Free as in

The “investigator” types finally got what they wanted in the Epstein mess. Now they’re shockedshockedshocked to find that the vast majority of pages are redacted and blank.

Assuming here that the “investigators” are naive (not bloody likely!), they’re misinterpreting one word.

They think the F in FOIA means Free as in Free Speech. In fact it means Free as in Gluten-Free.

FOIA documents are FREE OF INFORMATION.

Deepstate NEVER reveals anything. Deepstate ALWAYS plays nasty pranks. You want paper files? We’ll give you paper files. You want PDFs? We’ll give you PDFs. We didn’t promise the files would have ink on the paper. We didn’t promise the PDFs would contain characters.

During the Bush-Trump torture chamber of 2020, some advocates thought they could win by suing the government in “court”. They got the same kind of hollow victory, the same evil prank. The “judge” allowed the plaintiff, AND ONLY THE PLAINTIFF, to be free from lockdown. This was an utterly meaningless “freedom” since everything was locked down and closed. He still couldn’t work or shop. No business was going to open up JUST FOR THIS ONE DUDE. If any business tried it, the Bush-Trump storm troopers would bomb them down to bedrock.

= = = = =

A similar misunderstanding of FREE in a less nasty context… Back in the Neanderthal era when things were made in this country, I used to see wording like ‘FOB Detroit’ or ‘FOB Newark’ on listed prices. I thought FOB meant the shipper paid everything in advance, the normal procedure at retail level. The sender puts stamps on letters, the sender pays UPS to take a package. In fact the F in FOB means the opposite. Free On Board means the shipper is free from all responsibility as soon as the item is ‘on board’ the ship or train or truck or mailbox. The receiver is responsible for all payments and insurance.

As usual Hudson had its own version of FOB which was a bit less deceptive. They gave list prices as FTP, not FOB. Factory Town Price meant that you’d pay this amount if you went to Detroit and picked up the car from the factory. (A few people, especially fleet operators, did buy cars this way.) If you let the dealer bring the car to your town, keep it on the lot, clean it up and add accessories, you’d have to pay for all those added services.