Stringbean:
Create a giant pinata shaped in the form of a legislative bill, burn it in effigy, and let kids beat it with sticks until the WMD’s fall out.
Or, more reasonably, toss it into the scrap-bin of historical hysterical horseshit.
Any chance that Yertle the Turtle, errr, Mitch McConnell could do the final interior inspection and maybe get left inside by total accident?
As that outcome grows more likely, enjoy a few highlights from the #ifthepatriotactexpires Twitter feed.
So far, so good – the fire and brimstone rains, invading alien tripods, and zombie apocalypse caused by the expiration haven’t gotten me yet…
Interesting…last week, the FBI admitted that not a single act of terrorism was foiled by the massive data collection program. But they cannot give specifics because the details are secret.
Turns out to be #2: U.S. Surveillance in Place Since 9/11 Is Sharply Limited - The New York Times
The Senate soundly rejected all of Majority Leader McTurtle’s amendments, and sent the House bill unmodified to the President (who is expected to sign it).
Congratulations, Mr Snowden.
One day they will build statues of you in your own country. But not yet.
So, did McTurtle ever get frustrated enough to say “Hail Hydra!” loud enough for the microphones to pick it up?
DinoR
June 2, 2015, 11:39pm
28
An interesting case of …gasp… something other than rampant partisanship. The biggest conflict was between the House Republicans and the Senate Republican leadership. :eek:
And the next phase begins :
Several of Rand Paul’s allies in the US House of Representatives are seeking to capitalize on the momentum of surveillance reform as the USA Freedom Act continues through the Senate by attempting to stop the National Security Agency from undermining encryption and banning other law enforcement agencies from collecting US data in bulk.
Thomas Massie, a libertarian-minded Kentucky Republican, has authored an amendment to a forthcoming appropriations bill that blocks any funding for the National Institute of Science and Technology to “coordinate or consult” with the NSA or the Central Intelligence Agency “for the purpose of establishing cryptographic or computer standards that permit the warrantless electronic surveillance” by the spy agencies. He is joined in the effort by Democrat Zoe Lofgren of California.
Massie and Lofgren will place the amendment on the bill funding the Justice Department as early as Tuesday. Their move is part of the first wave of follow-up measures by privacy advocates to supplement the USA Freedom Act, a bill already passed by the House which, although it would limit some NSA powers, many civil libertarians consider insufficient…
