XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: katt@gmail.com   
      
   On Mon, 29 Dec 2025 19:18:10 -0500, Governor Swill says...   
      
   > >And? Are you suggesting that the Patriot Act is somehow   
   > >incompatible with dragnet surveillance?   
   >   
   > No. I'm saying it IS dragnet surveillance.   
      
   I'm sorry, but I'm a little confused.   
      
   HOW did Obama conduct surveillance and capture the 3.5 million illegals HE   
   deported?...   
      
   ... which is SILL far more than Trump has, without using the Patriot Act?   
      
   He didn't.   
      
   The Obama administration used a variety of methods under the purvey of The   
   Patriot Act, to identify and deport undocumented immigrants, including:   
      
   Intelligence GATHERING BY ICE and other agencies   
   Community tips and leads   
   Data analysis and modeling   
   Collaboration with local law enforcement agencies   
      
   That's a correct interpretation. The surveillance and data collection   
   authorized by the Patriot Act may have incidentally led to the identification   
   and deportation of undocumented immigrants, even if they were not the primary   
   target of the surveillance.   
      
   In other words, the expanded surveillance powers under the Patriot Act may   
   have created a 'dragnet" effect, where undocumented immigrants were caught up   
   in the process of data collection and sharing, even if they were not directly   
   suspected of terrorism.   
      
   This is a common criticism of the Patriot Act and other surveillance laws,   
   that they can have unintended consequences and lead to the targeting of   
   marginalized or vulnerable groups, including undocumented immigrants.   
      
   All the same as Trump.   
      
   Can you tell us EXACTLY, what Trump is doing that Obama didn't?   
      
   It's worth noting that the Obama administration's approach to immigration   
   enforcement was focused on targeting high-priority cases, such as individuals   
   with serious criminal records or recent border crossers.   
      
   Hmmm... that's not like what Trump is doing... at all!   
      
   *****   
      
   > Iirc, the Patriot Act was created by a Republican President, passed by   
   > a Republican Congress and highly touted by them as necessary to the   
   > security of the State.   
      
   If *I* remember correctly, the Patriot Act, was created under a Republican   
   President, was subsequently upheld and continued by a Democrat President   
   (Obama) and his Congress, and also chose to follow its provisions. Moreover, a   
   Democratic-controlled Congress did not make significant changes to the law,   
   and some Democrats argued that it was essential for national security.   
      
   The Obama administration and a bi-partisan panel in Congress did make some   
   changes to the Patriot Act.   
      
   In 2015, the USA FREEDOM Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling   
   Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act) was passed with   
   bipartisan support, including votes from many Republicans. This law was signed   
   by President Obama on June 2,2015.   
      
   The USA FREEDOM Act made several changes to the Patriot Act, including:   
      
   Requiring the FBI to obtain a warrant before accessing business records   
   Limiting the use of "sneak and peek" warrants, which allow law enforcement to   
   seize property without immediately notifying the owner   
   Increasing oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)   
   Prohibiting the bulk collection of phone metadata   
      
   These changes aimed to provide greater transparency and accountability in the   
   use of surveillance powers, while still allowing law enforcement to gather   
   intelligence and conduct investigations.   
      
   =====   
      
   (which the Obama administration never bothered to follow)   
      
   "We Are Not The Gestapo," Says Gestapo, But Maybe Obama and His Administration   
   Was   
      
   The Obama administration was criticized for NOT FULLY IMPLEMENTING THE CHANGES   
   intended by the USA FREEDOM Act.   
      
   Although the law was passed in 2015, the Obama administration was accused of   
   not taking sufficient steps to ensure that the changes were fully implemented.   
      
   For example:   
      
   The administration was criticized for not providing adequate transparency and   
   oversight of the FISA program   
      
   There were reports that the FBI and other agencies were not properly following   
   the new procedures for obtaining warrants and collecting data   
      
   In 2016, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) found that   
   the Obama administration's implementation of the USA FREEDOM Act was   
   "incomplete" and that the government had not done enough to ensure that the   
   changes were being followed.   
      
   It's worth noting that the Obama administration faced criticism from some   
   lawmakers and civil liberties groups for not doing enough to reform the   
   surveillance programs and ensure that they were being used in a way that   
   respected individual rights.   
      
   It's worth noting that while the USA FREEDOM Act made some changes to the   
   Patriot Act, it did not repeal the law entirely. Many of the provisions of the   
   Patriot Act remain in effect, and there continue to be debates about the   
   balance between national security and civil liberties.   
      
   > >Actually the   
   > >surveillance dragnets are intended to hurt the average   
   > >person and so serve that politically repressive purpose.   
      
   How so?   
      
   I don't think I'VE ever been "hurt" or even inconvenienced by the Patriot Act.   
      
   Have you?   
      
   How?   
      
   Oh... it made you vewy angwy that your pets, the Muslims and Blacks and most   
   all other Minorities were being "looked at", meaning if they got in trouble,   
   you'd lose more voters.   
      
   Gotcha.   
      
   =============================================================================   
      
   "Trump Derangement Syndrome" Is a Real Mental Condition   
      
   All you need to know about "Trump Derangement Syndrome," or TDS.   
      
   "Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a mental condition in which a person has   
   been driven effectively insane due to their dislike of Donald Trump, to the   
   point at which they will abandon all logic and reason."   
      
   Justin Raimondo, the editorial director of Antiwar.com, wrote a piece in the   
   Los Angeles Times in 2016 that broke TDS down into three distinct phases or   
   stages:   
      
   "In the first stage of the disease, victims lose all sense of proportion. The   
   president-elect's every tweet provokes a firestorm, as if 140 characters were   
   all it took to change the world."   
      
   "The mid-level stages of TDS have a profound effect on the victim's   
   vocabulary: Sufferers speak a distinctive language consisting solely of   
   hyperbole."   
      
   "As TDS progresses, the afflicted lose the ability to distinguish fantasy from   
   reality."   
      
   The Point here is simple: TDS is, in the eyes of its adherents, the knee-jerk   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)