OK. So we end the PRISM Program to limit what Obama could do with the phone and e-mail data.
Question: What evidence do we have that Obama has done anything with that data. He could. But has he?
More importantly consider the fact that you are giving up a major weapon that is in place primarly (IMHO) to help prevent a really massive attack on the U.S. That would be an attack with one or more smuggled in nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. Al Qaeda could have their hands on at least biological or chemical weapons right now. And given our (Obama's) help for the Al Qaeda forces in Syria the likelihood of that organization having them in the future increases every day.
We are talking deaths in the tens of thousands of Americans if they succeed. And there is no doubt about the goals of Al Qaeda and their associates. Killing Americans is their number one goal.
That's the tradeoff. Be careful what you ask for. Obama is wrong. The War on Terror is not over. It's just getting warmed up.
This is accepting a surveillance state. Yes, we have a threat. But there are other ways to counter it besides let this country slide into a police state.
Perhaps the story is apocryphal, but you’ve no doubt heard how Black Jack Pershing stopped jihadi activity in the Philipines. We can do something similar - identify the top 10 religious icons in Islam & state we will destroy them if another jihadi event occurs. The next event, ten goes down. Another, we hit nine, etc. Mecca on top. Pass a bill with total approval in the House & Senate & signed by the president. Let them know we will not take it anymore and follow through. We will destroy Islam if they persist.
We have to stop fighting them on their terms and we have to stop giving up liberty for what we know is very incomplete security. Whether it was NSA’s fault or the FBI’s, it didn’t get done & we should never assume ourselves secure in any case.
I’m fatalistic about that nuke possibility. Everyone in San Francisco knows there will be another earthquake. They still live there.