Shocked!
We're starting to see more and more Claude Rains moments coming from the Junta. Raines played the bend-with-the-wind Captain of Police in the great movie "Casablanca." Ordered by the Nazis to close Rick's Cafe Americain, Renault's excuse is that he is "shocked - shocked! - to find gambling in this establishment." The very next second, Emil the croupier hands him his "winnings."
And so it goes for the Junta. They are shocked - shocked! - at most things that are revealed about the nefarious administration. Here's the latest: a report from the FBI's internal investigation shows that the FBI has systematically abused their USA Patriot Act powers to do searches without subpoena. Shocking!
Under the "Fascism: Step One" Patriot Act, the FBI local offices can write "national security letters" to obtain private information about Americans, without the approval of a judge. Of course, they'd never abuse that power, heaven knows.
Except that have - constantly. They've written letters in all kinds of cases to get all kinds of info that's out of bounds. And they've failed to report one out of every five letters that they've issued.
Look: authoritarian countries spy on their own people without limit. Democracies are supposed to be about individual liberty - something that American 'conservatives' used to believe in. Now they just want their girlish strong-man to take charge of their lives and ours.
But this is still (at this writing) a democracy. No branch of government under our Constitution - you know, that thing Georgie swore to uphold and defend - has the right to invade your privacy without good reason. And that good reason is not "it's a lot easier to search records than to actually investigate."
Frankly, given the state of the nation today, our founding fathers might just as well have not bothered with the whole Revolutionary War. What's the point? If Americans are just going to form up around a dumber and more ham-handed King George, why spend a Winter at Valley Forge?
And so it goes for the Junta. They are shocked - shocked! - at most things that are revealed about the nefarious administration. Here's the latest: a report from the FBI's internal investigation shows that the FBI has systematically abused their USA Patriot Act powers to do searches without subpoena. Shocking!
Under the "Fascism: Step One" Patriot Act, the FBI local offices can write "national security letters" to obtain private information about Americans, without the approval of a judge. Of course, they'd never abuse that power, heaven knows.
Except that have - constantly. They've written letters in all kinds of cases to get all kinds of info that's out of bounds. And they've failed to report one out of every five letters that they've issued.
Look: authoritarian countries spy on their own people without limit. Democracies are supposed to be about individual liberty - something that American 'conservatives' used to believe in. Now they just want their girlish strong-man to take charge of their lives and ours.
But this is still (at this writing) a democracy. No branch of government under our Constitution - you know, that thing Georgie swore to uphold and defend - has the right to invade your privacy without good reason. And that good reason is not "it's a lot easier to search records than to actually investigate."
Frankly, given the state of the nation today, our founding fathers might just as well have not bothered with the whole Revolutionary War. What's the point? If Americans are just going to form up around a dumber and more ham-handed King George, why spend a Winter at Valley Forge?
posted by fiduciary at 8:25 AM
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