Two stories, the same day, in the same Establishment paper: here and here.
UPDATE: I see that even The New York Times has noticed the ominous character of these events:
"The knock on the door from government investigators asking about political activities is the stuff of totalitarian regimes. It is intimidating to be visited by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, particularly by investigators who warn that withholding information about anyone with plans to create a disruption is a crime.
"And few people would want the F.B.I. to cross-examine their friends and family about them. If engaging in constitutionally protected speech means subjecting yourself to this kind of government monitoring, many Americans may decide - as the men from Missouri did - that the cost is too high.
"Meanwhile, history suggests that the way to find out what potentially violent protesters are planning is not to send F.B.I. officers bearing questionnaires to the doorsteps of potential demonstrators. As became clear in the 1960's, F.B.I. monitoring of youthful dissenters is notoriously unreliable. The files that were created in the past often proved to be laughably inaccurate.
"The F.B.I.'s questioning of protesters is part of a larger campaign against political dissent that has increased sharply since the start of the war on terror.
"At the Democratic convention, protesters were sent to a depressing barbed-wire camp under the subway tracks. And at a recent Bush-Cheney campaign event, audience members were required to sign a pledge to support President Bush before they were admitted.
"F.B.I. officials insist that the people they interview are free to 'close the door in our faces,' but by then the damage may already have been done. The government must not be allowed to turn a war against foreign enemies into a campaign against critics at home."
Please take note of the FBI's advice: close the door in their faces. Don't hit their noses, though, that could be an assault on a federal officer.
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