Althouse: "A Half Century of Failure to Reform the FBI Has Gifted Patel With Alarming Power."

February 22, 2025

"A Half Century of Failure to Reform the FBI Has Gifted Patel With Alarming Power."

A view from The Nation.

40 comments:

Just an old country lawyer said...: I am glad that all the right people are alarmed.; 2/22/25, 10:53 AM
gilbar said...: isn't WEIRD? how these alarming powers are NEVER a problem when it's the Dem's using them?; 2/22/25, 10:54 AM
rehajm said...: To what Nation are they referring?; 2/22/25, 10:55 AM
Hassayamper said...: Gee, ya think?

As I recall, the Old-Left Nation of my youth was never a friend of the FBI. I haven't read it in years so don't know if they are now on board with the fellatio the FBI has been getting from the Democrats since about the time they executed the Branch Davidians in Waco for the crime of owning almost as many guns per capita as the average Texan.

I know I date my hatred of the agency from that event. I hope Kash opens the files on that.

His ascent to the head of that agency is the single thing I like best about the second Trump administration. Best so far, that is. If he smashed the Federal Reserve he will be the greatest since Washington.; 2/22/25, 10:57 AM
n.n said...: That Nation assumes that Republicans will sustain the progress of Democrats. Maybe.; 2/22/25, 11:06 AM
Howard said...: We still haven't seen what he's actually going to do. I'm hoping he focuses on actual bad people violent criminals drug distributors criminal gangs violent terrorists etc. no more looking in the rearview mirror trying to settle Petty scores.; 2/22/25, 11:11 AM
Jupiter said...: The FBI has always been corrupt.; 2/22/25, 11:13 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Read the article. The Nation is most definitely not on the side of the FBI. It just doesn't trust Patel to fix it and sees him stepping into a position of power to continue the abuse. He has the opportunity to prove their suspicions wrong by carrying out the reform that did not happen after the Church Committee revealed so much abuse (detailed in the linked article).; 2/22/25, 11:14 AM
Iman said...: Patel is a multi-tasker, Howard. I see him getting it ALL done.; 2/22/25, 11:16 AM
Wince said...: What the author of The Nation article misses is that letting "progressive movements" speak their minds right now is what actually hurts Trump's political opponents the most.

On the face of it, President Trump has given Patel a brief to prevent the FBI from being “weaponized to persecute political opponents.” But don’t expect “political opponents” to mean progressive movements.; 2/22/25, 11:29 AM
robother said...: Nation acknowledges: "The lesson from Hoover’s era is the classic adage that we must not stand by while they come for people whose views we don’t wholly or even partially share." If and when Patel goes after the FBI agents and informants who set up Trump supporters on Jan. 6, and the higher-ups who leaked false information to the press to undermine Trump's first term, it will be the acid test of how sincere Nation really is.; 2/22/25, 11:42 AM
Kate said...: If I want to know what the Left is thinking, The Nation is one of the less stupid sites.; 2/22/25, 11:53 AM
Lucien said...: I would be most impressed if Patel immediately released the contents of Seth Rich’s laptop without redactions. It’s not classified, and he was killed in a random mugging — right?; 2/22/25, 11:53 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: 2015 -The Nation: FBI has a trouble past, we need to watch them.
2017 - The Nation: Comey firing is a crime. Can the FBI save us from Russian Asset Trump?
2021 - The Nation: Thank God for the FBI. Hope it puts all the J6ers and Pro-life protesters in Jail.
2025: The Nation: Wow, the FBI sure does have a troubled past, maybe we need to watch them.; 2/22/25, 11:55 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: I bought into the FBI was a conservative institution in the 80s, and was shocked when FBI security clearance and background/interview files on hundreds of DC Congressmen/Senators mysteriously appeared in the Clinton white house. The White House had no right to these files, but someone at the FBI gave it to them.

Later, I thought Comey really was a "Honorable man" and a "Life long Republican". My, was I shocked to learn he was an unethical Liberal Democrat.; 2/22/25, 12:06 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: eople need to understand the liberal/left's view on the FBI have ALWAYS been a matter of who/whom. The "House on UnAmerican Activities" was started by liberals in the 30s to go after "Nazis" and "Fascists". Hoover was applauded in the 30s and up through WW II for spying on Isolationists/America first, and looking for "Nazis" both real and imagined.

The far-left didn't like the FBI going after Commies before Pearl harbor, but once the Soviets became our "noble allies" they tamped that down.

It wasn't under the Cold war started in earnest in 1948, that liberals started disliking the FBI. THe Church committee was their first chance in over 25 years to go after the CIA/FBI.; 2/22/25, 12:06 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: There's a strain of leftism that really is in favor of free speech, against censorship, and against the FBI spying on Americans, and using their police powers against dissidents. Glenn Greenwald is an example. So is Jimmy Dore. Not sure about the Nation. And I'm positive the ACLU is just in favor civil liberties when it helps Leftists.; 2/22/25, 12:10 PM
phantommut said...: I don't recall The Nation being worried about this while the FBI spent about a seventh of its manhours hounding J6 "insurrectionists."; 2/22/25, 12:11 PM
Hassayamper said...: no more looking in the rearview mirror trying to settle Petty scores.

Howard, the CS gas that the FBI pumped into the Waco compound is absolutely contraindicated for use where children are present, even in the open air, because it constricts their narrower airways so drastically. All of the infants and children suffered terrible torture and were probably already asphyxiated before the fire ever broke out. You may call that petty but I sure as hell don't. I still want justice for those babies and little kids.

CS is also contraindicated in enclosed spaces because of the risk it poses to adults who cannot escape it by running away, not to mention its flammability.

The vicious murderers of the FBI knew all this and did it anyway. There is also evidence that they set the fire deliberately to hide their crimes, and shot anyone trying to escape, and committed perjury, subornation of perjury, forgery, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and destruction of official records in order to cover up what they had done. All involved should have faced a firing squad, starting with Janet Reno and Hillary Clinton.

If you recall, the gun control movement was at its zenith at that time. The entire disgusting affair was due to Janet Reno and Hillary Clinton's desire to collect a scalp from "dangerous gun nuts" and push for a complete ban on as many kinds of firearms as they could get. But along with the Ruby Ridge fiasco, they ensured that a generation of law-abiding conservatives, who used to be solidly for law and order, grew to despise and mistrust Federal law enforcement and vigorously organized to overthrow any politician who dared to try to disarm us. It was perhaps the biggest own-goal in American politics until the Trump lawfare started.; 2/22/25, 12:18 PM
Drago said...: robother: "If and when Patel goes after the FBI agents and informants who set up Trump supporters on Jan. 6, and the higher-ups who leaked false information to the press to undermine Trump's first term, it will be the acid test of how sincere Nation really is."

There is no acid test coming. The Nation, like Bernie Sanders, our own Robert Cook, etc, all supposedly on the left and and outside looking in will be shown to be your standard, everyday, run of the mill New Soviet Democratical NPC foot soldier.

They will talk a good game but will fall in line just as they are told to do.; 2/22/25, 12:35 PM
Clyde said...: Only criminals are alarmed.; 2/22/25, 12:41 PM
JAORE said...: Why are the left cries of outrage so predictable. The (bastard of the hour) COULD do this, MAY do that, is THINKING this third thing. Almost always action items already done, and ignored, by media and leftie pols.
In this case J. Edgar Hoover did awful things. Thus Patel will do awful things....
"Innocent until proven guilty" is a phrase unknown to the hard left.; 2/22/25, 12:46 PM
GRW3 said...: I suppose I'm like a lot of people, my impression of the FBI was formed from that Jimmy Stewart movie and calm competence of Efrem Zimbalist, Jr, in the TV show, both eponymously named, FBI. Sad to learn that the FBI of the X-Files is closer to the truth.; 2/22/25, 12:47 PM
MOfarmer said...: The Nation? Drago knows what I think about that!; 2/22/25, 12:54 PM
Tim said...: The good news is that frrom all appearances, Patel intends to unleash the raw power of the FBI........onto the FBI.; 2/22/25, 1:01 PM
Dogma and Pony Show said...: The left is still all-in on the theory that a bureaucracy like the FBI constitutes its own independent authority that's immune from presidential reform or governance.; 2/22/25, 1:11 PM
Drago said...: MOfarmer: "The Nation? Drago knows what I think about that!"

Indeed! Oy vey!; 2/22/25, 2:03 PM
Tina Trent said...: I read the Nation article. A lot of it, like the Church Committee itself, is dishonest. In the Seventies, when radicals were setting off up to 2,000 bombs a year, the Nation article implies that none of this happened by claiming that fewer than ten prosecutions came from FBI infiltration of the domestic terrorist groups setting off those bombs. The real reason there weren't more prosecutions was because the Church Committee strangled the good work the FBI was doing and prevented those prosecutions. Thousands of the targets of those bombs are alive today because a few brave men infiltrated domestic terrorist groups for the FBI -- and because a lot of these terrorists were crappy bombmakers -- but many police and civilians were still maimed and killed, and their killers, like Bernardine Dohrn, got away with murder. Tim here says it best -- Patel will now use the strategies of the currently rogue FBI against itself.; 2/22/25, 2:11 PM
MaxedOutMama said...: But no one was alarmed before "Kash 'n Carry 'Em Out" Patel took the seat?

I find it a bit weird that the campaign to combat anti-Semitism is considered frightening! This is close to the top in the article:
"On the face of it, President Trump has given Patel a brief to prevent the FBI from being “weaponized to persecute political opponents.” But don’t expect “political opponents” to mean progressive movements. Trump has already made clear his intent to clamp down on Palestine solidarity action with an executive order giving every department and agency of the federal government 60 days to “identify all civil and criminal authorities or actions…that might be used to curb or combat anti-Semitism.”

Hoover would have relished the task, judging by what Senator Frank Church and his committee discovered when they lifted the lid on the FBI activities in 1975. ..."

Are they really warning that combatting anti-Semitism is persecution of the left? Because if so, maybe we should all have been running around yelling "Literally Hitler" and pointing at the Dems?

Just how out of touch can Progressives be? After 16 months of torchlight parades, vandalized Jewish stores in cities, Jews beaten on the streets outside the synagogue, Jews blocked from areas on college campuses, highly disturbing video of Jewish students hiding in rooms with mobs screaming and banging on doors and windows - I'm thinking it's time someone gave a crap. I really am. This is why I voted for Trump. I thought he'd give a crap.

Also, to equate protection from anti-Semitism with targeting "Palestine solidarity action" seems borderline defamatory. Might be accurate, but still probably something one shouldn't write.

This edition of "Literally Hitler" seems to be slightly different than the last. Humming along with "One of these things, is not like the others, one of these things, doesn't belong..."

Is Pepe really ... Kermit?; 2/22/25, 2:15 PM
walter said...: " no more looking in the rearview mirror trying to settle Petty scores. " Convenient; 2/22/25, 2:37 PM
Limited blogger said...: How come all the rules change when Trump is in charge?; 2/22/25, 3:17 PM
Peachypeachy said...: The Nation(D) is alarmed?
Delighted.; 2/22/25, 3:29 PM
Peachypeachy said...: The collective left Never accept that any of their guys are bad.; 2/22/25, 3:30 PM
n.n said...: Hoisted by their own petard? Yes. By Patel? Time will tell. But, please, no minority reports.; 2/22/25, 3:46 PM
Jim at said...: Oh, so NOW it's alarming power.
Good. Payback's a bitch.; 2/22/25, 6:00 PM
Lilly, a dog said...: "Read the article," says Althouse.

That's not something that can happen. You made this place a bastion of anti-government cranks and conspiracy nuts. Don't lament that you've found yourself neck deep in their detritus.; 2/22/25, 7:02 PM
MJ said...: Left Wingers Weaponize Government Against Conservatives: Left Wingers Hardest Hit.; 2/22/25, 8:18 PM
boatbuilder said...: "It's good to be King..."

--Petty*

* (capitalized); 2/22/25, 8:41 PM
boatbuilder said...: "Read the article"

Nope. Too late for The Nation. They made their bed.
Maybe change the headline to reflect something approaching honesty. But how much bullshit do you think we should wade through before we realize it's the same old bullshit?; 2/22/25, 8:45 PM
Rocco said...: GRW3 said...
“I suppose I'm like a lot of people, my impression of the FBI was formed from that Jimmy Stewart movie and calm competence of Efrem Zimbalist, Jr, in the TV show, both eponymously named, FBI.”

Nah. Seeley Booth. And to a lesser degree James Aubrey.; 2/22/25, 9:32 PM