Obama and the Fourth Estate
Kirsten Powers has my admiration. She’s a brave, brave woman, and a good writer, too. She’s published a clear and concise review of Obama’s war on Fox and his manipulation of the press, as well as their craven and willing cooperation.
The DOJ investigation into the AP reporters and James Rosen are not isolated incidents, they are part and parcel of a long-standing and still-evolving policy. And make no mistake about it; if this adminstration gets away with it (which they indeed may), it portends even worse to come.
And except for a few brave people like Powers, the press doesn’t seem to know or care. Oh, they’re making a few bleating noises here and there, but my hunch is it will all blow over. I hope I’m wrong about that, but I fear I’m right.
Just posted this in an older thread, but it belongs here:
“And now comes Sharyl Attkinsson (Now there’s a hard name to spell. “Dear me! I am not certain quite/ that even now I’ve got it right.”) Spelling aside, she says she’s known for months that her personal and work computers were compromised but isn’t ready to say yet who she thinks is responsible because she’s being “patient and methodical” about the investigation. However, the fact that she’s choosing to come forward now suggests to me that she has a pretty darned good idea exactly who it was, and why.
This is beyond disturbing.”
Neo, I am also afraid that it will blow over, but the more of these stories that come to light — and I wonder how many more there are — the less likely it is that the untargeted reporters will fail to recognize that this administration is coming for them, too.
I agree with you Neo about Kirsten, she must get some nasty Emails for her *betrayal* .
I read some where that her husband is a Coptic Christian so she has a real stake in what’s been going on in the ME, but I don t know if he is American born, well maybe he has family there.
On a wacky note I read she dated Anthony Weiner, Ewwww !
Mrs Whatsit: yes, but unless a lot of voters notice and care it won’t matter. Most people don’t care that much about the press (or about liberty, I’m beginning to think, as I indicated in the piece right below this one).
Also, it could cut both ways, even with the press. How brave are most of them, and how devoted to principles? Very few, I believe. That’s why someone like Powers is isolated. Remember that press intimidation is the goal of Obama and company, and not just intimidation of the right. It’s a message to the left: don’t even think of going off the reservation, or we’re coming for you, too. There are very few Profiles in Courage.
MollyNH: well, everyone has an Anthony Weiner or two skeleton in the dating closet, I think. I’ll forgive her.
I wonder if the judicial branch will weigh in on these scandals independent of whether or not the voters or press make a big deal of the scandals. What is the judicial branch good for if it let’s political abuse of this sort go unchecked. Rule of law does not necessarily mean mob rule. If it does then we have a tyrannical government not rule of law. I think it the judicial branch needs to weigh in on the side of the little guy, in this case conservatives who have been targeted by the IRS.
Would that *that* may happen Steve!
Obama is also targeting these reporters’ sources with their subpoenas. By design. Even if a lot of the reporters forgive and forget, the few reporters that do still try to get stories on the administration will find that they have no one to talk to.
Related recent story: DOJ leaked docs to smear Fast & Furious whistle-blower. http://tinyurl.com/lrkdwxf
The press is like the military in 3rd world dictatorships. It’s the balance in our society. Now, it’s been well out of whack for so long as we all know, but this may have been a bridge too far for the administration. If the press turns, the morons, er, voters who watch network news will take notice and not like the direction this is going.
Wow…. read the comments after Powers article that Neo linked. The “group hate” is in full swing.
At risk of sounding like a broken record there is precious little coverage in the news sites and newspapers so the casual reader who gets his/her news from the occ. Yahoo headline is oblivious. Think you are right Neo-most people do not really care.People care about getting their stuff and sports teams.
As you can see by name I am a nurse and it still shocks me that every doctor and most(not all)nurses who I worked with were very happy with the Supreme Court decision making the Health Care Act law.I really am scared for the level of care that is coming.
NICUNURSE: they may have to get an education through bitter experience, unfortunately.
The battered-wife syndrome is strong in the lap dog media.
“Oh, they’re making a few bleating noises here and there, but my hunch is it will all blow over. I hope I’m wrong about that, but I fear I’m right.”
I feel the same way and would be very happy to be proved wrong. But the overwhelming majority of our fearless Fourth Estate has shown itself to be nothing but a bunch of obsequious, boot-licking toadies, ever ready to do the bidding of The One. My bet on their collective response after recieving a proper beating from the president and his administration: “Please sir, may I have another?”
Steve, the judicial branch can’t weigh in all by itself: somebody has to bring suit to allow that to happen — and I did hear that the A.P. is considering just that.
On the other hand, consider this: some judge SIGNED the subpoena to investigate Rosen, thus buying into the DOJ’s idea that investigative reporting can be criminal. Now granted, no lawyer was arguing on Rosen’s behalf, as he was given no notice that the subpoena was being sought. Even without an adversarial process, though, you might think that most judges would have a dim memory that somewhere, sometime they might have heard something about the First Amendment and freedom of the press. The fact that this judge didn’t think — or didn’t care — about that gives all too much heft to Neo’s fears about how much liberty matters to anyone any more.
I personally like Kirsten Powers and I appreciate hearing her perspective.
This weekend on some Sunday show however she was VERY critical when it came to the AP records story however was posed the question about big government being dangerous with respect to the IRS story and all of the other stories and Kirsten didn’t even understand the question.
Maybe Kirsten hasn’t heard the True the Vote story or the Gibson guitar story or the Vandersloot story or the wide variety of stories that show:
1) The government was coordinating resources from FBI, ATF, IRS, OSHA, EPA, etc
2) The government seems to have enough money to do it’s job and also wage war on decent americans
3) The government in spite of the press does not have any feeling like it is overstepping its’ bounds because not one whistle blower from all of these offices are coming forward. They are acting criminal and there is no way to turn this crap around.
They are all belly aching about sequester hurting their budget.
They are all going around waging war on the private sector and they wonder why Apple is bracing itself and sending it’s CEO to Congress.
Hello?
Is this mic on?
The government is too big Kirsten. When I heard your interview I sat there with jaw open.
nicunurse,
I know a nurse who does get it.
The low information voter and people who believe health care should be free but will pay $500 for their iPhone and $100 per month per person in their family to have mobile services don’t understand how much training and education nurses and doctors have to have and how much care and energy they emit.
Socialized medicine has a place at some level. To provide BASIC services for people who are down on their luck or who have been struck with a catastrophe.
But we should all be taught how to take care of ourselves in life and that means prioritizing our expenses away from entertainement and towards shelter, food and health as well as energy.
@Steve May 21st, 2013 at 3:00 pm
The judiciary has weighed in. Or at least one member of the judiciary has. The judge who authorized the warrant weighed in. He sided with the DOJ, and in so doing demonstrated as much contempt for Rosen’s personal civil liberty, and the First Amendment generally, as the lawyer at the DOJ who required his authorization to validate the warrant.
I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me there should be as much outrage at that judge as there is at the Obama DOJ.
No district (federal) or superior (state) judge’s signature is required. According to internal regs, the attorney general issues (signs, approves) the subpoena, which did not appear to happen by Holder’s testimony to congress.
“Holder went on to confirm the official who signed off on the monitoring was his direct subordinate and longtime friend, Deputy Attorney General James Cole. Asked for his views on a hypothetical scenario in which hundreds of journalists’ phone records are subpoenaed, Holder said he could not rule it out.
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/5/16/headlines#5162
and the regs:
http://cfr.vlex.com/vid/regard-toll-interrogation-indictment-19679461
See Section (e):
(e) No subpoena may be issued to any member of the news media or for the telephone toll records of any member of the news media without the express authorization of the Attorney General: . . .
If Kirsten keeps working at Fox, she may become a changer. I think they put Eau de Realite’ in their HAC system there…..or something. Whatever, it seems to be working.
Sharpie, you’re correct that a subpoena does not always need a judge’s signature, but this was a search warrant. Attorneys can’t sign those. The DOJ applied to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for authority to break into Rosen’s email, and the search and seizure warrant was signedby U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay. You can see the application and the warrant (page 44 of 44) here.
I watched CNN for two hours yesterday, before the tornado, and there wasn’t a single mention of the story of the DOJ’s full court press on reporter James Rosen and them secretly acquiring his personal emails. But they did have time to mention a ballooning accident in Turkey and many other far less important stories. I admit I was truly flabbergasted. I thought they would have to at least mention it but I saw nothing. I’m starting to get truly scared that our press is going to throw away our freedom. You’d think they would have a stronger self-preservation instinct than that. I don’t think that it’s any coincidence that it’s Bob Schieffer pushing back against these guys. All the younger “journalists” were raised as Democrats first and reporters second and have a complete lack of appreciation for the big picture (i.e. the absolutely critical nature of the First Amendment and that they should defend it at all costs from any government interference, whether it’s a Fox news reporter or not).
Funny note: When I typed the word “journalists” above, my phone auto-corrected it to “loyalists”.
Also heard this today:
The spying went beyond James Rosen and they were collecting phone records for numbers all over Fox News.
I don’t see why people so easily believe that the press, of the 1st Amendment, was designed to belong only to the hands of a few. How is that going to protect anything? Is that like the 2nd Amendment only being for mobilized “militia” and “hunters”?
The point of power is to redistribute it further down, not “up” to the Ruling Class.
“Socialized medicine has a place at some level. To provide BASIC services for people who are down on their luck or who have been struck with a catastrophe.”
Of course, such as when tornadoes or other heavenly sent disasters occur.
The Left, however, thinks that they, and only they have the power to decide humanity’s fate. And thus, slaves need to be taken care of, if only because they can work harder before dying.
Sheesh, no one is denied emergency care insurance or no insurance. This is an engineered ‘crisis’. No one has a right to food, medical care, a cell phone, or pet food.
Man, reading those comments was painful. I have no love for Fox News, but when the fools gang up to reinforce the notion that they’re still right in the face of the reality, they can almost make me care.
http://praxamericana.blogspot.com/2013/05/scandalgate-and-disappointment.html
The public as a whole erroneously believes the mainstream media is right-wing, and therefore this scrutiny is well-deserved in their minds.
Fools it would nice if they truly were. Except zealots and fanatics make for a more resistant foe in the fight of Good vs Evil.