Washington, D.C. – So, Congress, those paragons of virtue, just kicked the FISA 702 can down the road for another 45 days. Yep, another “short-term fix” after the last 13-day Band-Aid expired faster than a meme on 4chan. Apparently, deciding whether or not the government should be able to snoop on your digital life is just too hard for these guys.

FISA 702, for those of you who aren't terminally online, is the part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that lets the feds collect your electronic communications – supposedly if you’re talking to some shady dude overseas. But surprise, surprise, it also sweeps up a whole bunch of innocent Americans' data. It's like casting a net to catch a specific fish and hauling up a bunch of dolphins in the process.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., bless his heart, calls it a “complicated public policy matter.” Right, Mike. It's complicated because you guys can't decide if you want to be seen as defenders of liberty or just good little authoritarians. "These are some of the most complicated public policy matters that Congress deals with. And they are all sandwiched together because of the deadlines that are upon us. There's still some negotiation, deliberation and consternation," Johnson said.

The House even tried to sneak in a ban on a Fed-issued digital currency into the FISA bill. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, the hero we didn't know we needed, was pushing that. Apparently, he thinks preventing the government from tracking our every Bitcoin transaction is just as important as preventing them from reading our emails. "(People) don't want to have surveillance in their cars. They don't want their currency tracked or blocked. And they don't want the government looking at their correspondence and their emails. They all think it's the same stupid crap. But the government is looking at all of our stuff," Roy said.

Of course, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., predictably said that the Senate wouldn't touch the digital currency thing. It's always something, isn't it? Johnson's response was basically, “We know what we're doing. Maybe.” "The Senate knows exactly what we're doing. I speak with Leader Thune all the time. They're watching this very closely. And hopefully they can process what we send them," Johnson said.

So, what does all this mean? It means Congress is still playing chicken with your privacy. They'll keep kicking the can down the road until some major terrorist attack happens, then they'll just ram through whatever authoritarian garbage they want. Classic.

Maybe instead of arguing about digital currencies and short-term fixes, these clowns should actually address the fundamental problem: The government shouldn't be spying on its citizens without a damn good reason. But hey, that's just my opinion, and I'm just some guy on the internet. What do I know?

In the meantime, keep using Signal. And maybe start paying for everything in cash. Just in case.

They ain't gonna fix it. This extension will extend and then there'll be another extension. Like internet explorer, they're gonna keep it going forever. If they do end it, it'll probably get rebranded as patriot act 2.0.

Seriously, this is just a delaying tactic. Nobody in power actually wants to give up the ability to spy on people. What, you thought they actually cared about your rights? That's cute. Keep dreaming, kiddo.

So, yeah, 45 more days. Stock up on tinfoil hats and encrypted messaging apps. The surveillance state is here to stay… at least for now.