Courtesy of Mediaite:
On Friday, Cavuto attempted to link the recent revelations about the extent of the National Security Agency’s collection of American’s cell phone metadata with several other scandals that the Obama administration has had to face in recent weeks. “You see one incident after another that comes up, and it all comes back to the same basic issue,” Cavuto said. “Privacy is invaded or potentially invaded, institutions of all sorts doing pretty much the same thing. There is a pattern,” he went on to say.
His guest, liberal commentator Julian Epstein, attempted to counter the idea that all of the issues Cavuto listed — including the Department of Justice’s probe of news agencies tied to national security leaks and the IRS’ heightened scrutiny of conservative groups — were exactly the same as the NSA issue. “If you want to conflate or combine all of these issues, then make these general statements you can do that,” Epstein said. “I just don’t think that’s a very thoughtful way of approaching it.”
Cavuto exploded over Epstein’s comments, calling on Epstein to “drop the liberal thing, focus on the reality thing.” Epstein tried in vain to inform Cavuto that it was worth taking each of the issues separately rather than lumping them all together:
EPSTEIN: Because I want to talk facts, and you want to make these general broadsides, Neil.
CAVUTO: Julian, you’re saying nothing and it’s offensive! Because Ben Stein —
EPSTEIN: Okay, why don’t we speak about them specifically?
CAVUTO: Julian, why don’t you talk facts? It’s annoying how obnoxious you can be on the reality.
EPSTEIN: I am talking the reality.
CAVUTO: I’m not going to play this game with you, Julian. You play the same damn game dismissing.
EPSTEIN: Neil, you’re playing the game too and —
CAVUTO: Cut his mic! Cut his mic, he’s going nowhere fast. Cut his mic! Ben, I want to be very clear to you — cut his damn mic!
Went all Bill O'Reilly on his ass didn't you Neil? Wow! Don't you hate it when your guest does not agree with your conspiracy theories?
In fact Fox is SO dedicated to pimping this conspiracy idea that they are selectively editing remarks from Rep. Elijah Cummings, who is ALSO on Darell Issa's committee, so that their viewers do not learn that there is no IRS scandal.
And if THAT were not bad enough it appears that the NSA leak may not be nearly as explosively as originally reported.
Hmm, it looks like the "Summer of Scandals" is turning into Fox's "Winter of Discontent."
I KNEW THAT STORY WAS FISHY!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm telling you, this is all a plot. The vast right wing conspiracy is rearing it's big, fat stupid head again.
Forget the word "scandal." It's used too loosely, upping the ante on any new incident.
DeleteUntil and unless these actions are proven to be illegal or immoral, they are incidents that need further investigation.
I hope that we here at IM can resist the easy usage of "scandal" until it's proven that these actions are illegal or immoral.
The allegations by the Post are shocking:
ReplyDeleteThe National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time.
The story alleges that the NSA is “reaching deep inside the machinery of American companies that host hundreds of millions of American-held accounts on American soil.” It specifically names nine companies: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple. And the story alleges, “From inside a company's data stream the NSA is capable of pulling out anything it likes.”
Within hours after the story broke, it had been amplified by other news agencies and tech websites and had inspired expressions of outrage over this invasion of privacy. And seven of the nine companies named issued categorical denials that they knew of or participated in any such program.
And then a funny thing happened the next morning. If you followed the link to that story, you found a completely different story, nearly twice as long, with a slightly different headline. The new story wasn’t just expanded; it had been stripped of key details, with no acknowledgment of the changes. That updated version, time-stamped at 8:51 AM on June 7, backed off from key details in the original story.
... "The PowerPoint is suffused with a kind of hype that makes it sound more like a marketing pitch than a briefing -- we don't know what its provenance is and we don't know the full context," Baker said. He added, referring to the Post's coverage: "It looks rushed and it looks wrong."
“Rushed” would indeed be the best way to describe why the Post story changed so dramatically in a 24-hour period. Normally, an investigative piece like this would be reported thoroughly before being published. Instead, it looks like the Post rushed to publish, perhaps fearing that the slide deck had been leaked to another publication that would beat them to the punch.
Update: A Huffington Post story seems to confirm the theory that this post was published prematurely:
Recently, it became clear to Gellman that the scoop might be broken elsewhere and so the Post “decided to push it through." Gellman said he “would have been happier to have had a day or two” more to work on the PRISM story, but it was clear, for competitive reasons, the Post had to move quickly.
...That rush to publication set off the Internet echo chamber and the cable news networks at a full-throated roar. The story and its key, now apparently discredited arguments have been spread far and wide.
The Post compounded its error by quietly correcting its story and not publicly acknowledging that there were errors in the original story.
^^^REALLY good article, do read it all the way through at the link:
http://www.zdnet.com/the-real-story-in-the-nsa-scandal-is-the-collapse-of-journalism-7000016570/
This is effing pathetic. NSA has been doing its thing for more than 50 years. In October of 2001, NSA, along with private spook corporations, including Brown Root, Halliburton, Northrup Grumman, Boeing etc., were given carte blanche by the United States Congress to do whatever in hell they wanted to do.
ReplyDeleteSomebody needs to get in to spook history up in here.
When three different polling organizations conducted surveys last weekend to gauge public reaction to the news about the Department of Justice’s subpoenas of reporters’ phone records, their findings were quite different – a case study in the challenges pollsters face in a breaking news environment when public attention and information is relatively limited.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Pew Research Center, CNN/ORC and Washington Post/ABC News pollsters all took a similar approach in asking whether people felt the Department of Justice was right or wrong to subpoena the Associated Press reporters’ phone records, there were multiple differences in the phrasing, structure and context of the questions that help to explain the different findings.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/05/22/polling-when-public-attention-is-limited-different-questions-different-results/
Majority say NSA tracking of phone records "acceptable" - Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/most-americans-support-nsa-tracking-phone-records-prioritize-investigations-over-privacy/2013/06/10/51e721d6-d204-11e2-9f1a-1a7cdee20287_story.html
Oh yes, Neil, please, do go on. Tell us about how Obama compromised everyone's privacy in Benghazi! What? But you said all the 'scandals' were related, and that all had privacy as their common theme.
ReplyDeleteAlso, could you tell us why, when political groups apply for tax-exempt status to which they are not entitled by law, it is an 'invasion of privacy' for the government to question whether the right-wing groups, but not the left-wing groups, are involved in political activity? If the tax laws were properly applied, NO right (or left) -wing groups would be granted tax-exempt status. How is the proper enforcement of the tax code an 'invasion of privacy'?
Also, could you please explain to us how PRIVATE COMPANIES that are on contract to the NSA, doing its spying FOR them, comprise government spying, and how the NSA laws, which were passed by a republican Congress and have been on the books for, oh, seemingly forever, are somehow Obama's fault? Wouldn't Obama be in violation of his oath of office if he refused to "execute the laws of the United States", as he swore to do when he placed his hand on the Bible?
Yeah, Neil, "cut the damn mike!" is right. Because that's the only remedy you have left when you are once again proving yourself to be an ignorant liar.
Rush Limbaugh Tries to Talk His Listeners Out Of Impeaching Obama
ReplyDelete...It is funny to see the Obama hate that Limbaugh has spread since 2008 come back and bite him in the backside. I am afraid that monster he has created is on a path of self-destruction. Rush Limbaugh understands what will happen to the Republican Party if they catch a bad case of impeachment fever.
The Obama hate that Limbaugh helped to create has gotten completely out control. Limbaugh can’t talk them down anymore. They are hell bent on impeaching Obama because these are the seeds that Rush Limbaugh’s gutter stream of hate speech against this president have sown. Limbaugh has been demonizing President Obama everyday for nearly five years. What did he think was going to happen?
Of course, his audience is going to demand that the Republican Party impeach Obama. This is what he has been telling them that the president deserves. The Republican rank and file is reaching the point where their own media can no longer control them.
This dynamic caused the weird scene today where Rush Limbaugh was actually arguing against Obama impeachment. The right is starting to hit code red, and not sure if Rush Limbaugh can stop the Republican meltdown.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/06/10/weird-rush-limbaugh-talk-listeners-impeaching-obama.html
Rush Limbaugh is a traitor to the USA. He helped make the Republican party look like idiots, frauds and liars and knows they are going to be dumped in the next election cycle.
DeleteNow, they will all start trying to talk nicely, but watch what they are doing behind the scenes. They are racists and anti women (reproduction and pay).
Helluva way to break up with your girlfriend who you led to think you wanted to marry. This guy is sure turning out to be utter scum.
ReplyDeleteLindsay Mills, 28, is reportedly the girlfriend Edward Snowden left behind when he leaked information about PRISM surveillance
The scumbag traitor who leaked the NSA's secrets thought about marrying his girlfriend and had previously taken her on a romantic break to Hong Kong - where he is now holed up living in fear of arrest.
Stunning ballerina Lindsay Mills, 28, took to her blog on Monday to detail her heartbreak over being suddenly left by 29-year-old Ed Snowden.
'My world has opened and closed all at once. Leaving me lost at sea without a compass,' she writes.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2339202/Lindsay-Mills-girlfriend-John-Snowden-Woman-NSA-leaker-left-member-acrobat-troupe.html
Come on, Lindsay. Do you really want this scumbag now? Did you really know him the way you thought you did? If you asked me, you should thank your lucky stars you dodged this bullet.
DeleteLindsay will look back at this time in her life and be thankful the guy didn't stick w/her. He is a traitor to the USA! She can do much, much better!
DeleteThe NSA began its spying program the second the Patriot Act became law. And, indeed it scooped up lots of people similar to Mr. Snowden, young, impressionable and sorely lacking the ability to see the end result of their obedience to criminal political power. It was we liberals who took Bush Jr. to task shortly after it became law — he and Cheney were running us to war and less privacy as US citizens. But, if I remember clearly, and I do, my Alaska town was more interested in making sure all of us put little decals on our cars supporting the troops and supporting the president. What assholes, now they are up in arms acting as if they had no idea such travesties were occurring. The only thing I fault President Obama with is he wasn’t clear enough regarding the reasons to keep the Patriot Act and addressing this very real problem regarding privacy. As to Palin, what a dip. She had and still has no clue what John McCain and his policies are all about. She just wanted to rub against him and spark her ego. What a neophyte she is and will always be. She is simply ignorant and maintains a very provincial view of the world. (Cue: check out her passport — nothing before 2008. It is a travesty McCain considered her in any way eligible to be VP.)
ReplyDeleteIn the classic fable, a boy cried wolf three times, before the villagers caught on, and stopped listening to him.
ReplyDeleteIn our real world, the Fox has cried wolf, oh, about seven hundred times so far, and the villagers STILL listen.
The people of the old time villages were obviously a lot smarter than those of today.
Every village had their idiot. The miracle of television allows us to give all the idiots their own network.
DeleteJohn Oliver Kicks Off Daily Show Hosting With NSA
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/tv/john-oliver-kicks-off-daily-show-hosting-with-nsa-amish-must-feel-really-fcking-smart-right-now/
Ben Stein and Neil 'Perpetual Sourpuss' Cavuto are cartoon characters - who sold their souls to the devil.
ReplyDeleteWe know happened to the last President who tried to stand up the security services (actually he didn't even get that far - he just talked about it with his brother.
ReplyDelete"Scandal" has become the new "-gate." Sick of all of it.
ReplyDelete