PATRIOT ACT IS NOT GONE

SECOND ONLY TO FEMA IN ROBBING AMERICANS OF FREEDOMS AND IN PISSING ON OUR CONSTITUTION, THE PATRIOT ACT WAS AMERICA'S SECOND VENTURE INTO A TRIAL DICTATORSHIP, TESTING THE WATERS FOR UNENDING MARTIAL LAW, MAKING SURE AMERICANS DON'T "BUCK THE SYSTEM". 

VERY, VERY FEW PEOPLE HAVE SAT DOWN AND READ ALL 320 PAGES OF THAT ABOMINATION THAT APPEARED AFTER 9/11.
WE WERE IN SHOCK AFTER THAT DAY.
WE MIGHT HAVE AGREED TO ANYTHING TO FEEL "SECURE".

CONGRESSMEN DID, BUT LATER COMPLAINED THERE WAS NO TIME TO READ THE THING BEFORE THE VOTE.

Congressman Jim McDermott alleged that no Senator had read the bill, and John Conyers, Jr. excused Congressmen for that by saying, "We don't read most of the bills. Do you really know what that would entail if we read every bill that we passed?" The dedicated moron then answered his own question, saying that IF they did it would "slow down the legislative process". 
SLOW DOWN PASSING LAWS COMPLETELY BLIND TO WHAT'S IN THEM?
WAY TO GO, CONGRESS, RIGHT? 
WHY GIVE A DAMN WHAT THOSE BILLS HAVE CRAMMED IN THEM, EH?

A FEW REGRETTED VOTING FOR IT AFTER THEY HAD TIME TO SEE IT FOR WHAT IT IS. 
TOO LATE!

TODAY, WITH SECTION 215 EXPIRED OVER THE WEEKEND, SOME CITIZENS ARE CELEBRATING THE EXPIRATION OF THE ATROCITY, BUT THAT'S PREMATURE.

CONGRESS WILL FIND A NEW WAY TO BRING US BACK UNDER THE BOOT HEEL OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

DHS (DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY) WILL CONTINUE TO GROPE US AND STOP US IN OUR TRACKS AT THEIR LEISURE, OUR BORDER, INLAND FOR 100 MILES, STILL WON'T COME UNDER CONSTITUTIONAL LAW BUT WILL CONTINUE TO BE A "CONSTITUTION FREE ZONE" WHERE ANYTHING GOES, WHERE SEARCH AND SEIZURE ARE COMMONPLACE, WHERE AN ARREST DOESN'T EVEN HAVE TO BE REPORTED UNTIL THE "BORDER PATROL" CHOOSES TO INFORM SOMEONE.

WE'RE STILL SCREWED, AMERICA!
ALL IS WELL...FOR UNCLE SAM AND HIS DRIVE TO SECURELY PEN THE SHEEPLE AND SLAM THE GATE.

SHANE HARRIS DID A FAIR JOB EXPLAINING HOW WE'RE STILL SCREWED:

"Forget the White House’s doomsday talk about American intelligence going blind. Thanks to backdoor provisions and alternate collection schemes, U.S. spies will keep on snooping.

Not only does the U.S. government have all sorts of other ways to collect the same kind of intelligence outlined in the Patriot Act, but there’s also a little-noticed back door in the act that allows U.S. spy agencies to gather information in pretty much the same ways they did before.  

In other words, there’s a zombie Patriot Act—one that lives on, though the existing version is dead.  

On Sunday, CIA Director John Brennan said on CBS’s Face the Nation that there’d “been a little too much political grandstanding and crusading for ideological causes that have skewed the debate on this issue,” an apparent reference to Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican presidential candidate, and his promise to force the law to expire, “but these tools are important to American lives.”  
They may be. But they are far from the only tools in the counterterrorism arsenal, and though they are no longer law as of Monday, the United States still has plenty of authority to collect intelligence on jihadis and foreign spies.  
For starters, there will be what’s left of the Patriot Act itself. One former U.S. intelligence official told The Daily Beast that Section 214 of the law, which allows “pen register/trap & trace,” could be used to collect phone and even email records.  

That would not only cover the gap from the expiring NSA program that collects the phone records of Americans’ landline calls, but potentially expand the government’s collection. (No wonder the NSA largely views the bill that would reform the Patriot Act as a major win.)

That former official and another both noted that there are other tools, including under different laws than the Patriot Act, for obtaining “roving wiretaps,” which allow the government to monitor one person’s multiple communications devices. 

Then there’s another powerful tool that the FBI and intelligence agencies have long had in their arsenal and still will—national-security letters. They make it relatively easy for investigators to gather up all kinds of communications records. This authority can be used to collect phone, Internet, and financial records.  

National-security letters were actually around before the Patriot Act became law in 2001, but the legislation lowered the standard that the government must meet to obtain them. They’ll still be comparatively easy to get now that portions of the Patriot Act are off the books. 

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the expiring provisions could mean the United States is unable to collect particular kinds of intelligence. But when asked whether the grandfather clause in the Patriot Act didn’t provide some assurances that investigations wouldn’t be derailed, Corker acknowledged, “You may be grandfathered in if the case is underway.”

Parts of the Patriot Act may be dying. But American surveillance will live on and on." 

AND ON...FOREVER...BECAUSE NO ONE HAS THE SPINE TO ABOLISH IT, NOR FEMA, NOR A HUNDRED OTHER FREEDOM-ROBBING, SLAVE-MAKING BILLS THE BOYZ ON THE HILL HAVE MADE LAW...WITHOUT EVER READING!

OHHHHH, THE HORROR OF NOT HAVING SECTION 215 TO KEEP US UNDER SURVEILLANCE ANYMORE...WHATEVER WILL WE DO?

KEEP CALM, NOTHING'S CHANGED.

YOU'RE 'TAGGED AND BAGGED', AMERICA.

AS I SAID, FEW HAVE SAT DOWN FOR A DAY OR THREE AND READ EVERY WORD OF THAT "PATRIOT ACT". 
IT'S LIKE READING A STEPHEN KIND HORROR NOVEL, GOES WAY BEYOND ORWELL'S "1984"!

THE ONLY THING MORE FRIGHTENING IS FEMA.

ISIS, AL QAEDA, THE TALIBAN, THE RUSSIAN KGB, ANYTHING THE CHINESE HAVE, OR ANYONE ELSE, ALL LOOK LIKE PLAYMATES, NICE GUYS WHEN COMPARED TO OUR "PATRIOT ACT".

THE POWER IT GIVES THE "STATE" , THE PRESIDENT, BOGGLES THE MIND! 
THE FREEDOMS IT STRIPS US OF CANNOT BE NUMBERED...WELL, NOT EASILY NUMBERED. 

HERE ARE JUST A WEE FEW... AND JUST FROM SECTION 215 OF THE GREAT BUSH 2's "UP YOURS, AMERICA!" PATRIOT ACT:

~  THE CONSTITUTION'S AMENDMENT I STATES : 
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

THE PATRIOT ACT REDEFINES ALL THAT!To assist terror investigation, the government may monitor religious and political institutions without even suspecting criminal activity.
The government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation. 

~ Constitutional Amendment II: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

 
WHEN HURRICANE KATRINA HIT THE GULF COAST, THE MILITARY WENT DOOR-TO-DOOR CONFISCATING FIREARMS, EVEN THOUGH THE PEOPLE THERE WERE BESIEGED BY LOOTERS AND CRIMINALS OF EVERY TYPE FOR WEEKS ON END. 

IT'S TRUE THAT FEMA ALLOWS FOR THAT, BUT SO DID THE PATRIOT ACT!

LET'S TALK "POSSE COMITATUS".
In early 2006 Congress passed bill H.R.5122 granting the President the right to commandeer Federal and State National Guard Troops for use against citizens.  The bill is entitled the John Warner Defense Appropriation Act for Fiscal Year 2007. 

Section 1076 of H.R. 5122.ENR allows the President to:
“...employ the armed forces, including the National Guard in Federal service, to... restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any State or possession of the United States..., where the President determines that,...domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of maintaining public order; suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy...”

This act attempts to nullify the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C. 331-335) and gives the President the legal ability to declare Martial Law under any condition he so chooses.

FEMA LAID THE GROUNDWORK

In a 1982 FEMA memo by John Brinkerhoff to FEMA agency director Louis Giuffrida, they note that Martial Law "suspends all prior existing laws, functions, systems, and programs of civil government, replacing them... with a military system."

The elimination of our basic rights started in 1971.
Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard modified the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 32, Volume 2, Chapter 1, Part 215, Section 6 with the "Employment of Military Resources in the Event of Civil Disturbances" which effectively revoked a substantial part of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act and provided 'exceptions' to the Act.

Showing How Title I Sections 104 & 106 of the USA PATRIOT Act(P.L. 107-56) Amend Existing Law

§ 2332e. Requests for military assistance to enforce prohibition in certain emergencies The Attorney General may request the Secretary of Defense to provide assistance under section 382 of title 10 in support of Department of Justice activities relating to the enforcement of section 2332c 2332a of this title during an emergency situation involving a chemical weapon of mass destruction. The authority to make such a request may be exercised by another official of the Department of Justice in accordance with section 382(f)(2) of title 10. 

HURRICANES KATRINA, WILMA, SANDY, NO HURRICANE, IS A "CHEMICAL WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION", ASSET DOWN IN THE ABOVE.

THEY ARE "ACTS OF NATURE".

BUT WHO WAS USED DURING EACH OF THOSE HURRICANES TO DISARM CITIZENS, USED AS "CROWD CONTROL", AS "AID TO THE LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES"?
THE MILITARY... AND HIRED GUNS..."PRIVATE SOLDIERS"...MERCENARIES, IF YOU WILL.

THAT'S A NO-NO!
OR, IT USED TO BE A NO-NO.

HUFFPOST

December 1, 2008

"The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.  

There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.  
Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dedicating 20,000 troops to domestic response -- a nearly sevenfold increase in five years -- "would have been extraordinary to the point of unbelievable," Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said in remarks last month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  

But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade."

~ THE BILL OF RIGHTS OF OUR CONSTITUTION,  Amendment IV GUARANTEED US "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

THE PATRIOT ACT SAID, "SCREW THAT! NOT ANYMORE!"The government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation. 
And if you're within 100 miles of a U.S. border, you have NO Constitutional rights, at all, period!

~ THE BILL OF RIGHTS OF OUR CONSTITUTION, Amendment VI: 
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

THE PATRIOT ACT SAID "TO HELL WITH THAT!"The government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial.
The government may monitor conversations between attorneys and clients in federal prisons and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes. 

Americans may be jailed without even being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.
US citizens (labeled "unlawful combatants") have been held incommunicado and refused attorneys.
Of course, if you are imprisoned without charges, you do not have freedom of speech, religious liberty, a right to bear arms...
YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS AT ALL! YOU'RE A TERRORIST WHEN AND IF THE GOVERNMENT SAYS YOU ARE!
~ THE CONSTITUTION'S Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

THE PATRIOT ACT MAKES IT CRYSTAL CLEAR THAT IF UNCLE SAM LABELS US "POTENTIAL TERRORISTS" OR SIMPLY SAYS WE'RE CONSPIRING WITH "KNOWN OR SUSPECTED TERRORISTS", WE LOSE ALL RIGHTS, ALL OF THEM!
And then, every single "tangible" thing we own can be confiscated and there is noting we can do about it!

U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act, , "now permits the executive branch of government to conduct surveillance and searches of American citizens without satisfying the probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment."

"For over 200 years, this Nation has adhered to the rule of law — with unparalleled success. A shift to a Nation based on extra-constitutional authority is prohibited, as well as ill-advised," she wrote.

By asking her to dismiss Mayfield's lawsuit, the judge said, the U.S. attorney general's office was "asking this court to, in essence, amend the Bill of Rights, by giving it an interpretation that would deprive it of any real meaning. This court declines to do so." 

A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR JUDGE AIKEN!

BUT, IT DIDN'T STOP THE PATRIOT ACT! 

"The [OBAMA] administration has been clear that although it agrees the program really isn't necessary, it will continue until Congress rewrites the law.

Because Congress provided an automatic expiration in Section 215 for June 1 of this year, Congress WAS debating whether to do that rewrite now, let Section 215 expire, or continue domestic spying unabated.

The sunset provisions were built into the Patriot Act precisely to force Congress, and the American public, to reconsider the surveillance powers the law granted once more was known about their impact on civil liberties.

The truth about how Section 215 is being interpreted has been laid bare — Congress can no longer pretend not to know how the Patriot Act is being used against Americans.

This year is the first clear up-and-down vote on Section 215 since the Edward Snowden revelations. 

[To KEEP this "act"] would be an endorsement of the unconstitutional surveillance programs we already know exist, and a tacit endorsement of those we're still in the dark about." 

The 320-page act was passed only days after the September 11th attacks.

This incredibly short timeframe alone has raised numerous eyebrows. 

NOBODY COULD HAVE WRITTEN THAT 320-PAGE MONSTROSITY IN A FEW DAYS! 

IT HAD TO HAVE BEEN COMPOSED BEFORE 9/11 AND SOME INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT HAVE SAID THAT WAS THE CASE!
IRONCLADThe Patriot Act can override probable cause. 

The FBI only needs to tell a judge that the search protects the country against terrorism.
Needless to say, this is a broad and vague definition.  

More specific terms aren't needed anyway since the judge cannot deny the
application. What the Department of Justice calls "seeking a court order" is now merely getting a rubber stamp.

The person being searched doesn't even have to be a terrorist suspect, as long as the investigation "protects against terrorism."
And the scope of terrorism has been broadened to include domestic terrorism.
This could potentially be used against Americans speaking out against policies they don't agree with.
Writing an anti-Bush letter to the editor could make you a suspect.

In addition, you don't even have to be the subject of the investigation.

It could be an old friend from college whom you haven't seen in twenty years.

Or your best friend's brother-in-law, whom you met once at a family wedding, or your dry cleaner.
The vaguest connection CAN make you "suspect".

BY THE WAY, IF THE FEDS SAY YOU KNOW SOMEONE AND YOU DON'T, IF THEY SAY YOU'VE HAD CONTACT WITH A "SUSPICIOUS" PERSON AND YOU HAVEN'T, IT'S UP TO YOU TO PROVE IT...BUT YOU MAY FIND THAT DIFFICULT, ONCE YOU GET TO "FISA COURT".

FISA COURT: HELL CENTRAL, AND DARLING OF THE PATRIOT ACT
The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC, also called the FISA Court) is a U.S. federal court established and authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to oversee requests for surveillance warrants against suspected foreign intelligence agents inside the United States by federal law enforcement agencies. Such requests are made most often by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). 

You can thank Congress for creating FISA and its court as a result of the recommendations by the U.S. Senate's Church Committee.
In 2013, a top-secret order issued by the court was leaked to the media by Edward Snowden.
It required a subsidiary of Verizon to provide a DAILY, ONGOING FEED of ALL call detail records – including those for domestic calls – to the NSA.
ALL NSA HAD TO DO WAS SAY, "I WANT IT."

THEY AIM TO PLEASE...THE FEDSIt is VERY rare for FISA warrant requests to be turned down by the court.
During the 25 years from 1979 to 2004, 18,742 warrants were granted, while just 4 were rejected.

Fewer than 200 requests had to be modified before being accepted, almost all of them in 2003 and 2004.
The 4 rejected requests were all from 2003, and all four were PARTIALLY GRANTED after being submitted for reconsideration by the government. 

On May 17, 2002, the court DID alleging to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft,  that the FBI and Justice Department officials had "supplied erroneous information to the court in more than 75 applications for search warrants and wiretaps, including one signed by then-FBI Director Louis J. Freeh.
It seemed that the court suspected Ashcroft knew of these.

75? JUST 75?
Because of the sensitive nature of its business, the court is a "secret court" – its hearings are closed to the public.
While records of the proceedings are kept, they also are unavailable to the public AND CLASSIFIED!
Due to the classified nature of its proceedings, usually only government attorneys are permitted to appear before the court.

ONLY GOVERNMENT ATTORNEYS!

THE COURT SITS "EX PARTE"...ONLY THE JUDGE AND GOVERNMENT ATTORNEYS IN ATTENDANCE, NO ONE ELSE.  

IF YOU OR I WERE ACCUSED, TOUGH!
WE CAN'T BE IN THAT COURTROOM!
WE CAN'T LISTEN TO THE "EVIDENCE" AGAINST US THAT WILL GRANT THE FEDS WHATEVER THEY WANT.

SO...JUST MAYBE CROSS YOUR FINGERS, HOPE YOU'RE NEVER A "SUSPECTED TERRORIST" OR ACCUSED OF DOING ONE WEE TINY THING THAT MIGHT LABEL YOU AS A "MAYBE".

JUST HOPE THAT YOUR NEIGHBOR'S GREAT-AUNT HARRIET'S GARDENER IS NOT AN AL QAEDA SYMPATHIZER, OR YOUR NEWSPAPER BOY'S COUSIN, 13 TIMES REMOVED, DOESN'T LOOK INTO JOINING ISIS. 

THEN, POOR DEVIL, YOU'D BE BRANDED AS A "SYMPATHIZER" ...OR WORSE.

OH, AND NEVER, EVER PISS OFF A FED AGENT OF ANY KIND!
THE THINGS THEY CAN DO TO "PAY BACK" THE SLIGHTEST SLIGHT...I SHUDDER TO THINK OF IT.

NOW GO BE NICE, COMPLIANT, MINDFUL, DOCILE, UNCOMPLAINING, BUTT-KISSING LITTLE LAMBS.

BIG BROTHER IS STILL WATCHING YOU!
THE PATRIOT ACT STILL HAS YOU ABSOLUTELY COVERED!  
SMILE FOR THE CAMERAS...