Three weeks from tomorrow is September 11, 2019, and on that date, we will recognize the eighteenth anniversary of the day Islamic terrorists attacked America and killed thousands of innocent people in the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and in the Pennsylvania countryside on Flight 93.
Whenever I think about that tragic day, I take time to reflect on the multitude of lives lost, but I also remember it as the day liberty died.
Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, George W. Bush and Congress joined forces to launch their tyrannical assault on the Constitution with laws like the PATRIOT Act which gave the National Security Agency (NSA) sweeping authority to collect a record of every single phone call made by every single American in addition to other metadata.
After clearly operating outside of their unconstitutional mandate, the NSA was allegedly reined in by the USA FREEDOM Act, a law meant to end bulk collection of metadata by the NSA and an end to the secret laws created by the FISA courts that allowed them to monitor anyone anytime anywhere.
However, the USA FREEDOM Act failed. The NSA was still able to spy at will — they admitted to collecting massive amounts of call data — and FISA702 was renewed last year by Trump and the GOP.
With the USA FREEDOM Act’s “fix” to the PATRIOT Act set to expire at the end of the year, outgoing Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats sent a letter to top members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. In his correspondence, the White House requested that the NSA’s power to collect data from domestic telephone calls and texts not only be renewed but made permanent.
With Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, and Donald Trump sharing the same political bed in their attempts to save their re-elections, the odds are probably better than 50/50 Trump’s request will be granted. But it won’t be because there’s no alternative.
Last year, Pres. Trump signed FISA 702. This year, he wants to reauthorize the Patriot Act and Freedom Act. These unconstitutional domestic spying programs must end. Congress should pass my bill, #HR1942, to end mass collection of Americans’ phone records. https://t.co/lmF5Z9Amce https://t.co/WLUb8pKoGE
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) August 15, 2019
Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Reps. Justin Amash (I-MI) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) joined together to unveil Amash’s bill known as the Ending Mass Collection of Americans’ Phone Records Act. The Act would abolish one of the most notorious attacks on our Constitutional rights in American history.
Amash was a leader in the House, working to tackle NSA abuse after Edward Snowden exposed the Agency in 2013. In a statement, Amash shared why it’s important to end the spying program:
“Getting rid of this program will vindicate Americans’ rights and begin the process of making the broader PATRIOT Act reforms that are going to be necessary to address the law’s serious flaws.”
No wonder Trump and the GOP want Amash taken out.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative.
His daily radio commentary is distributed by the Salem Radio Network and is heard on stations across America.
Follow the Strident Conservative on Twitter and Facebook.
Subscribe to receive podcasts of radio commentaries: iTunes | Stitcher | Tune In | RSS
