI can’t collect bulk metadata , we are defenseless to stop them. They all disgust me.

This ain’t over. I can hear the strains of “The Rising of the Moon” in the distance.

Death to every foe and traitor, forward strike the marching tune

And hurrah, me boys, for freedom, 'tis the rising of the moon

TTG 

Comments

[zanzibar]

TTG

They all disgust me too!

This makes it so clear that both parties (despite the howls of the partisans) are essentially the same. They both want unfettered government. The Constitution be damned. And many Americans eat it up because they have become so fearful and have lost the character to be able to take personal responsibility for their lives.

[confusedponderer]

TTG,
what concerns me is that the security hawks and the Rand Paulians are probably singing the same tune ... 'Death to every foe and traitor! ...'

[Cee]

This should never have been passed. Russ Feingold brave and right then and Rand Paul is brave and right now.
How funny that Denny Hastert got caught up because of what he supported.

[BabelFish]

I like Tommy Makem's rendition of the song. And I agree with CP that it is all about who they think their enemies are.

The Dems have no excuse. After correctly howling about Nixon's attempt to blow away the constitution, they are now racing headlong to the lemming cliff, to be the first to jump into 'no constitution land'.

[Ishmael Zechariah]

TTG, SST;

IMO the surveillance state was created by the neocons to eliminate dissent within the USA by identifying, marginalizing, and eventually eliminating, all opponents of their agenda. They have been successful so far and, barring an economic catastrophe, or a hot engagement with Russia/China, will continue to be successful.

It is indeed disturbing to hear what is defined as "freedom for the masses" by these ideologues.

Bad moon rising.

Ishmael Zechariah

[rjj]

Cee, would you please clarify, "How funny that Denny Hastert got caught up because of what he supported."

I don't get it -- and am too lazy to try to figure it out.

[Cee]

rjj,

Dennis Hastert Pushed For The Patriot Act That Led To His Indictment

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who has taken credit for the passage of the Patriot Act in the House of Representatives in 2001, has been indicted on charges related to paying $3.5 million in "hush money,"

The Huffington Post noted that Hastert, who has taken credit for the Patriot Act’s passage in the House of Representatives in 2001, found out the hard way that the law he helped pass has given federal law enforcement the tools to indict him.

[William R. Cumming]

And in the meantime visual government inspections by TSA have reported totally failed to detect items carried by testers. Head of TSA reassigned.

[Cee]

Ishmael,

I agree.

All,

This is interesting considering the neocon role in taking us to war...

Sen. Rand Paul is joining a crowd of House lawmakers intent on revealing to the public 28 pages of secret text about Sept. 11, 2001.

The Kentucky Republican and presidential candidate — fresh off a closely watched battle to kill some government surveillance powers — led the charge on Tuesday with legislation to force the disclosure of pages extracted from a 2002 congressional inquiry into the attacks. The pages were blacked out by the Bush administration on national security grounds.

“We cannot let page after page of blanked-out documents be obscured by a veil,” Paul said at a packed Capitol press conference on Tuesday, flanked by fellow lawmakers and families of victims of the 2001 attack. “We owe it to these families, and we cannot let this lack of transparency erode trust and make us feel less secure.”

Paul’s legislation follows a similar bill in the House, which has been led by Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.). Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have signed on to co-sponsor Paul’s bill.

For years, Jones and other lawmakers have been fighting for the release of the pages, which are believed to paint senior officials within Saudi Arabia as complicit in the terror attacks.

“We all are calling today for the release of these 28 pages,” Paul said.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/243730-paul-joins-crusade-to-expose-secret-9-11-pages#.VW4pimLjdOE.facebook