"The F.B.I.’s increasingly pervasive use of the polygraph, or a lie-detector test, has only intensified a culture of intimidation."

"Mr. Patel has wielded the polygraph to keep agents or other employees from discussing a number of topics, including his decision-making or internal moves. Former agents say he is doing so in ways not typically seen in the F.B.I.... Jim Stern, who conducted hundreds of polygraphs while an F.B.I. agent, said... that if someone violated policy, the F.B.I. could polygraph them. But if an agent who legitimately talked to the news media in a previous role had to take one, he said, 'that’s going to be an issue.' 'I never used them to suss out gossip,' he said. At a recent meeting, senior executives were told that the news leaks were increasing in priority — even though they do not involve open cases or the disclosure of classified information. Former officials say senior executives, among others, were being polygraphed at a 'rapid rate.' In May, one senior official was forced out, at least in part because he had not disclosed to Mr. Patel that his wife had taken a knee during demonstrations protesting police violence...."

From "Unease at F.B.I. Intensifies as Patel Ousts Top Officials/Senior executives are being pushed out and the director, Kash Patel, is more freely using polygraph tests to tamp down on news leaks about leadership decisions and behavior" (NYT).

I've made a new tag — "lie detector" — and gone back and applied it to old posts. Interesting to see how many times the topic has come up:

April 2004: "[E]ven if the lie detector was not to be used on [Omarosa], and, indeed, even if lie detector tests are not reliable, if she believed it was to be used on her and believed it was reliable, her running off at the sight of it is some evidence that she had lied in her accusation about the other contestant....."

April 2005:  "Everyone on TV was into analyzing why [the groom-to-be of the Runaway Bride] would take a private lie detector test, but wanted special conditions before he'd take the police test. He wanted it videotaped, and the police refused...."

July 2005: "Some researchers attached sensors to 101 penises and then showed the possessors of these penises either all-male or all-female porn movies. It was kind of a lie detector test, because the men had all professed to being heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual...."

October 2008: Ashley Todd, the woman who claimed a black man had carved the letter "B" on her face.

June 2012: "'$1.1 million-plus Gates grants: "Galvanic" bracelets that measure student engagement.'... [I]sn't this basically a lie detector? And if so, won't students train themselves to fool the authorities?"

April 2013:

All you need is a lipliner pencil and some dark gray eyeshadow.

And you've got a funny, ultra-easy Halloween costume.

"PITTSBURGH MUTILATION INCIDENT A FAKE, according to police. Advantage: Ann Althouse and Michelle Malkin!"

Writes Glenn Reynolds, linking back to his post from last night, where he said that I was "joining the crowd suspecting a hoax."

Isn't it interesting that the women smelled the hoax while the men were such respectful believers? I guess you men have been well schooled in your gender studies classes. Let me quote something I said in the comments to my "Ashley Todd confessed" post:

This idea of believing women -- which got started in an era when too many real rape accusations were rejected -- should not become a leap of faith. Look critically at the evidence. The best version of feminism treats women as human beings, and human beings are capable of lying and doing vicious things. Don't be a chump.

Police say Ashley Todd has confessed to faking the story that an enraged black man carved a "B" for Barack into her face.

She will be charged for filing a fake report.

Police spokeswoman Diane Richard ... said Todd said on Friday she wasn't sure if it was a bumper sticker on her car or a campaign button on her jacket that angered the attacker. Richard said Todd added new details to the attack, saying at one point she lost consciousness.

"She also indicated she was sexually assaulted as well. She indicated that when he had her on the ground he put his hand up her blouse and started fondling her. But other than that, she says she doesn't remember anything else. So we're adding a sexual assault to this as well," Richard said.

Police said they gave a polygraph test to Todd, but they didn't release the results.

I'm glad this got cleared up so quickly, and I hope people learn a few lessons from this. As I said here and here, it always looked fake to me.

AND: Making the fake assailant black and then throwing in the sexual assault makes thing truly vile. 

Looks hoaxy to me.

Come on, people. First, verify. I've seen the photograph, and, quite aside from the backwards "B" -- does the surveillance camera show an upside down attack? -- the scratching looks too even and shallow to seem like the result of a violent attack.

And even if it did happen, what would it mean? There are violent attacks all the time, for all sorts of reasons, and if you want to assert that they say something about anybody other than the attacker, you'll need to prove that too.

Bottom line: This is the stupidest distraction in the whole history of this crazy campaign season.

ADDED: I have a bit more to say here.

UPDATE. Told ya. Fake.