7 Comments
тна Return to thread

I thought I had faith in, and could trust the FBI. What was I smoking?

Expand full comment

You couldn't do that 50 years ago, and you can't do it now, Karen. Sorry about that.

Expand full comment

'To learn more about J. Edgar Hoover, and particularly his notable lack of interest in prosecuting the mafia and other organized crime syndicates тАФ even as their power grew in American cities and they became intertwined with local governments, police, labor unions and other institutions тАФ until the Apalachin meeting in the late 1950s forced his hand, IтАЩve picked up тАЬG-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century,тАЭ by Beverly Gage. A friend recommended it to me as тАЬthe biography of J. Edgar Hoover but also the biography of the first 70 years of 20th-century America.тАЭ

'The essence of this kind of violent politics is that it happens at the local level, so IтАЩve also been reading about specific cities, and how their particular flavors of machine politics have sometimes opened up space for crime and corruption to flourish, encouraged state violence, or both.' (NYTimes,The Interpreter, AmandaTaug, 3/3/23) Sorry that I do not have gifting opportunity.

Expand full comment

it's said to be a very good book and has been universally well-reviewed (and then some!). but I can't bear the prospect of having to read (or listen to the audiobook of) anything THAT long about THAT guy.

Expand full comment

you're being a little hard on yourself. the FBI is still probably the premier law enforcement agency around. but it's always good to be very skeptical about law enforcement agencies in general.

the deal is that a lot of the worst human prospects for working in a place like the FBI are going to be the most eager ones to join it.

and I need to keep repeating (to everyone INCLUDING myself) that Wray was a Federalist Society pick.

Expand full comment

I know, why hasnтАЩt Biden replaced him?

Expand full comment

Yes, Karen, some of us have been asking that question for more than a year!

Expand full comment