Secret Society?

This is an unfolding story so it is just the beginning and we do not know where it will go next. We have often heard of references to the "deep state," which has usually meant for us the existence of the "permanent" officials of state agencies that continue in place while elected politicians of both parties come and go. The existence of a "deep state" is troubling and it erodes the existence of trust between the public and its elected officials. However, we now have reported the existence of a memo exchanged between two FBI officials that makes reference to a "secret society," (to which they presumably belong) and which one FBI agent thinks should meet to discuss some new item of concern. This is deeply troubling, and makes the "deep state" scenario look like "business as usual," while a "secret society" is a threat to the very meaning of democracy.

Stay tuned. This is an unfolding story. Track it on your own through whatever media sources you use on a regular basis.

Update 1/25/18: Latest news report on the "secret society" email: the two FBI officials who made mention of the "secret society" were known to have emailed each other with some frequency. It now appears that these messages between the two FBI officials over a five-month period cannot be found. This only serves to keep the spotlight on the question of the meaning of a "secret society." This is a very partisan issue, so it is wise to wait and look at all documents before drawing any conclusions.

Update 1/26/18: Our local newspaper reported today that the missing emails between two FBI officials have been found. We can now find out if the "secret society" statement was an in-house joke or whether it has legs.

Update 5/5/18: This is a no-news update. Will we ever learn anything more about the alleged "secret society." I don't think so.

Update 2/9/18: We said this was an unfolding story, but we didn't know it would be this slow. We think that the release of the memo by the Republicans has made all the power centers nervous because they are all implicated by their actions or inactions. Thus, the FBI, DOJ, Big Media, Democrats, and Republicans are moving slowly because they lack full control over the story. Thus, the discussion of "secret society" has disappeared, or moved into a category of  an inside "joke" that the two parties enjoyed, but which is reported to be fiction. So all we can do is to stay tuned, but remember that inaction going forward may also be revealing.

Update 6/15/18: The report on the FBI and DOJ that was released today suggests the existence of a lot of activity inside these two agencies to protect their interests, which may be as low-level as protecting your job and pension, or as high level as advancing the interests of one political faction or party over the interests of an opposing party or faction. But we must still be careful as to whether what was revealed in the FBI/DOJ report are the actions of a "ruling class" or the actions of a "political and economic elite." The "ruling class" argument is supported by apparent FBI/DOJ actions to support a past president and undercut an elected president. I am still inclined to lean toward the "elite" conclusion because their actions sometimes seem very petty and smell of inter-group politics. The one big loser identified in today's FBI report is one of the FBI agents (Peter S.) who appears to be a first-class creep capable of a variety of actions to advance or protect very petty political interests. He is the kind of person who should never serve in any government position.

Personal Consumption and Climate Change

The February 18, 2018 issue of In These Times has an article entitled "Ban Yachts, Not Burgers" that examines the role of personal consumption styles and the climate crisis. For me, the significance of the article is that it brings the views of the "right" and the "left" together when they identify the role of the consumption lifestyle of the wealthy, in addition to multinational corporations, as responsible for carbon emissions. Put in on your reading list. 

We pay--but how much?

Robert is not opposed to the Mueller investigation of Russian interference in the US election. But I would like to know how much is being spent on the salaries of the lead investigator and his staff of 10-15-20 lawyers and their underlings. When I Google Mueller's salary, all I get is articles about how much income he has lost from not working with his corporate law firm and serving corporate clients. His decision to serve his country is admirable, but why can't I find out how much he and his staff are being paid to serve their country?

If some of you know the answer to my question please tell me. Or if you know how I should look for the answer, please tell me. Is it too much to ask for a taxpayer to know how his/her taxes are being spent? We know how much the President earns, and we know about the salaries and staff budgets of members of Congress. Why is the Mueller information so secret?

4/12/18 Update: There have been several short news items on the dollar cost of this investigation. The reports say about $5-7 million, but with little detail about the number of people on this payroll, and about who is paid what.

5/1818 Update: The Mueller-led investigation of Russian interference in the US election has reached the one-year point. I have still not seen a single report on the number of persons on the payroll and how much each is being paid.

It just occurred to me why we don't have any info on how much the Mueller team is getting paid for their investigative work. If the reporter asks them how much they are getting paid, the same question might be turned back on the reporter, and maybe the editor, and maybe the publisher. I am really a fool for having missed the obvious--they are all in the same big money game-- they are the money elites and everything that they do is designed to maintain or enhance their money flow, whether they are "lowly" reporters or part of an elite investigative team. They are all economic elites attacking other economic elites, whether they are Russian oligarchs or Donald Trump. The game that economic elites play is to attack other economic elites because it takes attention away from them as being part of the same system. That is why the prominent big money types like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet take the lead in heading a public relations effort to mobilize the rich to sign on to a plan that "gives away" their money to public projects before the "people with the pitchforks" (that is what they were called by Pat Buchanan when he was a candidate for president) come to take their money without asking.