The FBI has released its files on the late "60 Minutes" correspondent Mike Wallace, detailing their scrutiny of a 1970 trip Wallace took to Cuba.[...]According to NyPo:
In the summer of 1970, Wallace and the late "60 Minutes" creator Don Hewitt traveled to Cuba. The FBI documents detail the luggage and travel information of the two men, but do not provide much other information. At first mention, the documents misspell Hewitt's name[...]
The file — which offers no incriminating details and comes to no conclusions — notes Wallace traveled to Havana by way of Mexico with a group, carrying 22 pieces of luggage and came back with 26.This brings to mind the monitoring of Murray Rothbard that was conducted at roughly the same time by Army Counterintelligence---and it wan't the counting of his luggage.
In the April, 1971 issue of Libertarian Forum, where Rothbard was editor, he wrote:
Recent revelations of the snooping activities of Army Counterintelligence showed that the Army was engaged in massive spying and reporting on virtually every group--left or right-wing--in some way outside the Establishment consensus on American Life. One of the activities of the Army's Counterintelligence Analysis Branch (CIAB) was to subscribe to "underground" publications, and the cover address it used was "R. Allan Lee Associates" of Alexandria, VA. When the revelation broke recently. we realize that, sure enough, R Allan Lee Associates has been until recently a subscriber to Lib Forum, only failing to renew before the publicity hit the fan.
Who knows what secret name and address the CIAB is using now, somewhere among the vast array of subscribers. But at any rate, welcome CIAB, even if you are using stolen taxpayers' money maybe you'll learn something from reading us. And more important, to you, Mr. and Mrs. Libertarian out there, if the CIAB is reading us avidly and with care, can you afford to lag behind?
And remember you posting this Mr. Wenzel? I won't forget it.
ReplyDelete"Approximately a year ago, while flying out of a west coast airport a man stepped next to me and flashed a badge. He asked if he could talk to me. Totally off guard, I said "Yes." As he directed me to the side, I noticed another agent at about a 90 degree angle to me. The first agent said they were doing random stops. He asked me where I was flying to and where I stayed in during my trip. He asked what I was doing in the city.He asked some very strange questions. He asked me who had paid for my hotel room. I did and told him so. He asked to see my airline ticket. Then he asked to see my ID. The partner called in my ID. He asked to look in my briefcase. We were obviously way over the line in my mind of "reasonable search." I had a pair of jeans on a button down shirt and a blue blazer. But, I wondered what would have happened if I had said no to the briefcase search. Would they have held me on other grounds, since the Constitution didn't seem like it meant anything to these two. I had nothing to hide, so I let them look. I had a flight to catch."
http://lewrockwell.com/wenzel/wenzel154.html
No, I haven't forgotten, not at all!
DeleteConsidering that I use my birth name on the internet and that I have quite an outspoken anti-state stance, I would not be at all surprised to find that more than a few agencies have a file on me.
ReplyDeleteFortunately the Feds don't require stolen taxpayer dollars to be enlightened by EPJ. That is terrific commentary by Rothbard. Spoken like a true enemy of the state.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Mack Reynolds sci fi novel was "Trample an Empire Down," where a bunch of unemployed people on the dole start up a purely libertarian (not by name) political party (because they had run out of beer, iirc) which actually worked to change the society. The government got wind of the scheme pretty early on and planted an agent in among the instigators, but when push came to shove the agent sided with them when they were raided, turning his government-issued gun on his now ex-colleagues.
ReplyDeleteIt's cheesy sci fi, of course, like a lot of stuff he put out, but he talked about economics a lot and was always interesting. He was very wrong about economics sometimes and very right about some other things. The dude had an interesting personal history as well.
Anyway, the point is that yes, government agents *may* just learn something by spying on us. Come on, guys, come out into the light!!!