Here Atticus, some examples

Joseph Tracy brook7 at sover.net
Mon Dec 18 14:08:11 CST 2017


50,000 Vietnam vets committed suicide after coming back from that war to defend LBJ’s big dick. I knew some of these devastated young men, so it matters to me whether it does to you or not. LBJ, in case you have fogotten this ancient history was a Democrat.

Dick Nixon and Henry Kissiger should have been jailed for massive war crimes in multiple countries. Instead Kissiger and Nixon’s-favorite-son-Cheney continued their careers of mayhem, murder and theft with a great deal of praise from the press. 

James Risen almost got jailed by the Obama justice department who jailed Jeffrey Sterling without proof. Hardly a major victory for press freedom, though Risen is profoundly admirable as  an investigative journalist. My criticism has not one single sentence that condemns journalism in general. My criticism is that The Times and Post and others ignore the truth from people like Risen to support presidential wars and aplogize later for the lies, never seeming to realize ahead of time the horrible human crimes they are endorsing. 

The stuxnet story was only one part of the press’s coverage of Iran’s nuclear program. The press was in fact repating frequently the lie that Iran was working toward nuclear weapons  while pentagon findings reported by the unmentioned  Sy Hersch showed that this was not so. There never was a weapons program. Our sanctions were criminal and based on lies.  The agreement with Iran was good, but lies are lies. 

The expose of the catholic church was good and one of the things the press does best;  the current belated exposure of sexual predators in media and politics, the defense of gay marriage and human rights are areas whre the press has done good. What this current p-list argument centers around is some folks contention that these things do not come close to offsetting the massive bloodsed of US wars of agrgression supported by mainstream media. 
In the end there is no way to balance these scales, doing good and reporting truth is always important but even Nixon did some good things like detente with Mao and the environmental legislation. He is still responsible for his crimes. 

The waste and abuse in the petagon was also uncovered under Reagan. So far it has not produced diddly squat in actual accountability or change. I don’t know what is the answer but one thing is that media should be less enthusiastic about military spending. They never ask tough questions about this when spending bills are on the table.

  Some important things you left out
You left out the heroic acts of Edward Snowden exposing the mass survellance and lies of the NSA secretly endorsed by Obama.  The exposure of Hillary’s lies by Wikileaks, the undermining of Sanders by the DNC, the exposure of war crimes by Bradley Manning, the exposure of chemical weapons lies by Sy Hersh, or the torture of prisoners in Abu Graibh also by Sy Hersh. Or the history of war crimes in Vietnam by Nick Turse or the story of secret drone bases in Africa by Nick Turse.  The exposure of the CIA drug trafficking to fund the contras by Gary Webb( a story killed by NYT)  The exposure of Kissinger’s crimes by Chris Hitchens and Sy Hersh. The crimes in Yemen by Jeremy Scahill. The   Iraqis and US soldiers poisoned by depleted uranium as  reported by Juan Gonzales. The Pentagon Papers by Dan Ellsberg. 












> On Dec 18, 2017, at 1:07 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I feel like wasting my time with finger exercises today. 
> 
> Since we are back to the Vietnam era via Joseph, then how about that Wa Po
> which brought down the most criminal President before the current one?
> and the NYT on the Pentagon papers publishing? 
> 
> How about James Risen on national secrets in the NYT...I remember that Friday morning...
> was driving long with my loved one and was the passenger...i often read to her......there was that
> story, right hand prime space column...
> 
> David Sanger on the Stuxnet virus. David Sanger on a hell of a lot of secrets. 
> 
> Marty Baron when he was at the Boston Globe and the Spotlight team which brought down
> the whole Catholic hierarchy of Boston--and its power and control.
> 
> How about Bob Woodward (and his assistant) in the Wa Po last December on the Pentagon study
> of Waste, Fraud & Abuse which they commissioned and found to be $25 billion dollars a year (or $125 
> billion for the five years) which THEY BURIED, of course, rather than make public. Which the Post did.
> 
> How about the Wash Post with nine (9) sources outing the now pled-guilty to crimes former National Security Advisor ,
> General Michael Flynn, fired because of it and more and now caught because of it...
> 
> and like that. 

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