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A comment on Obama presents NSA reforms with plan to end government storage of call data. Parent comment

Re:Obama presents NSA reforms with plan to end government st... by mpclark on Friday January 17, 2014 @02:54PM (#7078032)
Yes, I believe that is the origin of the phrase "reined in". Reining in is the act of pulling on the reins to stop a horse.
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Re:Obama presents NSA reforms with plan to end government st... by Crito on Friday January 17, 2014 @02:58PM (#7078056)
Well, I'd say that "reining in" refers to pulling back on the reins to stop the horse, while being "at the reins" or "having the reins" refers to merely possessing them (they could be used to stop the horse, or turn the horse, or have it speed up, etc).
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