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“Public officials should obey the law.”
Here is a wonderfully ironic self-indictment from George Venizelos, assistant director of the FBI: Public service is not supposed to be a shortcut to self-enrichment. At the very least, public...
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Uneasy Feeling
For the first time in a long time I feel ill at ease. First I read an article in The Atlantic by Conor Friedersdorf that asked, why did the FBI and Massachusetts state law enforcement put out many...
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Bureau for the Protection of State Secrets
James Comey supplanted Robert Mueller as FBI director last week. How would you like to take on leadership of an organization that’s become a national joke? Alright, national jokes make it into Jay...
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High fishiness factor: FBI shoots Ibragim Todashev in his apartment
The fishiness factor in the death of Ibragim Todashev’s death is high. Support Abdul Baki Todashev, Ibragim Todashev’s father, in his work: Father of man FBI killed in Boston Marathon bombing...
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Dallas Love Project on the 50th Anniversary
Dallas may think its reputation will never recover, after it hosted President Kennedy, Kennedy’s entourage, and Kennedy’s assassins fifty years ago. Given who carried out the murder, though, one...
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How can the state execute you at the end of an interrogation?
Watch The Lives of Others. It is a film about the East German state security police. It shows, among other things, how they break people during interrogations. It shows the techniques they use to make...
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Corruption and secrecy in software systems and foreign affairs
As we think about the issue of truth and truth telling in the context of government secrecy, we encounter another interesting connection: that between transparency and security. We associate...
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“It would be very dangerous to the country”
If I told you what I really know, it would be very dangerous to the country. Our whole political system could be disrupted. ~ J. Edgar Hoover, 1964 As you might guess, Hoover expressed his I’ve got a...
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“Lee died in the service of his country.”
When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. ~ Maya Angelou That goes for institutions as well as people. When a person or an institution reveals something that makes you think,...
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Do you consider yourself beyond the law?
Post-Snowden, do you want to know how your public servants think about you and your privacy? Here is an excerpt from an article in today’s Wall Street Journal: FBI Director James Comey on Thursday said...
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Department of pre-crime
An Ohio man with an impending mental evaluation has turned himself in for having homicidal thoughts toward House Speaker John Boehner. Michael Hoyt, resident of Cincinnati, is under arrest: He is...
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The phone company is omni-potent
I’d say the NSA, FBI, and CIA could learn some fine points about customer service from Ernestine the switchboard operator. Here’s …Continue reading →
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Is the FBI a PR agency or a law enforcement bureau?
The FBI is a PR agency that pretends it’s a law enforcement bureau. So is the Department of Homeland Security, …Continue reading →
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Apple vs. FBI: What Happened?
We always think we have to obey government, because after all, government makes laws. This case shows that you can disobey, and force the agency that gives illegal orders to back down. We ought to keep...
View ArticleStand by for a great campaign
Putin has to be smiling now, because when you have Donald Trump on your side, you are going places. I wonder if Putin thinks he'll be able to domesticate The Donald after he's in the White House? Which...
View ArticleTrump attacks the FBI
Thus they will be shocked, shocked again when they see Trump stand up to accuse the FBI and other intelligence agencies of all kinds of nefarious activities, including leaks that brought down one of...
View ArticleLawless governments and boring tweets do not deserve our notice
Meantime, given the taxes the feds collect, we ought to expect more interesting entertainment from them. When you pay $150 to see a Broadway show, they try to give you your money's worth. We ought to...
View ArticleAmerica’s secret police
The pretense of legality founded on secrecy - where we accept secrecy as a condition of security, then illogically liken security with rule of law - can't continue. We already have no respect for...
View ArticleResistance to federal land management policies and racism
Congratulations to Cliven Bundy, released from prison on January 8. Feds imprisoned you for a long time. Now a federal …Continue reading →
View ArticleJerry Sandusky Memorial Field at Penn State: respect and disrespect under law
Government secrecy propagates pervasive falsehood and deceit. Secrecy removes respect for all those who practice it.Continue reading →
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