Properly Subversive/Sherman R. Frederick
Pardon me if, as a civil libertarian, I’m still shocked by the news that the Joe Biden administration raided political rival Donald Trump’s home and confiscated boxes of documents the government said belonged in the National Archive.
Before we get started, let me comment on journalists who say we shouldn’t call it a “raid.” Call it a “search,” they say
I’ve got no tolerance for that kind of sugar-coating. The operation was carried out without prior notification. FBI agents with assault rifles would not allow the ex-president’s representatives to watch how the raid was conducted and what was taken. That’s a “raid,” ladies and gentlemen. And, if the party affiliations were reversed, it would still be a raid in my book.
Subsequently, the Justice Department leaked unsubstantiated allegations that the ex-president had taken super-duper, double-secret probation documents on nuclear weapons.
Seriously? With the intent of doing what with them?
Trump, by the way, says he declassified everything in his possession before he left office. We’ll have to see about that, too, given Trump and his minions left White House in total disarray, kicking and screaming.
What I can tell you is that the government classification system has long been FUBAR. (Google FUBAR if you are unfamiliar with this ever-apropo WWII term.)
When I was in The Navy, my base had a room filled with classified information. It contained stuff that went anywhere from “confidential” to “Top Secret.” For a while, I babysat the room, which meant I was inside this space by myself and responsible for every piece of paper in it. And, trust me, the Navy could put the fear of God into a 19-year-old when it came to misplaced classified information.
So, one day as I carried out my duties, I came across a file that contained multiple editions of the Berkeley Barb, an alternate newspaper of the day that opposed the war in Vietnam. Each one was stamped “Confidential.”
I read them, page by page. No further markings inside to indicate what, exactly, made these publicly available newspapers confidential.
Over coffee one day, I brought it up to the officer in charge of our little classified records section. He was a combat helicopter pilot assigned to search and rescue, which meant he was a little pissed off most of the time because he wanted to be in Vietnam, not rescuing fishermen in Micronesia.
He explained to me, in his mid-20s military bravado wisdom, that there were different classifications within the traditional classifications in this man’s Navy.
The Berkeley Barb was obviously “Confidential – Ridiculous,” he said. “Wait until you read the ‘Top Secret – Mickey Mouse’ stuff.”
I tell this story to maybe put this Trump raid into some kind of perspective. We don’t know what the FBI took from Trump’s home. If you want to indulge yourself in conspiracy, we don’t know whether they planted stuff. We only know what is leaked to us by the decidedly “get-Trump” Biden DOJ and the national press.
All we know for sure is that the current administration conducted an armed raid at the home of an ex-president and political rival.
Unprecedented, ladies and gentlemen, doesn’t begin to describe the times we live in.
WHAT I’M WATCHING
Amazon is streaming “Thirteen Lives.” Catch it if you can. You’ll know the story because it made big world news at the time. But even if you follow the news closely, you will learn something new in this movie. I did, anyway.
It’s the true story of 12 boys on a Thai soccer team and their coach who explore the Tham Luang cave when an unexpected rainstorm traps them in a chamber inside the mountain. A team of world-class divers navigate through miles of dangerous cave networks to discover that finding the boys is only the beginning.
WHAT I’M READING
Not long ago I wrote about the advent of the $20 hamburger in Marin. Now, I’ve run across another price point in the gem of a book called “Moments in Marin History” by Scott Fletcher. In the chapter on the Hiribarren family of 1890-ish Novato, Fletcher recounts that when Marie Hiribarren ran the Novato House, she was known to serve elaborate dinners for her renters that always included a bottle of wine. Cost: 50 cents. Wouldn’t you like to go back in time for that?
ONE MORE THING
– Everyone’s an atheist until they clog the toilet in another person’s house.
– I hate it when people try to act all intelligent and talk about Mozart when they have never even seen one of his paintings.
– I walk around like everything’s OK. But deep down I want to put up my Christmas tree.
Thanks for reading. Support this community newspaper, and until next week, avoid soreheads, laugh a little and always – always! – question authority.
(“Properly Subversive” is commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick for Marinscope Community Newspapers, the “mother ship” of the Novato Advance, San Rafael News-Pointer, Mill Valley Herald, Ross Valley Reporter, Twin City Times and the Sausalito Marin Scope. Mr. Frederick is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@gmail.com.)
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