Nothing gets done in Washington?
Tell that to Kentucky Senator and presidential hopeful Rand Paul. Last night, he single-handily “repealed” Section 215 of the Patriot Act, ending the federal government’s mass collection of our phone records.
At least, for the next few days.
On the floor of the Senate, Paul blocked the USA Freedom Act, a “compromise” bill passed by the House. It would’ve required private telecoms to keep the data, allowing the government to query that data with a warrant.
“I’m supportive of the part that ends the bulk collection by the government,” said Paul. “My concern is that we might be exchanging bulk collection by the government [with] bulk collection by the phone companies.”
In a Time magazine op-ed, he argued, “We should not be debating modifying an illegal program. We should simply end this illegal program.”
Also last week, the Tea Party Patriots joined the ACLU in agreeing with Paul’s position: the USA Freedom Act doesn’t go far enough … to protect our civil rights.
Others warn we aren’t safe without maximum snooping and info-scooping by government:
- CIA Director John Brennan called the metadata program “integral to making sure that we’re able to stop terrorists in their tracks.”
- Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the expiration amounted to “a serious lapse.”
- James Clapper, director of National Intelligence — most famous now for lying to Congress about the existence of the metadata program — declared we “would lose entirely an important capability that helps us identify potential U.S.-based associates of foreign terrorists.”
Yet, there’s not a single case where this bulk phone data helped capture a terrorist or stop an attack.
Sen. Paul believes “we can still catch terrorists using the Constitution.”
7 replies on “Rand to the Rescue”
Principals must prevail, and actually work!
Good for Rand Paul. Interesting to see that the Tea Party and the ACLU both agree with him.
Not only had it not prevented attacks, it does not appear to have had impact on the attacks we have had. No impact on the Garland jihadists, despite records now showing that they interfaced with social media; No impact on the Boston Marathon bombers, despite not only having their discussions on social media but also getting 5 separate warnings of their dangerousness from the Russian government’ No impact on the Fort Hood murderer, despite not only having his communication with the radical mosque, but also his having done a PowerPoint presentation detailing his intent and presenting it to the military; and,though it was little known, the NSA had been tracking out social media and phone calls since before 911 and it didn’t impact 911 at all.
And we STILL haven’t seen the 2 dozen FBI-censured security cam tapes from the area around the Oklahoma City bombing so we can see who was coordinating with and supporting Timothy McVeigh. It is as thought the jihadists are invisible to the US government. They get to make their plans and the spy agencies that are tracking them ignore it.
yep all that stuff pretty right to me.……and they bludgeon private citizens? the people are to be transparent and overexposed (“reminds me of the woman arrested and paraded through the jail naked??same idea) while the criminal and terrorists and government and “authorities” even including religious can operate in secrecy.?? We’re even framed by misinformation and not allowed anything close to due process. Personal experience and experience of others.…
While I’ve always found Rand Paul a bit kooky, I certainly agree with & appreciate that in this instance he has stood for the American People. Too few in Congress do.
I am all for stopping terrorists — let’s be real, they are here in America. But there must be proper procedure,not wholesale warehousing of all of our info that can then be hacked. Look at the 100,000 taxpayers who just had their info stolen from an IRS server. We can’t let our government get any more control or intrusion into our lives. On this “I stand with Rand.”
Don’t the phone companies already engage in ‘bulk collection’ of phone data? Every phone call you make generates computer records. It’s naïve to think this information isn’t being stored. The phone companies are REQUIRED to keep your data on file for a number of years before it is deleted from the system. Maybe the government would have to go to one or more companies to get your data, but it’s available for them, with or without some form of the Patriot Act on the books. That data doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to the phone company.
I’m back..so, yay for Rand for getting the lapse..two days of lapse..isnt that right..?.……goin’ to the authorities and courts to protect us??would we be notified if there were court action to get our data ? and.….…would the courts uphold rulings to “protect” citizens rights.…and “authorities” conspire in lies and misinformation .…I’ve been violated by courts and others in conspiracy by exclusion from hearings etc.