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Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 2:41 pm
by seemslikeadream
I'm going to post this so you guys can see how some journalists feel about reporting what the government wants them to and I'm sure they have no worries about small planes or suicides


When journalists attack: Glenn Greenwald takes on Kurt Eichenwald over the NSA story
by Mathew Ingram
SUMMARY:
Some of the tension between Glenn Greenwald and other national-security journalists over the NSA surveillance story broke out into the open on Tuesday in a Twitter fight between the Guardian writer and Kurt Eichenwald of Vanity Fair.

tweet this
Glenn Greenwald, a lawyer and author who writes for The Guardian, has come under fire for his reporting about the National Security Agency’s secret PRISM surveillance program, including criticism that the story was reported in haste and missed (or mis-stated) some crucial details.

On Tuesday, some of this behind-the-scenes drama broke out into the open, during a Twitter battle between Greenwald and Vanity Fair writer Kurt Eichenwald — a debate that throws into sharp relief some important differences between the Guardian writer and some of the others writing about the NSA story.

The argument started when Eichenwald, who has written a number of books about political and social issues, said the NSA program had been around for 10 years and asked when “the fearful” thought it had been used against them (these are excerpts from a Storify collection, which is here, but embedding the Storify widget here doesn’t seem to be working at the moment):

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Eichenwald’s tweet got a response from Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute — who tweets under the handle @normative — and then Greenwald responded to them both (in a comment clearly aimed at Eichenwald), questioning the fact that some writers call themselves “journalists” and then demand secrecy:

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The Vanity Fair writer responded with a series of tweets that mimicked the phrase Greenwald used in his comment — suggesting that the Guardian writer knows nothing about national security, that “having a single source constitutes having knowledge” and that government secrecy is necessary:


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Greenwald then suggested that Eichenwald’s comments made it sound like “you work for the Pentagon,” and that this was clearly the point of the Vanity Fair writer’s approach to national security issues — and questioned his use of NSA officials as sources:

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To this, Eichenwald suggested that just because someone has additional information on a story, it doesn’t mean that they have been “compromised,” and Greenwald accused the Vanity Fair writer of “parroting what gov’t officials tell you and calling it journalism.”

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The Guardian writer said Eichenwald should “go be a spokesman for the Pentagon” and that this would be more honest than his current approach to the topic, and Eichenwald said that Greenwald didn’t understand the reasons for classification rules and that based on his personal attack, “the gloves are off.”
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Greenwald responded that he knew plenty about the NSA, having written about it for seven years, and that he had also written a book about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

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At this point, Eichenwald said the Guardian writer was “arrogant” for arguing that anyone who disagreed with him was beholden to the government, and Greenwald responded in kind:

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While this might seem like just a lot of carping and bickering between two journalists, the issue at the core of this Twitter tiff is clearly Greenwald’s status as an outsider on national security issues — something that I (and others, including journalism professor Jay Rosen) have argued made it possible for him to move to the forefront of the reporting on the Edward Snowden leaks.

That outsider status has also made him a target for those within the traditional national-security establishment, however — a group that Eichenwald would likely fall into — because they perceive him as overstating the Snowden documents or not fully understanding them, and of attacking the government for a program that they believe has a valid purpose.

And perhaps they are also more than a little jealous that Greenwald is getting attention for a story they knew about but didn’t report much on, until the Snowden leaks threw the doors open and let all that sunlight in.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcPcD2AWTMQ

Cenk Uygur ‏@cenkuygur 23h
I'll go further than @ggreenwald - any "journalist" who argues that journalists should help government keep secrets is no journalist at all.

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 2:59 pm
by NeonLX
^^^^^That's the most entertaining reading I've had in a long time (the back & forth between Greenwald and Eichenwald). wald wald wald wald wald...

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:01 pm
by bks
Some background on Kurt Eichenwald. Not sure it helps illuminate anything here.

http://nymag.com/guides/money/2007/39957/

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:03 pm
by seemslikeadream
If your name is Ahmed or Fatima, you live in fear of NSA surveillance
Muslim and Arab Americans have been targets of intrusive monitoring programs even when they 'have nothing to hide'

Anna Lekas Miller
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 19 June 2013 08.30 EDT

American Muslims at an anti-Islamophobia rally in New York. Photograph: Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters
One of the most common responses from the 66% of American citizens in favor of the NSA's data-collection programs is, "I have nothing to hide, so why should I have anything to fear?"

But what if you have nothing to hide but are targeted as a suspect nevertheless?

By that I mean, what if your name is Ahmed, Jihad, Anwar or Abdulrahman? Fatima, Rania, Rasha or Shaima? What if some of your phone calls – which the NSA is tracking with particular interest – are made to loved ones in Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Lebanon or Palestine? What if the language you speak on these phone calls is not English, but Arabic, Urdu or Farsi, not because it is a special jihadist code, but because it is your native language that you still speak in your home.

In other words, what if you are one of America's 1.9 million Arab-Americans or 2.8 million Muslim-Americans?

President Barack Obama defends the NSA's recently revealed spying apparatus as essential to helping to prevent terrorist attacks. But how does the Obama administration define a terrorist or terrorism? In Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia or anywhere else that is designated a "strike zone" by the US government, subject to so-called signature strikes by drones, any military-age man – meaning all men between the ages of 16 and 40 – are potentially categorized as a "militant".

If he is killed in a US-authorized drone strike, his death is recorded as a "militant" death rather than a civilian death. The rhetoric helps to feed the victories of the war on terror as innocent civilian casualties are recorded in history as militant terrorists. A number of said "militants" have spent significant amount of time in the west and many have family there. Sixteen-year-old Abdulrahman al-Awlaki was even a US citizen.

Are these innocent civilians labeled as militants the same as the terrorists Barack Obama is talking about?

Back on United States soil, invasive spying and government surveillance in the name of fighting terrorism is hardly news for Arab and Muslim-American communities. Starting as early as 2001 – immediately following the attacks on 11 September – the FBI began spying on Arab and Muslim communities across the United States, while the NYPD specifically kept tabs on Arab and Muslim communities in New York City. Any mosque, local business, community or student organization run by Arabs or Muslims – or focusing on Arab and Muslim issues – was fair game for informants to lurk, "befriend" patrons and watch. After all, any of them could have been seasoned terrorists planning radical jihad.

Despite more than six years of surveillance, the NYPD program hasn't foiled any terrorist plots, according to the Associated Press reports. The FBI claims some success stories, but it is unclear whether they come from their specific targeting programs. What is clear is that these programs worked to create a pervading sense of depression and anxiety throughout the Muslim and Arab American communities and a blanket distrust of authorities.

Arab and Muslim communities are hardly new to the United States. Once upon a time, the neighborhood surrounding where the World Trade Center would later be built was known as Little Syria. Of course, these communities have since been pushed out of New York's financial district, but still thrive in pockets of Brooklyn, Boston, Chicago, Dearborn and many other American cities.

In the Middle East, most of the time when you mention you are from the United States, rather than spewing aspirations for radical jihad, locals will respond with, "Oh, the United States! My cousin lives in Chicago, do you know him?"

Despite the perception that the United States and the Arab and Muslim world operate in opposition to one another, the two regions are inextricably connected via the Arab and Muslim communities who immigrated, or are the descendants of immigrants to the United States. A snippet of Arabic conversation or a phone call to Syria, Yemen or Pakistan is more likely to be a standard family phone call than the prelude of the demise of western civilization.

After all, most of us really do have nothing to hide – so why is it that we have everything to fear?

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:13 pm
by DrVolin
Could be a Silkwooding.

Catastrophic failure of the rear differential at high speed could cause the car to suddenly jacknife, but the explosion and propulsion group expulsion are just a bit overdone. And what's that about a pet goat?

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:43 pm
by barracuda
Some autos these days are actually engineered to let loose the front end on impact. Ford builds frames that incorporate an engine ejection system designed to reduce g-force of impacts by decreasing the mass of the passenger compartment.

All that said, it seems like if anybody's gonna get whacked, it might be someone like this. But I'd be interested in knowing what he was doing driving around at 4:30 am. Not that it's illegal or anything. Or even suspicious, necessarily.

"Jacknife" seems like an odd term to apply to a passenger car. Does that mean skidding sideways? I thought it applied solely to rigs.

Also: Coroner has not determined if crash victim is Michael Hastings.

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:53 pm
by Canadian_watcher
barracuda » Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:43 pm wrote:
"Jacknife" seems like an odd term to apply to a passenger car. Does that mean skidding sideways? I thought it applied solely to rigs.


yeah, what does this mean when applied to cars? here's what I picture when I hear the term:

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Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:05 pm
by Nordic
Keep in mind that for most "witnesses" in the Los Angeles area, English is a second language. Even for the "non-foreign" ones. In other words, mastery of English is pretty low on the scale here. Ever seen the Jay Leno bits where he goes out and talks to people on the streets? You can blame LAUSD or whatever.

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:09 pm
by Nordic
Any locals able to comment of drug trafficking in the area?[/quote]



Uh .... yeah it's Hollywood. You can find, and do, just about anything just a few blocks north of there. All night long. Lots of illegal after hours clubs, etc. etc.

And he was a 33 year old guy driving a sports car. So what? Why would he be doing 100 mph down Highland at 4:30 in the morning, even coked up or whatever? I mean, I wouldn't rule it out, but the odds seem pretty remote that THIS PARTICULAR GUY who had written about THESE PARTICULAR THINGS which had THAT PARTICULAR REACTION and who was working on ?????????? that was about to come out while Glenn Greenwald et al were about to release GOD ONLY KNOWS WHAT ....

Is it possible he was just some crazy coked up guy speeding down Highland and got into a freak wreck where his entire engine was blown a significant distant from his car and his car blew up like a Roman candle? Yes. It's possible. Even though said make of car has probably never EVER had a wreck like this happen to it before, with this particular result.

It's also possible that the brownian motion of every molecule in my body could suddenly line up in the same direction and I could go hurtling into space. It's possible.

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:27 pm
by barracuda
Nordic » Wed Jun 19, 2013 2:09 pm wrote:It's also possible that the brownian motion of every molecule in my body could suddenly line up in the same direction and I could go hurtling into space. It's possible.


Fuck, I Image that doesn't happen, man.

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:41 pm
by nashvillebrook
Two tweet from Wikileaks:


WikiLeaks @wikileaks
Michael Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him.


WikiLeaks @wikileaks
Michael Hastings death has a very serious non-public complication. We will have more details later.

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 8:34 pm
by seemslikeadream
dupe post

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:04 pm
by Canadian_watcher
nashvillebrook » Wed Jun 19, 2013 6:41 pm wrote:Two tweet from Wikileaks:


WikiLeaks @wikileaks
Michael Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him.


WikiLeaks @wikileaks
Michael Hastings death has a very serious non-public complication. We will have more details later.


this is ominous..
between this and the Greenwald hints I am torn between dread and curiosity...

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:13 pm
by The Consul
He was also working on a piece about Barret Brown, project PM and the hack of Stratford Global Intel.

Re: Journalist Michael Hastings is dead at 33

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:26 pm
by brekin
One thing that may be helpful is whether Hastings had gotten speeding tickets in the past, was into fast motorcycles, etc
I'm a pretty fast driver and could be tempted to open it up 4am in the morning on a deserted straight away in the city.
But if he had been paranoid he may have been extra careful not to run afoul of the law.
Being under a lot of pressure can make people take impulsive risks or make them more conservative.
Did he have a few drinks, did he not drink at all? What did he tell his wife last?

Also whether his Mercedes 250 was a coupe or 4 door sedan could shed some light into what he wanted from a car,
speed racer or just a people mover. Also I don't know what the stop light arrangement is on the street but that and skid marks could
tell us whether he suddenly accelerated and lost control, was accelerating for a long stretch then lost control, "jack knifed" because he braked or didn't brake, etc. Knowing some of this could shed some light on things. None of it would rule out or prove foul play but some further background would
be good.