Giving Government Vast Snooping Authority Is One Thing Democrats and Republicans Both Like

Are you thoroughly invested in the impeachment drama? Do you thrill to the clash of good guys and villains in the ring of democracy, with the fate of the republic as the prize?

Have fun with that. There's a good case to be made that all this political heat and light is little more than professional wrestling for flabby people. If Democrats really feared Donald Trump's exercise of the powers of the presidency, why would they propose extending the surveillance powers of the controversial Patriot Act?

Buried on the next-to-last page of the Continuing Appropriations Act, meant to keep the government's lights on and dated yesterday, is the following language: