Update: This afternoon, I watched the live video webcast of the memorial service for my former swimming coach and friend, Mike McWilliams, who was a lifelong non-conformist, socialist, and Agnostic. Probably a big part of why I turned out to be all of those too. It was not surprising, but hilarious, that he ended up having a rather large FBI file compiled on him, beginning in the 1950s, that was requested by and received by a lawyer friend of the deceased. This lawyer shared some parts of the file during the service, and it was both very funny and chilling, that Big Brother is closely watching even harmless non-conformists like him, me, and probably most of you on Agnostic, merely because we frequently ? Authority and refuse to just move along like the rest of the sheeple and fall in line. The lawyer is an old friend of mine and a former roommate and he had to write the DOJ to get the FBI to release Mike's file. I can only imagine what they have on me in DC, lol, but I really don't care enough to want to read it. Maybe it will happen again for me after I die and someone works to get it. I assume the lawyer obtained it quite a while ago for Mike.
Sorry to hear about your friend. As for files on any of us I'm sure they have plenty. When I got my passport in 2003 it went through in record time. I've had people tell me that even if I was in the Army for 3 years active it does not mean I can have access to a military base. MP's look at my ID, get on their devices or radio and I'm let in almost immediately.
I have never worried about Big Brother. I know exactly what flags they might pull up on me based upon my lifetime of interests and activities, and there are a few. All I have to say is that whomever gets stuck monitoring me will need a big supply of caffeine to keep from nodding off. If they ever come to take me to the jail for subversives, they can find me sitting in my porch glider enjoying my wine and weed. I'm not worth the bother it would take to re-home my cats. The state of the nation is safe, where I'm concerned.
Believe it or not, the guy at the memorial service read an excerpt from the FBI file that said the deceased "was a member of several subversive organizations, including the Democratic Party".. Sounds like McCarthyism and Hoover at their finest.
And Deb, cruel fuckers that they are, if they took you to jail for being subversive, they would just have the cats put down. Because you and my coach Mike, were both cat lovers, which in my experience, is usually a sign of being good folks.