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>The only issue here imho is the violence of the raid, but that is part of the larger problems surrounding all police actions.

It is also an issue that this man's possessions have been seized without due process or any sort of explanation. He has not been indicted, let alone convicted of a crime, yet the government violently broke into his home and stole all of his computers and electronic possessions, including his private, sensitive medical and financial information. The idea that some secret judge can sign some secret warrant and a gang of armed men can break into your home, assault you, and steal your possessions without any recourse available to you should be incredibly chilling to everyone who believes in due process and a free society in general.

> The idea that some secret judge can sign some secret warrant and a gang of armed men can break into your home, assault you, and steal your possessions without any recourse available to you should be incredibly chilling to everyone who believes in due process and a free society in general.

Maybe you don't live in a democracy, but in a democracy they call it "collecting evidence". The advantage of this method is that, even if they find nothing about your presumed crime, they might find things which might incriminate you for something else, or just plant evidence.

Interesting. One could create blog posts with hypothetical military plans/devices from different locations and test which locations get raided. Sort of military a/b testing

A violence-based binary search.

I was going to respond with the story about how British WW2 intelligence were alarmed to find code words for the D-Day operation showing up as answers in a newspaper crossword puzzle, quite coincidentally.

But then I read that story again and it was not nearly so coincidental as was reported back in the day when I first heard about it. It's actually an interesting lesson in opsec. The compiler was physically close to soldiers preparing for the operation, and his pupils were filling in the grid with names they were hearing on the streets. So not really coincidental at all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Day_Daily_Telegraph_crosswor...

Similarly, Tom Clancy was questioned by the FBI after ‘Hunt for Red October’ was released because of the technical details within the book were eerily close to classified info at the time.

Same with Kubrick and the planes in Dr. Strangelove, I understand.

Funny story about the resulting film: The navy so loved the book that the film was given total military support. Access to submarines, b-roll footage ... they hoped it would be TopGun for the rest of the USN. But then came Crimson Tide (1995). Mutiny on a Russian nuclear submarine? Fine. Mutiny on a US nuclear submarine? No.

Red October is a great movie. Really a "they don't make 'em like they used to" action flick.

I'd argue it's not a true action flick - it's really a spy thriller in disguise. Great flick though! "One ping..." Spy Games is another underrated espionage thriller.

>a spy thriller in disguise

I see what you did there ...

See also: "Das Boot" https://youtu.be/7pzKyeIex2Y

Yes, this one is also great. Every time I watch it, it's like it's somehow aged even better.

And somehow you don't notice it's 7 hours long...

Fact

I always found it odd that the Russians all had British accents.

If you learn British English as a second language, that’s the accent you have. Apparently most of the non-star actors playing Soviets were Eastern European/Russian so it would make sense that they didn’t have American accents.

> If you learn British English as a second language, that’s the accent you have.

That doesnt seem to hold true for the ESL accents almost anywhere in the world, though. Most people's accents sound like their native tongue.

As you progress though your accent becomes more English and less your first language. If they're learning in the American sphere, you don't notice the second accent, if they're not...

I really like running across a person developing an American Southern accent with their English learning.

> If you learn British English as a second language, that’s the accent you have.

Depends what you learn from. If you learn English from the British then sure. As you might in Europe.

But if you learn from Americans, or even from American TV, well, that's what you'll learn.

There's no one "British" accent though, people learning English in a region of England or Scotland do and should pick up the local accent. What works is correct, speaking like a local is what works.

There was a documentary on Discovery Channel some 10 years ago which analysed the link between Hollywood and the US army. If the army liked the script ( heroes, only enemies bad, other propaganda) they will supply military equipment for free. If not, good luck elsewhere.

> Similarly, Tom Clancy was questioned by the FBI after ‘Hunt for Red October’ was released because of the technical details within the book were eerily close to classified info at the time.

I believe if you independently create a design for an atomic bomb, the government takes the position that it's automatically classified and you cannot distribute it, even if you have no connection to the government or already-classified information.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_secret

Clancy performed a mountain of research and a lot of interviews to prepare his work. The details were not "eerily close," they were more or leas accurate. HfRO is not at all similar to a coincidental Bugs Bunny cartoon.

This reminds me Umberto Eco’s book “Foucault's Pendulum”.

Wow i havent' thought of that book for 30 years. cool reference!

Both the cartoon and the novel are satirical, but I think you are probably referring to how accurate the cartoon was to how The Plan was first revealed to the protagonists in the novel.

Three Days of the Condor

     It will happen this way. You may be walking. Maybe the first sunny day of the spring. And a car will slow beside you, and a door will open, and someone you know, maybe even trust, will get out of the car. And he will smile, a becoming smile. But he will leave open the door of the car and offer to give you a lift.