This (in tandem with McCain's drafting of torture-prohibiting articles) makes me wonder how much of a pantomime the new Patriot Act is going to be. Perhaps I'm cynical, but when a guy pushes for a trade deal on par with a previous one that resulted in the collapsation of American (living wage) jobs — literally to the tune of some thousand factories being shut down — and then patronizes virtually all opposition... There's going to be nothing good about this bill being extended again. PRISM was ruled illegal, a power vacuum allowed ISIS to emerge; something for which our CIA is fully to blame. And it's been well over a decade since 9/11, the go-to justification for all our rights being traded in for security from threats our own executive branch fosters. If anything even slightly decent makes its way into any amendment for this bill — it's a prospect of nothing more than gas lighting people into tolerating this fucking nightmare all over again. This can be all over in a year. It's what jades me so much. There're days when I second-guess myself and my intention to follow a political career in the public offices. But it's shit like this recent TTP fustercluck and the anticipation of another five years on the avenue toward a police state that enrage me internally, to no end. How calm I am about this feeling of hatred worries me, sometimes. I feel like by the time I'm capable of filibusters, legislative submissions, and house votes, I'll be a broken engine running on nothing but contempt. I hope the progressive politicians aren't something akin to Lone Rangers by 2024. They need to stop working alone, and conglomerate. We'll be stuck on a broken record for as long as a majority of our politicians represent a plutocracy, and the dwindling minority that remains insists on only representing itself.