Posted on 05/28/2019 7:20:59 PM PDT by bitt
There has always been "spying" on Americans. The question is the effectiveness of safeguards. We did change the rules (again) after 9/11. The FISA Court was supposed to be a safeguard against rogue law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The question then becomes whether the FISA Court was ineffective from the start, or whether it was corrupted over time. If the latter, when and how?
Pick your point of departure. I've always been interested in the notorious Cold War espionage trials and related controversies. Part of the subtext is that, in the 1930's, 40's and 50's, a good deal of surveillance was routinely conducted, and accepted by the political norms of the era, for counterintelligence purposes -- with the clear understanding that criminal investigations had to operate under much more stringent rules. This led to the chronic situation in some of the most celebrated spy trials of the government having a great deal of damning evidence that was not admissible in court. Prosecutors repeatedly went into court with one hand tied behind their backs. This was normal and accepted.
Public attitudes began to change with the Democrats' great lurch leftward beginning in the 1960's. J. Edgar Hoover, a national hero to that point, became a pariah. Domestic surveillance became a flash point. It all came to a head with Watergate and the Church Commission. The rules were changed. Bright lines were drawn. The rules have been amended from time to time, most notably post 9/11, but in principle, the nation has rejected a return to the easy standards of the earlier era. But … eternal vigilance and all that. The Clinton administration took a big step into rogue territory with its politicization of the bureaucracy and weaponization of regulatory agencies and the IRS. We are now learning that the Obama administration was lawless. (Well, yes, we knew that already with regard to Obama's Caesarism.)
We need a cleaning of the stables every bit as deep as the post-Watergate and Church Commission era investigations. This time, the malefactors are on the left and the reform needs to be led from the right. And people who have violated the rules should go to jail. The Democrats need their Watergate if they are to reform. Right now, they are a consciously criminal party and think nothing will happen to them.
“Perception is reality”
I’ve absolutely hated that expression since the first time I heard it in a training seminar.
Perception is one’s version of reality, it is not reality (hence it is called perception and not reality).
I’m not barking at you directly or trying to insinuate you don’t understand this yourself, the expression, like I said, just never worked for me.
So far, so good. :^)
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