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FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

nytimes.com

181–190 of 276 posts

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#181
This is unsurprising given American history, in particular the history of the FBI. It began as an so the DoJ had investigators in certain cases where they otherwise wouldn't (eg on reservations) but it really began with the Mann Act [1]:

> In its original form the act made it a felony to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose". Its primary stated intent was to address prostitution, immorality, and human trafficking, particularly where trafficking was for the purposes of prostitution

The reality however was that it was used to prosecute interracial marriage [2]:

> Also known as the White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910, the law was invoked over and over again to punish black men for their relationships with white women—affairs that challenged the racial status quo. Rooted in fears of women’s growing mobility and racist characterizations of the sexual appetites of non-white men, the law was designed to protect women against the supposed scourge of “white slavery,” a term used to refer to sex trafficking in the early 20th century.

Later there's a dark history of the FBI's involvements with the likes of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm-X, the Black Panthers and a bunch of other black leaders and movements.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Act

[2]: https://www.history.com/news/white-slave-mann-act-jack-johns...

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 kinda reads like a description of the CIA. How many of these have you got there?

I think he's talking about the domestic operations. I would agree that the CIA and their sister organizations who operate internationally fit the description as well. Can't torture someone, well, take them to a friendly place where your buddy can torture them. Need to plant some FUD on a person? "an anonymous source in the intelligence community said that X did Y in Z." Unelected, Unaccountable and unchecked in every…

They can also dose US citizens with psychoactive substances without their consent or knowledge, start destroying the evidence and get away with it.

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How much does it cost to convince the judge that you simply misremembered the weather that day?

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#184
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any credible examples of any of this actually happening? The only times I've ever seen this card played is as punishment for deliberately misleading agents and wasting their time, not getting inconsequential facts wrong. ...like the high-profile Gabby Petito murder case, where Brian Laundrie's parents lied to investigators to conceal their son's whereabouts after the murder. Or that other recent one where…

Read some of Ken White's older writings, he's been complaining that there's no materiality requirement to 18 USC 1001 for years and that it's been used to manufacture new charges via questioning. There's also the matter that FBI policy is NOT to record interviews, so there's only an FD-302 saying you lied and nobody can see what you actually said, only what the FBI heard.

Thanks. Found this: https://www.popehat.com/2011/12/01/reminder-oh-wont-you-plea...

One of the comments points out that Martha Stewart was convicted for a basket of charges completely unrelated to the securities fraud that she was indicted for in the first place. Among them: two counts of lying to federal agents.

The FD-302 thing is nothing new; anybody adjacent to CPS or domestic violence will have seen the equivalent take place in therapists' offices. Client and/or therapist can rehearse abuse stories with no accountability whatsoever.

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Governments are basically the mob, except that they figured out that they can exert more control over a longer period of time if they have documents that "constrain" their powers and they offer you a say in some matters. Every year, I pay the US government protection money at a higher rate than the mob demanded (~35% vs ~15%). They mark their territory, control who enters and exits, and demand compliance with their r…

This takes me back to conversations in the middle school cafeteria. When was the last time you had to bribe a US official to get basic tasks done like register your car? In places that actually have criminal governments this is the norm. Do some research about what it's like in places where there is truly no mechanism for people to remove those in power. Look at russia and the mechanisms by which decisions are made a…

> A democratic government is the means by which the population prevents the monopoly on legal violence from falling permanently into the hands of any individual

That would be nice if we had a “democracy”. Because of both gerrymandering and the design of the constitution - 2 senators per state, and the electoral college - we don’t have one.

The “majority” doesn’t care as long as law enforcement is used unfairly against “them”. There is a reason that during the protests in the US, protestors started using “White shields”. They knew how fast the population would turn against law enforcement when the local news showed them beating up on white people.

https://www.blackenterprise.com/white-protesters-form-human-...

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#186
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But who investigates the federal agencies?

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

And the judicial branch.

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife's family paid almost nothing to the Italian mafia a hundred years ago because they gave the right people free shoes. I would say "yes." Edit: To be clear, this was not a unique situation. A lot of businesses generally got sweetheart rates from street gangs and mobs because they helped the mob and mob bosses in other ways. The same way Wall Street financiers get a sweetheart deal because they manage the politi…

If you have a problem with the Italian Mafia can you take them to court or have your elected representatives do something about it? What a ridiculous comparison

How often do “elected officials” do anything against law enforcement? Every politician in any city knows not to go against the local police department.

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#189
post #179

The CIA, FBI & Military industrial complex seem to actively work towards their own interests, separate from the democratic will of the citizens of the US. It is hard to view this as anything but the 'deep state'. If the US was not the preeminent leader of the 'free world', American intelligence agencies would be viewed as global terrorist organizations.

Military Industrial Media Complex.

Re: FBI Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows

#190
post #52
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only once they started investigating him. The problem is that partisanship and racism made it OK to investigate left-wing and black leaders on spurious grounds. However, eventually a right-wing leader managed to ignore the law blatantly and importantly enough to be investigated : and at that point the right turned against the FBI. There's no principle, only partisanship. Kind of a disaster for the rule of law.

[flagged]

Right wing, left wing, meh. To me (i.e. Opinion), it's difficult at times to distinguish between the two when looking at the highest echelon on each side.

I think my slide into cynicism regarding humans who achieve power, regardless of their stated political philosophies and alignments, started after finishing "The Dictator's Handbook". I read here some posts advocating getting rid of this or that, or saying we should do it "this way", but even though I agree in a wishful kind of way, it's just not how human beings are wired... No matter how virtuous a system may be, it seems to take only the inevitable one or two odd instances of corruption to start the rot that will bring it down.

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