Federal Task Force Detection & Avoidance
Easily done, once you know the signs.
We’re in one of those periods where there’s obviously a federal grand jury term drawing to a close. The investigations are trailing off and the arrests have begun. I’ve been slyly mentioning stuff since New Years, but it seems like it would be good to give those of you who’ve never seen this before a guided tour.
So get your pencil and pad, you’ll want to take notes, or you can turn up for tonight’s Non State Actors Guild at 23:45 Eastern, where I’ll be talking through this.
Attention Conservation Notice:
I can’t do this w/o slapping some folks around. If that sketches you out bad, because you might be one of them .. LOL.
Changes:
The 2024 election had obvious effects all over the place, it was clear that a lot of things that had been problems were going to disappear, while a lot of stuff that had been ignored, or at least deferred, was going to get moved to the front of the line.
The Texas court attempted to force me to appear in November, I declined, and in January, after just eleven short years, the judgment on the case I won in 2014 was reduced from $1.3 million to a whopping $197. I didn’t say much while this was happening, I just quietly paid the $205 appellate fee, but did not do the docketing.
That means, in the context of the 2nd Court of Appeals, that if (when) I decide it’s time for the next move, it’s on. And there’s nothing Pissboy can do but sit and wait until that day arrives.
Now let’s take a look at specific articles and their implications.
Get Off Gmail - 2025-01-04 Aubrey Cottle received notice his Gmail had been subject to a search warrant. Cue the ominous music.
Defensive Measures - 2025-02-10 the subtext “Accumulating unused initiative” was specifically about that paid appellate fee and there’s the first mention of Paige Adele Thompson in here.
Pitiful Brandfagging 2025-03-23 Aubrey was already in trouble from some local thing years ago. I mentioned the Anonymous reboot of 2020, saying “So far as I know, none of that has ever been prosecuted.”
I was busy helping with arrangements for an old friend, moving to escape black mold, and getting inducted into Cicada 3301. Aubrey Cottle’s March 28th arrest was just one more event during a very busy time.
18 U.S. Code § 1001 2025-04-14 was about the endless ankle biter mating calls on Twitter over an HP workstation I sent to Aubrey back in 2020, which he failed to retrieve from customs. A drunken hag in SoCal can’t shut up about it and the guy who eventually got the machine has been close to her. I learned after putting the receipts on this into an IC3 report that the two of them are (or at least were) engaged, so I get double bonus points here if one report hits two dipshits.
Creating A Public Record 2025-04-25 Paige was all the way through the system, but someone, they did something, and then PAT’s avoidance of consequences started to unravel. After rewriting this half a dozen times because it was too long, let’s just say this: poor character produces poor results.
Remediation:
Since I don’t steal and the closest I get to intrusions are assisting reporters in understanding what happened, I’m not feeling particularly nervous here. But my life being what it is, stuff like this immediately puts me into worst case estimate mode.
The little NAS drive in Creating A Public Record went off site. What was on it? Why did it need to leave? Where did it go? Who has control of it now? Those are all good questions, and they will likely never be answered.
18 U.S. Code § 1519 - Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal investigations and bankruptcy is one of the simplest statutes in Title 18.
Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
Being quite familiar with what this looks like in the real world, I’m confident I don’t have any problem here.
Some people collect stamps, I collect exculpatory evidence. Enormous, well sorted archives of it. There’s even a roadmap for an attorney to follow, should the DOJ be so foolish as to provide me an opening wherein I’m permitted discovery. Since I don’t care to end up like a certain dope head from bygone years, I periodically and noisily broadcast about failsafes.
Below are four of six identical thumb drives. They go in pairs into magnetic key cases which get stashed … here and there. Should anything happen to my house and the online copies of this stuff, it wouldn’t be more than a day or two before my counsel would have everything they need. If you’re reading this, they’re already out there … somewhere … and I’ve have picked up the third set so I can update them.
Conclusion:
Look at that flow of events. Kirt made it clear he had something brewing. A capricious breeze blew the Paige Adele Thompson case news into my possession with a strong hint to read it. More broadly, when some activity starts, at least in public, you can mark that time frame as the start of a federal grand jury. Those last eighteen months, unless they’re dealing with something really complex, in which case they might get a second term of eighteen months.
Once the grand jury has done its work, the wave of arrests begin. There’s a strong chance there will be follow on activity as new episodes and those involved get uncovered along the way. Not all crimes require a grand jury in order for charges, simple misbehavior just gets referred for prosecution.
When these things are to do with hacktivists or other matters of public interest, the flow is different from a purely criminal matter. People can get a pass for seemingly boundless bad behavior, or one can get roped in over a trifle. There’s the 1st Amendment angle on one hand, and the counter-intel angle on the other.
I am hardened to the point where pretext approaches involving informants ended some years ago. I don’t just sidestep, I chew them up, and make sure others know the particulars. Even today there are situations where I suspect I’m dealing with someone who is acting as a source, but that’s a different matter. I’m very intent in such interactions, but there’s no need for fight/flight, it’s a hippos/crocodiles sort of thing. They’re gonna be around, you can bite one on the tail and give it a fling if the mood takes you, but mostly gotta just share the water hole without excess drama.
So that’s that, tune in this evening at 23:45 to hear …