Whenever terrorists attack republicans oblige them using the tragedies to trample on our liberties

[bigtree]

from Greg Sargent at the WaPo:

Attack in France shouldn’t blunt drive for NSA surveillance reform

Politicians and Beltway commentators are today consumed in a debate over whether President Obama, in failing to attend the march in Paris, failed to show solidarity with the victims of the terror attack and the cause of free speech in general.

Meanwhile, beyond such hand-wringing over symbolism, the attack could have an actual impact on national security policy here at home: It could make it that much less likely that lawmakers will get serious about reforming National Security Agency bulk surveillance of Americans’ communication records...

A year ago, President Obama — after coming under withering pressure in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations — came out for reforms of NSA bulk surveillance, including the legal process by which the government can query metadata. But the most significant reform he called for — removing the metadata itself from the government’s hands and placing it under the control of phone companies or a third party — has been left to Congress to carry out.

The push for reform was filibustered in the Senate last year, but lawmakers may once again be forced to confront questions about what to do about the program. That’s because the section of the Patriot Act that is the basis for the surveillance program is set to expire on June 1st. While there are some indications the program might be able to continue in some form even without Congressional authorization, there will be a Congressional debate over whether to reauthorize it, and whether to reform NSA surveillance in the process...

The revelations about NSA bulk surveillance raised hopes that an alliance of civil liberties progressives and libertarian conservatives concerned about national security overreach could come together to force reform. But plainly momentum has flagged. House GOP leaders — with the complicity of some Democrats who oppose reform — may simply move for a vote to reauthorize the program. It’s also an open question how hard Obama will push Congress to pursue changes to it. And with some lawmakers seizing on the France attack to kill all hopes of reform, it remains to be seen whether that left-right coalition can make anything happen.


read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/01/12/attack-in-france-shouldnt-blunt-drive-for-nsa-surveillance-reform/

[jwirr]

1. And in doing s they make us the losers and the enemy wins.

[NYC_SKP]

2. That is why they are complicit in the commission of so many of these events.

Sometimes their complicity is by omission and neglect, and other times it's quite deliberate.

This latest attack on Hebdo had, I believe, support from parties unrelated to Islam.

[Scuba]

4. +1

[JonLP24]

3. In the game Grand Theft Auto

There is FIB and The Agency and they are competing against each to catch the terrorist that they break into the Agency building to kidnap the detainee who was being tortured then they arrive with the detainee thinking he was saved from it, is being put into the back of a FIB van to be put through the whole thing all over again.

Later, based on the idea that the best way to receive funding to prevent a terrorist attack is for a terrorist attack to happen so the Agency is planning a terrorist attack, FIB breaks into their area to steal (the thing they're going to use for an attack) so they end up fighting a literal war against each other to win the war against terrorism with Blackwater (Halliburton -- though they overplayed the mercenary angle on this) in the background.

Satire driven to the point of absurd still hits the mark. We are killing ourselves in a war the enemy is growing stronger (giving money or weapons to Saudi Arabia or Arabian Peninsula country and continuing to do so -- when ending that would be more effective than more NSA, wiretap, torture, and our extinction which we are accelerating)

[Blue_Tires]

5. The reformers are going to wish they pushed harder for that earlier bill

because it would have probably been better than anything they'd get through this congress...Instead they went for broke with an all-or-nothing ultimatum and got nothing...

I realize the Patriot Act re-authorization was a rallying cry for some, but they're going to look like suckers if/when it get re-authorized anyway...