A new and interesting documentary is currently on Netflix. Directed by Zachary Treitz and titled “The Octopus Murders,” it chronicles the death of journalist Danny Casolaro, who covered a legal case between the U.S. government and INSLAW, Inc., in which the government was later accused of stealing what the Guardian called “revolutionary criminal-case tracking software.”
It’s a wild story, the upshot of which is that the U.S. government allegedly used the legal system to steal computer software that allows it to spy on other countries, and that our government is involved in much worse than this. Casolaro sets out to learn exactly who in the Justice Department is behind all this, an effort ultimately leading to Martinsburg, W. Va., where the journalist is mysteriously found dead in a Sheraton hotel room.
While viewing the series, I couldn’t help but think of another recent documentary whose contents are by now familiar with most Americans: Oliver Stone’s “JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass.” Setting aside whether either of the claims from the two documentaries are true, it seems undeniably clear that the tactics and characteristics between the operatives in each film – whose settings are over 20 years apart – are eerily similar.
Specifically, the characters of the Stone film – people like Guy Banister, David Ferrie, Clay Shaw and even Lee Harvey Oswald – would have felt right at home in the retrofit arms group at the Indian reservation where Casolaro’s investigation leads, particularly with such players as Michael Riconosciuto (who claimed to have modified the software so it could be used for spying), just as the latter group would’ve fit right in with Bay-of-Pigs-era New Orleans and the “JFK” bunch.
Regarding the tactics, both films attempt to show the use of underworld characters to do work that our government – particularly the CIA – can’t legally do itself.
These two documentaries make it impossible not to add color to what has happened in this country since around 2015, particularly last Saturday in Pennsylvania. Just as one watches the Stone film and cannot help but see similarities in the Treitz film, so, too, can one not watch both without seeing similarities to what is currently happening in our country.
In many ways, what happened in Butler, Pa., on Saturday only adds to questions that began way back during the FISA court abuses, increased after the Mueller investigation, continued to grow after all the criminal charges against the former president, and ended – at least currently – with rally attendees eagerly warning authorities of an assassin to their own frustration and disappointment.
As is evident in the two films, the leaders we vote for, who we see on television taking questions from reporters, don’t seem to be the ones truly running the country. Does anyone really think Biden is running things after seeing his debate performance a couple weeks ago? In the recent interview with Lester Holt, he didn’t seem to even know that his Secret Service director is a female. Many of the actors involved in the FISA court abuse, such as Peter Strzok and Andrew McCabe, have been removed, but they’re still listened to on outlets like CNN as though they’re objective experts with no political leanings whatsoever. In my own lifetime, I don’t recall former office holders of non-partisan positions like the CIA director or director of national intelligence engaging in partisan politics the way John Brennan and James Clapper have, each of whom have pushed the Trump-Russia collusion theory that both almost certainly knew was false. Even as recent as yesterday morning, Clapper could be seen on CNN doing his level best to warn everyone against retaliation from Trump supporters. Yet, this is all treated as normal somehow.
Something isn’t right about our system, particularly in the Justice Department, a fact observed all the way back to the early ’60s, winding its way unpleasantly through the ’80s, then on to the present. In his press conference the other night, Biden seemed to want to remedy some of this. He talked of unity, safety and democracy. But, because of events highlighted above, Americans are losing faith in all these virtues.
Even so, the current president has a chance of preserving things by doing something that should have been done long ago: proving the Justice Department has nothing to hide. Mr. President, we want to believe our system is fair, but, like the father of the boy in the New Testament with the unclean spirit, we have unbelief. You can do something to help us with this. The time has come.
Please, President Biden, release the Kennedy assassination files.
Along with his father, Allen Keller runs a lumber business in Stevenson, Alabama. He has a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Florida State University and an MBA from University of Virginia. He can be reached for comment at allen@kellerlumber.net.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News.
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
