rant/
It's like we had a stupid version of Nixon as prez for four years, but this kind of crap didn't start with Gump. In recent decades DoJ has continually become the primary enabler for illegal actions of the current administration. The Abu Ghraib torture memo...AG Jeff Sessions directly lying to Congress about conspiring with Russian nationals to influence the 2016 election. The fucking head of the fucking FBI announcing a fucking political investigation of an electoral candidate just days before the fucking election. More recently DoJ has disgraced their mission in virtually every suit brought against the last administration or it's hatchet men such as Roger Stone. Now we find they were illegally using law enforcement agencies to spy on Congressional committee members. It's like some bizarre episode of 'Futurama' where the head of Nixon in a jar is running things behind the scenes with J. Edgar Hoover and Roy Cohn right alongside.
This is the sort of behavior I have come to expect of the Russian government, and unfortunately, from our own. For my entire life we've had two different sets of laws for the rich and politically-connected and for the poor and powerless. We never have been a nation of laws in my view...the nation was founded with all sorts of exceptions to the promise of equality...slavery, indentured servitude and gender discrimination were part and parcel with the rest.
I remember when they lied to us about virtually everything happening in Vietnam. I remember watching as fall guys took the rap for criminal behavior on behalf of a criminal President. I watched as corporations chipped away at regulation constraining them from political activity until by sometime in the 80s or 90s they had bought the entire government for all practical purposes. I watched as wannabe masters of the universe tried to reshape the Middle East for Exxon/Mobil, again, and lied to us throughout it all. As often as not DoJ was right in the middle of all these fiascos co-signing their asses off.
An Arizona state rep hired the Proud Boys to protest and create havoc outside the initial Arizona recount after the last election. An Idaho state rep let rioters into the state capitol by a back entrance. It looks likely that U.S. reps toured rioters through the Capitol prior to the insurrection in D.C. In effect, we have right-wing dark money funding domestic terrorists. Bureau of Prisons guards have aligned with white supremacist gangs in the prison system and are terrorizing incarcerated social activists. Customs and Border Protection/ICE is a breeding ground for right-wing extremists. Even the Secret Service has nut-balls on the payroll, as our government doesn't seem to want to apply any reasonable procedure for weeding out tin-foil-crazy applicants. When I was in the service I had to submit to regular psychological evaluations to hold my job because I had access to data regarding nuclear weapons. The federal government has a lot of people working for it that I wouldn't trust to walk my dog.
John Mitchell once infamously had his own wife kidnapped, sedated and held by force to prevent her from speaking to reporters about Watergate. While he went to prison for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury, he was never charged for the act. This is where we could be headed if we allow this to continue happening without consequence.
/rant
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