Johnathan Buma has said he faced retaliation over his investigation into Rudy Giuliani's Russian ties.
  • honey_im_meat_grinding@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    502·
    1 year ago

    The FBI’s political surveillance was not a result of popular hysteria, such as scholars used to claim, or a rational response to communist spying and the Cold War confrontation, such as a number of historians have recently argued. Instead, it was an integrated part of the attempt by the modern federal state, rooted in the Progressive Era, to regulate and control any organized opposition to the political, economic and social order, such as organized labor, radical movements and African-American protest.

    • Red Scare: FBI and the Origins of Anticommunism in the United States, by Regin Schmidt, PhD

    The FBI working against progress shouldn’t really be surprising when this is what they did in their formative years. It’s a big mistake to think we were stupid in the past and that we’re above doing what we used to do, today, and I’m really starting to wonder if intelligence agencies actually are a net positive the more I read about them, at least they seem like they’re well overdue for some radical reforming to ensure they act in the best interest of common people, rather than whatever they’re doing now and historically.

      • seang96@spgrn.com
        21·
        1 year ago

        Thinking of this from the prospective of “why have an IT department we don’t need them everything is working”. At least hopefully they have mitigated / prevented similar events you listed and we just never heard about them.

      • Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        21·
        1 year ago

        Afaik:

        They had info on 9/11 but didnt put the pieces together.

        The BLM protests… Are protests? Do you want the feds to stop protests? Don’t worry, feds were on the scene doing all kinds of random shit like entrapment and interrogation and whatnot.

        They did see Jan 6th coming, but basically chose not to interfere.

        Why keep them? Theoretically surveillance can be useful. Its hard to justify understaffing and downsizing. I’d choose complicit. A lot of feds are fascist. They’re smart, unlike cops, but they’re evil just because of pathology or whatever. TBH the kind of person the FBI recruits would likely be even more dangerous if they weren’t agents.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
        25·
        1 year ago

        Federal investigators foiled a massive bomb plot brought on by ~20 domestic terrorists who immigrated from another, restless, country and thought that wanton destruction would somehow galvanize support FOR their position on the conflict back home.

        Can confirm that OUR feds are worth their (really small) pay.

    • interceder270@lemmy.world
      8·
      1 year ago

      I’m really starting to wonder if intelligence agencies actually are a net positive

      All of them, for the ruling class.

  • iHUNTcriminals@lemm.ee
    505·
    1 year ago

    Who do we trust?

    None. Everything this country taught me as truth was a lie, unless one has enough money to look the other way. It’s like talking to HR at work, nothing changes but they’ll still try to win you back with more lies.

    They breed terror so they can come back to be a hero.

  • dynamojoe@lemmy.world
    465·
    1 year ago

    The Deep State at work. It has always served conservative interests and established power.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      38·
      1 year ago

      Then why is the FBI hunting like 01/06 animals like a fucking Terminator? Still nailing those fuckers, seems like one every day, even after nearly 2-years.

        • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
          32·
          1 year ago

          Maybe poor in the grand scheme of things, but these were mostly middle-middle-class and higher income people.

          It’s like the 9/11 hijackers. Middle-class Saudis almost every single one.

          In neither case were they uneducated, backwoods hicks. These were mostly people with a life, and much to lose, and pulled this shit anyway. And I find that far more horrifying than a buncha poor, angry dirt farmers, because poor stupid people can’t much traction in this world.

      • Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        4·
        1 year ago

        That’s the DOJ prosecuting them. Are the FBI still finding them? I thought since there’s video of almost all of em, its mostly about using the courts to put them in prison and make deals to get info on those who couldn’t be identified.

        • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.worldEnglish
          214·
          1 year ago

          In order to obtain a valid search warrant, the FBI must have probable cause. If the FBI believes there is probable cause they will present it to a magistrate (a judge). The judge will then decide if there is sufficient information to issue a search warrant.

          Checks and balances.

            • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.worldEnglish
              117·
              1 year ago

              You didn’t have a link prior and Wikipedia isn’t a source to be trusted.

              It doesn’t matter because a judge signs off any raid. You are welcome to file a grievance with that judge if you don’t like their decisions.

              • Nutteman@lemmy.world
                61·
                1 year ago

                “Wikipedia isn’t a source to be trusted” is such a dipshit thing to say lmao. Your high school teacher, if you didn’t drop out before then, only told you that so you wouldn’t cite Wikipedia specifically as a source. Wikipedia itself is sourced and reviewed like any other encyclopedia, digital or not.