The lone vote against the Patriot Act

Trump's massive surveillance state and attacks on our civil liberties wouldn't have been possible without the PATRIOT Act. Watch this prescient warning from Russ Feingold, the only Senator to vote against its passage after 9/11.

The reason why this Onion article is so poignant is not because it predicted the future, but because it accurately captured what the discourse was like. Critics of the patriot act and the Iraq war were just pointing out the blisteringly obvious, and they were just outright dismissed.

I was there. "That shared bond..."--unless you were brown-skinned. Lets not gloss things over. The "shared bond" passed the Patriot Act and we're still paying the price. It was a horrible time and we made some very, very big mistakes out of fear. That is worth remembering.

There are so many goddamn stories like this that when Congress passed the Patriot Act, they included a section condemning the racism and hate that Muslims, Sikhs, and other groups experienced and asserting their rights as Americans!

today marks the 25th anniversary of the worst thing that has ever happened in america (conception of the patriot act, tsa, and homeland security)

- Freedom fries - The PATRIOT Act - Violent attacks not only on Muslims but even on Sikhs because people were so racist they didn't bother differentiating - The justification for two forever wars Islamophobia so strong people don't want the mayor of NYC at the memorial - Guantanamo Bay

they went along with the new police state, the patriot act, while we were out protesting in the streets against the beginnings of the war and this fascist state, of which we are now seeing full effects of. the terrorists, did, in fact, win.

Sen. Feingold was not only the only voice of dissent, he was apparently the only legislator who actually read the entire bill. All others admitted to not reading the entire Patriot Act bill because it was "too long". Just like too many couldn't be bothered to read Project 2025.

It sure was the wrong response, as was the Patriot Act & the Iraq War

Remembering when only one Senator read the Patriot Act before voting on it.

We keep reauthorizing The Patriot Act to this day 25 years later. We are so safe now. Don't you feel safe

DHS and the Patriot Act need to be ended. They were an inappropriate, emotionally unclear-headed overreaction 25 yrs ago, and they have proved to be unconstitutional, dangerous, and a massive waste of our resources.

Funny, I remember my country losing its goddamn mind and forming the DHS via the Patriot Act, which is directly downstream from the modern gestapo killing people in the current day. I remember people saying “sand n****r” and working up a bloodthirsty froth. Your head is full of rocks.

I was a soldier during 9/11. I served multiple combat tours in its wake. After leaving the service I studied terrorism and disaster response for my degree. 25 years later I can confidently say that the terrorists got their way and that we did this to ourselves and it started with the patriot act

Are you remembering a different 9/11? Cause the one I remember led directly to the Patriot Act (more surveillance, less civil rights), war on Iraq (and the fucking Freedom Fries lmao), discrimination/harassment of Muslims and Sikhs and even more shit I don't have room for. Shared bond. LOL.