Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition (2001) | Hacker News Reader

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition (2001)

kuro5hin.org

46 pointschris_wot10 comments

Note that the date on this posting was Dec 20, 2001, which would place these events shortly after the anthrax attacks[1] in the wake of 9/11. The government was probably at the height of its paranoia about bio-weapons back then.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attacks

I miss kuro5hin. That was a very, very disparate crowd, and it made for some extremely interesting content and discussions. I still check in every six months or so to see if there's anything of interest.

Everything ended well for the author, which is great. Especially considering the risk he took by answering their questions without his own attorney present.

If anyone ever finds themselves in a similar position, please:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc

Don't Talk To Police.

He mentions: "[2] My father-in-law opined that they were trying to agitate me to the point of losing my cool and going postal." That deserves more than a footnote.

> Once we pulled up into my driveway, the agents recommended I go inside first and take a few minutes to explain what was happening to my family.

This can't possibly be true. Allowing the suspect to enter first and "take a few minutes to explain" is absurd. If you're going to give them a chance to flush evidence, why go through the search in the first place?

Based on knowing author for 15+ years, he is not the one to make stuff like that up.

By that time they were probably mostly convinced he wasn't the terrorist they suspected initially but still wanted to check a bit more. They didn't have a search warrant. (Note they didn't want to look at files or his computer data either). Also there were Secret Service agents not your average run of the mill municipal cops (if that helps).

And besides if they expected to get any information out of the family members, barging in and scaring them might have been counteproductive.

I know the author in person. Remember hearing about it. One of the things that happened also is they also questioned his kids "if daddy was bulding something in the basement".

Good thing it was before the whole War Of Terror was in full swing. Somehow I think he would have faired a lot worse maybe a year later or so.

(Because I have to: those guys don't know anything about how real assassins work. If you want to kill the President, you start by infecting them with a sleeping virus before they become president. Then you only need to activate it once you know your target.)

(If any SS agents happen to see this: I was referring to the President of an imaginary science fiction story that I just read. Go look elsewhere.)

(I hope I don't regret this later.)

No President has ever been killed or was targeted for killing by a "real assassin." I'm not even sure such a thing as "assassin" really exists.

It's always just random extremists and nutjobs.

Hmm, if what you mean by "real assassin" is somebody who does a contract killing, then yes, they do exist.

There's several of them here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assassinations

But yes, most US Presidential assassinations (or attempts) seem to be just nutjobs - nobody's actually said (that we know of), here's $1 million dollars, go kill the President etc.

> But yes, most US Presidential assassinations (or attempts) seem to be just nutjobs - nobody's actually said (that we know of), here's $1 million dollars, go kill the President etc.

You forgot the fact that nutjobs can be easily manipulated. Nobody has to promise them $1 million dollars in order to make them go kill someone.They are not hitmen, they are nutjobs.

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