That you cannot see this as an egregious privacy breach, but rather, playing the “”safety card” -

Sheesh! What do our gummintal masters have to do to get your attention?

Mosey on in “safeness.” You should focus on how the gummint is scrambling all over the place to try to cover this, like Benghazi and the IRS scandal, to “shooosh” thi8ngs up.

The gummint has NO BUSINESS WHATSOEVER grabbing my info. If you think they do ,then you have identified yourself.

IO don’t need to be “safe” – I want to be free. jb

1) Metadata analysis is a tool that can be used legitimately or abused.
2) Firearms are tools that can be used legitimately or abused.
3) In the US, the government is permitted to legitmately use tools that could be abused.
4) From premisses 1 and 3 it follows that the government is permitted to legitimately use metadata analysis.
5) At this point, there is no compelling evidence that the NSA’s use of metadata analysis amounts to abuse (ie., is unconstitutional or immoral)

It’s important that people understand that terrorism isn’t a catchall label to justify tyranny. Otherwise our situation is that of the boy who cried wolf; when there is either real terrorism or real government abuse of the word “terrorism”–that is to be unjustly called an enemy of the state–we’ll be powerless against it. It’s a lose-lose.

Some serious security folks don’t think the answers to these questions are quite so clear as you do. For instance:

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/06/prosecuting_sno.html

Just something else to think about.

http://redflagnews.com/headlines/fun-fact-of-the-day-mosques-are-off-limits-to-obamas-snooping

The problem with all this talk of “terrorism,” and a “war on terror,” and all the intelligence gathering that goes with it is the slippery nature of the definitions involved. What is a “terrorist?” Is a fundamentalist Christian a terrorist? If mosques are “off limits” for this data gathering program are Churches, as well?

You imagine a world where these powers, and this information, is only used by “good guys” to get “evil people,” who live outside our borders. What has the IRS been doing for the last ten years? How about the EPA? OSHA? Have you even heard about their many abuses of power?

The “other half of the Christian worldview,” is that it’s not just our enemies that are basically evil. There aren’t just “evil people out there,” there are “evil people in here,” too. The line between good and evil runs through the center of every human heart.

What are you going to say when the definition of “evil people” changes, and you’re now an “enemy of the state?”

Is Snowden a hero? No. On the other hand, a President who approves or, or defends, the type of surveillance we’re seeing here is no “hero,” either.

Rubio, on the other hand, has the foundational ideas, but he also appears to have a solid vision of what America should be to be the most prosperous and free, and that vision guides his decisions when the foundational ideas don’t align specifically with one side or the other. I also see Rubio leading a bit like Reagan did, with a masterful way of articulating his vision and getting others excited about the possibilities. He’s able to talk about the greatness of this nation extemporaneously better than any president in my lifetime, excepting Reagan, being able to do with a prepared speech.

Rand is a solid, rare politician while Rubio, even with his faults, is a unique, once-in-a-generation kind of politician.