Sometimes breaking the law is justified.

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More than 40 years ago, on the evening of March 8, 1971, a group of burglars carried out an audacious plan. They pried open the door of an FBI office in Pennsylvania and stole files about the bureau's surveillance of anti-war groups and civil rights organizations.

Hundreds of agents tried to identify the culprits, but the crime went unsolved. Until now.

For the first time, a new book reveals that the burglars were peace demonstrators who wanted to start a debate about the FBI's unchecked power to spy on Americans. And it's coming out at a time when the country is weighing the merits of surveillance all over again.

The plotters executed their break-in on a night when millions of people sat glued to their TV sets, watching Muhammad Ali square off against Joe Frazier for the heavyweight championship of the world. That 15-round bout was a brilliant distraction exploited by a group of anti-war activists who set out to burgle a small FBI office outside Philadelphia and expose some of J. Edgar Hoover's secrets.

Bonnie Raines was one of those activists, and she's talking publicly about what she did for the first time in 42 years.

"It seemed that no one else was going to stand up to Hoover's FBI at that time, and we knew what Hoover's FBI was doing in Philadelphia in terms of illegal surveillance and intimidation," Raines says. "And we thought somebody needed to confront Hoover and document what many of us knew was happening."

The Secret Burglary That Exposed J. Edgar Hoover's FBI : NPR

And unlike Mr. Snowden, they managed to avoid having their names publicized. Kudos to them!

Read the piece in the NYT this morning about them. Quite an accomplishment. Meticulously planned and executed. Kudos to them. Edward Snowden can take heart.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Meticulously planned? The FBI had changed the door locks and what was supposed to take a few minutes turned into an hour with a crowbar!

Few lawmakers in D.C. have any interest to rein in the CRIMINAL spying and abuse.

MR Obama has extended their powers beyond any President in history.

J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI files are a joke, compared to what all of the agencies have on each of you today.
Every (electronic communication) credit card purchase, cell call, GPS tracking, text message, e-mail, web page access history is recorded / saved forever (to use against you).

The few lawmakers in D.C. concerned about this issue are ignored or heckled.
The agencies have ignored US court rulings, US Presidents, the US Congress, and the US Senate, doing as they damn well please.

.

Oddly, I haven't heard any outcry from either the Executive Branch or the Legislative Branch to cease and desist in any serious manner.

Never likely to, except on single points where the PREZ gets massively reamed by the Supreme Court of the United States and media.

I expect the Supreme Court of the United States and media sycophants to cooperate when HELL freezes over.


.

People in power rarely willingly choose to devolve power.

Nobody really cares about it.

Most Merkins would rather just continue to eat cheeseburgers, play the lottery and watch television

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Until I read that piece today, I didn't know that the FBI had tried to blackmail MLK into committing suicide.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Pretty amazing that the FBI never solved it.

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

J. Edgar passed away the next year. Hmmm . . .

I knew some Hippies then that figured out the FBI had infiltrated their group so they just did what they always did which was hang out, get stoned and listen to rock music.

Two members of the group were always trying to get them to 'take action against the Man' but never suggested any type of action. Just do it and make it violent.

One of the Hippies asked me what kind of 'action' were they supposed to take when they were always stoned out of their minds? It was pretty clear the FBI guys were very far out of their depth and misunderstood the entire Hippie movement which mostly consisted of moving as little as possible. I would drop by this guys house in the afternoon and the next morning he would be sitting in the same place since he and his friends had just sat there and smoked all night.

It was this type of FBI work that I never understood. Hoover said he was trying to stop criminal activity and he thought the best way to go about it was to encourage criminal activity?

I think all of this died out with Hoover. At least I hope it did.

^^^

Doubt it -- there are stories about "Black Bloc" provacateurs during demonstrations, OWS being infiltrated by NYPD, FBI, whoever, people who encourage violence. It may be less blatant, but I doubt that Hoover's death made everything good.