In a 67-32 vote today, the Senate has passed the USA Freedom Act, a watered-down reform will that will renew Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which expired over the weekend. The bill was passed without amendments, and will go straight to President Obama for a signature.
The White House praised the passage, after expressing annoyance over the weekend with Senator Rand Paul’s (R – KY) filibuster. The filibuster was ultimately blocked today, with only 14 Senators voting to allow it to continue.
The USA Freedom Act had been long criticized for being such a narrow reform bill, offering little in assurance that bulk surveillance would actually stop, and simply changing the process by which the data is being stored, putting it in the hands of phone companies instead of the NSA.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R – KY) was complaining about the bill, saying it took too much surveillance power away from the government, and despite the bill’s relatively weak nature, the ACLU and others were trumpeting it as at least something of a victory.
The passage and signing will end a little under 48 hours of life without Section 215 on the books, which was accompanied with predictions of imminent doom from CIA and other officials looking to speed along the passage.
Administration officials say the NSA program and the metadata collection will be back up and running within a day after the president signs it back into law, which again the indications are will happen very soon. Officials made no mention of any changes in the operation of the program, despite the nominal reforms.
Meet the new Bill, jus of like th'ole bill.
So, as usual, the hell with what the people want. In other words, "Freedom and Democracy."
Those who voted for Rand's filibuster were:
Voting to filibuster:
Paul
Ernst
Roberts
Crapo
Moran
Sanders
Shelby
Barrasso
Rubio
Enzi
Cotton
Sessions
Risch
Udall
Note that the big fake Ron Wyden did NOT.
He has voted for the USA Freedom Act every time.
BernieSanders, for the first time, voted against the USA Freedom Act here – but did not do so before.
Well, that didn't take long…
536 people (435 in the House of ill Repute, 100 in the Senatorial Star Chamber, 1 stand-up celebrity puppet in the White House of the Rising Sun) make laws and regulations that terrorize the American people and the rest of the world. How can that happen in a country of over 320 million citizens?
There is no more freedom, independence and equal justice in America. We must end this corrupt central government in Washington, DC. The new motto for liberty must be, "Dissolve it, start over!"
Friendly amendment: "Dissolve it, fuhgeddaboudit."
Excellent post, and here is the 'BIG' picture! Scorecard: How Many Rights Have Americans REALLY Lost?
How Many Constitutional Freedoms Do We Still Have?
Preface: While a lot of people talk about the loss of our Constitutional liberties, people usually speak in a vague, generalized manner … or focus on only one issue and ignore the rest.
This post explains the liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights – the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution – and provides a scorecard on the extent of the loss of each right.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/02/constituti…
January 9, 2014 500 Years of History Shows that Mass Spying Is Always Aimed at Crushing Dissent
It’s Never to Protect Us From Bad Guys
No matter which government conducts mass surveillance, they also do it to crush dissent, and then give a false rationale for why they’re doing it.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/01/government…
HOW ALTERNATIVE MEDIA INFLUENCED THE YEAR OF AWAKENING December 31st, 2013
While some see the year’s countless political scandals as a negative example of America’s current state, continued revelations and increased public knowledge of government corruption has undoubtedly made 2013 the year of awakening.
Western Governments Run Al Qaeda 'America'
http://www.storyleak.com/2013-year-awakening/
General Wesley Clark: Wars Were Planned – Seven Countries In Five Years
"This is a memo that describes how we're going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran." I said, "Is it classified?" He said, "Yes, sir." I said, "Well, don't show it to me." And I saw him a year or so ago, and I said, "You remember that?" He said, "Sir, I didn't show you that memo! I didn't show it to you!"