I have never been a member of the Communist Party myself and I never
thought to ask people whom I have known who were members, but I seem to
remember reading some article in which it was stated that CP members did
get membership cards. I don't remember where or when I read that, but it
was a long time ago and it was not in some anti-communist source. I
recall that an old time member was quoted saying that the practice was
started because their younger recruits wanted them. I also don't
remember when the practice started either.
___
Carl Sagan
“Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind
and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says
everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the
fallibility of all the human beings involved?”
― Carl Sagan
On 12/21/2019 10:59 AM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
"Figures don't lie..." but Liars sure do Lie.
Back in the 1940's we heard a phrase that seems not to be popular
today. "Card Carrying Communist".
If there ever were such a card, my parents were members of the
American Communist Party, during the late 30's and early 40's, and
neither of them ever had a membership card to prove it. But of course
the FBI "knew" that they were members. Even though the American
Communist Party was an active political party. By the time we were
gearing up for our Non War in Korea, my folks had not been members for
some years. But dad's name was swept up along with many other former
members, and those called "Pinko", meaning anyone accused of being
seen in the company of "known" communist members.
It was an all out Witch Hunt, just like the one going on today. Same
wild, unproven accusations and undocumented charges.
Funny that during the World War, dad was "Loyal" enough to be cleared
to work at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard, but later, working as a
structural Detailer for a small manufacturer in Seattle, he was
suddenly a threat to our Freedom.
Remember the old chant, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but
names can never hurt me"?
Joe McCarthy's name calling hurt some very decent Americans. I was
young at the time, but not so young that I didn't see a number of my
parents friends broken and kicked to the curb. All in the name of
defending Freedom. Memories of those broken lives flash before my
eyes when I listen to the likes of Donald Trump and Senator Mitch, as
they spin their hurtful lies...all in the name of defending our
Freedom!
On 12/20/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
JOHN KIRIAKOU: James Comey's Interview on Fox News Screams Out for
Correction
December 19, 2019
The former FBI director knew exactly what his agency had on Carter Page
and,
contrary his assertion, it's incredibly easy to get a FISA warrant.
James Comey, left, on Dec. 15, 2019. (Screenshot)
By John Kiriakou
Special to Consortium News
Former FBI Director James Comey gave an interview this week to journalist
Chris Wallace on Fox News in which he made one of the most disingenuous and
dissembling statements I've heard in years, one that screams out for
correction and real Congressional oversight.
When asked about Justice Department Inspector General (IG) Michael
Horowitz's report, which found "17 significant errors and omissions" by the
FBI when it began investigating alleged Russian involvement with the 2016
Trump campaign and it applied for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
(FISA) warrant against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, Comey said
that he had been "overconfident" when he defended the FBI's use of FISA.
Overconfident! Comey ignored the fact that the FBI repeatedly renewed the
warrant against Page, whom the FBI suspected was working for Russian
intelligence, even if it had no evidence to indicate that was the case. He
downplayed the fact that an FBI attorney illegally changed an FBI report to
indicate that Page was not working for the CIA, when the FBI knew for a
fact
that he was.
Perhaps most disingenuously, Comey told Wallace that, "I thought the FBI
had
gone about this in a thoughtful and appropriate way. He's (Horowitz)
right.
I was wrong. I was overconfident as director in our procedures.It's
incredibly hard to get a FISA."
Please Make Your End-of-Year Donation Today.
Comey downplayed the fact that this all happened on his watch. The buck
was
supposed to stop with him. He was the boss, the commander, the one giving
the orders. He knew exactly what the FBI had on Page and what it did not.
And the truth was that it had nothing.
Comey's Lie About a FISA Warrant
Even more importantly, at least for the American people as a whole, is
Comey's lie that "it's incredibly hard to get a FISA." It's actually
incredibly easy to get a FISA. Over its 33-year lifespan, the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court has issued 33,942 warrants. It has denied
12. In fact, between the court's creation in 1986 and 2003, it didn't deny
a single request for a warrant. Those numbers simply don't support Comey's
odd contention that it's "incredibly hard" to get a FISA. He's lying to
us.
(Flickr/Mike Licht)
And the truth of the matter is that the FISA court isn't really a court at
all. It meets in secret. A "defendant" has no idea that the government is
asking for a warrant against him. The defendant has no attorney to
represent his interests before the court.
All that happens - literally - is that the FBI, usually with CIA or NSA
information, goes before a FISA judge and says, "We think person X is
dangerous or working for the Russians or is a terrorist or finances
terrorists or is a spy and we want a secret warrant to tap his phones,
intercept his emails, collect his metadata, and put physical surveillance
teams on him." Out of 33, 960 requests, the court has approved 33,942 of
them. "Incredibly hard" indeed.
There is talk of reform, however. In a rare public order this week, the
FISA court condemned the FBI for the errors and omissions that led to the
warrant being issued (and reissued) against Page, and the court gave the
FBI
until Jan. 10 to come up with a list of reforms to prevent such an event
from happening again.
The senior judge wrote:
"The frequency with which representations made by FBI personnel turned out
to be unsupported or contradicted by information in their possession, and
with which they withheld information detrimental to their case, calls into
question whether information contained in other FBI applications is
reliable. Therefore, the Court orders that the government shall, no later
than January 10, 2020, inform the Court in a sworn written submission of
what it has done, and plans to do, to ensure that the statement of facts in
each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information
possessed by the FBI that is material to any issue presented by the
application."
That's a start. But real reform has to be more than just a list by Jan. 10.
The American people must see real reform. We need to see that more than
0.03 percent of warrant requests are denied. We need to see fewer overall
requests. And most importantly, we need to see that the congressional
oversight committees are doing their jobs. The statistics on warrants
requested and warrants granted are unacceptable.
It's Congress's job to protect our civil rights and civil liberties. We
need to see proof it's happening.
John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and a former senior
investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the
sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the
Espionage
Act-a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a
result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration's torture program.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not
reflect those of Consortium News.
