Jon Stewart actually being funny

I'd gotten tired of him-- it seemed as though he was overacting and just repeating himself. Perhaps the problem is that I don't agree with his politics, or perhaps it's that, until very recently, the world wasn't supplying him with good enough material....

Government by blackmail-- don't talk to the FBI!

The FBI has an absolute policy of *not* recording interviews with normal people. Instead, they have one agent interviewing and another typing a "transcript".

This is not an amusing example of failing to update technology. This is a trap. It is absolutely illegal to make a false statement to any federal employee. And not just illegal in a minor sort of way-- felony and up to five years imprisonment illegal.

The transcript, which is apt to be slanted for the FBI's convenience, is what you can be held to by a grand jury.

The purpose is to turn anyone into an informant.

So far, there is a way out if you can afford a lawyer. If you insist on being interviewed in a lawyer's office, and the lawyer insists on recording, the FBI will go away. The video doesn't cover what happens if *you* try to insist on recording the interview, but the history of the public recording police doesn't make me feel optimistic.

This video should be viewed as an addendum to the classic Don't Talk to the Police, which is 48 minutes and well worth your time.

If anyone reading this knows of a country where the justice system can be relied on to not pull this sort of thing, please let me know.