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The FBI tried to ambush my source

theintercept.com

1–10 of 164 posts

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#2
It’s saddening that we as Americans tolerate this kind of abuse from the department of “justice”, FBI, and NSA.

I hope any employees of the above that read my post understand that you’re working for the wrong side.

Absolutely none of their justifications hold water, and it doesn’t matter that they catch a few bad guys. Their very existence is antithetical to a free and open society.

Edit: To expound upon this further, I believe it’s a fundamentally American viewpoint to prefer freedom over security. We can debate where those lines are all day, but the heuristic should always favor freedom/lack of control over totalitarian surveillance. This unfortunately means that some bad things are effectively “allowed” to happen, because the trade off required to eliminate them is too severe.

Edit 2: I can’t reply to any of you anymore due to the rate limit soft ban. I wish you all well. I’ll try and reply later.

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#4
I hope stories like this open the eyes of folks who are die-hard Democrats or die-hard Republicans. They are not on your side. They are on their own side.

I don't doubt that most folks at these agencies are hard-working Americans who believe they're doing what's best for our country. Having said that, this kind of unchecked power is dangerous.

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#5
> [the lawyer] told me that he was sometimes involved in international arms deals. [...] The lawyer seemed to be an adrenaline junkie, someone who had found a home on the dark side of international intelligence. [...] While the FBI knows who the lawyer is, I will not name him, even though he betrayed me.)

Why protect this asshole? Because he got cold feet and gave warning? This guy seems like 'quite a character' and the story unresolved without knowing who it was.

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#6
The corruption is deep and wide within our government (deep state?) and it doesn't matter which political faction is in power. The attack on the dissemination of information and transparency seems to be accelerating every day. It's almost as if there is something to hide... as if the only way to maintain a position of power is to obfuscate, lie and and deflect at every point a question is asked.

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#7
post #2

It’s saddening that we as Americans tolerate this kind of abuse from the department of “justice”, FBI, and NSA. I hope any employees of the above that read my post understand that you’re working for the wrong side. Absolutely none of their justifications hold water, and it doesn’t matter that they catch a few bad guys. Their very existence is antithetical to a free and open society. Edit: To expound upon this further…

No post body was provided.

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#9
post #2

It’s saddening that we as Americans tolerate this kind of abuse from the department of “justice”, FBI, and NSA. I hope any employees of the above that read my post understand that you’re working for the wrong side. Absolutely none of their justifications hold water, and it doesn’t matter that they catch a few bad guys. Their very existence is antithetical to a free and open society. Edit: To expound upon this further…

ok but those agencies look for enemies, and you have just made yourself one, and anyone else that agrees with you essentially, by the conflict "us or them" language.

Real reform has many avenues, but none of those include becoming like your own enemy, and vilifying the job. I am not a fan and not making excuses, but the wording here is impossible to agree with, except to start some kind of riot?

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#10
"whole" story

There doesn't seem to be any reason to credit any particular novel detail in this... whatever this is. The details already related in Schmidt's book could be believed, I guess, but basically just amount to "FBI boondoggle to Europe". Wow that's news. We're not told who the go-between was, who the various parties in Belgium were, anything at all about why anyone believed "the source" was worth thinking about or even existed.

It almost seems intended to embarrass Grayden Ridd, since his is the only name mentioned. [EDIT: removed dumb question] At the time he may have been an FBI agent, though he also appears to be a documentary filmmaker and lawyer. DDG seems to believe he is associated with various IMDB entries, but that association has been deleted from IMDB. Risen's relationship with FBI is not as adversarial as portrayed here. No matter how he deflects, it seems unlikely to distract from the poor publicity FBI have recently. One suspects the real news, which if anything about this is true we'll learn years from now, is the identity of the go-between.

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