Patriot Act Set To Expire Tonight At Midnight

Senate Showdown Looms Over Patriot Act Provisions' Sunset

The National Security Agency's authority to collect troves of bulk telephone metadata is set to expire on June 1st amid congressional gridlock on the controversial program — a high stakes showdown one senior Obama administration official called "playing national security Russian roulette."

The Senate will meet for a rare Sunday session in an effort to reach a compromise that would extend the program in some way. However, Senate leadership aides admit that the bulk data collection program will likely sunset briefly while Congress attempts to find a solution, and Republican presidential candidate Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky says he will block any attempt on Sunday to quickly pass a bill to stop the sunset.

Even a brief sunset of the program, which would happen at midnight if Congress fails to act, would result in the NSA being unable to collect that data if a new terrorism threat were to surface.

Rand Paul has always protested the Patriot Act and does what he can to end it so come midnight tonight we'll see if he finally sees this all come to some kind of an end, but chances are it will continue on because Washington believes spying on everything in the USA will prevent terrorism. The problem with that is so far there hasn't been any evidence all this spying has prevented anything.

FBI admits no major cases cracked with Patriot Act snooping powers

FBI agents can’t point to any major terrorism cases they’ve cracked thanks to the key snooping powers in the Patriot Act, the Justice Department’s inspector general said in a report Thursday that could complicate efforts to keep key parts of the law operating.

Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz said that between 2004 and 2009, the FBI tripled its use of bulk collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows government agents to compel businesses to turn over records and documents, and increasingly scooped up records of Americans who had no ties to official terrorism investigations.

But of course, politicians and their ilk will fight tooth and nail to keep yet another failed program going.

What Will Change If The Patriot Act Expires?

a reply to: Swills

If it passes we need to elect Rand Paul POTUS. He has Vowed to sign a Executive Order on his first day in office to end the NSA surveillance .

I don't have anything to back up this statement but I believe that something will happen, a back door deal or threat of some sort, that will cause Rand Paul to back down and let the Patriot Act renew. I do kind of like Rand Paul, but there is no doubt it's political posturing for his 2016 run.

That said, if Paul is successful in blocking its renewal, the program will just go off the books and become some unspoken classified program. They're not going to dismantle all that infrastucture because we the people and a few politicians want them to.

a reply to: Greathouse

And that's just one reason why he will never get into office. Our corrupt system won't allow it. We'll probably be forced to deal with another Clinton or Bush.

I hope this Manifesto goes in the trash heap of history.

The only people that the Act identified is people dumb enough to fall for a setup.

They could not point to a single valid arrest coming from the collection of our information.

What is so hard about getting a warrant?

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: Greathouse

And that's just one reason why he will never get into office. Our corrupt system won't allow it. We'll probably be forced to deal with another Clinton or Bush.

I tend to look at things differently than other people . What I see right now is Rand Paul and Rubio are not running for the Republican nomination . They are both running against Hillary Clinton to achieve that platform . Paul and Rubio have the best performance against Hillary . I think they are trying to force the Republican Party's hand into backing them .


Edit;

I keep forgetting the need to explain the bigger picture on this site . Paul and Rubio are the only two Republican candidates that at this point can contend with Hillary . I believe that at one point the Republican Party is going to realize that one of these two men must be given the nomination if republicans want to stand a chance in the next election .

a reply to: EternalSolace

Rand Paul will never back down from his Patriot Act protests. Will there be a false flag event to inject a need for the Patriot Act? Wouldn't surprise me.

a reply to: whyamIhere

Rand Paul agrees with you. Check out this protest from 2011.

It'll pass because the cesspool that passes for DC won't relinquish power/authority/control for a second.

Now we get Obama saying this.

Obama: ‘Heaven Forbid’ a Terrorist Attack Happens After Senate Inaction on Patriot Act

“I don’t want us to be in a situation in which, for a certain period of time, those authorities go away and suddenly we are dark, and heaven forbid, we’ve got a problem where we could have prevented a terrorist attack or apprehended someone who was engaged in dangerous activity but we didn’t do so simply because of inaction in the Senate,” Obama told reporters Friday after meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch at the White House.

“So I have indicated to Leader McConnell and other senators, I expect them to take action and take action swiftly,” Obama continued. “That’s what the American people deserve. This is not an issue in which we have to choose between security and civil liberties. This is an issue in which we in fact have struck the right balance.”

SOURCE
So push the fear, and encourage giving up Liberties for safety.

Want to take odds on how fast we have a 'terrorist' attack if the Patriot act expires?
Then we will hear, 'I told you so!"

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin

a reply to: stosh64
is it time to dig up this ol chestnut?

Obama: "I'm Concerned About a Loose Nuke Being Detonated in Manhattan"

www.abovetopsecret.com...

anybody know if DHS has requisitioned any pressure cookers lately?

originally posted by: beezzer
It'll pass because the cesspool that passes for DC won't relinquish power/authority/control for a second.

Just curious Bezzz but do you at least hope you are wrong ?

originally posted by: Greathouse

originally posted by: beezzer
It'll pass because the cesspool that passes for DC won't relinquish power/authority/control for a second.

Just curious Bezzz but do you at least hope you are wrong ?

Name me one time in the past 50 years that government has voluntarily ceded any authority.

We're slipping at an ever increasing rate towards a type of tyranny that we have never seen before.

Rand Paul has vowed to filibuster again today to stop a vote....not to many weeks ago he stood there for 11 hours....which 8 why they are holding a special session on Sunday.

originally posted by: beezzer

originally posted by: Greathouse

originally posted by: beezzer
It'll pass because the cesspool that passes for DC won't relinquish power/authority/control for a second.

Just curious Bezzz but do you at least hope you are wrong ?

Name me one time in the past 50 years that government has voluntarily ceded any authority.

We're slipping at an ever increasing rate towards a type of tyranny that we have never seen before.

I thought you were going to say name me one ONE time I've been wrong
lol
i actually couldn't ( must be my DYI..er DIY shock treatments, hey) ..
especially this time

originally posted by: beezzer

originally posted by: Greathouse

originally posted by: beezzer
It'll pass because the cesspool that passes for DC won't relinquish power/authority/control for a second.

Just curious Bezzz but do you at least hope you are wrong ?

Name me one time in the past 50 years that government has voluntarily ceded any authority.

We're slipping at an ever increasing rate towards a type of tyranny that we have never seen before.

You surprise me , I love your cynical humorous attitude . I just never thought you were the type to be a defeatist ?

And I've never known the government to voluntarily give up power . It takes getting the right people in office to take it from them. Now I will name a couple off the top of my head . McCarthyism gone, Watergate got rid of tricky Dicky. Voluntarily I cannot think of one offhand, neither would I expected. It takes people that want to fight for it .

But rest assured if you completely give up and quit it's never going to happen .

Well said.
a reply to: whyamIhere

a reply to: Greathouse

I'm not a defeatist.

I would call myself pragmatic.

As for what I envision?

Soft tyranny is an idea first coined by Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1835 work titled Democracy in America.[1] In effect, soft tyranny occurs whenever the social conditions of a particular community hinder any prospect of hope among its members.[2] For Tocqueville, hope is the driving force behind all democratic institutions.[3] As such, whenever this all-encompassing hope is taken away from the people, liberal democracy fails. Examples of this failure can be seen in the Weimar Republic of Germany during the 1930s, in the French Third Republic around 1940 or arguably throughout western democracies since the economic collapse of 2008.

en.wikipedia.org...

I swear I heard this mourning Jindal or Ben carson say that we havent had any terrorist attacks because of the patriot act.

I mean but it is exactly how you say that there hasnt been a terrorist attack stopped because of the patriot act.

I mean we need to attack and defeat this idea that the patriot act is doing something when it is not.

Its like saying my house was robbed before I painted it red. now since I have this red house my house hasnt been robbed.

It must be the red paint right or just nobody choose to rob your house.

a reply to: beezzer

Soft tyranny is an idea first coined by Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1835 work titled Democracy in America.[1] In effect, soft tyranny occurs whenever the social conditions of a particular community hinder any prospect of hope among its members.

Social conditioning is not conclusive in this country . If I may site the civil rights movement, the anti-war effort in the 60s and the present anti-war effort .

The first two were accomplished by the people the second one is currently a work in progress .

No the peoples feelings in this country have always been heard. But it's voice gets weaker when its citizens give up .

The problem today is everyone wants instant gratification and does not realize that change is a long and involved process .