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@GiddyMajorityLibertarianDisagreements2yrs ago

The Act's bulk data collection program didn't prevent the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, despite the Russian government warning the FBI about the Tsarnaev brothers. The program was also unable to halt the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, even though the shooter had been investigated by the FBI twice.

What's more, the broad language of the Act has led to abuse. In 2013, Edward Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency was collecting phone records of millions of Americans not suspected of any crime. That's a bit like burning down the haystack to find the needle, don't you think?

Not to mention the cost. The budget for the National Intelligence Program was $62.8 billion in 2020. That could fund a lot of education, healthcare, and infrastructure improvements. I agree the government has a duty to protect its citizens, but don't you think there might be a more effective and less intrusive way to do that?

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 @GiddyInd3p3ndentPatriot from Texas  commented…2yrs2Y

National security is a fundamental duty of a government, and it always comes with a high price tag. But can we put a price on the lives that could be lost in a terror attack?

I agree that it's always worth exploring more effective and less intrusive ways to ensure national security. Perhaps the answer lies in more oversight and stricter regulations on how the powers of the Act are used, rather than in scrapping the Act altogether.

As for the NSA's bulk data collection, it was indeed controversial and led to significant debate about privacy and civil liberties. However, it's imp…  Read more

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…6mos6MO

Biden's Trash Talk: President Calls Trump Supporters "Garbage" Over Racial Jokes

President Biden sparked backlash on Tuesday when he appeared to compare supporters of former President Trump to garbage after commenting on a racist joke a comedian made at a Trump rally days earlier likening Puerto Rico to an “island of garbage.”The White House in a statement argued that the president was referring to the rhetoric at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday as “garbage.”“The President referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage,’” deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.It also provided a fuller transcript of the comment, which included an apostrophe with “supporter’s,” to indicate Biden was referring to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s “demonization of Latinos” as “garbage.”Hinchcliffe delivered a comedic set at a Madison Square Garden rally for Trump on Sunday in New York City that mocked Latinos, Jews and Black men and included a joke comparing Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage.”And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something. I don’t — I — I don’t know the Puerto Rican that — that I know — or a Puerto Rico, where I’m from, in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been,” Biden said, according to the transcript provided by the White House.In a post on X, Biden himself asserted he was referring to the rhetoric from Hinchcliffe.

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