Friday, March 29, AD 2024 10:46am

Ten Years of TAC: Damn Citizen

 

(The American Catholic will observe its tenth anniversary in October.  We will be reposting some classic TAC posts of the past.  This post is from March 10, 2016.  In light of later developments, the post now seems highly ironic to me.)

 

Hattip to Instapundit. An overlooked gem of a movie is Damn Citizen (1958) which tells the story of Francis Grevemberg.  During World War II Grevemberg, a Catholic, rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by the time he was 29, receiving battlefield promotions from General Patton and General Bradley.  Appointed head of the Louisiana State Police in 1952, a notoriously corrupt outfit, he reformed it from top to bottom and led it in a crusade against organized crime that was highly successful and received national attention.   The title of the film comes from a scene in the movie where a gangster notes that he is not a professional corrupt cop, the type they were used to dealing with, but rather a damn citizen that had gone to war against them and couldn’t be bought.  The film is as relevant today as it was in 1958 and I highly recommend it.

It is possible that the current head of the FBI, appointed by Obama in 2013, may be another damn citizen:

The aggressive posture of the FBI under Director James Comey is becoming a political problem for the White House.

The FBI’s demand that Apple help unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers has outraged Silicon Valley, a significant source of political support for President Obama and Democrats.

Comey, meanwhile, has stirred tensions by linking rising violent crime rates to the Black Lives Matter movement’s focus on police violence and by warning about “gaps” in the screening process for Syrian refugees.

Then there’s the biggest issue of all: the FBI’s investigation into the private email server used by Hillary Clinton, Obama’s former secretary of State and the leading contender to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

A decision by the FBI to charge Clinton or her top aides for mishandling classified information would be a shock to the political system.

In these cases and more, Comey — a Republican who donated in 2012 to Mitt Romney — has proved he is “not attached to the strings of the White House,” said Ron Hosko, the former head of the FBI’s criminal investigative division and a critic of Obama’s law enforcement strategies.

Publicly, administration officials have not betrayed any worry about the Clinton probe. They have also downplayed any differences of opinion on Apple.

But former officials say the FBI’s moves are clearly ruffling feathers within the administration.

Go here to read the rest.  Damn citizens of the stamp of Francis Grevemberg we never have enough of.  When they arise they deserve all the support we can muster.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Tuesday, July 24, AD 2018 3:37pm

Well, Comey showed who he really is.

Discover more from The American Catholic

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top