Two small items as I’m traveling today.
Destroying evidence works
DHS ordered me to scrub records of Muslims with terror ties
[In 2009] Twenty-three-year old Nigerian Muslim Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab intended to detonate Northwest Airlines Flight 253, but the explosives in his underwear malfunctioned…
Following the attempted attack, President Obama threw the intelligence community under the bus for its failure to “connect the dots.”…
Most Americans were unaware of the enormous damage to morale at the Department of Homeland Security, where I worked, his condemnation caused. His words infuriated many of us because we knew his administration had been engaged in a bureaucratic effort to destroy the raw material—the actual intelligence we had collected for years, and erase those dots…
After leaving my 15 year career at DHS, I can no longer be silent about the dangerous state of America’s counter-terror strategy, our leaders’ willingness to compromise the security of citizens for the ideological rigidity of political correctness–and, consequently, our vulnerability to devastating, mass-casualty attack.
…in early November 2009, I was ordered by my superiors at the Department of Homeland Security to delete or modify several hundred records of individuals tied to designated Islamist terror groups like Hamas from the important federal database, the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS).
Fifteen points to the reader who understands that if the government deletes the evidence it has about terrorism, that same government will be able to say truthfully after the next attack, “We had no evidence that this attack was coming.” Plausible deniability.
Extra points to those who can say “Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab” three times fast.
Words for hire
Interesting thing was the above story appeared in a mainstream source, The Hill. Is it therefore suspicious? Russia Today is not a mainstream source, at least not here in the West. It is Russian mainstream.
Headline (my version): Journalist admits to lying.
Dr. Udo Ulfkotte is a top German journalist and editor and has been for more than two decades, so you can bet he knows a thing or two about mainstream media and what really happens behind the scenes. Recently, Dr. Ulfakatte went on public television stating that he was forced to publish the works of intelligence agents under his own name, also adding that noncompliance with these orders would result in him losing his job.
Ulfkotte (which is also easy to say fast) himself said:
I’ve been a journalist for about 25 years, and I was educated to lie, to betray, and not to tell the truth to the public. But seeing right now within the last months how the German and American media tries to bring war to the people in Europe, to bring war to Russia — this is a point of no return and I’m going to stand up and say it is not right what I have done in the past, to manipulate people, to make propaganda against Russia, and it is not right what my colleagues do and have done in the past because they are bribed to betray the people, not only in Germany, all over Europe.
There is a video of Ulfkotte with more information.
Believe what you like about it—I’m not defending or criticizing–but I’ll tell you this. I myself have been (recently) presented with op-eds, written by those who specialize in that kind of thing, that I was asked to sign as if I had written them. I am, of course, a relative nobody but I am a small authority in some areas.
I refused these commissions, and will always do so, but you have to wonder how common the practice is. I think we all know the answer. And I think we all know of the close ties the mainstream media has with the government.
The other odd thing is the increasing belligerent attitude we’re taking with Russia. But that’s a subject for another day.
Double-plus ungood.
Well just look at the temperature adjustments with the RAW data itself disappearing because it doesn’t reflect the CAGW REALITY
When the FOIAs about the Hockey Stick came in, hadn’t the CRU “LOST” the raw data?
Aside :: when I first heard about CRU and East Anglia, I thought it was some Eastern European outfit (CRU reminded me of GRU – Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye not the monster from Zork)
“Still trust”? This is the same media that hid FDR’s disability, JFK’s infidelity, joblessness numbers, misinterpreted most science studies as of late, and elevated themselves to a “team sport, reporting for you”. The media has had an inflated sense of self importance for decades. As for the government, well, Will Rodgers said it all.
As for the lies, supporting terrorism, etc, we all know the government and news people are flat out evil. We should not be surprised by how much we are abused and lied to by evil people. It’s what they do.
“Most Americans were unaware of the enormous damage to morale at the Department of Homeland Security, where I worked, “
I should think so too. It’s a wonder they retained staff.
The same is true of our public sector over here and not for covering up terrorism but for peddling political correctness. The only permanent employees in the end are of the same political persuasion. This is one of the reasons public sector has to rely on contractors and locums.
Then they use this as an excuse for importing more unskilled untrained “labour” to cover the gaps. So it goes on. Like a social pyramid scheme.
Honesty of the state has to start with the individual.
On the first story: interesting how low is your burden of proof when the accuser says what you want to hear.
Flint water crisis is a much more potent case yet you never mentioned it. Wouldn’t it be inconvenient that those responsible are the so wise Christian conservative small government responsible for creating the crisis. Meaning people like you.
On the second link:
Of course, Breitbardt or Foxnews would never do something like this.
I don’t know what to think about these two guys, and if they’re truthful. I do know the government was barred from using gun records for terrorism investigations, so… Sounds like ideological bs to me.
JMJ
Sounds like some here are confused by which party runs what city.
As for guns and terrorism, there aren’t any cases of terrorism linked to legal gun sales that I know of. The last terrorist attack involved legal gun purchases and the “borrowing” of the weapon to circumvent gun checks. Pretty standard bad guy behaviour, I think. Of course if there were no armed citizens, the couple would have just appropriate a weapon from the police or used a really nasty homemade explosive, both of which are soooo much better, right?
I do think it’s adorable how trusting some are of the government that stood by and poisoned drinking water, promoted a scam about climate change, dump millions of gallons of toxic waste in the Colorado river “by accident” then denied responsiblity, and that routinely destroys any business they do not like via executive or legal fiat. You’re just so adorably cute.
Newspapers have a long tradition of bias. Yellow journalism for example. I remember a Twain essay with the topic being the wacky things kids say in school. One youngster when asked to define a Republican said, “A sinner mentioned in the Bible”. Twain added, “also in Democratic newspapers.”
Dav,
You realize that back then you would have voted democrat.
“Still Trust Government & The News?”
Objection! Assumes without evidence that I trusted the government and/or the news at some point in the past.
Sheri,
1-) Governor Snyder destituted the democratically elected mayor of Flint. He then placed one of his henchmen to administer the city. That guy then proceeded to change the water source to the Flint river and at the same time disregarding documented request to treat the water against lead.
The amount of the disaster is in the billions, which does not include health problems.
150 is the highest level of lead that filter are effective. Level up to 4000 have been measured in homes, and this is month after the source was changed back to Lake Michigan, and pipe treated for preventing lead corrosion. The state of emergency was declared over a year after local doctor started reporting high level of lead in children’s blood.
2) I have never been part of the pro-AGW crowd. I support all energy sources.
3) company are so much better to take care of the environment reference BP gulf disaster and another spill in the east where citizen couldn’t use their tap water for month
http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/04/08/charleston-chemical-water
Things happen. But the Flint crisis was intentional.
As for bias in the news, this is to be expected.
What the German man refers to is not bias but corruption, bribery, cloak and dagger connections and lies.
Media on TV tell you what to think and how to feel about a given story.
This is what irritates me. Just tell it straight with film as necessary.
When the story they start with is some “recent study that shows…”
They then bring on an “expert” they prepared earlier…
“what are the public to make of this…” “social media have responded with…”
I’ve taken to watching the international channels such as RT, CNBC, FOX, CNN, Algzra and even the shouty Indian channel for an orbed version of a given story. I find the channel with the least investment in a story tends to tell the news straighter.
With the mass shooting in America by the happy couple it was a peculiarly long time before the US channels were asking about the T word. It was mentioned on our news before the channels in the US were reporting it. That’s the first time I’ve noticed something of this importance so blatantly missing form reports on US TV channels.
Leytonstone was a blatant cover up and what they covered up spoke volumes about what MSM and government together think is important with respect to public safety and the migrant crisis.
Cameron was involved and tied a social media bow on the story what an insult to everybody.
Joy: So far as Americans can tell, the press is forbidden from using the Terrorist label if a muslim or anyone who may be from the Middle East is involved. That is because just like some European nations reportedly require, the government insists that Middle Eastern people are wonder, sit around singing folksongs and playing nicely. They are the salt of the earth, along with the illegals in the US from South America. No one outside the US is a terrorist—all such people are wonderful and perfect. That’s the official line and the news media willingly lies or omits anything that goes against the line. It is interesting that both the media and politicians hate their own countries and want to replace their citizens with lawbreakers and foreigners.
I hear the word terrorist referring to Isis and other Muslim on a daily basis on MSNBC. Maybe some people just don’t want to hear what is inconvenient to them.
Yes, I trust my own government. The mainstream media too! Why not? If we can’t even trust the people who have our best interests at heart, who go to extra lengths to ensure that justice prevails, that corporations pay their tax, that the poor are fed and unemployment tackled, that our economy is centrally-planned and therefore super-efficient, then whom can we trust?
Go Bernie Sanders!
Peter A: You are a true Koolaid drinker, aren’t you? Or you live on another planet or in a different country. Amazing how human beings can believe in the absolutely unbelievable. And you think Christians believe in fantasies…….
Sheri,
You have to learn about sarcasm
You have to learn about sarcasm
I have heard it said that, in this day and age, it is often difficult to distinguish reality from parody. Peter A. has done an excellent job of portraying over-the-top stupidity.
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