# Did the US secret police fail in its duty of maintaining regime stability during the 2016 election? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 21, 2018, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548 "2018-05-21T10:31:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/141 "2018-05-21T21:48:17Z")
I have read 3 pages of this thread and no one has explained how George Soros fits into all of this! Anyway, I guess when “my beloved state” fails, I can say I was warned about… the secret police? Democrats? Is there something we can do to prevent disaster, or are we just supposed to watch it all burn as the Deep State or whatever loses its grip on “regime stability”? We’re all doomed without that? Too late to change my dastardly statist ways? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/142 "2018-05-21T22:09:01Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Never mentioned a conspiracy or secret organizations. I used a very funny hyperbolic term for the FBI and CIA. You mentioned the “secret police” six times in the OP. Unless you’re talking about one really hard-working individual, I’m assuming those police are an organization. If your OP was intended as hyperbole, it’s very consistent with other things you’ve posted over the years. You should probably avoid attempts at self-parody because it’s hard for the rest of us to distinguish it from the crazy things you’re saying in all seriousness. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/143 "2018-05-21T22:16:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You mentioned the “secret police” six times in the OP. Unless you’re talking about one really hard-working individual, I’m assuming those police are an organization. > > If your OP was intended as hyperbole, it’s very consistent with other things you’ve posted over the years. You should probably avoid attempts at self-parody because it’s hard for the rest of us to distinguish it from the crazy things you’re saying in all seriousness. I was talking about the heads of the organizations, and named a few by name. No conspiracy claims. You are growing senile along with the other fading boomers. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/144 "2018-05-21T22:27:12Z")
I guess I wasn’t aware that the portfolio of the director of the CIA included managing democracy domestically. Don’t they have a lot of other work on their plate as well? Look, there really are people who feel it is their for-real job to manage the electorate. But these people tend to work in the White House and Capital Hill or over at Fox News rather than at Langley. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/145 "2018-05-21T22:42:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You mentioned the “secret police” six times in the OP. He said it was very funny. Surely you’ve heard of the comic sextuple! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/146 "2018-05-21T22:42:51Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > We didn’t fail. We were holed up in Aspen working on our next studio album which will be released in 4Q 2018. > > Bubbadog > Lead Vocals / Rhythm Guitar > > - The Secret Police - Please let this be real. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/147 "2018-05-21T23:18:46Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Much clutching of pearls over the use of the term “secret police”. Of course I never suggested some type of shadowy organization that runs anything, much less the world. I named the names of the stooges who haphazardly, perhaps over one too many cocktails, attempted to take Trump out of the running. Brennan is especially pathetic now, consigned to blabbering drunkenly on social media. Compare these guys to the war-hardened veterans who ran Operation Mockingbird for example. Take J. Edgar Hoover who would have had Trump shitting himself at first mention of his candidacy. Indeed, much is made over how ridiculous Trump is. And he is. More telling of the condition of the state is how ridiculous they all are. The so-called elder statesman is John Mccain, of “Bomb Iran” fame. Some real lightweights in politics today. Has capitalism outcompeted the government for the best and brightest, or is this just the Boomer generation in its death throes? > > Just face it. Your beloved state is in big trouble. “I used a common term with my own, made-up definition, gave no indication that I was using my personal definition of the term, _plus_ the plain text interpretation of my post displays precisely the type of tin-foil-hat nuttery that is my stock-in-trade in literally every post I make, _and you fools fell for it!_” Yeah, you sure showed us, Will. Well played. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/148 "2018-05-21T23:26:39Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > I was talking about the heads of the organizations, and named a few by name. No conspiracy claims. You are growing senile along with the other fading boomers. You should probably avoid bringing up the subject of mental failings in your threads. It’s not a comparison you’ll come off well in. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/149 "2018-05-22T00:08:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You should probably avoid bringing up the subject of mental failings in your threads. It’s not a comparison you’ll come off well in. Yeah, right now, if a Brain Specialist came in with his clipboard and said “Mr. Diggledy, you’re going senile.” I’d reply “Whew, that’s better than what I just witnessed online.” I would then show him this thread, he’d spit-take his scotch all over me, then he’d say “Get this Will guy in here… now! This is a paper and a PhD and a coffee-table book and a Dr. Phil guest spot at LEAST!” ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/150 "2018-05-22T00:37:07Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If your OP was intended as hyperbole, it’s very consistent with other things you’ve posted over the years. You should probably avoid attempts at self-parody because it’s hard for the rest of us to distinguish it from the crazy things you’re saying in all seriousness. This times a hundred. The way he ignores direct questions makes me think he’s afraid to express his true views, if any. He knows his ideology is built like a house of cards. For example, consider the first sentence in his reply to me: > [@WillFarnaby](#): > > That was a throwaway line. You should be familiar with the sort. > > Rothbard never supported police torturing suspects. My guess is you read some think piece with 6 degrees of separation between the words of Rothbard and the clickbait Salon article. His beloved dog-eat-dog Ayn Randism “kneecapped” the secret deep state he was hoping would save us from Trump? What does all this mean anyway? Oh! — _ **It was just a colorful “throwaway line.”** _ :eek: I got the following from [the Raving Loons ‘R’ Us website](https://mises.org/library/right-self-defense) itself. I had to hold my nose, but AFAICT **Will** is incapable of acquiring knowledge from any other source. > [@Murray Rothbard](#): > > Suppose, for example, that police beat and torture a suspected murderer to find information (not to wring a confession, since obviously a coerced confession could never be considered valid). If the suspect turns out to be guilty, then the police should be exonerated, for then they have only ladled out to the murderer a parcel of what he deserves in return; his rights had already been forfeited by more than that extent. But if the suspect is not convicted, then that means that the police have beaten and tortured an innocent man, and that they in turn must be put into the dock for criminal assault. So, yes, Rothbard does support torture by police. And in his worldview the police, secret or otherwise, are expected to be much more competent than any real-world secret police, since they have to guess guilt correctly first. BTW, what happens if police torture to get a confession and then claim the confession was uncoerced? I suppose it’s OK to then torture that policeman to get him to confess to torture? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/151 "2018-05-22T02:46:28Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I have read 3 pages of this thread and no one has explained how George Soros fits into all of this! > > Anyway, I guess when “my beloved state” fails, I can say I was warned about… the secret police? Democrats? Is there something we can do to prevent disaster, or are we just supposed to watch it all burn as the Deep State or whatever loses its grip on “regime stability”? We’re all doomed without that? Too late to change my dastardly statist ways? Oh, George Soros is allegedly financing the campaign of the insurgent candidate for Sacramento County DA. The incumbent DA’s ads only say “out of state billionaire”, but they show a picture of Soros and have his name on the screen. She claims she’s non-participant, but she’s a rightwing ideologue. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/152 "2018-05-22T03:20:34Z")
This thread has left me bewildered, and I don’t bewilder easily. Let’s have a pretty poem. It rests me to be among beautiful women. Why should one always lie about such matters? I repeat: It relaxes me to converse with beautiful women Even though we talk nothing but nonsense, The purring of the invisible antennae Is both stimulating and delightful. — Ezra Pound, Top Secret Public Domain Fascist Poet ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/153 "2018-05-22T03:44:21Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > This thread has left me bewildered, and I don’t bewilder easily. Let’s have a pretty poem. > > It rests me to be among beautiful women. > Why should one always lie about such matters? > I repeat: > It relaxes me to converse with beautiful women > Even though we talk nothing but nonsense, > > The purring of the invisible antennae > Is both stimulating and delightful. > > — Ezra Pound, Top Secret Public Domain Fascist Poet The thought of what America would be like if the classics had a wide circulation . . . troubles my sleep! 😉 CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/154 "2018-05-22T04:23:51Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Ezra Pound, Top Secret Public Domain Fascist Poet C’mon, if he was so top secret why did they put him on public display after the war? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/155 "2018-05-22T04:23:57Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Can you get me a backstage pass to meet the Dream Police? They live inside of my head ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/156 "2018-05-22T05:07:16Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Hmm, gonna have to try that sometime. Sounds awesome. > > Y’really think he deserves Ginsberg? Are you suggesting that some of the delicious recipes people post are no good? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/157 "2018-05-22T07:15:57Z")
I’ve seen things. I’ve seen troopships burning off the shoulders of Orion I heard Orion scream “Quit burning off my shoulders, you fucking troopships!”… ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/158 "2018-05-22T07:34:54Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Will, you’re asking why the massive secret conspiracy you believe in hasn’t intervened in Trump’s presidency. And everyone else is pointing out the obvious; it’s because that massive secret conspiracy only exists in your imagination. There are no secret organizations ruling the world. If an organization has the kind of power you imagine, it no longer has any reason to stay secret. An organization that rules the world could do so openly. What I don’t get about these whacked-out nut-job conspiracy theorists is why they are so concerned with who’s president? According to most of those nuts, it doesn’t matter since it’s always a big secret group that’s _really_ running the world. And Farnaby, you’re a moron. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/159 "2018-05-22T07:51:03Z")
Anybody else read the OP and felt a rabbit hole suddenly opening like a giant sinkhole right in front of their eyes ? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/160 "2018-05-22T07:53:43Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > We didn’t fail. We were holed up in Aspen working on our next studio album which will be released in 4Q 2018. > > Bubbadog > Lead Vocals / Rhythm Guitar > > - The Secret Police - Every breath you take Every move you make Every bond you break Every step you take Is being stored on our servers and datamined by our predictive algorythms. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548.md?page=9)