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MuckRock FOIA Request Releases Christopher Hitchens' FBI Files
v3rgEz writes: Outspoken atheist firebrand Christopher Hitchens was never one for understatement, and apparently the FBI took notice. A Freedom of Information request from investigative news site MuckRock has resulted in the release of his 19-page FBI file, including details such as how his interest in socialism in college sparked heightened monitoring when given a scholarship to come to the United States. Some of the pages had actually been previously released, but were then removed from the FBI's own website a few years ago. Despite the monitoring, Hitchens files have nothing on the hundreds of pages the FBI had on Richard Feynman.
Economic Disinformation Keeps Financial Markets Up
Paul Craig Roberts
May 8. Today’s payroll jobs report is more of the same. The Bureau of Labor Statistics claims that 223,000 new jobs were created in April. Let’s accept the claim and see where the jobs are.
Specialty trade contractors are credited with 41,000 jobs equally split between residential and nonresidential. I believe these are home and building repairs and remodeling.
The rest of the jobs, 182,000, are in domestic services.
Despite store closings and weak retail sales, 12,000 people were hired in retail trade.
Despite negative first quarter GDP growth, 62,000 people were hired in professional and business services, 67% of which are in administrative and waste services.
Health care and social assistance accounted for 55,600 jobs of which ambulatory health care services, hospitals, and social assistance accounted for 85% of the jobs.
Waitresses and bartenders account for 26,000 jobs, and government employed 10,000 new workers.
There are no jobs in manufacturing.
Mining, timber, oil and gas extraction lost jobs.
Temporary help services (16,100 jobs) offered 3.7 times more jobs than law, accounting architecture, and engineering combined (4,500 jobs).
As I have pointed out for a number of years, according to the payroll jobs reports, the complexion of the US labor force is that of a Third World country. Most of the jobs created are lowly paid domestic services.
The well paying high productivity, high value-added jobs have been offshored and given to foreigners who work for less. This fact, more than the reduction in marginal income tax rates, is the reason for the rising inequality in the distribution of income and wealth.
Offshoring middle class jobs raises corporate profits and, thereby, the incomes of corporate owners (shareholders) and executives. But it reduces the incomes of the majority of the population who are forced into either lowly paid and part time jobs or unemployment.
The extraordinary decline in the labor force participation rate indicates shrinking opportunities for the American labor force. No economist should ever have accepted the claim that the economy was in recovery while participation in the labor force was declining.
The officially documented decline in the labor force participation rate casts additional doubt on the claimed increases in payroll jobs. If jobs are growing, the labor force participation rate should not be declining.
Having looked at the actual details of the payroll jobs report, which are seldom if ever reported in the financial media, let’s look at what else goes unreported in the media.
The government’s economic statistical agencies are under pressure not to roil the financial markets. Consequently, initial reports, which are always the headline reports, are as close as possible to the “consensus forecast” prepared by economists in the financial sector, whose jobs are to maintain a good atmosphere for financial instruments.
This practice results in optimistic advanced estimates and first estimates. The real reporting comes later in revisions. For example, today the headline was 223,000 new jobs, recovery on track, stock market up. What was not reported by the media is that the prior month’s (March) payroll jobs growth was cut to 85,000 jobs, substantially below population growth.
The same thing happens with the reporting of GDP growth. The first quarter GDP advanced estimate was kept in positive territory with a 0.2%–two-tenths of one percent–growth. When the revisions arrive, which we already know will be negative GDP growth due to the trade figure, they will not receive the same attention.
There are many additional problems with the economic reporting. I have written about a number of them in past reports. Here I will provide one more example. According to the payroll jobs report oil and gas extraction lost 3,300 jobs in April. This low num
"Despite the monitoring, Hitchens files have nothing on the hundreds of pages the FBI had on Richard Feynman."
No shit. I'd expect a world class physicist who was involved in the top-secret development of the nuclear bomb would attract a bit more scrutiny than a vocal anti-religious advocate and author. One of these things is not like the other things...
=Smidge=
I sent an FOIA request on myself to the NSA for fun/curiosity. (Technically, it's "Privacy Act" request when you're doing yourself.) It's pretty easy.
It took them three pages to tell me, "Go fuck yourself." Every line was peppered with "this doesn't acknowledge the existence, or lack of existence of any records relating to you."
Their whole reason for denying my request of "any applicable records" was: because the NSA program in the news is classified, any records caught by the program are also classified. Except that any records not found by a classified method wouldn't be classified by that logic (Google, anyone?). So in otherwords, it was like I said, it was more of a "Fuck you, peasant" letter.
Heathens burn in hell. On good days. On most days they are eaten.
Because nothing bad ever happened in Atheistic Socialist Countries .... noooo
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
I'd imagine everyone who worked on the Manhattan project has a hefty FBI file.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
Outspoken atheist firebrand ...
If Hitchens posted on Slashdot or Reddit under some nickname, he'd be labeled or modded a "Troll". Because the label "Troll" is the rhetorical weapon of stupid people who don't like what you say. It's the equivalent of calling someone an asshole. Anyway, my point is these posting sites have turned to shit - it's an echo chamber of groupthink. And I there a special place in Hell for CmdrTaco for inventing the use of that term.
With regards to J Edgar Hoover, it was probably as a result of his extreme paranoia that he was overwhelmed and could not provide direction, even when people like Feynman provided him with clear and concise information pertaining to what he wanted. Feynman's behavior later is of course a direct and predictable consequence. Central control doesn't work very well.
While you may find it upsetting that the FBI had a file on an author, understand a few things:
1) the original impetus for the report appears to be a 'tip' from an informant
2) a number of the documents in the file have to do with a request for a press pass into the White House
3) the resounding conclusion of the 19 pages is that there is nothing to be concerned about
I would hope that reporters that want to work inside the White House would have SOME investigation into their background performed before issuing credentials, and at 19 pages, this was a very minimal investigation.
Ken