Taibbi – Time for a National Intervention to Purge our Media Obsessions with Russiagate

Matt Taibbi argues the need for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to reboot respectable journalism after years of Russiagate Insanity:

We have a lot of problems in this country, and there are serious arguments to be had between blue and red about all sorts of issues, from immigration to the wealth gap to abortion and race. But the country is currently paralyzed by distrust of media that runs so deep that it prevents real dialogue, and that situation can’t be resolved until the corporate press swallows its pride and admits the clock has finally run out on its seven years of loony Russia conspiracies.

It’s over, you nitwits. It’s time to stow the Mueller votive candles, cop to the coverage pileup created by years of errors, and start the reconciliation process.

You’ll be tempted to shout, “But Trump, Stop the Steal, QAnon — Derp!” Don’t do it. Don’t be the Japanese soldier still clutching a bayonet to defend the forgotten atoll in 1960. Forget Trump: you need to clean your own house first. Expunging the years of absurd deceptions has to happen, if media companies ever want wide audiences to trust them again, and that starts with admitting the obvious screwups — like this case.

Continue ReadingTaibbi – Time for a National Intervention to Purge our Media Obsessions with Russiagate

Martin Gurri: The Elites Battled the Peripheries at Twitter

Michael Shellenberger and Leighton Woodhouse interview Martin Gurri in their article, "Former Top CIA Analyst Condemns FBI For Censorship & Misinformation "Joe McCarthy would have loved to have that kind of control," says Martin Gurri, author of the seminal 2018 book, "The Revolt of Public," about government influence over Twitter." Here is an excerpt:

For some perspective, we reached out to former CIA analyst Martin Gurri. In 2018 Gurri published a major book, The Revolt of the Public, which argues that the Internet is disrupting modern society and politics as much as the printing press did in the 15th Century. The book influenced us so much that we named our Substack publication after it. (Above, you can see a video that one of us, Leighton, made about it.)

The Internet in general, and social media in particular, argues Gurri, mean that the elites can no longer control the public conversation as they once could. They struggle to “manufacture consent.” Anybody can start a Substack or Twitter account, and anybody can go viral. That technological revolution is resulting in political revolutions.

“What you’re seeing [in the Twitter Files] is a reaction to the revolt of the public,” said Gurri, who concludes that the United States needs a truth and reconciliation commission, similar to the one used in South Africa, to get to the bottom of what happened.

In the end, Gurri doesn’t believe we can return to the pre-Internet era of information control. But the Twitter Files, he notes, reveal just how hard they’ve been trying.

Continue ReadingMartin Gurri: The Elites Battled the Peripheries at Twitter

The Lies Told by Governments and their Allies

George Galloway eloquently states the facts about the about the 2003 invasion of Iraq, smashing the official lies, one by one. Who told these lies? Governments in bed with weapons contractors and people who pretended to be journalists, who actually served as their stenographers. For those thinking that such a big lie is not possible, here's your proof. It's possible for powerful people to tell a big lie in broad daylight and never be called out on it. Or maybe not for 20 years, when it is too late to save hundreds of thousands (or millions) of lives.

The lies we heard regarding Iraq should make us pause whenever a government official looks us straight in the eyes and tells us to trust them. It's possible that they are telling the truth, but governments and their newspapers have a long history of misleading us. We need to always keep this in mind. The Twitter Files are blowing up more big government/corporate/media lies every week and the official silence is deafening and telling.

Continue ReadingThe Lies Told by Governments and their Allies

Who is the Authoritarian?

because I follow these trends closely, but . . . For the past month Matt Taibbi has been reporting in detail that the FBI, DHS, DOD, CIA and other agencies have built a system for mass delivery of censorship requests to firms like Twitter and Facebook. MSNBC has now accused Taibbi of fueling authoritarianism with his reporting. Taibbi responded by listing some of the many pro-censorship advocates currently lurking around at MSNBC, people who call themselves journalists:

John Brennan, former Director of the CIA, now senior intelligence analyst at MSNBC

Frank Figliuzzi, formeer Assistant Director of Counterintelligence at the FBI

Asha Rangappa, former Special Agent for the FBI, specializing in counterintelligence

Nicolle Wallace, former Communications Director for George W. Bush

Jeremy Bash, former Chief of Staff of the CIA

Clint Watts, former FBI counterintelligence agent and MSNBC national security analyst

Chuck Rosenberg, former Acting DEA administrator and senior FBI official

Nayyera Haq, former Senior Director of the White House

Richard Painter, former Chief Ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House

Neal Kaytal, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States

Ben Rhodes, former National Security Advisor to Barack Obama

Barry McCaffrey, former U.S. Army General and Drug Czar, security analyst for NBC and MSNBC

Stephen Twitty, former Lieutenant General of the U.S. Army

Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney

Barbara McQuade, former U.S. Attorney

Glenn Kirschner, former Assistant U.S. Attorney

For more on the abject silence of the left-leaning legacy media, its refusal to acknowledge the obviously disturbing importance of Taibbi's recent reporting on the Twitter Files, consider this episode of Glenn Greenwald's System Update on Rumble. The title: "Media Silent as Twitter Files Expose Flagrant Misconduct in Govt. & Journalism."

Continue ReadingWho is the Authoritarian?