"A big reason for the divide was the inability of old liberal outlets to grasp the enormity of what took place in the Trump-Russia investigation, which featured giant-scale versions of such old FBI standbys as warrantless surveillance, political spying, and planting false media reports."
Am I truly the only cat who is perversely amused by the sight of liberals, the self-proclaimed Defenders Of Freedom And Democracy, praising the torturers, perjurers and entrapment artists of the CIA, NSA and FBI?
But this highlights something. Matt talks about the FBI "becoming politicized". But it's always been politicized against the PEOPLE. It's just that the people never controlled a political party before social media allowed the recent rise of Trump and the transformation of the GOP to happen.
The FBI's focus on politically motivated actions against domestic enemies never changed. Look at, for example, how it's treated strongly left organizations in the past including black social justice groups. It's just that the domestic enemies of the PME now control a political party, with populism having overthrown the business-neocon cabal previously running the GOP. So the enemies moved into a party. The FBI would still today not go after Liz Cheney for anything, no matter what she did wrong. But they'd happily hang anything they could on DeSantis.
Yeah, I have heard that accusation, but I have yet to see any actionable proof there was any intentional destruction of evidence. Cheney’s crime seems to be that she disagreed with Trump’s encouragement of a protest that went nuts at the capitol, and was one of the few Republican’s in her party who was willing to stand up to the groupthink. She knew she would pay a price for it politically and did.
She also helped cause Jan 6 to be the debacle it was. Milley and L. Cheney were the biggest contributors to the "Watch out for Trump using the military to hold power" idiocy which dominated swamp groupthink leading up to Jan. 6. That groupthink led to stupidities like not having enough manpower to stop the events from going awry. For example by turning down National Guard troops.
Cheney's major role was organizing the Jan. 5 OpEd from "all 10 living Defense Secretaries" warning against Trump potentially using military force. Myopic and stupid in the extreme, ans contributed to a fever dream that led to poor security planning for real scenarios.
South Korea's parliament again defied presidential demands to send arms to Ukraine. We can be certain that had the military coup succeeded, South Korean weapons, and perhaps troops, would be on their way to Ukraine.
Given the "go out with all guns blazing" attitude of the Biden puppet-masters we need to know what and when the US knew about this week's coup - a coup organized and executed with the support of just a single cabinet member: South Korea's defense minister, and the army chief of staff. Nobody else in government was informed.
Unsurprisingly, all political parties rejected the military leadership's attempts to strip civil rights from the South Korean populace, impose martial law, arrest opposition leaders, ban strikes, and shut down the press. The defense minister has since resigned and apologized.
What role, if any, did the Biden WH play in supporting/opposing this violent attempt to overthrow South Korea's democracy this week. Why are the pliant US media refusing to demand more information about America's "hands-off" response to this attack on an ally's democracy? The Biden WH never shuts up up protecting democracy from authoritarian leaders. Why the Biden WH silence now?
UPDATE - Here's the Daily Mail bright shiny object - South Korea president declared martial law to head off corruption investigation. Sounds totally believable. That's what everyone does to avoid investigation.
You may note that, these days, the counterculture,the subversives, the pranksters, the roasters of sacred cows and the Tellers Of Forbidden Truths are found on the alt-right and, to a lesser extent, the Dirtbag Left. Liberals, meanwhile, have become sanctimonious scolds so humorless that they make The Church Lady look like G.G. Allin by comparison.
This is not because of any inherent love of liberty on the right or any inherent censoriousness among liberals, but is an artifact of their respective relationships with power.
Yeah, the party out of power always becomes more libertarian and the party in power always becomes more authoritarian regardless of what they said before, and the party out of power are of course always the rebels, which appeals to the youth. But I would hope someone like Carlin would have recognized the government psyops for what they are, even though they are coming from the nominal left.
Me too, maybe I should have said “side” rather than “party”. This is basically the plot of Animal House, the ragtag rebels against the stuffed shirts and schoolmarms.
I quit our thirty year membership in the ACLU when they and the far right stink tank Regent University Challenged Quebec Bill21 in Canada's Supreme Court. I was born a damned Jew in 1948 under The Padlock LAWS of Canterbury and Rome and Bill21 is a dream come true.
Damn, if the culture has shifted that much, you're making me question my choices. I've never been associated with the "cool kids". It's probably just a matter of time before see me and kick me out!
No. Not truly. Not for a long time. Democrats own this. Trump first term. No dictator. No spying. No locking up political opponents. Busses. Yes. Same deep state.
"This is not because of any inherent love of liberty on the right or any inherent censoriousness among liberals, but is an artifact of their respective relationships with power."
Fascinating insight! Explains why a formerly radical leftist like me is hanging out with pro-Trump conservatives.
They seem to have a "thing" about war, very enthusiastic about the proxy war, though they will still vehemently deny that's what it is, as well as the history. Perhaps some still actually believe that's "spreading democracy". The proxy war ties in with the belief in Russiagate, which still seems to be holy writ for many of these fools.
This applies to self-described "punks" nowadays too, who are 100% into whatever the social justice cause of the week is, have zero sense of humor about it, and who wouldn't think of questioning authority if said authority is sufficiently anti-TERF and anti-"fascism."
The democrats long ago stopped being that party. Last time maybe in the 80s. They use those words to get votes. But if you saw what they actually did they stopped delivering in the 80s.
I think it's more sinister than that. They want one world government and they want to rule. That path was taking too long abd they stepped on the gas to get us yo communism.
Dems held power for at least 40 years before Gingrich led the brief revolt in the early 90s. That was over by time Clinton left office. There have been blips, like the Tea Party, even less significant, but what happened was the Dems regained the power they ever so briefly lost, and once BO got in, they've really been pedal to the metal, bare knuckles and iron fistedly disciplined about retaining the power they believe is their birthright. They know that you may actually beat City Hall, but Santa Claus is invincible.
That is how you get power and keep it. Once you understand that Team D is the political manifestation of the PMC and that the PMC is the hegemonic class, All Will Be Revealed.
During the Seventies the young leaders of the radical left (SDS and such) joined the Democratic Party, which was previously regarded by them as the Establishment. Many of them became Democrat politicians, or at least members of the Party machine. And yes, most of us launched careers in professional fields, as we had always intended to do, and thus the Democratic Party became the home of the professional class.
70s ? What signs indicated that? I was democrat for 30 years. At some point I realized they left ne behind. And I did republican for 15. Since then I've left party politics. And voted for people or issues. Then I learned it's all a mess.I PRAY TRUMP can focus on getting us sound and honest. Cuz I'm very disillusioned
When the Clintons took power, those days were dead. Hillary Clinton has never been anything else; Bill was along for the party ride. (Literally at times.)
Performance art. These so-called "liberals" are really progressives, who think the only way to achieve utopia (for them) is to enact authoritarian measures against their perceived enemies (i.e. the people who disagree with them). It's human nature with pretty clear dividing lines.
The people in power got to their position largely due to a personality trait that drives them there (pick a deadly sin, there are 7 of them). Most people want the basics in life, NOT to dictate to others how to live their lives. It's always the "touched" minority who go to these extremes.
The battle for the soul of America will continue in perpetuity... until "the tree of liberty is refreshed with the blood of patriots." We have to constantly fight for our Constitution and Bill of Rights for they are always under threat.
Not at all. It's been like a dark comedy for me. Still not as funny as neocon arch Republicans like Bill Kristol becoming Democrat thought leaders because Trump told them they couldn't bomb any countries that the US wasn't already bombing when he came into office.
I believe many, if not most of the old liberal outlets grasped the enormity of it, and fully agreed with the imposition of controlled narratives, censorship, and authoritarian crackdowns on their critics.
I am an old unrepentant liberal who was and remains appalled by the “liberal” Democratic Party embracing of the FBI, CIA,NSA, etc… and of the war-mongering, and the “meddling” in other countries political affairs. The Ukraine debacle was caused by our meddling- no I really wish Putin had not invaded, but had we and the UK and the EU dealt honestly and honorably with Russia, maybe he wouldn’t have. And certainly the war would have ended early but for Boris Johnson’s little trip to do our bidding. But to voice that opinion makes me a Putin stooge.
I’m bipartisan in my contempt. The current GOP roster is despicable too.
12/02/24: "... what’s already an ugly fight about Patel’s nomination":
It's my understanding that the FBI head position is not subject to Senate confirmation. But with Ted Cruz saying that Patel will pass, I guess that's incorrect. Why the hell is it subject? It's not a cabinet position!
If somehow his nomination failed, Trump could always make an acceptable enough patronage appointment while making Patel an "advisor" to the President, or some such.
12/03/24: And that Whiny Brat, Yankee pitcher G. Cole, for not automatically running to cover first base when the ball was hit on the ground to his left. Oh, and he got another $30+ million almost immediately after the Series ended.
It certainly looks like either they were thick as a brick, or it was an 'all or nothing' mentality that lead them to this point. Either way it's unsettling, and it would indicate that this is not over yet.
I think it's even simpler than that. People got tired of being told what the fuck to say and believe in a "free country". And no, you're not the only cat doing that ;-)
You also are a cat? Thre are several of us who post here on Substack, as well as some rodents, a lion, a dog, and someone who says he is a "wolf" but I persoanlyy think he is shining us all.
I grew up under the Union Jack and Fleur de Lys and speak English not Newspeak. John Ralston Saul went to McGill before he went to Oxford. He said and may still say. Neo-liberalism is neither new nor liberal. I spent over a decade in Woodlawn where they are building the Obama Shrine. I am a progressive and I like the Obamas but they are neo-liberals like The University of Chicago where economics is still 15th century mercantilism.
I have been disgusted, not amused - perversely or otherwise. Hypocrisy is so blatant and commonplace the left treats it like Biden’s lies (smile, say “don’t you love it?”, and move on).
I would read your article but I’ve been screaming too much on company signal channels… even this latest rage pick is not enough but it’s a start. The FBI is too important to be disbanded but the DC branch oughta be killdozed and the ground beneath it salted.
I used to think the same thing. Probably because of all those TV shows extoling the virtues of the (fictional) agents saving the day. In real life, they plot to kidnap governors.
The Pentagon has an entire department devoted to cooperation with Hollywood and to making sure that the military is portrayed in the most shining light possible. Studios get access to military equipment for filming, miltary personnel for consulting, etc. but the Pentagon gets to vet the script and plot.
You can bet your last dollar that the FBI, CIA, DEA, etc. have similar PR organizations, and exercise similar control over TV, streaming and films.
Not to mention, the Pentagon has a huge ad budget, and can throw a lot of lucrative recruitment ads to publications that give favorable coverage.
I keep waiting for an episode on one of the CBS FBI shows about the heroic agents arresting anti-abortion protestors as domestic terrorists. Think I’ll wait for a long time? /sarc/
And don’t respond and investigate on tips that turn out to be real. Parkland school and the nightclub in Orlando. Forgot the name. But of those were originally tipped to the FBI
I was an ardent fan of The X-Files, which overall treated the FBI rather fondly, while gently portraying its leadership as bureaucratic and hidebound (in order to give the protagonists something to struggle against).
I wish you could see what the daily fbi.org feed looks like. Every day there is a reminder about special agents who gave their lives during a given day or week going after the worst criminals. It’s true that the feds have done shady stuff in recent years but they also bust pedos and human traffickers, even take down foreign enemy cyber actors. No need to throw the baby out with the disinformation industrial complex.
I also wish that I could see something good come from them. But all that we see nowadays is the snarling Wray refuse to answer. Just picture every agent we have seen for the past 10 years. Do any of them make you proud? THEY are the face of the agency.
Not to mention how he talked about citizens in his texts. They all think they are above the average citizen. How can you help people when you obviously despise them.
Mailik Faisal Akram, Boston Marathon Bombers, San Bernardino terrorists, Ahmad Alissa, Pulse Nightclub shooter, ISIS attack Garland, Texas in 2015, Ceasar Syoc, kidnap Gretchen Whitmer, Richard Jewel, assassination of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Spygate, NASCAR pull rope investigation, Hunter Biden laptop, Olympic gymnast case, Huma Abedin/Anthony Weiner laptop, seth rich, las vegas shooter....................and on and on. Too important? I doesn't seem like they can get anything right. Almost like it's intentional.
When we have federal court justices who allow the FBI to lie to them with impunity, what do you think will happen. Every judge who did so should be removed and every agent who lied, should be fired and prosecuted.
I remember Comey and various lib "experts" saying that the warrants to spy on the Trump campaign were an indication of his guilt because the FISA court is "incredibly rigorous."
In fact the government has over a 99.9% success rate in getting FISA warrants, because of course it does in a necessarily one-sided process. And that's not even counting the lies of commission (Carter Page isn't a CIA source) and omission (we found Danchenko credible, nevermind he said that the Trump stories were bullshit).
The FBI is two organizations: a law enforcement agency and a domestic-spying agency. That both have been corrupted is indisputable, the evidence is all over the place. It’s worse than even mentioned by Matt here, the top floors have been infiltrated by a Marxist mentality that was instituted by decades-long campaign and significantly enforced by Obama and Jenrette. J Michael Waller clearly documents the history of the FBI and the infiltration in his book, The Big Intel. Waller concludes the only solution is to tear it down, kill some parts, and to distribute the remaining duties to other agencies. I respect Patel a great deal and his service is no better recognized than his work for the House Intelligence Committee under Nunes. It was his familiarity with the system that gave him the ability to dig in the right places to discover the Clinton campaign’s authorization and funding of the Steele Dossier, literally collecting the banking receipts. Few could actually step in at the FBI and be better prepared to make the decisions to fix the problems and kill the corruption. God Speed to Kash, he’ll need it.
The FBI was never corrupted it was corrupt to begin with. Humphrey Bogart understood it in Casablanca. Round up the usual gang of suspects like the great American democratic socialist and philosopher Eugene Victor Debs.
That are different sources of corruption. Some would argue that Hoover was a corrupting force, but he successfully held the attempts to infiltrate the FBI by Marxists at bay, when other agencies were far less successful (none more so than Education). Debs was pre-FBI; Hoover was still at Justice.
What Marxists? Do you know what a Marxist is? Mark Twain advocated a Marxist revolution in both Moscow and Washington and Benjamin Franklin is credited with founding Marxism or Commonism by Karl Marx.
Marxist was a label attached to every person who questioned the integrity of our institutions (FBI,CIA etc)and persecuted them for their ideas. Remember McCarthy, Hoover and Dulles.
"Unless you think the FBI really believed Trump was in league with Russia (and as the “Bell Tolls” article explains, the record leaves little doubt the Bureau knew early on that premise was nonsense), there’s no other explanation for its conduct in the Trump era."
Of coruse, the russiagate conspiracy theory was nonsense, QAnon for liberals.
However, from the FBI and MSM perspective, it did exactly what it was intended to do, which was to prevent a rapprochement between the US and Russia and the terrifying prospect of peace breaking out.
As a kid in the 60's, I used to watch "The FBI" with Efram Zimbalist Jr. every week. I thought they were the epitome of honor and coolness. Now, I view the FBI and the ATF as enemies of The People.
The entire FBI is a corrupt and incompetent organization. They get convictions by telling people to lie. I’ve seen it first hand. Save the handful of honest agents & start over.
I think trying to save the “honest agents” is futile. Too hard to be sure if they’re really trustworthy. I start with the premise that anyone in the organization who didn’t retire or resign when they saw what was going on has to go. Permanently. Never hold an office of public trust again, let alone in law enforcement.
There is no way to be certain. It would be foolish in the extreme to take the agents’ word that they’re not involved in political capers. When the rot is as deep as it is, sometimes the patient doesn’t survive. The republic will be safer if we dismantle the whole agency, bar all of the employees from every having anything to do with law enforcement, and start over from scratch with people whom both side are willing to trust.
Well until you have some evidence, you can’t convict 10000 people of corruption. How corrupt is that? Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty. This is all such bullshit.
I am sure that there were members of the Gestapo who thought they were just doing their jobs as well, that somewhere out there was an SSmann who really was a high-spirited social democrat with a yen for adventure.
How do you just replace the people at the top. If this has been the training for decades, it is entrenched in the rank and file. Are their agents out there that want to work for the American people and not work for power? I know it sounds strange, but having 3 or 4 different FBI Tv shows just glorifies how easily they can monitor each of us. I believe it is not salvageable.
My mother has a friend whose son works for the FBI. His office is just down the street from my house. He was ecstatic when he got the job and now hates it. He is one of the good ones who gets taken off investigating child pornographers to go investigate “domestic violent extremists” aka his neighbors.
Well, Taibbi has convinced me that Patel’s nomination might be the most important one Trump’s made so far. Wait. What am I saying? All the appointments are critical to fixing an insane and corrupt organization that wields the most power ever in the world’s history.
While it’s a mess, the Trump administration, including lapdogs like Patel, are hardly going to improve the agency. They have been very clear they will be“unapologetically a political actor” that will “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" (or worse) groups it didn’t like. “. A serious attempt
Well, that’s pretty deceptive, isn’t it? The words could easily apply to what has happened to national law enforcement and justice under Obama and Biden. Plus, I do t think Taibbi was projecting that onto the incoming administration as you did.
No need to get defensive. I’m not defending the FBI or any administration and I think if my reply hadn’t been cut short, it would have made more sense. My apologies for that. I was trying to point out that the Trump administration as Trump himself is promoting, at worse, is clearly out to exact revenge on his personal enemies. At best, those he is nominating will surely try, and maybe succeed, at tearing down institutions. But they are neither qualified or motivated to rebuild them to help govern under our Constitution.
You have to admit that tearing down corrupt institutions and destroying the lives Trump's political enemies has a lot of overlap with the list of things that would be good for the average US citizen.
Patel never said this. I just finished his book and his statement was directed at the obvious most corrupt parties in all the Governmental Departments. He never said he was going after the political opponents just corruption. I hope he can. He’ll need a lot of resources and means to vaporize the FBI.
Actually I quoted the wording from Taibbi’s article, describing the ills of the Hoover reign. It works well to describe what Trump says he intends to so. Also…I inadvertently cut off part of my response…which follows below. You can drain a swamp but if you fill it with sewage, what does it do for us?
When you have newly-elected Senators whose past behaviors demonstrate a willingness to lie, to claim they have incriminating evidence where none exists and who meet in secret with the FBI agents working to undermine the sitting President, it shows the fight to dismantle and rebuild the corrupt FBI will be epic.
Half the political class in Washington has grown dependent on the FBI to dispatch and/or ruin their enemies and they don't intend to surrender that ability easily or peacefully. The corruption at the FBI runs so deep that I wouldn't be surprised if those deeply embedded agents are enlisted in the fight against Patel and Trump in a sort of guerilla war or an insurgency within the walls of the Hoover building.
November 5th wasn't the end of the battle. It's the start.
The FBI and the CIA, ATF, etc, etc, etc do far more harm to the existential values of our constitutional republic than any good they do. Power such as they have amassed to themselves, with the help of both congress and the executive, corrupts; and I think we can discern that it has corrupted absolutely. They all need to be “splintered into a thousand pieces and scattered to the wind”. To the extent that some necessary elements of what they are chartered to do remain, then some provision can be made for some new, very scaled back, very limited units to be constituted to competently perform those functions on a very tight leash; with rigorous oversight; and having to be rechartered by congress every five years or so.
Kash Patel is/was right about a few things! He claims to want more transparency and less secrecy and said he would declassify a bunch of documents, including re JFK, 9-11, etc. He was completely right about the "Russiagate" hoax that Democrats under Hillary Clinton launched using the concocted "Steele Dossier" and which FBI brass used to deceive the FISA court FOUR TIMES with Comey signing off on complete lies to the FISA court. The "Russiagate" and Ukrainegate hoaxes then served to gin up Russophobia and put us on WWIII footing with Russia.
And Patel's totally right about emptying FBI Headquarters and sending the politicized careerist FBI "managers" back out to field offices to actually work, to investigative actual crimes, which there are plenty of (without all the entrapment operations that Mueller initiated after 9-11 to show he could "prevent" terrorism. Washington DC has become a total cesspool so decentralizing the FBI would reduce the politicization and outright corruption. PLUS a large majority of FBI agents always held Headquarters in contempt, knowing that it only attracted the losers, brown nosing careerist political hacks who wanted to climb the ladder to go thru the "revolving door" at age 50 to make their corporate millions. The best, most competent agents typically refused to sacrifice their integrity and their families to climb the ladder in that Washington DC cesspool.
Remember that it was incompetent, risk-averse careerist FBI HQ that stopped Minneapolis agents from investigating the Al Qaeda terrorist suspect here in Minnesota before 9-11!
In the end, did you think Mueller actually did right by the country in the final stages of Russiagate? My sense was that he faced tremendous pressure and expectations, both from his political sponsors, and from inside his team chosen for purpose, to "get 'er done" and get Trump.
But in the end he didn't see enough there and did shut it down. Thoughts?
In my opinion, the process was the punishment. It completely undermined the half of his presidency with the most potential, by sapping his political capital.
They had to have known early on there was nothing there, and that the investigation was initiated under false pretenses.
Thank you for your work, sacrifices, and integrity. If the FBI had people like you at the top, it would be an institution worthy of our expense and respect.
My impression is that the FBI was designed from the start to serve as a domestic intelligence service focused on suppressing leftist groups.
That impression is strengthened by the fact that Hoover corresponded with Himmler for a period of time in the thirties.
My point is that the bureau has always been political. In that sense the current version of the FBI is simply pursuing the mission the bureau was assigned to at the beginning.
I also agree; a few years ago the Washington Post magazine actually had an article describing the old FBI tactic of embedding themselves in East Coast budding union and anarchist worker groups in order to foment violence and thus invite repression by the Pinkertons. Obviously no self reflection by WAPO, but our liberal friends should be reminded of that in the context of January 6.
For that matter, the story of The Gainesville Eight (acquitted by a jury of all charges after about five minutes deliberation) is also most instructive.
How it was used. And what the mission statement was given were 2 different things. It was meant like a federal police. Not an intelligence agency. Why they got funded.
Yes. All wash dc needs to go. But really need to strip it down and send people all over the country to dofferent offices. So they are divided from friends. Rebuild. early retirement to those accepting of bad. But who didn't orchestrate it. Those need jail. It's against the constitution much of what they have been doing.
Thank you Matt.... from one who drank the kool aid for quite sometime! It took unsubscribing from the NY Times, subscribing to publications I had never considered ...going on line, doing my own research (since NPR, Democracy Now & the rest of left leaning media have not just gone to sleep but actually entertain & create nightmares) if we are really interested in truth telling we have to find our own sources. Thanks for your MOST EXCELLENT reporting. From a Former manager of a Public Radio Station!
"A big reason for the divide was the inability of old liberal outlets to grasp the enormity of what took place in the Trump-Russia investigation, which featured giant-scale versions of such old FBI standbys as warrantless surveillance, political spying, and planting false media reports."
Am I truly the only cat who is perversely amused by the sight of liberals, the self-proclaimed Defenders Of Freedom And Democracy, praising the torturers, perjurers and entrapment artists of the CIA, NSA and FBI?
But you don't understand, Feral -- they did it to save democracy!!
"Our democracy." They're despicable.
Deplorable, perhaps?
https://babylonbee.com/news/hunter-asks-if-he-can-get-his-baggie-of-cocaine-back-from-the-white-house-now
He's gonna have to fight Kamala for it. Assuming it hasnt all gone up her nose by now.
!!!
But this highlights something. Matt talks about the FBI "becoming politicized". But it's always been politicized against the PEOPLE. It's just that the people never controlled a political party before social media allowed the recent rise of Trump and the transformation of the GOP to happen.
The FBI's focus on politically motivated actions against domestic enemies never changed. Look at, for example, how it's treated strongly left organizations in the past including black social justice groups. It's just that the domestic enemies of the PME now control a political party, with populism having overthrown the business-neocon cabal previously running the GOP. So the enemies moved into a party. The FBI would still today not go after Liz Cheney for anything, no matter what she did wrong. But they'd happily hang anything they could on DeSantis.
What would Cheney be guilty of, exactly?
She is guilty of destroying evidence at the least. Which is illegal
Yeah, I have heard that accusation, but I have yet to see any actionable proof there was any intentional destruction of evidence. Cheney’s crime seems to be that she disagreed with Trump’s encouragement of a protest that went nuts at the capitol, and was one of the few Republican’s in her party who was willing to stand up to the groupthink. She knew she would pay a price for it politically and did.
She also helped cause Jan 6 to be the debacle it was. Milley and L. Cheney were the biggest contributors to the "Watch out for Trump using the military to hold power" idiocy which dominated swamp groupthink leading up to Jan. 6. That groupthink led to stupidities like not having enough manpower to stop the events from going awry. For example by turning down National Guard troops.
Cheney's major role was organizing the Jan. 5 OpEd from "all 10 living Defense Secretaries" warning against Trump potentially using military force. Myopic and stupid in the extreme, ans contributed to a fever dream that led to poor security planning for real scenarios.
Asking that suggests you didn't understand the nature of my construction of the phrase.
From voters, the greatest threat to democracy.
You cracked the code. Voters are the most powerful forces against the”democracy” of the elites.
https://babylonbee.com/news/hunter-asks-if-he-can-get-his-baggie-of-cocaine-back-from-the-white-house-now
Ha ha
How silly of me!
LOL
Did Biden WH approve South Korean military coup? https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ukraine-meets-with-south-korean-president/
South Korea's parliament again defied presidential demands to send arms to Ukraine. We can be certain that had the military coup succeeded, South Korean weapons, and perhaps troops, would be on their way to Ukraine.
Given the "go out with all guns blazing" attitude of the Biden puppet-masters we need to know what and when the US knew about this week's coup - a coup organized and executed with the support of just a single cabinet member: South Korea's defense minister, and the army chief of staff. Nobody else in government was informed.
Unsurprisingly, all political parties rejected the military leadership's attempts to strip civil rights from the South Korean populace, impose martial law, arrest opposition leaders, ban strikes, and shut down the press. The defense minister has since resigned and apologized.
What role, if any, did the Biden WH play in supporting/opposing this violent attempt to overthrow South Korea's democracy this week. Why are the pliant US media refusing to demand more information about America's "hands-off" response to this attack on an ally's democracy? The Biden WH never shuts up up protecting democracy from authoritarian leaders. Why the Biden WH silence now?
UPDATE - Here's the Daily Mail bright shiny object - South Korea president declared martial law to head off corruption investigation. Sounds totally believable. That's what everyone does to avoid investigation.
OF course.
George Carlin must be rolling in his grave
You may note that, these days, the counterculture,the subversives, the pranksters, the roasters of sacred cows and the Tellers Of Forbidden Truths are found on the alt-right and, to a lesser extent, the Dirtbag Left. Liberals, meanwhile, have become sanctimonious scolds so humorless that they make The Church Lady look like G.G. Allin by comparison.
This is not because of any inherent love of liberty on the right or any inherent censoriousness among liberals, but is an artifact of their respective relationships with power.
Yes, and everyone who disagrees is a “Russian asset”!
Yeah, the party out of power always becomes more libertarian and the party in power always becomes more authoritarian regardless of what they said before, and the party out of power are of course always the rebels, which appeals to the youth. But I would hope someone like Carlin would have recognized the government psyops for what they are, even though they are coming from the nominal left.
I wasn't referring so much to political parties or even political office so much as I was referring to cultural power.
Me too, maybe I should have said “side” rather than “party”. This is basically the plot of Animal House, the ragtag rebels against the stuffed shirts and schoolmarms.
I quit our thirty year membership in the ACLU when they and the far right stink tank Regent University Challenged Quebec Bill21 in Canada's Supreme Court. I was born a damned Jew in 1948 under The Padlock LAWS of Canterbury and Rome and Bill21 is a dream come true.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bill-21
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/padlock-act
Damn, if the culture has shifted that much, you're making me question my choices. I've never been associated with the "cool kids". It's probably just a matter of time before see me and kick me out!
No. Not truly. Not for a long time. Democrats own this. Trump first term. No dictator. No spying. No locking up political opponents. Busses. Yes. Same deep state.
BUSHES. Sorry typo.
That's why I'm registered as a Democrat and as a Republican - I'm not taking any chances of being labeled a subversive by either side...
You can register for two parties?? How?
What 'left?' You have NO left in the USA
"This is not because of any inherent love of liberty on the right or any inherent censoriousness among liberals, but is an artifact of their respective relationships with power."
Fascinating insight! Explains why a formerly radical leftist like me is hanging out with pro-Trump conservatives.
The Finster aims to please.
Ditto
Johnny Rotten agrees with you, haha: https://x.com/RCDad92/status/1862231454018650345
https://babylonbee.com/news/hunter-asks-if-he-can-get-his-baggie-of-cocaine-back-from-the-white-house-now
They seem to have a "thing" about war, very enthusiastic about the proxy war, though they will still vehemently deny that's what it is, as well as the history. Perhaps some still actually believe that's "spreading democracy". The proxy war ties in with the belief in Russiagate, which still seems to be holy writ for many of these fools.
> sanctimonious scolds so humorless
This applies to self-described "punks" nowadays too, who are 100% into whatever the social justice cause of the week is, have zero sense of humor about it, and who wouldn't think of questioning authority if said authority is sufficiently anti-TERF and anti-"fascism."
Go, Patel! Get the bastards.
Are you calling Matt a dirtbag?
I agree BUT there is NO left in the USA!
Visit California and any hard blue area and you will see the left at work.
They are right NOT left!
I loved the Carlin bits on government. Such gold. I always thought Carlin had a way fo telling, what would
be today's liberals saving democracy, that Americams are blinded by this so called education you have.
Carlin would have tried to convince people that Russian Interference was real.
I hope in a couple of years he'll be able to rest easy once again.
https://babylonbee.com/news/hunter-asks-if-he-can-get-his-baggie-of-cocaine-back-from-the-white-house-now
https://babylonbee.com/news/hunter-asks-if-he-can-get-his-baggie-of-cocaine-back-from-the-white-house-now
Liberals used to call them pigs.
Now they call them "Senior Security Expert for CNN and MSNBC".
The democrats long ago stopped being that party. Last time maybe in the 80s. They use those words to get votes. But if you saw what they actually did they stopped delivering in the 80s.
It is a DNC Mafia - a criminal organization masquerading as a political party.
What happened was they got power. Or rather, the price of power was acquiescence to The National Security State.
I think it's more sinister than that. They want one world government and they want to rule. That path was taking too long abd they stepped on the gas to get us yo communism.
Dems held power for at least 40 years before Gingrich led the brief revolt in the early 90s. That was over by time Clinton left office. There have been blips, like the Tea Party, even less significant, but what happened was the Dems regained the power they ever so briefly lost, and once BO got in, they've really been pedal to the metal, bare knuckles and iron fistedly disciplined about retaining the power they believe is their birthright. They know that you may actually beat City Hall, but Santa Claus is invincible.
That is how you get power and keep it. Once you understand that Team D is the political manifestation of the PMC and that the PMC is the hegemonic class, All Will Be Revealed.
Tapped Silicon Valley from the get go. Money and power to censor.
During the Seventies the young leaders of the radical left (SDS and such) joined the Democratic Party, which was previously regarded by them as the Establishment. Many of them became Democrat politicians, or at least members of the Party machine. And yes, most of us launched careers in professional fields, as we had always intended to do, and thus the Democratic Party became the home of the professional class.
70s ? What signs indicated that? I was democrat for 30 years. At some point I realized they left ne behind. And I did republican for 15. Since then I've left party politics. And voted for people or issues. Then I learned it's all a mess.I PRAY TRUMP can focus on getting us sound and honest. Cuz I'm very disillusioned
When the Clintons took power, those days were dead. Hillary Clinton has never been anything else; Bill was along for the party ride. (Literally at times.)
https://babylonbee.com/news/hunter-asks-if-he-can-get-his-baggie-of-cocaine-back-from-the-white-house-now
Performance art. These so-called "liberals" are really progressives, who think the only way to achieve utopia (for them) is to enact authoritarian measures against their perceived enemies (i.e. the people who disagree with them). It's human nature with pretty clear dividing lines.
The people in power got to their position largely due to a personality trait that drives them there (pick a deadly sin, there are 7 of them). Most people want the basics in life, NOT to dictate to others how to live their lives. It's always the "touched" minority who go to these extremes.
The battle for the soul of America will continue in perpetuity... until "the tree of liberty is refreshed with the blood of patriots." We have to constantly fight for our Constitution and Bill of Rights for they are always under threat.
https://babylonbee.com/news/hunter-asks-if-he-can-get-his-baggie-of-cocaine-back-from-the-white-house-now
I love the BB. They picked up the torch that the Onion dropped 13 years ago.
Not at all. It's been like a dark comedy for me. Still not as funny as neocon arch Republicans like Bill Kristol becoming Democrat thought leaders because Trump told them they couldn't bomb any countries that the US wasn't already bombing when he came into office.
https://babylonbee.com/news/hunter-asks-if-he-can-get-his-baggie-of-cocaine-back-from-the-white-house-now
I, too, laugh out loud that the free-lovin' Hippies and their children became the very thing that they protested: The Establishment.
I believe many, if not most of the old liberal outlets grasped the enormity of it, and fully agreed with the imposition of controlled narratives, censorship, and authoritarian crackdowns on their critics.
Ain't it funny how one's perspective changes, depending on whether you have the whip hand?
I am an old unrepentant liberal who was and remains appalled by the “liberal” Democratic Party embracing of the FBI, CIA,NSA, etc… and of the war-mongering, and the “meddling” in other countries political affairs. The Ukraine debacle was caused by our meddling- no I really wish Putin had not invaded, but had we and the UK and the EU dealt honestly and honorably with Russia, maybe he wouldn’t have. And certainly the war would have ended early but for Boris Johnson’s little trip to do our bidding. But to voice that opinion makes me a Putin stooge.
I’m bipartisan in my contempt. The current GOP roster is despicable too.
I avoid ideology as it short circuits critical thinking. Thst said. I heartfully despise Team D and Team R alike.
I’m truly hoping Team R is Team America now.
Nope, you're not alone.
They've bent over backwards so far at this point that they're about to start to involuntarily flipping when they talk.
They are about to disappear into their own fundamental orifice.
Which, in the end, would lead to them turning completely inside out.
Which no one really needs to see.
12/02/24: "... what’s already an ugly fight about Patel’s nomination":
It's my understanding that the FBI head position is not subject to Senate confirmation. But with Ted Cruz saying that Patel will pass, I guess that's incorrect. Why the hell is it subject? It's not a cabinet position!
If somehow his nomination failed, Trump could always make an acceptable enough patronage appointment while making Patel an "advisor" to the President, or some such.
12/02/24: Excellent point. Say, when does Biden pardon the Jets and the Giants?
And Aaron Judge in the postseason.
12/03/24: And that Whiny Brat, Yankee pitcher G. Cole, for not automatically running to cover first base when the ball was hit on the ground to his left. Oh, and he got another $30+ million almost immediately after the Series ended.
Or deputy
Sounds good to me! Say, when does Biden pardon the Jets and the Giants?
Deep state wants a say.
Good point. Say, when does Biden pardon the Jets and the Giants?
https://babylonbee.com/news/hunter-asks-if-he-can-get-his-baggie-of-cocaine-back-from-the-white-house-now
It certainly looks like either they were thick as a brick, or it was an 'all or nothing' mentality that lead them to this point. Either way it's unsettling, and it would indicate that this is not over yet.
Of course not. They are not going to simply throw up their hands and say "I guess you guys just won, fair and square!"
They'll simply go to Plan B, never so much as missing a beat.
12/03/24:
Plan A: "We'd never dream of doing such a thing!'
Plan B: "We f*cking did it, up yours, whadda ya goin' do about it?"
That is — working closely with Rinos
Rush Limbaugh began to notice this irony 15 years ago, and Pat Buchanan understood it well before that.
I think it's even simpler than that. People got tired of being told what the fuck to say and believe in a "free country". And no, you're not the only cat doing that ;-)
You also are a cat? Thre are several of us who post here on Substack, as well as some rodents, a lion, a dog, and someone who says he is a "wolf" but I persoanlyy think he is shining us all.
I'm species-fluid. Not to be confused with species fluid.
Thank you Feral,
I grew up under the Union Jack and Fleur de Lys and speak English not Newspeak. John Ralston Saul went to McGill before he went to Oxford. He said and may still say. Neo-liberalism is neither new nor liberal. I spent over a decade in Woodlawn where they are building the Obama Shrine. I am a progressive and I like the Obamas but they are neo-liberals like The University of Chicago where economics is still 15th century mercantilism.
I used to say that I despise Obama for what he is- a droning, American citizen assassinator, Wall St shill.
I have been disgusted, not amused - perversely or otherwise. Hypocrisy is so blatant and commonplace the left treats it like Biden’s lies (smile, say “don’t you love it?”, and move on).
Slightly more appealing than the criminal dirtbags offering to take their place? Dunno, just spitballin' here...
Sooner or later, there's only one conclusion you can reach:
We must End the Fed.......eral Bureau of Investigation.
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/end-the-federal-bureau-of-investigation
I would read your article but I’ve been screaming too much on company signal channels… even this latest rage pick is not enough but it’s a start. The FBI is too important to be disbanded but the DC branch oughta be killdozed and the ground beneath it salted.
"The FBI is too important to be disbanded"
I used to think the same thing. Probably because of all those TV shows extoling the virtues of the (fictional) agents saving the day. In real life, they plot to kidnap governors.
Yes, funny how there were so many movies and shows extolling FBI and CIA after 9/11– were they “ encouraged” or even subsidized?
That's exactly what they did with covid and the jabs - it wouldn't surprise me IN THE SLIGHTEST if they did it with other things as well.
----
https://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/JW-v-HHS-COVID-Community-Corps-September-2021-02315.pdf
Page 34: Work with the Hollywood guilds to work vaccination messaging into scripted and reality TV shows (ex.: ·writers Guild, Directors Guild).
The Pentagon has an entire department devoted to cooperation with Hollywood and to making sure that the military is portrayed in the most shining light possible. Studios get access to military equipment for filming, miltary personnel for consulting, etc. but the Pentagon gets to vet the script and plot.
You can bet your last dollar that the FBI, CIA, DEA, etc. have similar PR organizations, and exercise similar control over TV, streaming and films.
Not to mention, the Pentagon has a huge ad budget, and can throw a lot of lucrative recruitment ads to publications that give favorable coverage.
I agree. I can't even watch anything about them anymore. They are Frauds.
I keep waiting for an episode on one of the CBS FBI shows about the heroic agents arresting anti-abortion protestors as domestic terrorists. Think I’ll wait for a long time? /sarc/
And don’t respond and investigate on tips that turn out to be real. Parkland school and the nightclub in Orlando. Forgot the name. But of those were originally tipped to the FBI
I was an ardent fan of The X-Files, which overall treated the FBI rather fondly, while gently portraying its leadership as bureaucratic and hidebound (in order to give the protagonists something to struggle against).
Not really, they went after citizens when told to. Even when they knew it was wrong. Trash them ALL. Once they turn on the People, what good are they.
I wish you could see what the daily fbi.org feed looks like. Every day there is a reminder about special agents who gave their lives during a given day or week going after the worst criminals. It’s true that the feds have done shady stuff in recent years but they also bust pedos and human traffickers, even take down foreign enemy cyber actors. No need to throw the baby out with the disinformation industrial complex.
I also wish that I could see something good come from them. But all that we see nowadays is the snarling Wray refuse to answer. Just picture every agent we have seen for the past 10 years. Do any of them make you proud? THEY are the face of the agency.
Sztrok grinning like he was demon possessed while being questioned in congress should give anyone pause.
Not to mention how he talked about citizens in his texts. They all think they are above the average citizen. How can you help people when you obviously despise them.
For every good deed done by the FBI, how many crimes were committed by that same agency?
Mailik Faisal Akram, Boston Marathon Bombers, San Bernardino terrorists, Ahmad Alissa, Pulse Nightclub shooter, ISIS attack Garland, Texas in 2015, Ceasar Syoc, kidnap Gretchen Whitmer, Richard Jewel, assassination of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Spygate, NASCAR pull rope investigation, Hunter Biden laptop, Olympic gymnast case, Huma Abedin/Anthony Weiner laptop, seth rich, las vegas shooter....................and on and on. Too important? I doesn't seem like they can get anything right. Almost like it's intentional.
End the other Fed, too.
When we have federal court justices who allow the FBI to lie to them with impunity, what do you think will happen. Every judge who did so should be removed and every agent who lied, should be fired and prosecuted.
This is key. Thank you for pointing it out. Many miss this point.
I remember Comey and various lib "experts" saying that the warrants to spy on the Trump campaign were an indication of his guilt because the FISA court is "incredibly rigorous."
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/comey-criticism-of-carter-page-fisa-warrant-a-political-deal-1215189059764
(Sorry for inflicting Maddow on you.)
In fact the government has over a 99.9% success rate in getting FISA warrants, because of course it does in a necessarily one-sided process. And that's not even counting the lies of commission (Carter Page isn't a CIA source) and omission (we found Danchenko credible, nevermind he said that the Trump stories were bullshit).
The FBI is two organizations: a law enforcement agency and a domestic-spying agency. That both have been corrupted is indisputable, the evidence is all over the place. It’s worse than even mentioned by Matt here, the top floors have been infiltrated by a Marxist mentality that was instituted by decades-long campaign and significantly enforced by Obama and Jenrette. J Michael Waller clearly documents the history of the FBI and the infiltration in his book, The Big Intel. Waller concludes the only solution is to tear it down, kill some parts, and to distribute the remaining duties to other agencies. I respect Patel a great deal and his service is no better recognized than his work for the House Intelligence Committee under Nunes. It was his familiarity with the system that gave him the ability to dig in the right places to discover the Clinton campaign’s authorization and funding of the Steele Dossier, literally collecting the banking receipts. Few could actually step in at the FBI and be better prepared to make the decisions to fix the problems and kill the corruption. God Speed to Kash, he’ll need it.
The FBI was never corrupted it was corrupt to begin with. Humphrey Bogart understood it in Casablanca. Round up the usual gang of suspects like the great American democratic socialist and philosopher Eugene Victor Debs.
That are different sources of corruption. Some would argue that Hoover was a corrupting force, but he successfully held the attempts to infiltrate the FBI by Marxists at bay, when other agencies were far less successful (none more so than Education). Debs was pre-FBI; Hoover was still at Justice.
Thanks D,
What Marxists? Do you know what a Marxist is? Mark Twain advocated a Marxist revolution in both Moscow and Washington and Benjamin Franklin is credited with founding Marxism or Commonism by Karl Marx.
Marxist was a label attached to every person who questioned the integrity of our institutions (FBI,CIA etc)and persecuted them for their ideas. Remember McCarthy, Hoover and Dulles.
Indeed, what does that mean. I think I believe the opposite of it though...I think.
"Unless you think the FBI really believed Trump was in league with Russia (and as the “Bell Tolls” article explains, the record leaves little doubt the Bureau knew early on that premise was nonsense), there’s no other explanation for its conduct in the Trump era."
Of coruse, the russiagate conspiracy theory was nonsense, QAnon for liberals.
However, from the FBI and MSM perspective, it did exactly what it was intended to do, which was to prevent a rapprochement between the US and Russia and the terrifying prospect of peace breaking out.
If anyone really thought that Russia had these superpowers that are regularly attributed to it, they would behave very differently.
As a kid in the 60's, I used to watch "The FBI" with Efram Zimbalist Jr. every week. I thought they were the epitome of honor and coolness. Now, I view the FBI and the ATF as enemies of The People.
They could dump the entire bowl of alphabet soup as far as I am concerned. It has spoiled & is poisoning the country.
Major DITTO . At least the DC headquarter for sure.
The entire FBI is a corrupt and incompetent organization. They get convictions by telling people to lie. I’ve seen it first hand. Save the handful of honest agents & start over.
I think trying to save the “honest agents” is futile. Too hard to be sure if they’re really trustworthy. I start with the premise that anyone in the organization who didn’t retire or resign when they saw what was going on has to go. Permanently. Never hold an office of public trust again, let alone in law enforcement.
There are over 10000 agents across the country working on numerous cases. How many are really involved in political capers?
What police work is the FBI doing that couldn't be handled by the states, as the 10th Amendment demands?
There is no way to be certain. It would be foolish in the extreme to take the agents’ word that they’re not involved in political capers. When the rot is as deep as it is, sometimes the patient doesn’t survive. The republic will be safer if we dismantle the whole agency, bar all of the employees from every having anything to do with law enforcement, and start over from scratch with people whom both side are willing to trust.
Well until you have some evidence, you can’t convict 10000 people of corruption. How corrupt is that? Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty. This is all such bullshit.
Ever heard of RICO?
I am sure that there were members of the Gestapo who thought they were just doing their jobs as well, that somewhere out there was an SSmann who really was a high-spirited social democrat with a yen for adventure.
I too have seen it first hand. They are generally comically inept.
How do you just replace the people at the top. If this has been the training for decades, it is entrenched in the rank and file. Are their agents out there that want to work for the American people and not work for power? I know it sounds strange, but having 3 or 4 different FBI Tv shows just glorifies how easily they can monitor each of us. I believe it is not salvageable.
My mother has a friend whose son works for the FBI. His office is just down the street from my house. He was ecstatic when he got the job and now hates it. He is one of the good ones who gets taken off investigating child pornographers to go investigate “domestic violent extremists” aka his neighbors.
Well, Taibbi has convinced me that Patel’s nomination might be the most important one Trump’s made so far. Wait. What am I saying? All the appointments are critical to fixing an insane and corrupt organization that wields the most power ever in the world’s history.
You’re confusing defensive behavior with calling you out for deception.
While it’s a mess, the Trump administration, including lapdogs like Patel, are hardly going to improve the agency. They have been very clear they will be“unapologetically a political actor” that will “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" (or worse) groups it didn’t like. “. A serious attempt
…to reform the agency would be lead by an administration dedicated to the Constitution, not to personal or political revenge.
Well, that’s pretty deceptive, isn’t it? The words could easily apply to what has happened to national law enforcement and justice under Obama and Biden. Plus, I do t think Taibbi was projecting that onto the incoming administration as you did.
No need to get defensive. I’m not defending the FBI or any administration and I think if my reply hadn’t been cut short, it would have made more sense. My apologies for that. I was trying to point out that the Trump administration as Trump himself is promoting, at worse, is clearly out to exact revenge on his personal enemies. At best, those he is nominating will surely try, and maybe succeed, at tearing down institutions. But they are neither qualified or motivated to rebuild them to help govern under our Constitution.
You have to admit that tearing down corrupt institutions and destroying the lives Trump's political enemies has a lot of overlap with the list of things that would be good for the average US citizen.
What a bunch of crap.
Can you point me to where Patel or Trump actually said that since you put it in quote marks?
Patel never said this. I just finished his book and his statement was directed at the obvious most corrupt parties in all the Governmental Departments. He never said he was going after the political opponents just corruption. I hope he can. He’ll need a lot of resources and means to vaporize the FBI.
Actually I quoted the wording from Taibbi’s article, describing the ills of the Hoover reign. It works well to describe what Trump says he intends to so. Also…I inadvertently cut off part of my response…which follows below. You can drain a swamp but if you fill it with sewage, what does it do for us?
When you have newly-elected Senators whose past behaviors demonstrate a willingness to lie, to claim they have incriminating evidence where none exists and who meet in secret with the FBI agents working to undermine the sitting President, it shows the fight to dismantle and rebuild the corrupt FBI will be epic.
Half the political class in Washington has grown dependent on the FBI to dispatch and/or ruin their enemies and they don't intend to surrender that ability easily or peacefully. The corruption at the FBI runs so deep that I wouldn't be surprised if those deeply embedded agents are enlisted in the fight against Patel and Trump in a sort of guerilla war or an insurgency within the walls of the Hoover building.
November 5th wasn't the end of the battle. It's the start.
The FBI and the CIA, ATF, etc, etc, etc do far more harm to the existential values of our constitutional republic than any good they do. Power such as they have amassed to themselves, with the help of both congress and the executive, corrupts; and I think we can discern that it has corrupted absolutely. They all need to be “splintered into a thousand pieces and scattered to the wind”. To the extent that some necessary elements of what they are chartered to do remain, then some provision can be made for some new, very scaled back, very limited units to be constituted to competently perform those functions on a very tight leash; with rigorous oversight; and having to be rechartered by congress every five years or so.
Yup! Spot on.
Kash Patel is/was right about a few things! He claims to want more transparency and less secrecy and said he would declassify a bunch of documents, including re JFK, 9-11, etc. He was completely right about the "Russiagate" hoax that Democrats under Hillary Clinton launched using the concocted "Steele Dossier" and which FBI brass used to deceive the FISA court FOUR TIMES with Comey signing off on complete lies to the FISA court. The "Russiagate" and Ukrainegate hoaxes then served to gin up Russophobia and put us on WWIII footing with Russia.
And Patel's totally right about emptying FBI Headquarters and sending the politicized careerist FBI "managers" back out to field offices to actually work, to investigative actual crimes, which there are plenty of (without all the entrapment operations that Mueller initiated after 9-11 to show he could "prevent" terrorism. Washington DC has become a total cesspool so decentralizing the FBI would reduce the politicization and outright corruption. PLUS a large majority of FBI agents always held Headquarters in contempt, knowing that it only attracted the losers, brown nosing careerist political hacks who wanted to climb the ladder to go thru the "revolving door" at age 50 to make their corporate millions. The best, most competent agents typically refused to sacrifice their integrity and their families to climb the ladder in that Washington DC cesspool.
Remember that it was incompetent, risk-averse careerist FBI HQ that stopped Minneapolis agents from investigating the Al Qaeda terrorist suspect here in Minnesota before 9-11!
I may just have to write an op-ed. (Did you ever see my Huff Post on Mueller and Comey? https://www.huffpost.com/entry/conflicts-of-interest-and-ethics-robert-mueller-and_b_5936a148e4b033940169cdc8 Can Patel be any worse? I suppose but these predecessors did set a high bar.)
In the end, did you think Mueller actually did right by the country in the final stages of Russiagate? My sense was that he faced tremendous pressure and expectations, both from his political sponsors, and from inside his team chosen for purpose, to "get 'er done" and get Trump.
But in the end he didn't see enough there and did shut it down. Thoughts?
In my opinion, the process was the punishment. It completely undermined the half of his presidency with the most potential, by sapping his political capital.
They had to have known early on there was nothing there, and that the investigation was initiated under false pretenses.
Thank you for your work, sacrifices, and integrity. If the FBI had people like you at the top, it would be an institution worthy of our expense and respect.
My impression is that the FBI was designed from the start to serve as a domestic intelligence service focused on suppressing leftist groups.
That impression is strengthened by the fact that Hoover corresponded with Himmler for a period of time in the thirties.
My point is that the bureau has always been political. In that sense the current version of the FBI is simply pursuing the mission the bureau was assigned to at the beginning.
I also agree; a few years ago the Washington Post magazine actually had an article describing the old FBI tactic of embedding themselves in East Coast budding union and anarchist worker groups in order to foment violence and thus invite repression by the Pinkertons. Obviously no self reflection by WAPO, but our liberal friends should be reminded of that in the context of January 6.
For that matter, the story of The Gainesville Eight (acquitted by a jury of all charges after about five minutes deliberation) is also most instructive.
Nice to see you again, Feral. I was afraid you might have been put down. I suppose you were exercising your feline prerogative to be unavailable.
How it was used. And what the mission statement was given were 2 different things. It was meant like a federal police. Not an intelligence agency. Why they got funded.
Yes. All wash dc needs to go. But really need to strip it down and send people all over the country to dofferent offices. So they are divided from friends. Rebuild. early retirement to those accepting of bad. But who didn't orchestrate it. Those need jail. It's against the constitution much of what they have been doing.
Agree. I don't think what you've written is controversial, especially to feral felines...
they can't/won't self reflect and reform - it will need to be an outside driven mandated fresh start.
Obviously sternly worded letters aren't cutting it.
Thank you Matt.... from one who drank the kool aid for quite sometime! It took unsubscribing from the NY Times, subscribing to publications I had never considered ...going on line, doing my own research (since NPR, Democracy Now & the rest of left leaning media have not just gone to sleep but actually entertain & create nightmares) if we are really interested in truth telling we have to find our own sources. Thanks for your MOST EXCELLENT reporting. From a Former manager of a Public Radio Station!
Apologies to all for the formatting error in the original version.
Thanks Matt, but formatting errors are barely worth noticing because your content is so relevant to the moment and rich in detail.