January 30, 2015

"The message has already been received: If you cross the administration with perfectly accurate reporting that they don’t like, you will be attacked and punished."

"You and your sources may be subjected to the kind of surveillance devised for enemies of the state," said Sharyl Attkisson testifying yesterday before Senate Judiciary Committee about the nomination of Loretta Lynch for Attorney General.
Attkisson, who said the federal government has bullied and threatened journalists, recommended to Lynch that if confirmed she should “chart a new path and reject the damaging policies and practices that have been used by others in the past.”

43 comments:

Quaestor said...

... chart a new path...

What are the odds?

campy said...

But all opponents of The Won are racists. It's entirely appropriate to treat them as enemies of the State.

rhhardin said...

It's not an administration problem. It's a news problem.

rhhardin said...

Would Attkisson chuckle along with the guys at the story ending with my boss telling me, "Well, don't talk to women."

That chuckle is what prevents tyranny, not a better class of bosses.

gspencer said...

"Chart a new course?"

Yeah, Lynch, a lifelong race complainer (notwithstanding how AA has benefited her), is sure to get right on it.

Tank said...

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said the hearing was turning into a "soundbite factory for Fox News and conspiracy theorists everywhere," and that the best way to act on dislike for Holder "would be to nominate Lynch as fast as possible."

LOL, no.

Lynch made it quite clear in her testimony that she is unfit to be Attorney General. If confirmed, she will be Holder with a dress.

Bob Ellison said...

I really liked her portrayal of Sissy Spacek in Carrie.

Mark O said...

The classic chilling of a free press. It began with the unprecedented public attack by the President on a cable news network. Then, the subpoenas and naming reporters as co-conspirators, then hacking computers.

It works and it is illegal. Unconstitutional.

Revenant said...

It works and it is illegal. Unconstitutional.

Unfortunately both parties have signed off on letting the executive branch spy on ordinary Americans.

Now we're just quibbling over the motives behind particular acts of espionage.

Jimmy said...

It is a flagrant abuse of Presidential power. the nominee clearly supports current policy.
the problem isn't the policy or the nominee, its the lack of courage and conviction on the part of the House and the Senate.
Yet we hear more about footballs, than real balls.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"Now we're just quibbling over the motives behind particular acts of espionage."
This is a pretty dumb statement, Revenant. Did you know that we spy on the Russians and yet we have the nerve to arrest Russians who spy on us? Unbelievable hypocrisy!
Motive is everything.

Curious George said...

"Revenant said...
Unfortunately both parties have signed off on letting the executive branch spy on ordinary Americans."

What a pile.

Revenant said...



This is a pretty dumb statement, Revenant.

From the following remark, I conclude you decided to try topping it? Congrats on your success.

Did you know that we spy on the Russians and yet we have the nerve to arrest Russians who spy on us? Unbelievable hypocrisy!

Ah, no. Saying "the US government needs to spy on Americans" and then whining when the US government spies on Americans is hypocrisy.

Spying on other countries and doing our best to prevent them from spying on us is just normal international espionage.

Rusty said...

Revenant said...


This is a pretty dumb statement, Revenant.

From the following remark, I conclude you decided to try topping it? Congrats on your success.

Did you know that we spy on the Russians and yet we have the nerve to arrest Russians who spy on us? Unbelievable hypocrisy!

Ah, no. Saying "the US government needs to spy on Americans" and then whining when the US government spies on Americans is hypocrisy.

Spying on other countries and doing our best to prevent them from spying on us is just normal international espionage.

The goal posts are situated at a sitting president using his office to harass people that don't agree with him.
try to punt between those goal posts

Tom said...

I fear we're going to have to fight for a freedom from government at some point. How much security do we need as independent, sovereign people?

Bob Ellison said...

I've been reading Atkisson's book. Almost done.

She comes across as a bit paranoid. Her writing about the hacking of her computer(s) and phone(s) are particularly strange. Power goes on and off? Some guy who shall not be named looks at some log file that she admits she's unable to parse, and says it's proof she's been hacked, and she takes that to the publishing bank?

And she appears to think that vaccines cause autism. That's just plain stupid.

richard mcenroe said...

What exactly has Atkisson reported about this administration that has been proven false?

Bryan C said...

Wha? This administration totally respects journalists. I can't believe Democrats, of all people, would treat reporters as though they were in some sort of police state.

"“It was a police state. It was absurd how heavy handed the capitol police and Democratic staff were in trying to control everywhere the press went,” New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters said in an interview."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/01/at-retreat-dem-staffers-escort-reporters-to-restroom-201895.html

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately both parties have signed off on letting the executive branch spy on ordinary Americans.

If the Republicans don't impeach Obama over this then they are in on it.

MadisonMan said...

If the things she claims are indeed happening, then good reporting on it, exposing it, would seem to me to be a guaranteed Pulitzer.

Bob Ellison said...

MadisonMan, and what if they're not happening?

Attkisson seeks $35 million from the DOJ. That's my money and yours. She is suing you and me.

Anonymous said...

"That's my money and yours. She is suing you and me."

Really? Then where can I go withdraw some of it for my own use?

The whole "Government is just the name we use for the things we choose together" talking point doesn't fly, Bob. Nobody believes you.

Bob Ellison said...

TCom, then who's gonna pay for it if she wins a $35m judgement?

Bob Ellison said...

I'd like some flying Bill Gates angel to float over the country and pay for things for which aren't responsible. That'd be really nice.

tim in vermont said...

exposing it, would seem to me to be a guaranteed Pulitzer.

Ha ha ha ha ha!

One of the primary targets of the long march through the institutions was the prize committees.

tim in vermont said...

If the Republicans don't impeach Obama over this then they are in on it.

Don't throw me into that brier patch!

Bob Ellison said...

Or...do you think Government is not your responsibility? Is this a rightist thing, where Government is completely removed from the population?

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

More troubling is the fact that the politicians are unable to do anything when they themselves are targets of domestic spying.

We can always vote out the politicians. Not clear how we get rid of the NSA and CIA.

tim in vermont said...

is this a righist thing?

Just print the money, right lefties? The bill will never come due. Interest rates will always be near zero and inflation will never come back!

tim in vermont said...

Why we haven't just written a check for a billion dollars to every American is beyond me. Think of it! We could all have private jets, our own sports teams, whatever we wanted.

Treasury can just adjust the zeros on the T-Bill sales.

No bubble is possible.

tim in vermont said...

Glorious government is vanguard of dictatorship of proletariat!

All I want from the govt is to leave me alone, and to provide a few simple services for citizens. That makes me a Nazi.

LYNNDH said...

Fat chance of that happening. It will just get worse.

Anonymous said...

Remember, you can never take the Government to court and sue for damages, because you're the Goverment, according to Bob.

Well, that's not quite accurate. You get to be the Government when it comes time for the pound of flesh. You aren't so much the Government when it becomes time to, y'know, decide where any of it is spent.

And yes, Bob. It's because I'm somehow responsible for the Government (Can you explain how I have responsibility for this Govt?) and yet deny paying my fair share.

Riiiiiight.

bleh said...

Bob Ellison believes in absolute sovereign immunity. The government can effectively do whatever it pleases, since he thinks the government should never have to compensate its victims.

Michael K said...

"Ah, no. Saying "the US government needs to spy on Americans" and then whining when the US government spies on Americans is hypocrisy."

So, I assume you agree that we should not surveil Mosques ?

Mick said...

The Usurper and his fellow travelers certainly have the useful idiot media at their backs, protecting them, not only by reporting falsities,and practically blowing the Usurper, but by not reporting anything negative, or letting all negative news fall through the rabbit hole.
I witnessed lying judges (the judiciary also participates in the protection) and an ignoring media, who would not report facts, but only attacked me, with my own eyes. That is why the Usurper was allowed to happen--- that and an apathetic public, and a useful idiot academia, who for the most part are political twins of the Usurper.
The nexus of the IRS and the Usurper administration is obvious, as the IRS certainly targeted certain groups hostile to the Usurper, and also participated in the scam that is Obamacare, by making up a rule against the plain text of the statute. The IRS said that Federal subsidies were available in states that did not set up their own exchange (so why does a state need to set up an exchange in the first place??--- the crux of King v. Burwell). Crickets from the media.
Benghazi--- where an ambassador was killed, and the Usurper lied for weeks afterward? CRICKETS.
There is no law when the executor of the law is an illegal entity.

Bob Ellison said...

Bob Ellison believes there ain't no free lunch.

bleh said...

Bob Ellison believes you should be quiet and accept whatever lunch the government shoves down your throat, even if it makes you choke to death.

harrogate said...

What a clownship the GOP has become. It is remarkable.

Anonymous said...

I'm at odds with the whole Atkinson thing.

If it's true, it seriously worries me. So much so, that I'd really like to think it's not true. Like Bob said, maybe she is just paranoid and weird?

But, it's not the part of her being spied on by the administration that so deeply worries me. Yes, that's an issue.

The larger issue in my mind is, if it's true, where are all the other reporters and people in her field who also have had this happen to them? You'd think if it were true, we'd see a lot more reporters and journalists coming forward with similar stories. Where are they?

The implications of them not coming forward is why I don't want to believe this story is true.

Michael The Magnificent said...

Sometimes I wonder what it was like living in Nazi Germany, or East Berlin, or Stalin's Russia.

But lately I don't have to wonder at all.

Mark said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I'm inclined to believe the worst of Obama and his henchmen, but Atkisson doesn't inspire much confidence in her allegations. Should be a higher bar for testifying before Congress on such nebulous accusations.