Back on line after fight with Google. Now if I could just get my phone to work. Chaffetz hearings on FOIA a sick joke.

Sorry for the lack of content and comment releases these past couple of days but Google insisted they didn't recognize me and I would have to change my password. I resisted, but they finally beat me. Am currently in Hays KS, headed for Nashville and my co-driver's car. after that I'll be back home. Maybe late tonight? More likely tomorrow morning. Hays seems to be in a black hole as far as my phone is concerned but presumably I'll be back on the grid when I get to KC this morning (hope springs eternal).

The itinerary changed for some very good reasons, which I cannot explain right now, but this has been a hugely successful trip. One of the folks i stopped to visit with in SLC was Jesse Trentadue and he directed my attention to some documents that are part of the public record that are just stunning. In fact, I have to say that the FBI is now on record -- sworn under oath -- that their FOIA system is designed to be unresponsive. The Chafetz hearings on the 3rd were a dog-and-pony show, headlined by Melanie Ann Pustay, Director of the Office of Information Policy, who started out bragging out about Obama's 19 March 2009 directive during what they called at the time "Sunshine Week." The only "sunshine" apparent in the hearings to me was that being shined as a distraction in Chaffetz' eyes by Pustay.

The hearing focused on FOIA training but the documents and testimony developed by Jesse's lawsuit indicate that the FBI will give important assignments to absolutely untrained personnel as PART OF THE COVER-UP. Being unfamiliar with the multiple layers of security behind which the FBI hides documents, the designated newbies will check one database and find nothing, thereby answering the request with "no documents found." There was nothing in the hearing about an agency deliberately not finding documents, or how they accomplish that. The testimony was exclusively about delay in responding and the claim of exemptions. Certainly delays and unfounded claims of exemptions are irritating and costly if you have to sue to get them. But that is not insurmountable if the FBI states they have documents and a Court reviews and rules upon the Bureau’s claim of an exemption. In other words, a judge will decide whether or not you get the documents.

What is insurmountable is when the FBI says there are no "responsive documents." When that happens, the US Attorney asks for summary judgment, the judge bangs the gavel and the case is dismissed. The only way to pry that door open is if you already have documents in your hand from other sources -- hardly a usual occurrence. The documents and testimony I am reading now are convincing that the FBI has in place a system designed NOT to find sensitive/embarrassing documents. And Chaffetz didn't come close to getting at that. It is a story that I will be breaking upon my return to Birmingham. In its own way, it is every bit as damaging to the legitimacy and reputation of the FBI and DOJ as Fast and Furious.

Another story that we will be following up is the BLM's reign of terror over the past decades in Josephine County OR with their squads of serial arsonists -- which have killed innocent people living on mining claims in the past. The federal government owns 71% of Josephine County and they treat it like a feudal barony. Chaffetz' committee could profitably spend weeks in hearings getting to the bottom of that scandal. I intend to try to motivate them to do so. Stay tuned, dear readers, to some breaking stories headlined "Sipsey Street Exclusive" in the near future.

This has been the longest and more tiring road trip I've ever done. I will not be able to duplicate it again for a while, yet I must get out to Yakima for the background-check-free Arms Expo on 20-21 June. After that, it is my intention to do a raid into New York and CT in late summer, breaking laws and daring them to do anything about it. I will be frank. The budget is bare. This trip, because of unexpected contingencies, has been far more expensive than I thought and that's even after the generosity of folks along the way. It is obvious too that I need to see to my communications and come up with another reliable pad (already have that part worked out) and phone communications. These things cost. I hate jingling the tin cup, but I don't know what else to do. This trip was, even given the epic fail of the media plan in Salem, a success by any measure. It has wiped me out physically (I always burn the candle at both ends when I do these things) and I could not have done it without the manful exertions of my co-driver, but I intend to keep at this as long as God gives me breath and y'all give me the support. What I am asking for here is not more support for those who have already beggared themselves in the past, but new sources from those who like my work but haven't yet contributed. I hope you'll keep me in the field until God calls me home, whenever that is.