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The FBI tried to ambush my source

theintercept.com

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Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#131

Post by krapp »

brnaftr361 wrote: post #127
GiorgioG wrote: post #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.

If we knockout the nationalism, what's left? States, counties, for some - districts. Thirty years and I've met one representative. America wasn't designed to operate at the current scale and it's causing considerable strife internally and externally. We're effectively the de facto world sovereign, and at the same time we the people and the collective will is so contrived as to be totally incomprehensible, largely, I…

> California's America is not the same as Texas' nor is Florida's the same as Michigan's. It's kind of an absurdity to indicate we're a nation at this point, there are really no points of unity which bond us in this era, and that's what defines a nation. That is to say there are no more Americans.

It's weird how this wasn't the case prior to 2016. Like, I distinctly recall there being a unified American culture and identity. Even between California and Texas, both considered themselves (and one another) Americans despite their differences.

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#132

Post by brnaftr361 »

macintux wrote: post #128
brnaftr361 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we knockout the nationalism, what's left? States, counties, for some - districts. Thirty years and I've met one representative. America wasn't designed to operate at the current scale and it's causing considerable strife internally and externally. We're effectively the de facto world sovereign, and at the same time we the people and the collective will is so contrived as to be totally incomprehensible, largely, I…

I think we muddled along fine as long as we had 3 or 4 TV networks steering the national conversation and no social networking. Now we can self-select for our biases and realities. I think we’ll come through it intact. Hopefully.

I'm sorry, but my point was that it would be healthy to drop the nationalist trope, for everyone. There's no real foundation for it.

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#133

Post by tomc1985 »

krapp wrote: post #131
brnaftr361 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we knockout the nationalism, what's left? States, counties, for some - districts. Thirty years and I've met one representative. America wasn't designed to operate at the current scale and it's causing considerable strife internally and externally. We're effectively the de facto world sovereign, and at the same time we the people and the collective will is so contrived as to be totally incomprehensible, largely, I…

> California's America is not the same as Texas' nor is Florida's the same as Michigan's. It's kind of an absurdity to indicate we're a nation at this point, there are really no points of unity which bond us in this era, and that's what defines a nation. That is to say there are no more Americans. It's weird how this wasn't the case prior to 2016. Like, I distinctly recall there being a unified American culture and i…

You think that was weird, witness how America came together immediately after 9/11

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#134

Post by ncmncm »

the_only_law wrote: post #49
zarriak wrote: post #3

It is crazy to think that such little progress was made after Snowden that it is not even slightly off to think that even Snowden didn’t depict the true vastness of the power of the NSA.

The stuff 3-letter agencies have gotten away with over the last century is insane. The NSA is a popular one to talk about now for good reasons but another one that always leaves me feeling angry is MKUltra and how the CIA basically tortured US citizens for science, Richard Helms destroyed evidence and died a free man. And we just seem to look back at it say “yeah these were bad people” and let it happen again. In the…

The biggest lie about MK-ULTRA is that it ended.

Second biggest is what it was about.

It was a PSY-OP against the US public. The stories, about e.g. spying via ESP, were false. They are still believed by most who have heard of the code name and supposed investigation. So, a successful operation against us.

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#135

Post by boomboomsubban »

oh_sigh wrote: post #129
nullc wrote: post #104

I doubt the source existed, the lawyer sounds like a fantasist and both the reporter and FBI fell for his stories. It pretty much says right there in the story that the lawyer was usually full of shit-- "I have concluded that the American lawyer loved to play games with everyone ... The lawyer told Ridd that he frequently lied to me and my colleagues at the Times ... 'I lie my ass off every day'". From personal exper…

I'm also confused how the lawyer was the person who introduced the source to the journo, but the FBI can't press the lawyer directly to find out who the source was? Is the idea that the lawyer just connected a completely random anonymous person with his journo friend?

Talking to a reporter isn't a crime, and having talked to a reporter isn't enough to get a search warrant.

The FBI could have known who the source was, confirmed that he would have access to the kind of data being discussed, but couldn't show he had taken classified information so needed to catch him in possession of illegal documents to arrest him.

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#136

Post by ncmncm »

snovv_crash wrote: post #113
Volundr wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did he try? I always counted it among many broken promises never even attempted.

It was the first thing he tried, and he was blocked by Congress who refused to fund the shutdown operation.

That looked to me like providing cover for not performing.

All the evidence suggests Obama was Their Man from the beginning. (E.g. expanding "death from the sky" program -- even against a US citizen and his children, weaponizing Espionage Act against reporters & whistleblowers.) Most interesting to me is how They arranged to get him a Nobel Peace prize for nothing. (They got one for Kissinger, too!)

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#137

Post by brnaftr361 »

krapp wrote: post #131
brnaftr361 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we knockout the nationalism, what's left? States, counties, for some - districts. Thirty years and I've met one representative. America wasn't designed to operate at the current scale and it's causing considerable strife internally and externally. We're effectively the de facto world sovereign, and at the same time we the people and the collective will is so contrived as to be totally incomprehensible, largely, I…

> California's America is not the same as Texas' nor is Florida's the same as Michigan's. It's kind of an absurdity to indicate we're a nation at this point, there are really no points of unity which bond us in this era, and that's what defines a nation. That is to say there are no more Americans. It's weird how this wasn't the case prior to 2016. Like, I distinctly recall there being a unified American culture and i…

There's a lot of parallel process going on that are hard to account for. Internet use, for example. According to Statista, 2011 is a trough in internet use, some ≈210mn users, by 2016 it plateaus at ≈290mn, meanwhile the platforms and accessibility are evolving alongside, in manifold ways. And there's old industries developing in new ways, TV supplanted by the modem, papers by the web, and it's all interactive. TV, I suspect, and the legacy boys, are pressing hard for turning their outlets up to 11, like have you watched Tucker Carlson? And that's got to be exacerbating the problem. And information is more accessible than ever, too: COINTELPRO or the Iran-Contra or the Mexican Revolution, or Banana Republic, or go go banking a la 1980's financial imperialism and there's the third world debt crisis for you.

Viola! Schismogenesis. Erstwhile we're competing inside of a relatively inert system with intractable inertia, and the pressure builds.

Of course the economics of the individual are poorer and poorer, as well, and at what appear to be increasing costs and that is a considerable portion of what the government ultimately does - enable commerce. And we're finding out, perhaps, that we're running on fumes.

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#138

Post by boardwaalk »

TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #126
anonporridge wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why else do you think career politicians from across the spectrum, from liberal Gavin Newsom to conservative Ron DeSantis, have worked hard to explicitly block ranked choice voting reforms? Not just voice their opinions against it, but proactively halt and override legislative reforms when they happen. The duopoly doesn't benefit from making a more fair and inclusive system that allows for a greater diversity of poli…

I used to be a big proponent of ranked choice voting, but then I finally stepped back and realized that it doesn't seem to necessarily produce more "inclusive" or "unifying" outcomes. Change my mind.

It's a little presumptuous to come in and say "I don't believe this, change my mind." I don't think anybody is going to bother to, frankly. You ought to put in a slight amount of effort and give some modicum of evidence.

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#139

Post by t-3 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #123
t-3 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't need anything so complicated, we just need to return to the house and electoral college being periodically resized according to census data rather than fixed at 435. Those reversions would solve most electoral problems without even needing to touch hard issues of engineering fair an trustworthy alternative voting systems.

> Those reversions would solve most electoral problems No, they wouldn't, as the problems (including duopoly) predate the changes you would reverse.

The population, level of urbanization, and amount of information were all far less back then. It would be a lot harder for two parties to completely control an 8000 member congress or gerrymander that many districts.

Re: The FBI tried to ambush my source

#140

Post by gilleain »

chatmasta wrote: post #47

In Bruges is a fantastic film, one of my favorites as well, and makes for a poignant backdrop to this story, wherein the reporter unknowingly manifests its plot from his semi-ironic suggestion of meeting there. The imagery of the FBI guys waiting around in Bruges is just too perfect. Life imitates art.

Hopefully they got to see the swans. Like a fairytale, really.

More seriously, what appeals to me about films like that is how 'real life' crime (as far as I can know) is not like a glamourised action movie. It is more haphazard, and contingent on personal decisions and people's character flaws.

For me, the line 'I am sorry I called you an inanimate object. I was upset' is more real than any number of Godfather movies.

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