Archive for category 4th Estate (Media)
Alex Jones: Oklahoma Tornado Was An Inside Job
Posted by Richard Warnick in 4th Estate (Media), 9/11, Barack Obama, Liars (politics), National Politics, People Are Nuts, Republicans, Terrorism on May 22, 2013
Via Media Matters.
Conspiracy talk show host Alex Jones is best known for promoting the theory that the 9/11 attacks were really a “false flag” operation by the U.S. government. He said the same thing about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre and the recent Boston bombings. Now he is making the claim that the Oklahoma tornado was a secret government plot.
Jones, a longtime proponent of the idea that the U.S. government can manipulate and even produce weather systems like tornadoes and hurricanes, went on to say that if people saw helicopters or small aircraft in the area, then “you better bet your bottom dollar they did this.”
“But, who knows if they did?” he asked. “You know, that’s the thing. We don’t know.”
Jones is being increasingly treated as a serious voice within the right-wing GOP. Republicans in the House, including Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), actually held a hearing last month to discuss Jones’ theory that that President Obama is trying to buy up all the bullets in the country.
UPDATE: Maddow: Will ‘weather weapon’ talk finally drive GOP away from Alex Jones? In an audio clip, Jones suggests the government is causing tornadoes to convince Americans about climate change:
“Tornadoes are way down. Of course, they lie that they’re way up to get carbon taxes, but I don’t know if this was a weather weapon or not. They can, with the right weather conditions, they can create and steer groups of tornadoes.”
Chris Hayes Interviews Tim DeChristopher
Posted by Richard Warnick in 4th Estate (Media), Activist groups, Bush Administration, Climate Change, DeChristopher, Disaster, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, National Politics on May 16, 2013
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Chris Hayes is the first cable host to interview Tim DeChristopher. Rachel Maddow announced such an interview a couple of years ago, but then substituted some hack from EarthJustice who didn’t approve of civil disobedience.
My favorite part is when Tim explains that it’s already too late to avoid the tipping points that trigger drastic climate change, but that makes it even more urgent to reform our political system. The current corrupt regime won’t be able to cope with a planetary emergency.
Did You Know There Was a Day Called “Law Day”?
Posted by Larry Bergan in 4th Estate (Media), American People, Capitalism, Corruption on May 6, 2013
It happened on May 1st, 2013.
Did you get “law day” off with pay? I’m thinking no, but I’m also thinking we’re not a nation of laws anymore.
From Ralph Nader
Unless we fight back against the 1 or 2 percent: We suck!
NO GUNS!!
Update: Oops; I misread the first of Nader’s article and thought Eisenhower had established “Law Day”. He established the ABA which created the holiday. I had to get rid of most of my original post. I’m glad nobody has commented yet. Is there an embarrassment emoticon?
Former FBI Agent Tim Clemente: Government Is Recording All Phone Calls
Posted by Richard Warnick in 4th Estate (Media), National Politics, The Constitution, Wiretapping on May 6, 2013
On Wednesday night, CNN’s Erin Burnett interviewed Tim Clemente, a former FBI counterterrorism agent, about whether the FBI would be able to discover the contents of past telephone conversations between Katherine Russell, the 24-year-old American widow of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and her husband. He quite clearly insisted that they could:
BURNETT: Tim, is there any way, obviously, there is a voice mail they can try to get the phone companies to give that up at this point. It’s not a voice mail. It’s just a conversation. There’s no way they actually can find out what happened, right, unless she tells them?
CLEMENTE: “No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It’s not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out.
BURNETT: “So they can actually get that? People are saying, look, that is incredible.
CLEMENTE: “No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not.”
On Thursday night, Clemente again appeared on CNN, this time with host Carol Costello, and she asked him about those remarks. He reiterated what he said the night before but added expressly that “all digital communications in the past” are recorded and stored. “No digital communication is secure,” said Clemente.
Despite the extreme secrecy behind which these surveillance programs operate, occasionally somebody in a position to know tells us the U.S. Constitution is being violated on an unprecedented scale. So what can we do about it?
I Guess “The Moody Blues” Need A Category Of Thier Own
Posted by Larry Bergan in 4th Estate (Media), Climate Change, Disaster, Evolution, Greatest Hits, Peace, Philosophy, Science, Space on March 23, 2013
Perhaps in a Hall of Fame somewhere in a child’s imagination or somewhere else:
Somehow a catolog of great music spanning decades doesn’t measure up to the Rock n’ Roll hall of fame.
If I were they, I would tell them to keep it!
I’m sure The Moodies don’t really want my input here. I once heard a horrible story about people in wheelchairs showing up at their concerts wanting to be healed.
All they were trying to do is enlighten us.
I’m Sorry, But I’m Just Going To Have To Throw This Out There.
Posted by Larry Bergan in 4th Estate (Media), Capitalism, censorship, Corruption, Crimes, Democracy, Equality, This Blog, War Crimes on March 20, 2013
Is it just me, or does it seem that nobody is watching out for us?
Alan Grayson, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are.
Who else?
Does it seem like this babe is telling the truth?
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes
Posted by Richard Warnick in 4th Estate (Media), Liars (politics) on March 20, 2013
Mark Twain wrote, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” And that was before the invention of Faux News Channel.
The Union Protester Who Punched Fox News Comedian Steven Crowder Was Acting in Self-Defense, Will Not Be Prosecuted
Remember when conservative comedian and Fox News contributor Steven Crowder was punched in the face by a union activist outside a Michigan protest? Crowder made a big deal about it… Then came the unsurprising revelation that the video was misleadingly edited to make Crowder look like an innocent, if obnoxious, victim.
…[O]n Monday, Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III announced he will not press charges against the protester, who Dunnings said was trying to defend himself.
Let Them Eat Snow – North Korean Report on Life in America
Posted by Richard Warnick in 4th Estate (Media), American People, Economy, Foreign Policy, Laugh on March 13, 2013
UPDATE: It’s a fake.
‘How Americans Live Today’: Fake North Korean Propaganda Video Punks The Internet
This North Korean news report, titled “How Americans Live Today,” may be in need of a little bit of fact-checking.
“This is how Americans live today- drinking coffee made from snow and living in tents, and buying guns to kill each other, especially children. Some people complain about the guns…”
Kim Jong-un has a serious problem – how to keep his people convinced that their country is a relatively nice place to live, despite starvation, prison camps, power shortages, and a leader who clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing. Possession of foreign-made video CDs is a serious crime in North Korea.
Despite the propaganda, some people have a clue.
Defectors have told U.S. officials that the North Korean people—probably not a majority, but still a growing number—are aware of the glaring contrast between their own lives and the rest of the world.
Of course, if Paul Ryan gets his way maybe we can reduce the contrast between us and North Korea…
Bradley Manning: The Face of Heroism
Posted by Richard Warnick in 4th Estate (Media), Bush Administration, Iraq, Military, National Politics, This Blog, Transparency, War, War Crimes on March 3, 2013
Through his lawyer, 25-year-old Army Private Bradley Manning has pleaded guilty to 10 charges that include possessing and wilfully communicating to an unauthorized person all the main elements of the WikiLeaks disclosure. That covered the so-called “collateral murder” video of an Apache helicopter attack in Iraq; some US diplomatic cables including one of the early WikiLeaks publications the Reykjavik cable; portions of the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, some of the files on detainees in Guantanamo; and two intelligence memos.
These lesser charges each carry a two-year maximum sentence, committing PVT Manning to a possible upper limit of 20 years in prison. He pleaded not guilty to “aiding the enemy,” which carries a life sentence. Manning’s court martial is expected to begin on June 3.
For the first time, Bradley Manning explained why he decided to reveal U.S. government secrets to the media.
Manning spoke for over an hour as he read from a 35-page document detailing and explaining his actions that drove him to disclose what he said he “believed, and still believe… are some of the most significant documents of our time.”
…Manning’s motivations in leaking, he said, was to “spark a domestic debate of the role of the military and foreign policy in general,” he said, and “cause society to reevaluate the need and even desire to engage in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations that ignore their effect on people who live in that environment every day.” Manning said he was in sound mind when he leaked, and did so deliberately, regardless of the legal circumstances.
Remarkably, Manning said he first tried to take his information to the Washington Post, the New York Times and Politico, before contacting WikiLeaks.
…He said he took “full responsibility” for a decision that will likely land him in prison for the next 20 years — and possibly the rest of his life.
Without question, Manning’s leaks produced more significant international news scoops in 2010 than those of every media outlet on the planet combined.
This was all achieved because a then-22-year-old Army Private knowingly risked his liberty in order to inform the world about what he learned. He endured treatment which the top UN torture investigator deemed “cruel and inhuman”, and he now faces decades in prison if not life. He knew exactly what he was risking, what he was likely subjecting himself to. But he made the choice to do it anyway because of the good he believed he could achieve, because of the evil that he believed needed urgently to be exposed and combated, and because of his conviction that only leaks enable the public to learn the truth about the bad acts their governments are doing in secret.
Heroism is a slippery and ambiguous concept. But whatever it means, it is embodied by Bradley Manning and the acts which he unflinchingly acknowledged Friday he chose to undertake.
This is where we are today. We only learn about government crimes when someone in the know is courageous enough to risk torture and life imprisonment in order to reveal the truth. Consider how thousands of people had access to the same information, but only Bradley Manning did the right thing. By the way, nothing he gave to Wikileaks damaged operational security. The court-martial judge will determine whether publishing evidence of un-prosecuted war crimes amounts to “aiding the enemy.”
More info:
Wikileaks Obtains Video of 2007 War Crime (April 5, 2010)
UPDATE: Leaked Audio: US Citizens Can Now Hear Bradley Manning Give His Statement
Recent Comments