Can We Rethink the Patriot Act?

It's been 23 yr since the terrorist attack on 9/11 when jihadists took advantage of the freedoms our country offers and took the lives-murdered-3,000 innocent people at the Twin Towers in NYC, the Pentagon and an airliner over Shanksville,Pa heading for DC.

None of these people ever lifted a finger to cause harm to anyone. It takes a very evil,sinister mind to justify such an attack.

We learned some hard lessons that year about protecting the homeland and the enemy we faced. It was in this atmosphere of protecting ourselves that the Patriot Act was passed. There were people warning us about the potential for abuse and why this was not a good idea.

Now 23 yr later we learn they weren't wrong in their objections. They had good reason to put out a warning. The Patriot Act has been abused; we saw what they did to a presidential candidate of the opposing party, meaning Donald Trump,by abusing the Patriot Act.

When you have good people who respect the Constitution and our citizens there's nothing to worry about but i wouldn't always count on peope being honorable.

There are always going to be people who will do anything for power who are a respector of no one. You would think people would be cautious about electing people like that-power hungry party hacks-but it's obvious that's not always the case.

So what do we do? We don't pass laws like the

Patriot Act that corrupt people [who are put in charge by ignorant people] will take advantage of.

We need to rethink this "Patriot Act" or put in some safety rails that are strong enough to prevent bad people from doing bad things with it.

Honest people don't lie to a FISA court to get a warrant for people they are running against.

People that corrupt are apt to do anything.

I'd personally like to know if this Patriot Act ever prevented a single terrorist act in the United States.

Seems to me the line "if you see something, say something" has been our most beneficial tool against terrorism. I also think the agencies being able to share legitimately obtained information-without use of the Patriot Act- has been helpful.

The FISA court doesn't appear to be set up to answer to anyone.

I would be remiss if i didn't mention the FBI. There was a time when i would say our FBI but these days i would prefer not to be so much as remotely connected to them figuratively or not.

'Our' means i took pride in them.There's nothing to be proud of anymore except for the bravery of a handful of whistleblowers.

Don't you just love it when the FBI higher ups-like Wray* and Rodentstein**-can't tell you something important because it's "under investigation" or "part of an ongoing investigation." Anything the FBI doesn't want you to know is designated as under investigation. We all know it's bull s**t but it works doesn't it?

Spygate, the attempt first to stop a presidential candidate then overthrow (COUP) the same legitimately elected President of the United States, is the perfect example of what can go wrong when the intel agencies are weaponized and power goes unchecked.

When i get a second i'll post the links to some great books covering the spygate scandal for anyone who wants to dig deeper.

What i'm getting at here is one of 2 things must happen:

1. the Patriot Act is done. get rid of a bad idea once and for all

2. keep the Act and shore up the oversight.

3. Look at the ways it can be abused-it has been-and close the holes.

4. i'm not sure the FBI can saved. Someone with the guts could go in and clean house but we might be better off disbanding it altogether. For now, Congress can use the power of the purse and defund it.

5. Hold these ppl accountable. Anyone who participated in the attempted coup should be brought to justice.i'm not holding my breathe and its probably beyond the statute of limitations;it should have already happened.

*i once heard that Chris Christie recommended Christopher Wray to Pres Trump after he fired Comey. Figures. IF Rodentstein is a rat, Wray is a worm. Time's up for this guy. He's gotta go.

* *i know his name is Rod Rosenstein but i will always refer to him as the rat he is-RODENTSTEIN.🐀