Sunday, May 31, 2015

Has Rand Paul got the nuts to pull it off?


Rand Paul has promised to stop the reauthorization of sections of the Patriot Act, including NSA's illegal phone spying on Americans. Because Mitch The Turtle has waited until the very last moment, this may be a lot easier than normal under Senate rules, which make obstruction very easy.
Sections of the Patriot Act governing the NSA’s mass surveillance program, including the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records, are set to expire on June 1, at the stroke of midnight. The White House and its allies in the Senate are pushing to reauthorize the program before then, setting the stage for a major floor battle on Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a presidential candidate, vowed to force the bulk phone collection program to expire — and Senate rules allow him to do just that, at least temporarily.

"I will force the expiration of the NSA illegal spy program," Paul said in a statement. "Sometimes when the problem is big enough, you just have to start over."

Senate members already made two unsuccessful attempts last week to reach a settlement: First by bringing to the floor a measure called the USA Freedom Act — which would have renewed the NSA’s authority while imposing some new limitations on its extent — and then by trying to push through a straight two-month extension of the agency’s statutory authority. Both those measures failed, causing Sunday’s last-ditch effort to pass some form of surveillance authorization.

The Obama administration is urging passage of the USA Freedom Act, which would eliminate NSA bulk collection and replace it with a system by which telecom companies hold onto their customers’ metadata, making it available to the government under particular, FISA court-approved circumstances. The House has already given its approval to the bill.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest emphasized “the need for the Senate to take decisive action to pass the USA Freedom Act” during a Tuesday press conference.

"They’re facing an important upcoming deadline, and the President is hopeful that for the sake of our country’s security and for the sake our citizens’ privacy that the Senate will meet that deadline,” said Earnest.

Independent studies of the NSA's data collection program have found little evidence that it has helped prevent attacks on the United States.
It has been found to be illegal by a federal judge and studies show it to be of little use. This can lead one to think the purpose of the law is no longer the stated one repeated by the authorities, ad nauseum. To which we must paraphrase Shakespeare from Macbeth and say Lay on Rand Paul and Damned be that first cries Hold! Enough!

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