The FBI's misuse of its power to obtain telephone records was more than the "technical violation" described by one of the FBI's attorneys. It wasn't just a matter of not doing the right paperwork, it was an ongoing and flagrant disregard of procedure, safeguards and oversight. The Justice Department's IG used the term "egregious", which is a lot more serious than "technical".
By the FBI's scale of things, if you were to drive onto the sidewalk and run over a bunch of pedestrians, they would give you a ticket for illegal parking.
This is rather disappointing, as the conduct of FBI agents who witnessed the torture of the CIA and the armed forces showed that those FBI agents both disapproved of the tactics and knew that they were both wrong and would come back to bite the government in the ass. Yet when it came to phone records and, presumably, wiretaps, the FBI gave short shrift to the law, because their agents have those nice shiny badges and laws are only for us civilians to obey.
This shows, as Nangletor commented to my earlier post, the old rule applies: Once a cocksucker, always a cocksucker.
Memorial Day
2 hours ago
Strange but true, I just used a similar Traffic metaphor for the assholes trying to slide by on a technicality.
ReplyDeleteI said it was the same as of doing a "California Stop" at a stop sign, rolling through,and we get the hundred and seventy five dollar ticket just on their word, no arguments allowed.
Crucify these guys.