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   Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Feb-2025 10:07:37 JST Matt Blaze

   Covering FISA in my surveillance course this week and going over the history (Watergate, COINTELPRO, etc). It all seems so quaint and innocent now.

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     Kim Scheinberg (kims@mas.to)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Feb-2025 10:16:18 JST Kim Scheinberg

     in reply to

     @mattblaze
     One almost wishes Nixon were alive to see what Trump is getting away with. He'd need to be put in a straight jacket.

     ...or in the cabinet, I guess

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     Carl Malamud (carlmalamud@official.resource.org)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Feb-2025 11:06:38 JST Carl Malamud

     in reply to

     @mattblaze I hear there are a lot of shadowy government agents breaking into facilities all over washington, so if you see something, say something.

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     Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Feb-2025 11:06:40 JST Matt Blaze

     in reply to

     (A fun thing about my class this semester is you can see the Watergate out the window from the classroom)

     Steve's Place repeated this.
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     Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Feb-2025 11:06:41 JST Matt Blaze

     in reply to

     If you're not familiar with this history - and even if you are - it's amazing to read the committee report. The lawmakers were learning about these abuses for the very first time, and they were genuinely shocked and outraged.

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     Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Feb-2025 11:06:42 JST Matt Blaze

     in reply to

     Narrator voice: It was not so quaint and innocent.

     See the Church Committee report for some not-so-distant examples of what happens when checks and balances are absent or fail. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_II.pdf