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FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

nytimes.com

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Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#111

Post by jcadam »

frellus wrote: post #78
wmeredith wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m afraid if you were to defund some of those, like the DEA and ATF, they would just come after small time, lowest fruit criminals. That's precisely what would happen. Look at what's become of the IRS. It's been systematically defunded, despite the fact that the government sees a huge return on investment when they spend dollars there. The IRS has stated publicly that they only go after middle and lower-class citi…

"return on investment" ... you realize how that sounds, right? The good news is with the new "investment" of my tax dollars into the tax and audit arm of the government, they can no go after the top tax dollars AND middle and lower-class citizen "offenders"! Yea! Let's kill the income tax entirely, it's a completely unfair system. Middle and lower class would thrive, and the "big guys" would not notice because none o…

It looks like the government appropriates more wealth via inflation than the income tax nowadays, anyway.

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#112

Post by tkk23 »

frellus wrote: post #78
wmeredith wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m afraid if you were to defund some of those, like the DEA and ATF, they would just come after small time, lowest fruit criminals. That's precisely what would happen. Look at what's become of the IRS. It's been systematically defunded, despite the fact that the government sees a huge return on investment when they spend dollars there. The IRS has stated publicly that they only go after middle and lower-class citi…

"return on investment" ... you realize how that sounds, right? The good news is with the new "investment" of my tax dollars into the tax and audit arm of the government, they can no go after the top tax dollars AND middle and lower-class citizen "offenders"! Yea! Let's kill the income tax entirely, it's a completely unfair system. Middle and lower class would thrive, and the "big guys" would not notice because none o…

Without an income tax, would the spending power remain at the lower and middle class? The housing market has shown that people are loose with their money and pay any price that they can finance. Likewise, all goods will become more expensive until people can only buy the same things as today.

Income tax can be seen as a tax on companies that can't be embezzled. Most people are honest and want to see their full income on documents so a company has to pay the full amount of the taxes.

This leaves the lower and middle classes with less money, but it also forces the market to offer the goods for less.

The alternative would be taxing the companies directly. People would earn more, but companies would also request more for their goods because they have to pay more taxes. But would the tax payout be the same if companies have an even bigger incentive to hide their profits?

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#113

Post by MonkeyMalarky »

jcadam wrote: post #106
MonkeyMalarky wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having an independent, federal agency that can investigate local and state police is a nice thing though.

But who investigates the federal agencies?

Congress and the attorney general? https://www.fbi.gov/about/faqs/who-monitors-or-oversees-the-...

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#114

Post by throwaway894345 »

pGuitar wrote: post #18
throwaway894345 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Are you dreaming? Cops are more present then ever As an example... I was standing in the street to meet my kids... my wife called the cops for no reason and 4 cars showed up in about 60 seconds... they ended up giving me a criminal trespassing warning even if I was on public property They do like to hide though so you can't see their presence The previous city I lived in had a population of about 20k and they had two…

> The leading hypothesis for why these [police shooting protests] increase homicides and total crime is an abrupt change in the quantity of policing activity. In Chicago, the number of police-civilian interactions decreased by almost 90% in the month after the investigation was announced. In Riverside CA, interactions decreased 54%. In St. Louis, self-initiated police activities declined by 46%.

This is from a 2020 paper from Harvard’s Roland Fryer and Tanaya Devi: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w27324/w273...

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#115

Post by socialismisok »

fsociety999 wrote: post #62

The FBI is more or less a legalized criminal organization that is funded by U.S. taxpayers, but is unelected and unaccountable to them. This article is from 2013, but I haven’t seen anything to suggest that this behavior has changed: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/04/fbi-in... The important part to consider: > The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single…

This is cops in general, and not unique to the FBI.

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#116

Post by themitigating »

waboremo wrote: post #83
HarryHirsch wrote: post #59

Pirke Avot 2.3 applies, as it always does: https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.3 People have internalized that HR is on the company's side, not theirs, but sometimes their goals are congruent. Everyone should look at government the same way.

If everyone should look at government the same way, then government has failed tremendously and we should stop pushing this farce of "democracy".

And what is your alternative? Because if you don't want to push democracy what are you pushing?

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#117

Post by themitigating »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #2

Defund the FBI, CIA, NSA, ATF, and DEA. They've proven themselves to cause more trouble than to solve problems.

How do you know they cause more trouble than they solve?

They've solved thousands of missing childen, sexual predators, kidnappings, etc

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#118

Post by notch656a »

fsociety999 wrote: post #62

The FBI is more or less a legalized criminal organization that is funded by U.S. taxpayers, but is unelected and unaccountable to them. This article is from 2013, but I haven’t seen anything to suggest that this behavior has changed: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/04/fbi-in... The important part to consider: > The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single…

Wait until you find out about the DHS. Unlike interactions with the FBI, it is illegal to record them*. They do not wear body cams. You have no right to a lawyer when interacting with them. They can jail you without charging you or accusing you of a crime. They can search you without probable cause or a warrant. They can put you in cuffs, take you to a hospital, and lie to doctors that you have drugs up your ass, all without a warrant, and then you'll be sent thousands in medical bills for medical services you didn't consent to**. They can stop you on the road without reasonable suspicion / PC / a warrant. They consistently have the among the worst human rights record and hire the lowest quality candidates, and arguably have the least oversight of any of the large federal law enforcement agencies.

*at the border, where most people have this interaction with their child organization CBP.

**Actually happened to me.

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#119

Post by pclmulqdq »

Eupraxias wrote: post #103
nelsondev wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup exactly. Our default social contract gives governments a monopoly on violence, of course they’ll use it.

"Right of Force". At some point, freedom is restricted at gunpoint. Government works this way because it is logical that it do so. This is why it is critical to have government established "of, by, and for" the constituency - because even in a best-case scenario, corruption will get in the cracks and make them bigger, etc.

I'm going to expose my political bias here: I think the only way to prevent the corruption and expansion is to keep the government small by limiting the amount of resources that are under its direct control. Just offering "of, by, and for" won't do it if there are millions of people on the payroll.

Of course, the Somali government is very small and Somali people are very free, and they aren't doing very well either.

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#120

Post by bambataa »

RetpolineDrama wrote: post #91
fsociety999 wrote: post #62

The FBI is more or less a legalized criminal organization that is funded by U.S. taxpayers, but is unelected and unaccountable to them. This article is from 2013, but I haven’t seen anything to suggest that this behavior has changed: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/04/fbi-in... The important part to consider: > The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single…

They also have the seemingly unique and blatantly unconstitutional power to imprison you for ""lying"" to them. The actual wording/charge is "providing false statements", which means anything that they can later suggest is untrue . This is why you should never, ever speak with anyone associated with the FBI even if they are being "friendly". Say they knock at the door and have questions for you about your shady neigh…

Is any judge going to convict someone of lying to the FBI for getting the weather wrong? I find it ridiculous that the FBI are going around developing assets by tripping up people with inane questions like this.
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