The news that the NSA is preparing to begin winding down their bulk surveillance program against Americans would be welcome to the general public, but it’s probably not true, and the claim is certainly not directed at us.
Rather, the Justice Department has issued a memo in which they claim the program will begin winding down over the weekend, carefully released to surveillance-friendly Congressmen.
The House has already passed the do-nothing “reform” bill the USA Freedom Act, which effectively extends the authority that the NSA has been (illegally according to courts) using as a pretext for the program. The Senate has not, however.
And while there are some expectations that the Senate will eventually sign off on the scheme, an ongoing filibuster by Sen. Rand Paul (R – KY) makes the vote far from certain, and there is considerable resistance both from surveillance opponents and from pro-surveillance Congressmen who want a “clean” reauthorization.
The “threat” to wind down the program may likely backfire, and rather than lighting a fire under pro-surveillance Congressmen may instead, having gone public, increase expectations among the voting public that the program will actually end.
What's the Justice Department has got to do with anything?
They are a bunch of filthy liars. Who can ever trust any of them?
The end of NSA surveillance will be greeted with the same universal sense of loss as that occasioned by the sudden death of a rabid dog.
"… increase expectations among the voting public that the program will actually end."
Like the public has never been lied to by our government…
Mar 11, 2015 Prof. Michel Chossudovsky: Terrorism is Made in the USA. The Global War on Terrorism is a Big Lie
Dr Chossudovsky said terrorism is made in the US and that terrorists are not the product of the Muslim world. Prominent academic and author Dr Michel Chossudovsky warned that the so-called war on terrorism is a front to propagate America’s global hegemony and create a New World Order.
https://youtu.be/1YExwxN4CT8
But, haven't the Courts ruled that the NSA unwarranted data gathering unconstitutional and, therefore, illegal?