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Ron Paul: FISA exchanges real liberty for phantom security
Orange County Register ^ | April 15, 2024 | Ron Paul

Posted on 04/24/2024 11:41:50 AM PDT by Angelino97

House Speaker Mike Johnson betrayed liberty and the Constitution by making a full-court press to get a “clean” reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Act through the House.

Section 702 authorizes warrantless surveillance of foreign citizens. When the FISA Act was passed, surveillance state boosters promised that 702 warrantless surveillances would never be used against American citizens. However, intelligence agencies have used a loophole in 702, allowing them to subject to warrantless surveillance any American who communicated with a non-US citizen who was a 702 target. Intelligence agencies could then also conduct warrantless surveillance on any Americans who communicated with the new American target. This Section 702 loophole has been used so often to subject Americans to warrantless wiretapping that it has been referred to as the surveillance state’s crown jewel.

A bipartisan coalition of Republican and Democratic House members worked to add a warrant requirement to the FISA bill...

The case against adding a warrant requirement to FISA consisted of hysterical claims that forcing the surveillance state to obey the Fourth Amendment would make Americans vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Particularity, the claim was made that forcing national security operatives to get a warrant before spying on US citizens would cripple the ability to respond to a “ticking time bomb” situation...

When the PATRIOT Act was rushed to the House floor in the fall of 2001 — weeks after 9-11 — and voted upon before members had a chance to read it, only three Republicans voted against it. One conservative representative told me he voted for it even though he agreed with my opposition to the bill. He told me, “I can’t go back home and tell my constituents I voted agent the PATRIOIT Act!”

(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: fisa; policestate; privacy; spying; surveillance

1 posted on 04/24/2024 11:41:50 AM PDT by Angelino97
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To: Angelino97

So exactly why did we get rid of McCarthy?

He wasn’t the best but now look what we have.


2 posted on 04/24/2024 11:44:01 AM PDT by packagingguy
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To: Angelino97

It took 50 years to get rid of Roe vs. Wade. How long will it take to get rid of the Patriot Act?


3 posted on 04/24/2024 11:54:53 AM PDT by immadashell (Save Innocent Lives: Ban Gun Free Zones)
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To: Angelino97

I didn’t know that it was Johnson’s floor vote that allowed the legislation to pass. Disgusting.


4 posted on 04/24/2024 12:01:42 PM PDT by TexasKamaAina (The time is out of joint. - Hamlet)
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To: packagingguy

McCarthy would have done the same. Turtle still has the power.


5 posted on 04/24/2024 12:31:35 PM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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