Civilization isn't free. We can't expect to keep all of our rights while fighting terrorism. Terrprism which threatens our comfortable style of living. Either there really are terrorists, or there isn't. In the first case, we should keep our guard up.
Looks like Rand Paul is going to block the extension of The Patriot Act. Should be interesting to see what transpires next. A lot of people ard uncomfortable with the surveillance state so Paul could really use this to raise his profile and poll numbers, even amongst non traditional Republicans.
There are too many school shooters and terrorists to get soft regarding security. My opinion might not be the most popular one, but the most wise. There might be major regrets if they soften or repeal the Patriot Act. Doesn't anyone believe the USA is threatened by terrorists? Of course, some conspiracy theories are true to some extent. Nonetheless, radical extremists are really violent. It isn't an exxageration.
Senator Rand Paul's Twitter feed has been busy today with his posts on campaigning against the Patriot Act renewal. Pro and con replies have been interesting to read. I have to say I tend to agree with his position considering the amount of energy and money eavesdropping on telephone networks internal to the country. I can't recall any instances of such snooping stopping or catching any terrorists. And I would toss the TSA into the waste bin too. Clogging airports with lines, taking shaving cream and shampoo because of size, hasn't caught a terrorist yet. But that's me. Food for thought. Just to be clear, I am not campaigning for Paul or any other candidate. I do admit to being a news junkie, reading and watching news from press services, newspapers and voices around the world. Since I've retired and have more time to pay attention to the international events influencing the markets here, it's helped me make better investing decisions.
I wouldn't take any chances with terrorists. Why are people complaining about lines when their lives are at risk? Unfortunately, the situation is unavoidable. We have to deal with some uncomfortable things to survive. Anyhow, air travel, especially international air travel, is still an incredibly exciting adventure, even with all the lines.
I was pretty impressed with Rand Paul's speech on the Patriot Act/NSA. I do believe we need some kind of program to help thwart terrorism, but I do think our government has gone a bit too far. It'll be interesting to see whether or not Rand's stand will have any kind of impact on future legislation. I don't think collecting all Americans data is really Constitutional or effective way to go about it.
Terrorism needs to be faced and stopped, but people should not cease to have rights because of it, not all means justify the ends. Also, maybe being a little more careful to who we sell weapons and consider allies might help.
A lot of people seem to have a major issue when it comes to this act. They think it's just a smokescreen for the government to be able to access your information. While this is probably the case, I still don't have that much of an issue with it, basically as far as I'm concerned, if your doing nothing wrong then there shouldn't be an issue. What does concern me is where this information is stored and who has access to it, if it's used for Anti terror purposes then people won't mind, but they won't want their private information being sold to the highest bidder
