Media leaks and persecution

This story has a little age--3 years almost--but it's important to remember which president has really been mean and nasty to journalists--Barack Obama. https://theblacksphere.net/2017/02/media-silence-obama-stunning-record-prosecution-journalists/

I looked it up because the Committee to Protect Journalists found at least 250 journalists in 2019 in jail in relation to their work globally. None by Trump. Obama went after leakers big time; Trump not so much and the White House leaked like a sieve. Journalists didn't like it during the Obama years, but it brings in the gold for them in this administration.

https://freedom.press/news/obama-used-espionage-act-put-record-number-reporters-sources-jail-and-trump-could-be-even-worse/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/06/08/trump-rages-about-leakers-obama-quietly-prosecuted-them/

Speculate this

The left assumes there are leakers running the show, but what if the FBI had already run that 7th investigation, already checked out the details of Ford's fake rape story (2 drunk teens rolling around on a bed with their clothes on), already had interviewed all Kavanaugh's friends (and enemies), already read the yearbooks, already had searched the archives of the various Maryland police departments, already interviewed her friends, her sex counselor, her ex-boyfriends, etc. What if the FBI already had been busy combing through the raveling threads of her fantasy before Flakey Jeff suggested a week's postponement? Just because it wasn't leaked to the NYT by someone inside the swamp, doesn't mean it didn't happen. So a shocked and subdued Di-Fi wants it sealed.

Leaking? That depends on your ideology

I  get the giggles when  friends on the left say there were no leaks or scandals in the Obama terms? Well, yes, but some were reported as "inadvertant disclosures." However, if you search you can find something about Edward Snowden, or exposing foreign informants who were then killed, or the freeze that got some editors fired as a warning to others in the media, or Obama's criminal investigation into leaks that worried him, or FBI agent Donald Sachtleben, or attacks on Wikileaks insiders, or revelations of federal employees keeping tabs on each other not only in the National Security bureaucracy, but the Department of Education, USDA, NOAA, etc. 

Of course, whenever these snooper dooper stories appeared during the Obama years, the reporters to be safe and not anger the powers in DC quickly added any similar stories from the Bush administration all the way back to Judas betraying Jesus, just to make sure they didn't paint Obama too black. Not to beat a dead horse in Benghazi, but that was really about illegal gun running to the rebels in Syria, a plan that went badly for our ambassador and resulted in a cover up by Susan Rice obediently lying to the American people on behalf of Hillary Clinton and President Obama

Moles, leakers and Clintonistas in the federal government

As I've puzzled over the anti-Trump reaction to an Obama order now going to the courts, I came across a number of stories of federal workers in various agencies like EPA and DoE organizing to fight Trump through encryption of files, special groups to stay in touch, archiving of files outside the agency, etc. If this is also taking place in Homeland Security (which is charged with carrying out the 2015 order restricting travel to and from 7 nations) I think a pause to clean house, not of immigrants but of federal workers, may be a good idea. Then there is the leaking (inaccurate) of Trump’s phone conversations with Australia’s leader and Mexico’s leader. Both those presidents have denied the account published by A.P. The new term is "fake news." So something is afoot. More collusion between the media (our third party) and the bureaucracy (the Democratic party)? Also, just this past week-end it was revealed that three brothers (don’t know if they were Muslims) working for Democratic Congress members as IT specialists were all fired. That is not related to immigration travel, but it could mean there are moles within both parties and within the federal bureaucracy.

 

 http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/federal-workers-signal-app-234510

 

 http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/04/exclusive-house-intelligence-it-staffers-fired-in-computer-security-probe/

 

 http://ktla.com/2017/02/03/trump-administration-issues-clarification-on-travel-ban-allows-some-travelers-from-7-countries-to-enter-us-under-special-circumstances/

 

thehill.com/homenews/administration/317887-wh-to-probe-leak-of-trumps-australia-mexico-calls

MoDo first has to blame Bush before Obama

Maureen Dowd, we tried to tell you not to trust him.  He’s a statist and believes there is no limit to the power government should have.

“There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment,” George Orwell wrote in “1984.” “How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/dowd-peeping-president-obama.html?ref=opinion

“Back in 2007, Obama said he would not want to run an administration that was “Bush-Cheney lite.” He doesn’t have to worry. With prisoners denied due process at Gitmo starving themselves, with the C.I.A. not always aware who it’s killing with drones, with an overzealous approach to leaks, and with the government’s secret domestic spy business swelling, there’s nothing lite about it. “

White House Briefing—going badly for Carney

Poor Jay Carney. Benghazi is far worse than Watergate, and yet he tells US to check our history (Tuesday, May 14, press conference). Has to stand in front of the nation which doesn't believe a word and then gripe that the Benghazi tragedy is just a political side show by the Republicans, that the IRS story is an "if" and that Obama doesn't support the leaks snooping by Department of Justice and Eric Holder, his best bud.  He lamely whines about the "worst recession since the Great Depression." (That's code for this is all Bush's fault.)

Obama made clear yesterday he has been lying through his teeth about who did what when by "rewriting" the history of the last 8 months. On Sept. 25 he was still blaming a video for Sept. 11 attack. Hillary blamed a video in “comforting” the families and swore to get the film maker; Rice blamed a video on 5 talk shows. They all knew it wasn't true. Then he repeated that lie when he knew it was a planned terrorist attack and not a video when he told it on Sept. 25 at the United Nations, which he circuitously denied yesterday:

"That is what we saw play out in the last two weeks, as a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. Now, I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity. It is an insult not only to Muslims, but to America as well -- for as the city outside these walls makes clear, we are a country that has welcomed people of every race and every faith."

Definitions of leaks

Some bloggers do have ears for the leaks, but mainly those go straight from the government's lips to AP, NYT or WSJ "sources" then the bloggers go to work. I wrote about this maybe 2.5 years ago, and found these definitions really interesting. Leaks about the current financial crisis weren't too important. It was all out there loud and clear. Even the talking heads could hear Maxine and Barney defending Fannie, and no one cared because their own portfolios were doing fine. We all wanted to believe the house of cards built in the suburbs was the "American dream" for people who couldn't afford it.

Source: Stephen Hess. The Government/Press Connection: Press Officers and their Offices. Washington, DC : Brookings Institution, 1984. 77-79;

Ego Leak: Giving information primarily to satisfy a sense of self.

Goodwill Leak: Information offered to “accumulate credit” as a play for a future favor.

Policy Leak: A straightforward pitch for or against a proposal using some document or insider information as the lure to get more attention than might be otherwise justified. The leak of the Pentagon Papers falls into this category.

Animus Leak: Used to settle grudges; information is released in order to cause embarrassment to another person.

Trial-Balloon Leak: Revealing a proposal that is under consideration in order to assess its assets and liabilities. Usually proponents have too much invested in a proposal to want to leave it to the vagaries of the press and public opinion. More likely, those who send up a trial balloon want to see it shot down, and because it is easier to generate opposition to almost anything than to build support, this is the most likely effect.

Whistleblower Leak: Usually used by career personnel; going to the press may be the last resort of frustrated civil servants who feel they cannot resolve their dispute through administrative channels. Hess is careful to point out that Whistleblowing is not synonymous with leaking.

2914 The NIE leaker

The Democrats and their fellow travelers have lessened the chances of a timely withdrawal from Iraq, in my opinion. We saw it happen in Vietnam, with the young John Kerry-types in the forefront of the protests, giving hope and comfort and energy to the enemy, and it's happening again. Although as long as Bush is President, we probably won't run out on the people we've put at risk by liberating them from a tyrant.

But I'm really wondering about the latest government leaker. He seems to be in cahoots with the guy lowering gasoline prices. The NYT obviously took the terrorism quote out of context, but it can't be refuted without divulging critical information by releasing the whole thing, so we have accusations of "cherry-picking" from both sides. What the President has chosen to release is much more damning to the Democrats than what the leaker released to the NYT. We know the leak is related to the coming election, because the report is so old. So that doesn't look real great for the Dems either. It seems to be the old timey story of the media in bed with the Democrats, except. . . This global terrorism increased threat when you really look at it, is Muslims killing Muslims--all over the world. Many more than U.S. forces have killed. And before George Bush, they were going after us, here and abroad, and succeeding, too. Whether Clinton was busy with other adventures or he just had bad advice, he didn't push back.

Given human nature, and the history of past wars, is there some reason why their violence would NOT escalate when someone started to push back. Afterall, they aren't Democrats who run when someone says "boo."

Andrew C. McCarthy says, well duh, Osama said it in 1998!
Daniel McKivergan quotes Richard Clarke, one of Clinton's favorite sources in defending himself on Fox News.
Bull Moose notes that the Iraq war did not create Jihadism.