.
2/25/17, "Trump Ruled the Tabloid Media. Washington Is a Different Story." NY Times, Glenn Thrush and Michael M. Grynbaum
"Mr. Trump may
be noisier and more confrontational than many of his predecessors, but
he is being force-fed lessons all presidents eventually learn — that the
iron triangle of the Washington press corps, West Wing staff and
federal bureaucracy is simply too powerful to bully....(parag. 17)
This New York-iest of politicians, now an idiosyncratic,
write-your-own-rules president, has stumbled into the most conventional
of Washington traps: believing he can master an entrenched political
press corps with far deeper connections to the permanent government of
federal law enforcement and executive department officials than he has."...(parag. 3)
"A version of this article appears in print on February 26, 2017, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Ruled the Tabloid Media. Washington Is a Different Story."
.............................
Added: The tip of the Deep State's spear:
3/1/17, "How the Press Serves the Deep State," Consortium News, Daniel Lazare
"Exclusive: Mainstream U.S. media is proud to be the
Deep State’s tip of the spear pinning President Trump to the wall over
unproven allegations about Russia and his calls for detente, a rare
point where he makes sense."...
"Iron triangle? Permanent government? In its tale of how Trump went
from being a favorite of the New York Post and Daily News to fodder for
the big-time Washington news media, the Times seems to be going out of
its way to confirm dark paranoid fears of a “deep state” lurking behind
the scenes and dictating what political leaders can and cannot do. “Too
powerful to bully” by a “write-your-own-rules president” is another way
of saying that the permanent government wants to do things its way and
will not put up with a president telling it to take a different
approach.
Entrenched interests are nothing new, of course. But a major news outlet bragging about collaborating with such elements in order to
cripple a legally established government is. The Times was beside itself
with outrage when top White House adviser Steve Bannon described the
media as “the opposition party.” But
one can’t help but wonder what all the fuss is about since an alliance
aimed at hamstringing a presidency is nothing if not oppositional.
If so, a few things are worth keeping in mind. One is that Trump was
elected, even if only by an Eighteenth-Century relic known as the
Electoral College, whereas the deep state, permanent government, or
whatever else you want to call it was not. Where Trump gave speeches,
kissed babies, and otherwise sought out the vote, the deep state did
nothing. To the degree this country is still a democracy, that must
count for something. So if the conflict between president and the deep
state ever comes down to a question of legitimacy, there is no doubt who
will come out ahead: The Donald....
Basically, they’ve been seized by the idée fixe that Russia
is a predator state that hacks elections, threatens U.S. national
security, and has now accomplished the neat trick of planting a Kremlin
puppet in the Oval Office. It doesn’t matter that evidence is lacking or
that the thesis defies common sense. It’s what they believe, what their
editors believe, and what the deep state believes too (or at least
pretends to). So the purpose of the Feb. 16 press conference was to pin
Trump down as to whether he also believes the Russia-did-it thesis and
pillory him for deviating from the party line....
The press played straight into Trump’s hands, all but providing him
with his best lines. “Well, I guess one of the reasons I’m here today is
to tell you the whole Russian thing, that’s a ruse,” he responded at
one point. “That’s a ruse. And by the way, it would be great if we could
get along with Russia, just so you understand that. Now tomorrow,
you’ll say, ‘Donald Trump wants to get along with Russia, this is
terrible.’ It’s not terrible. It’s good.”
The prose may not be very polished, but the sentiments are
unassailable. Ditto Trump’s statement a few minutes later that “false
reporting by the media, by you people, the false, horrible, fake
reporting makes it much harder to make a deal with Russia.
… And that’s a
shame because if we could get along with Russia – and by the way, China
and Japan and everyone – if we could get along, it would be a positive
thing, not a negative thing.”
If the Washington Post and the Times do not agree that bogus
assertions about unauthorized contacts with Russia are not poisoning the atmosphere, they should explain very clearly why not. They should
also explain what they hope to accomplish with a showdown with Russia
and why it will not be a step toward World War III.
But they won’t, of course. The media (with encouragement from parts
of the U.S. government) are working themselves into a fit of outrage
against Vladimir Putin just as, in past years, they did against Daniel
Ortega, Manuel Noriega, Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, Saddam
Hussein (again), Muammar Gaddafi, Bashar al-Assad, and Viktor
Yanukovych. In each instance, the outcome has been war, and so far the
present episode shows all signs of heading in the same direction as
well.
Reporters may be clueless, but working-class Americans aren’t. They
don’t want a war because they're the ones who would have to fight it [and watch their tax dollars funneled to war profiteers]. So
they’re not unsympathetic to Trump and all the more inclined to give
the yapping media short shrift....
Today’s liberal
media are obliging Trump by behaving in a way that is even sillier than
usual and well ahead of schedule to boot.
A Fragile Meme
The anti-Russia meme, meanwhile, rests on the thinnest of foundations. The argument that Russia hacked the Democratic National
Committee and thereby tipped the election to Trump is based on a single report
by CrowdStrike, the California-based cyber-security firm hired by the
DNC to look into the mass email leak. The document is festooned with
head-spinning techno-jargon....
Impressive? Not to independent tech experts who have already begun
taking potshots. Sam Biddle, The Intercept's extremely smart tech
writer, notes that CrowdStrike claims to have proved that Cozy Bear and
Fancy Bear are Russian because they left behind Cyrillic comments in
their “metadata” along with the name “Felix Edmundovich,” also in
Cyrillic, an obvious reference to Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, founder
of the Cheka, as the Soviet political police were originally known.
But, Biddle observes, there’s an obvious contradiction:
“Would a group whose ‘tradecraft is superb’ with ‘operational security
second to none’ really leave behind the name of a Soviet spy chief
imprinted on a document it sent to American journalists? Would these
groups really be dumb enough to leave Cyrillic comments on these
documents? … It’s very hard to buy the argument that the Democrats were
hacked by one of the most sophisticated, diabolical foreign
intelligence services in history, and that we know this because they
screwed up over and over again.”
Indeed, John McAfee, founder of McAfee Associates and developer of
the first commercial anti-virus software, casts doubt on the entire
enterprise, wondering whether it is possible to identify a hacker at
all. “If I were the Chinese,” he told TV interviewer Larry King in late
December, “and I wanted to make it look like the Russians did it, I
would use Russian language within the code, I would use Russian
techniques of breaking into organizations. … If it looks like the Russians did it, then I can guarantee you: it was not the Russians.” (Quote starts at 4:30.)
This may be too sweeping. Nonetheless, if the press really wanted to
get to the bottom of what the Russians are doing, they would not begin
with the question of what Trump knew and when he knew it.
They would begin, rather, with the question of what we know and how we can
be sure. It’s the question that the press should have asked during the
run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but failed to. But it’s the
question that reporters should be asking now before the conflict with
Russia spins out of control, with consequences that are potentially even
more horrendous.
It’s not easy making Donald Trump seem like a peacenik, but that’s what the billionaire’s press has done."
.................
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Populism isn't the Problem: The Problem Is The Status Quo Has Failed. The term populism is used to mock and marginalize troglodytes not among the status quo's Protected Elite-Charles Hugh Smith
.
Nov. 27, 2017, "The Problem Isn't Populism: The Problem Is The Status Quo Has Failed," zero hedge
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog
"The top 5% who have benefited so immensely from the consolidation of wealth and power cannot confess the status quo has failed the bottom 95%.
The corporate/billionaires' media would have us believe that the crisis we face is populism, a code word for every ugly manifestation of fascism known to humanity. By invoking populism as the cause of our distemper, the mainstream media is implicitly suggesting that the problem is "bad people"--those whose own failings manifest in an attraction to fascism. If we can successfully marginalize these troubled troglodytes, then our problem, populism, would go away and the wonderfulness, equality and widespread prosperity of pre-populist America will be restored.
The problem isn't populism--the problem is the status quo has failed 95% of the populace. Life isn't wonderful, prosperous and filled with expansive equality except in the Protected Elite of the top 5% of technocrats, corporate executives, tenured academics, bureaucrats, financiers, bankers, lobbyists and wealthy (or soon to be wealthy) politicos....
Housing valuations have become so detached from what people earn that even the top 5% has trouble qualifying for a jumbo mortgage without the help of the Bank of Mom and Dad or the family trust fund.
The bottom 95% need a time machine to return to the days when college tuition and fees were semi-affordable--say, 30 years ago.
The bottom 95% also need a time machine to return to a time when they could afford healthcare insurance without government subsidies--a generation ago, or better yet, two generations ago.
In an age where phantom wealth sprouts like poisoned mushrooms from speculative bubbles, the bottom 95% need a time machine that goes back 8 years so they buy the S and P 500 at 670, or better yet, buy bitcoin for $1 or $10, just to make up the loss in the purchasing power of their wages.
Populism is the dismissive propaganda term that the media uses to distract us from the real cause of our problems: the total failure of the status quo, the corrupt, predatory, exploitive, inefficient, rentier pay-to-play-"democracy" cartel-state hierarchy that has failed the bottom 95%.
The natural response to this abandonment, betrayal and parade of propaganda is labeled populism as a means of blaming the victims: it's too bad you couldn't make it into the ranks of the Protected Elite, but that failure is yours, not the system's.
The Protected Elite thinks the system works just fine because it works so splendidly for them. The Protected Elite staff the corporate media, think tanks, philanthro-capitalist foundations, universities and the top ranks of the federal bureaucracies that issue statistics and regulations--in other words, all the organs of propaganda that are constantly assuring us we live in super-prosperous times and a vibrant democracy.
How many Americans from Dollar-Store America do you find in the editorial staff of the mainstream corporate media? The answer is of course near-zero. The bottom 95% have no representation in the mainstream media.
Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio recently proposed that there are two U.S. economies: the one inhabited by the bottom 60% that have gone nowhere and own very little in the way of assets, and the upper 40% that have some exposure to the gains created by central-bank inflated asset bubbles.
Ray Dalio: "This Is The Most Important Economic, Political And Social Issue Of Our Time".
If we examine household income and wealth, we have to conclude that only the top 20% have any exposure to the gains generated by asset bubbles, and only the top 10% have logged gains worthy of mention. And of the top 10%, only the top 5% have actually done OK. (see charts below)
And of the top 5%, only the top 1% have really done well for themselves. And of the top 1%, the big gains have flowed to the top 1/100th of 1%.
This is why I use the 95%/5% divide: only the top 5% inhabit the status quo is working great economy. The bottom 80% live in Dollar-Store America, and the "middle class" between 80% and 95% maintain the pretensions of doing well by shopping at Target and charging vacations on their credit cards.
Any group that doesn't accept the status quo is working great narrative soon finds a populist target drawn on their backs. In our pay-to-play-"democracy", wealth casts the only votes that count, and any movement that threatens this cozy arrangement of private wealth and state power/privilege is immediately attacked as the Monster Id of Society, i.e. populism.
The top 5% who have benefited so immensely from the consolidation of wealth and power cannot confess the status quo has failed the bottom 95%. And so they label anyone who refutes or resists their narrative a populist to marginalize and demonize any political threats to their cozy cartel-state concentration of wealth and power."
* * *
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-27/problem-isnt-populism-problem-status-quo-has-failed
...................
Nov. 27, 2017, "The Problem Isn't Populism: The Problem Is The Status Quo Has Failed," zero hedge
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog
"The top 5% who have benefited so immensely from the consolidation of wealth and power cannot confess the status quo has failed the bottom 95%.
The corporate/billionaires' media would have us believe that the crisis we face is populism, a code word for every ugly manifestation of fascism known to humanity. By invoking populism as the cause of our distemper, the mainstream media is implicitly suggesting that the problem is "bad people"--those whose own failings manifest in an attraction to fascism. If we can successfully marginalize these troubled troglodytes, then our problem, populism, would go away and the wonderfulness, equality and widespread prosperity of pre-populist America will be restored.
The problem isn't populism--the problem is the status quo has failed 95% of the populace. Life isn't wonderful, prosperous and filled with expansive equality except in the Protected Elite of the top 5% of technocrats, corporate executives, tenured academics, bureaucrats, financiers, bankers, lobbyists and wealthy (or soon to be wealthy) politicos....
Housing valuations have become so detached from what people earn that even the top 5% has trouble qualifying for a jumbo mortgage without the help of the Bank of Mom and Dad or the family trust fund.
The bottom 95% need a time machine to return to the days when college tuition and fees were semi-affordable--say, 30 years ago.
The bottom 95% also need a time machine to return to a time when they could afford healthcare insurance without government subsidies--a generation ago, or better yet, two generations ago.
In an age where phantom wealth sprouts like poisoned mushrooms from speculative bubbles, the bottom 95% need a time machine that goes back 8 years so they buy the S and P 500 at 670, or better yet, buy bitcoin for $1 or $10, just to make up the loss in the purchasing power of their wages.
Populism is the dismissive propaganda term that the media uses to distract us from the real cause of our problems: the total failure of the status quo, the corrupt, predatory, exploitive, inefficient, rentier pay-to-play-"democracy" cartel-state hierarchy that has failed the bottom 95%.
The natural response to this abandonment, betrayal and parade of propaganda is labeled populism as a means of blaming the victims: it's too bad you couldn't make it into the ranks of the Protected Elite, but that failure is yours, not the system's.
The Protected Elite thinks the system works just fine because it works so splendidly for them. The Protected Elite staff the corporate media, think tanks, philanthro-capitalist foundations, universities and the top ranks of the federal bureaucracies that issue statistics and regulations--in other words, all the organs of propaganda that are constantly assuring us we live in super-prosperous times and a vibrant democracy.
How many Americans from Dollar-Store America do you find in the editorial staff of the mainstream corporate media? The answer is of course near-zero. The bottom 95% have no representation in the mainstream media.
Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio recently proposed that there are two U.S. economies: the one inhabited by the bottom 60% that have gone nowhere and own very little in the way of assets, and the upper 40% that have some exposure to the gains created by central-bank inflated asset bubbles.
Ray Dalio: "This Is The Most Important Economic, Political And Social Issue Of Our Time".
If we examine household income and wealth, we have to conclude that only the top 20% have any exposure to the gains generated by asset bubbles, and only the top 10% have logged gains worthy of mention. And of the top 10%, only the top 5% have actually done OK. (see charts below)
And of the top 5%, only the top 1% have really done well for themselves. And of the top 1%, the big gains have flowed to the top 1/100th of 1%.
This is why I use the 95%/5% divide: only the top 5% inhabit the status quo is working great economy. The bottom 80% live in Dollar-Store America, and the "middle class" between 80% and 95% maintain the pretensions of doing well by shopping at Target and charging vacations on their credit cards.
Any group that doesn't accept the status quo is working great narrative soon finds a populist target drawn on their backs. In our pay-to-play-"democracy", wealth casts the only votes that count, and any movement that threatens this cozy arrangement of private wealth and state power/privilege is immediately attacked as the Monster Id of Society, i.e. populism.
The top 5% who have benefited so immensely from the consolidation of wealth and power cannot confess the status quo has failed the bottom 95%. And so they label anyone who refutes or resists their narrative a populist to marginalize and demonize any political threats to their cozy cartel-state concentration of wealth and power."
* * *
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-27/problem-isnt-populism-problem-status-quo-has-failed
...................
We finally found something congress and its media pals won't leak: continuing House and Senate sexual abuse and theft of $17 million taxpayer dollars. Illegal intelligence leaks happen 24/7 but complete silence about sex slush fund-Nolte, Heilner...(CNN could look into this with the free time it now has by backing out of the White House Christmas Party)
.
"Cokie (Roberts) is still not being asked to names names." Maybe CNN could look into this matter with the free time it now has by backing out of the White House Christmas Party later this week.
..................
11/28/17, "NPR’s Cokie Roberts: Press Corps Covered Up Congressional Sexual Misconduct ‘For Years’," Breitbart, John Nolte
"Appearing on ABC’s This Week, National Public Radio’s Cokie Roberts admitted that “for years” the female press corps has covered up sexual misconduct on Capitol Hill.
While speaking about John Conyers and Al Franken, two Democrats facing numerous sexual misconduct allegations, Roberts let this bomb matter-of-factly drop on the left-wing Sunday show, “I mean, we all talked about for years: ‘Don’t get in the elevator with him,’ you know, and the whole every-female in the press corps knew that, right, don’t get in elevator with him.”
Which “him” is Roberts referring to? Conyers? Franken? Are there others?
But back up just a moment– According to Roberts, “every” woman in the press corps knew that there was sexual misconduct going on in congress, knew that it was so brazen and so permissive that not even a female reporter was safe on an elevator, and NO ONE REPORTED IT?
No one bothered to inform the public?
How do things get so brazen that a Conyers or a Franken or a whomever feels perfectly safe groping a journalist on an elevator? I will tell you how — when said groper knows there will be no accountability for his behavior.
.
I am 51-years-old, and I have seen a bit of the world; I have seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion and I have watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. But something I have never seen is a man grope a woman without her consent.
Yet, according to (Cokie) Roberts, our wonderful, glorious, utterly useless press corps knew for years this was going on in congress and covered it up, said nothing, let it slide, ENABLED IT, and through their silence, encouraged it
.
What else are they covering up? What else are they allowing to happen in order to protect scumbags?
Other than the fact that our elites suck, this is my theory…
As we all know, Cokie Roberts is a lefty, as is 99% of the female press corps. Does anyone doubt, then, that the primary elevator gropers are/were Democrats, are/wereTed Kennedy/Franken/Conyers-types who voted the way in which the females press corps wanted them to vote, so a little snatch of media-bootie in an elevator was considered a small price to pay for abortion-on-demand?
And this is why, in my opinion, congress has gotten away with covering up these taxpayer-funded sexual harassment settlements for two decades. The media has known about this. Of course they have. Nothing was reported, though, because the names on that list are primarily Democrat “icons” like Conyers.
Even now, even when we know about this secret fund, the media’s interest in the story, in exposing the wrongdoers, is practically non-existent.
This should be the biggest story in the world, the narrative dominating everything else. It is all there — a $17 million slush fund, cover ups, corruption, sex — but the media does not really care. Just last week, the left-wing Politico was downplaying this outrage, hoping to wrist-flick it all away. And I think we all know why…
Democrats sure got it good. So good, in fact, Cokie is still not being asked to names names."
......................
Added:
11/27/17, "We've finally found something politicians and reporters have considered important enough to keep secret for decades," American Thinker, Jack Hellner
"Americans should pay close attention to the scandal that didn't leak.
Information from the Mueller investigation leaks like a sieve. Information from intelligence committees and intelligence agencies has a way of showing up in newspapers....
The illegal unmasking of information around people who know Trump is rampant.
Ben Rhodes has said the White House could plant lies about the Iran deal with selective reporters, and they would just print what they were told.
We know from DNC leaked emails that there were reporters that would just print what Democrats allowed.
Fusion GPS was able to plant false information with the media that was paid for by Democrats, and the media just reported it as genuine intelligence....
But no one seems to have ever leaked a story or reported a story about an over 20-year-old slush fund where politicians paid off people who complained – with taxpayers' money. We don't know how the fund was set up, where the appropriation came from, who approved each payoff and how the amount was decided, who drew up the documents that required secrecy, and whom the complaints were about.
Why will Congress leak so many classified documents but nothing about the slush fund?
So long as nobody is watching, politicians from both parties do not care about using taxpayer money to pay off people, nor do they actually care about anyone who was abused.
Otherwise, there would have been many expulsions relating to the claims paid. They care about protecting themselves – nothing else.
The swamp is extremely deep. It consists of politicians from both parties, bureaucrats, a bevy of reporters who will report what they are told, lobbyists, and others. They have amassed a great deal of power, and they will not let an outsider take that away.
Reporters should be digging deep into this slush fund, but they seem to have as much interest in that as they do in who killed Seth Rich and why."
..................
"Cokie (Roberts) is still not being asked to names names." Maybe CNN could look into this matter with the free time it now has by backing out of the White House Christmas Party later this week.
..................
11/28/17, "NPR’s Cokie Roberts: Press Corps Covered Up Congressional Sexual Misconduct ‘For Years’," Breitbart, John Nolte
"Appearing on ABC’s This Week, National Public Radio’s Cokie Roberts admitted that “for years” the female press corps has covered up sexual misconduct on Capitol Hill.
While speaking about John Conyers and Al Franken, two Democrats facing numerous sexual misconduct allegations, Roberts let this bomb matter-of-factly drop on the left-wing Sunday show, “I mean, we all talked about for years: ‘Don’t get in the elevator with him,’ you know, and the whole every-female in the press corps knew that, right, don’t get in elevator with him.”
Which “him” is Roberts referring to? Conyers? Franken? Are there others?
But back up just a moment– According to Roberts, “every” woman in the press corps knew that there was sexual misconduct going on in congress, knew that it was so brazen and so permissive that not even a female reporter was safe on an elevator, and NO ONE REPORTED IT?
No one bothered to inform the public?
How do things get so brazen that a Conyers or a Franken or a whomever feels perfectly safe groping a journalist on an elevator? I will tell you how — when said groper knows there will be no accountability for his behavior.
.
I am 51-years-old, and I have seen a bit of the world; I have seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion and I have watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. But something I have never seen is a man grope a woman without her consent.
Yet, according to (Cokie) Roberts, our wonderful, glorious, utterly useless press corps knew for years this was going on in congress and covered it up, said nothing, let it slide, ENABLED IT, and through their silence, encouraged it
.
What else are they covering up? What else are they allowing to happen in order to protect scumbags?
Other than the fact that our elites suck, this is my theory…
As we all know, Cokie Roberts is a lefty, as is 99% of the female press corps. Does anyone doubt, then, that the primary elevator gropers are/were Democrats, are/wereTed Kennedy/Franken/Conyers-types who voted the way in which the females press corps wanted them to vote, so a little snatch of media-bootie in an elevator was considered a small price to pay for abortion-on-demand?
And this is why, in my opinion, congress has gotten away with covering up these taxpayer-funded sexual harassment settlements for two decades. The media has known about this. Of course they have. Nothing was reported, though, because the names on that list are primarily Democrat “icons” like Conyers.
Even now, even when we know about this secret fund, the media’s interest in the story, in exposing the wrongdoers, is practically non-existent.
This should be the biggest story in the world, the narrative dominating everything else. It is all there — a $17 million slush fund, cover ups, corruption, sex — but the media does not really care. Just last week, the left-wing Politico was downplaying this outrage, hoping to wrist-flick it all away. And I think we all know why…
Democrats sure got it good. So good, in fact, Cokie is still not being asked to names names."
......................
Added:
11/27/17, "We've finally found something politicians and reporters have considered important enough to keep secret for decades," American Thinker, Jack Hellner
"Americans should pay close attention to the scandal that didn't leak.
Information from the Mueller investigation leaks like a sieve. Information from intelligence committees and intelligence agencies has a way of showing up in newspapers....
The illegal unmasking of information around people who know Trump is rampant.
Ben Rhodes has said the White House could plant lies about the Iran deal with selective reporters, and they would just print what they were told.
We know from DNC leaked emails that there were reporters that would just print what Democrats allowed.
Fusion GPS was able to plant false information with the media that was paid for by Democrats, and the media just reported it as genuine intelligence....
But no one seems to have ever leaked a story or reported a story about an over 20-year-old slush fund where politicians paid off people who complained – with taxpayers' money. We don't know how the fund was set up, where the appropriation came from, who approved each payoff and how the amount was decided, who drew up the documents that required secrecy, and whom the complaints were about.
Why will Congress leak so many classified documents but nothing about the slush fund?
So long as nobody is watching, politicians from both parties do not care about using taxpayer money to pay off people, nor do they actually care about anyone who was abused.
Otherwise, there would have been many expulsions relating to the claims paid. They care about protecting themselves – nothing else.
The swamp is extremely deep. It consists of politicians from both parties, bureaucrats, a bevy of reporters who will report what they are told, lobbyists, and others. They have amassed a great deal of power, and they will not let an outsider take that away.
Reporters should be digging deep into this slush fund, but they seem to have as much interest in that as they do in who killed Seth Rich and why."
..................
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
FBI offered to assist Hillary campaign with computer security, warned that unidentified spear phishers were trying to gain access. But Hillary campaign declined FBI offer--Michael Isikoff, July 2016...DNC paid for professional security assessment then failed to follow any of its advice thus allowing malware to remain on its system almost a year-Bloomberg, July 2016
.
In March 2016 FBI warned Hillary campaign in Brooklyn that unidentified "spear phishing" email scammers were attempting to gain access to its computers. FBI offered assistance, asked for access to Hillary's system to help trace the spear phishers. Unfortunately, the Hillary campaign declined FBI's help claiming it was too intrusive. Isikoff: "The Brooklyn warning also could raise new questions about why the campaign and the DNC didn’t take the matter more seriously."...
7/28/2016, "FBI warned Clinton campaign last spring of cyberattack," Michael Isikoff, Yahoo News
"The FBI warned the Clinton campaign that it was a [potential] target of a cyberattack last March (2016), just weeks before the Democratic National Committee discovered it had been penetrated by hackers it now believes were working for Russian intelligence, two sources who have been briefed on the matter told Yahoo News.
In a meeting with senior officials at the campaign’s Brooklyn headquarters, FBI agents laid out concerns that cyberhackers had used so-called spear-phishing emails as part of an attempt to penetrate the campaign’s computers, the sources said. One of the sources said agents conducting a national security investigation asked the Clinton campaign to turn over internal computer logs as well as the personal email addresses of senior campaign officials.
But the campaign, through its lawyers, declined to provide the data, deciding that the FBI’s request for sensitive personal and campaign information data was too broad and intrusive, the source said.
A second source who had been briefed on the matter and who confirmed the Brooklyn meeting said agents provided no specific information to the campaign about the identity of the cyberhackers or whether they were associated with a foreign government. The source said the campaign was already aware of attempts to penetrate its computers and had taken steps to thwart them, emphasizing that there is still no evidence that the campaign’s computers had actually been successfully penetrated.
But the potential that the intruders were associated with a foreign government should have come as no surprise to the Clinton campaign, said several sources knowledgeable about the investigation. Chinese intelligence hackers were widely reported to have penetrated both the campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain in 2008.
The Brooklyn warning also could raise new questions about why the campaign and the DNC didn’t take the matter more seriously. It came just four months after the DNC had also been contacted by FBI agents alerting its information technology specialists about a cyberattack on its computers, the sources told Yahoo News. As with the warning to the Clinton campaign, the FBI initially provided no details to the DNC....
By mid-May, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was telling reporters that US. Intelligence officials “already had some indications” of hacks into political campaigns that were likely linked to foreign governments and that “we’ll probably have more.”
In a talk at the Aspen Security Forum Thursday, Clapper said the U.S. government is not “quite ready yet” to “make a public call” on who was behind the cyberassault on the DNC, but he suggested one of “the usual suspects” is likely to blame. “We don’t know enough [yet] to…ascribe a motivation, regardless of who it may have been,” Clapper said....
Clapper is reportedly among a number of U.S. intelligence officials who have resisted calls to publicly blame the Russians, viewing it as likely the kind of activity that most intelligence agencies engage in. “[I’m] taken aback a bit by…the hyperventilation over this,” Clapper said during his Aspen appearance, adding in a sarcastic tone, “I’m shocked somebody did some hacking. That’s never happened before.”...
The FBI’s request to turn over internal computer logs and personal email information came at an awkward moment for the Clinton campaign, said the source, familiar with the campaign’s internal deliberations. At the time, the FBI was still actively and aggressively conducting a criminal investigation into whether Clinton had compromised national security secrets by sending classified emails through a private computer server in the basement of her home in Chappaqua, N.Y. There were already press reports, to date unconfirmed, that the investigation might have expanded to include dealings relating to the Clinton Foundation. Campaign officials had reason to fear that any production of campaign computer logs and personal email accounts could be used to further such a probe. At the Brooklyn meeting, FBI agents emphasized that the request for data was unrelated to the separate probe into Clinton’s email server.
But after deliberating about the bureau’s request, and in light of the lack of details provided by the FBI and the absence of a subpoena, the Clinton campaign chose to turn down the bureau's request, the source said."
10/28/2016, "How Podesta's Gmail Account Was Breached," the smokinggun.com
7/26/2016, "Democrats Ignored Cybersecurity Warnings Before Theft," Bloomberg, Michael Riley [As of 11/27/2017, this article requires subscription]
"The Democratic National Committee was warned last fall that its computer network was susceptible to attacks but didn’t follow the security advice it was given, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The missed opportunity is another blow to party officials already embarrassed by the theft and public disclosure of e-mails that have disrupted their presidential nominating convention in Philadelphia and led their chairwoman to resign.
Computer security consultants hired by the DNC made dozens of recommendations after a two-month review, the people said.
Following the advice, which would typically include having specialists hunt for intruders on the network, might have alerted party officials that hackers had been lurking in their network for weeks -- hackers who would stay for nearly a year. Instead, officials didn’t discover the breach until April (2016)....
Security Flaws
The review found problems ranging from an out-of-date firewall to a lack of advanced malware detection technology on individual computers, according to two of the people familiar with the matter.
The firm recommended taking special precautions to protect any financial information related to donors and internal communications including e-mails, these people said.
The DNC paid $60,000 for the assessment, according to federal filings....
Missed Warnings
The security review commissioned by the DNC was perhaps the most detailed of a series of missed warnings. Officials at both the Republican National Committee and the DNC received government briefings on espionage and hacking threats beginning last year (2015), and then received a more specific briefing this spring, according to another person familiar with the matter.
Cyber-security assessments can be a mixed blessing. Legal experts say some general counsels advise organizations against doing such assessments if they don’t have the ability to quickly fix any problems the auditors find, because customers and shareholders could have cause to sue if an organization knowingly disregards such warnings."...
10/29/2016, "Democrats should ask Clinton to step aside," Chicago Tribune, John Kass, opinion
"It's obvious the American political system is breaking down.
It's been crumbling for some time now, and the establishment elite know it and they're properly frightened. Donald Trump, the vulgarian at their gates, is a symptom, not a cause. Hillary Clinton and husband Bill are both cause and effect....
In March 2016 FBI warned Hillary campaign in Brooklyn that unidentified "spear phishing" email scammers were attempting to gain access to its computers. FBI offered assistance, asked for access to Hillary's system to help trace the spear phishers. Unfortunately, the Hillary campaign declined FBI's help claiming it was too intrusive. Isikoff: "The Brooklyn warning also could raise new questions about why the campaign and the DNC didn’t take the matter more seriously."...
7/28/2016, "FBI warned Clinton campaign last spring of cyberattack," Michael Isikoff, Yahoo News
"The FBI warned the Clinton campaign that it was a [potential] target of a cyberattack last March (2016), just weeks before the Democratic National Committee discovered it had been penetrated by hackers it now believes were working for Russian intelligence, two sources who have been briefed on the matter told Yahoo News.
In a meeting with senior officials at the campaign’s Brooklyn headquarters, FBI agents laid out concerns that cyberhackers had used so-called spear-phishing emails as part of an attempt to penetrate the campaign’s computers, the sources said. One of the sources said agents conducting a national security investigation asked the Clinton campaign to turn over internal computer logs as well as the personal email addresses of senior campaign officials.
But the campaign, through its lawyers, declined to provide the data, deciding that the FBI’s request for sensitive personal and campaign information data was too broad and intrusive, the source said.
A second source who had been briefed on the matter and who confirmed the Brooklyn meeting said agents provided no specific information to the campaign about the identity of the cyberhackers or whether they were associated with a foreign government. The source said the campaign was already aware of attempts to penetrate its computers and had taken steps to thwart them, emphasizing that there is still no evidence that the campaign’s computers had actually been successfully penetrated.
But the potential that the intruders were associated with a foreign government should have come as no surprise to the Clinton campaign, said several sources knowledgeable about the investigation. Chinese intelligence hackers were widely reported to have penetrated both the campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain in 2008.
The Brooklyn warning also could raise new questions about why the campaign and the DNC didn’t take the matter more seriously. It came just four months after the DNC had also been contacted by FBI agents alerting its information technology specialists about a cyberattack on its computers, the sources told Yahoo News. As with the warning to the Clinton campaign, the FBI initially provided no details to the DNC....
By mid-May, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was telling reporters that US. Intelligence officials “already had some indications” of hacks into political campaigns that were likely linked to foreign governments and that “we’ll probably have more.”
In a talk at the Aspen Security Forum Thursday, Clapper said the U.S. government is not “quite ready yet” to “make a public call” on who was behind the cyberassault on the DNC, but he suggested one of “the usual suspects” is likely to blame. “We don’t know enough [yet] to…ascribe a motivation, regardless of who it may have been,” Clapper said....
Clapper is reportedly among a number of U.S. intelligence officials who have resisted calls to publicly blame the Russians, viewing it as likely the kind of activity that most intelligence agencies engage in. “[I’m] taken aback a bit by…the hyperventilation over this,” Clapper said during his Aspen appearance, adding in a sarcastic tone, “I’m shocked somebody did some hacking. That’s never happened before.”...
The FBI’s request to turn over internal computer logs and personal email information came at an awkward moment for the Clinton campaign, said the source, familiar with the campaign’s internal deliberations. At the time, the FBI was still actively and aggressively conducting a criminal investigation into whether Clinton had compromised national security secrets by sending classified emails through a private computer server in the basement of her home in Chappaqua, N.Y. There were already press reports, to date unconfirmed, that the investigation might have expanded to include dealings relating to the Clinton Foundation. Campaign officials had reason to fear that any production of campaign computer logs and personal email accounts could be used to further such a probe. At the Brooklyn meeting, FBI agents emphasized that the request for data was unrelated to the separate probe into Clinton’s email server.
But after deliberating about the bureau’s request, and in light of the lack of details provided by the FBI and the absence of a subpoena, the Clinton campaign chose to turn down the bureau's request, the source said."
..........................
Added: Spear phishing is not new, FBI has detailed warnings about it since at least 2009. 4/1/2009, "Spear Phishers," FBI.gov
It's common knowledge that “most successful hacks today start with a phishing attack," and that "Gmail [used by Hillary campaign manager Podesta] is successful target for more than half of all data drop email accounts, making it the top webmail service used by attackers to receive credentials stolen via phishing." (So why was Podesta using Gmail?)
Added: Spear phishing is not new, FBI has detailed warnings about it since at least 2009. 4/1/2009, "Spear Phishers," FBI.gov
It's common knowledge that “most successful hacks today start with a phishing attack," and that "Gmail [used by Hillary campaign manager Podesta] is successful target for more than half of all data drop email accounts, making it the top webmail service used by attackers to receive credentials stolen via phishing." (So why was Podesta using Gmail?)
...........................
Added: In March 2016, a Hillary campaign IT worker declared a spear phishing email "legitimate," urged "immediate" clicking on the tempting link, thus beginning the flood of Podesta emails.
Added: In March 2016, a Hillary campaign IT worker declared a spear phishing email "legitimate," urged "immediate" clicking on the tempting link, thus beginning the flood of Podesta emails.
10/28/2016, "How Podesta's Gmail Account Was Breached," the smokinggun.com
..............................
Added: DNC paid for a two-month professional security assessment in Sept. 2015 then failed to act on any of dozens of recommendations to cure flaws. DNC negligence thus allowed existing malware to stay in its system for nearly a year:
Added: DNC paid for a two-month professional security assessment in Sept. 2015 then failed to act on any of dozens of recommendations to cure flaws. DNC negligence thus allowed existing malware to stay in its system for nearly a year:
7/26/2016, "Democrats Ignored Cybersecurity Warnings Before Theft," Bloomberg, Michael Riley [As of 11/27/2017, this article requires subscription]
"The Democratic National Committee was warned last fall that its computer network was susceptible to attacks but didn’t follow the security advice it was given, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The missed opportunity is another blow to party officials already embarrassed by the theft and public disclosure of e-mails that have disrupted their presidential nominating convention in Philadelphia and led their chairwoman to resign.
Computer security consultants hired by the DNC made dozens of recommendations after a two-month review, the people said.
Following the advice, which would typically include having specialists hunt for intruders on the network, might have alerted party officials that hackers had been lurking in their network for weeks -- hackers who would stay for nearly a year. Instead, officials didn’t discover the breach until April (2016)....
Security Flaws
The review found problems ranging from an out-of-date firewall to a lack of advanced malware detection technology on individual computers, according to two of the people familiar with the matter.
The firm recommended taking special precautions to protect any financial information related to donors and internal communications including e-mails, these people said.
The DNC paid $60,000 for the assessment, according to federal filings....
Missed Warnings
The security review commissioned by the DNC was perhaps the most detailed of a series of missed warnings. Officials at both the Republican National Committee and the DNC received government briefings on espionage and hacking threats beginning last year (2015), and then received a more specific briefing this spring, according to another person familiar with the matter.
Cyber-security assessments can be a mixed blessing. Legal experts say some general counsels advise organizations against doing such assessments if they don’t have the ability to quickly fix any problems the auditors find, because customers and shareholders could have cause to sue if an organization knowingly disregards such warnings."...
...................
Added: "Mrs. Clinton has clearly disqualified herself from ever coming near classified information again....The Clintons never produced anything tangible....All they had to sell, really, was influence. And they used our federal government to leverage it."...
Added: "Mrs. Clinton has clearly disqualified herself from ever coming near classified information again....The Clintons never produced anything tangible....All they had to sell, really, was influence. And they used our federal government to leverage it."...
10/29/2016, "Democrats should ask Clinton to step aside," Chicago Tribune, John Kass, opinion
"It's obvious the American political system is breaking down.
It's been crumbling for some time now, and the establishment elite know it and they're properly frightened. Donald Trump, the vulgarian at their gates, is a symptom, not a cause. Hillary Clinton and husband Bill are both cause and effect....
If you take a
step back from tribal politics, you'll see that Mrs. Clinton has clearly
disqualified herself from ever coming near classified information
again. If she were a young person straight out of grad school hoping to
land a government job, Hillary Clinton would be laughed out of
Washington with her record. She'd never be hired.
As secretary of state she kept classified documents on the home-brew server in her basement, which is against the law. She lied about it to the American people. She couldn't remember details dozens of times when questioned by the FBI. Her aides destroyed evidence by BleachBit and hammers. Her husband, Bill, met secretly on an airport tarmac with Attorney General Loretta Lynch for about a half-hour, and all they said they talked about was golf and the grandkids.
And there was no prosecution of Hillary. That isn't merely wrong and unethical. It is poisonous.
And during this presidential campaign, Americans were confronted with a two-tiered system of federal justice: one for standards for the Clintons and one for the peasants.
I've always figured that, as secretary of state, Clinton kept her home-brew email server — from which foreign intelligence agencies could hack top secret information — so she could shield the influence peddling that helped make the Clintons several fortunes.
The Clintons weren't skilled merchants. They weren't traders or manufacturers. The Clintons never produced anything tangible. They had no science, patents or devices to make them millions upon millions of dollars.
All they had to sell, really, was influence. And they used our federal government to leverage it. "...
As secretary of state she kept classified documents on the home-brew server in her basement, which is against the law. She lied about it to the American people. She couldn't remember details dozens of times when questioned by the FBI. Her aides destroyed evidence by BleachBit and hammers. Her husband, Bill, met secretly on an airport tarmac with Attorney General Loretta Lynch for about a half-hour, and all they said they talked about was golf and the grandkids.
And there was no prosecution of Hillary. That isn't merely wrong and unethical. It is poisonous.
And during this presidential campaign, Americans were confronted with a two-tiered system of federal justice: one for standards for the Clintons and one for the peasants.
I've always figured that, as secretary of state, Clinton kept her home-brew email server — from which foreign intelligence agencies could hack top secret information — so she could shield the influence peddling that helped make the Clintons several fortunes.
The Clintons weren't skilled merchants. They weren't traders or manufacturers. The Clintons never produced anything tangible. They had no science, patents or devices to make them millions upon millions of dollars.
All they had to sell, really, was influence. And they used our federal government to leverage it. "...
..................
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Under Trump US taxpayers are still slaves of George Soros. Our tax money is used to collude with Soros' intervention in Hungary government. US meddles in other countries when Soros' and EU genocide of nation states is advanced-Hungary Journal, Breitbart, Politico...("This is a complete misappropriation of taxpayer funds. This is the kind of stuff that will sink Trump. He has all these rogue agencies blatantly defying him and he apparently has no interest in stopping them"-commenter)
.
George Soros is fined $2.2 million in Hungary for Oct. 2008 stock manipulation, "a significant and strong attack" against Hungarian money and capital markets, causing near default. March 28, 2009, "Soros fined in Hungary for stock manipulation," Bloomberg via Hurriyet, Budapest. Billionaire Soros says European taxpayers should each pay $16,800 per year to support to each asylum seeker for 2 yrs-CNBC
....................
11/22/17, "U.S. State Dept Puts $700,000 into Hungarian Media, Demands ‘Programming’ Against Orban, Patriots," Breitbart, Jack Montgomery
"The U.S. State Department has courted controversy by announcing it will plough $700,000 into Hungarian media, angering the country’s anti-globalist, conservative government.
The funding was announced by U.S. Chargé d‘Affaires David Kostelancik, who has previously appeared to openly criticise the Trump administration by alluding to “apparent inconsistencies in [U.S.] foreign policy” and remarking that “not every criticism of the government is ‘fake news’.”
Breitbart London spoke to a State Department official who confirmed it supports what it calls “democracy and human rights programming” in many countries, and that its intentions in Hungary — a NATO ally — are to “support media outlets operating outside the capital … to produce fact-based reporting and increase their audience and economic sustainability”.
The State Department also echoed Kostelancik’s claim that too many Hungarian news outlets are sympathetic to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s popular conservative government — which has earned powerful enemies by opposing the European Union on mass migration, building a highly effective border wall, and exposing the network of European politicians deemed “reliable allies” by billionaire open borders campaigner George Soros.
The obvious subtext to all of this is that the State Department [US taxpayer] funding effort is intended to bolster anti-government and opposition media. This suggests it is still pursuing Obama era, anti-conservative policy objectives internationally in defiance of President Trump, who has praised Prime Minister Orbán — the first European leader to back him — as “strong and brave”.
The Hungarian leader has maintained a position of strong opposition to “globalist elites, the bureaucrats who serve them, the politicians in their pay, and the agents of the Soros-type networks that embody their interests” despite fierce opposition from Brussels, pro-mass immigration NGOs, and left-liberal U.S. media, believing he is standing up for a “silent majority” of hard-pressed families across the West, who wish to preserve their Christian heritage and national identity.
For its part, the Hungarian government has denounced the State Department for what it regards as blatant interference in its internal affairs ahead of national elections in Spring 2018.
“What is this if not an intervention in the election campaign and the domestic politics of Hungary? Which Washington office can judge the applications of media organisations from a Hungarian county and what kind of balanced service they would like to offer?” asked Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who said it was shocking that American taxpayers’ money was being used to — to quote the State Department — “educate journalists on how to practice their trade” in an allied democracy.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has summoned the U.S. Chargé d‘Affaires, asking for an explanation, and told him that we consider this a political intervention by the U.S. Department of State ahead of the elections,” a spokesman added.
The Hungarians have also robustly rejected the State Department’s accusations that there is no press freedom in their country.
For example, Prime Minister Orbán’s Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, Dr. Zoltán Kovács, has highlighted the following exchange between journalists at Hungarian outlets 168óra and RTL Klub — neither of which “would ever be described as linked to the Orbán Government”, in his estimation:
He also took the Chargé d‘Affaires to task for praising journalists of the “Communist old guard” who attended his speech for supposedly “striving to speak the truth” — a scene the Hungarian described as “stomach-turning”, given their history of collaboration with the Soviet-backed dictatorship.
Prime Minister Orbán, who opposed the Leftist regime at some personal risk as a younger man, has often chided Western leaders — and the European Union in particular — of “making excuses for the crimes of Communism”, and worked to make sure its victims are given due attention since his election.
Dr Kovács went on the publish a more extensive response to Kostelancik and the State Department, in which he lamented their actions as “astonishing and disappointing coming from an ally”.
Beyond the “clear interference in the domestic affairs of an ally”, he noted that “the media in the U.S. has its own issues. Criticisms related to concentration of media ownership, commercial relationships, and mainstream media bias – Harvey Weinstein, anyone? — are now the stuff of everyday in the U.S.”
He concluded by observing that one of George Soros’s many so-called civil society organisations launched a media training operation in Hungary around the same time as Kostalencik announced the State Department funding scheme— leaving some suspicious as to who the “partner” the State Department intends to select to deliver its programme might turn out to be.
Hungary is in the midst of a fierce struggle with Soros and his EU backers over its opposition to his plan for the migrant crisis.
Hungary believes that the EU is implementing this plan on behalf of the convicted insider trader [Soros] through the compulsory redistribution of migrants by a system quotas, among other measures, and is currently conducting a national consultation on it to demonstrate that its opposition to the plan has widespread public support.
“Let’s speak to the point. Migration is not the goal of the Soros Plan, but merely its means,” Prime Minister Orbán observed in a November 12th speech.
“Millions of people in Africa and the Middle East are being encouraged to come to Europe; indeed they are even being transported here, in order to debilitate nations and deliver the coup de grâce to Christian culture.”
The Hungarian premier believes that this process of undermining nation-states, revealed as a globalist imperative by United Nations migration chief Peter Sutherland in 2012, ["EU should "do its best to undermine" the "homogeneity" of its member states, the UN's special representative for migration has said."] forms part of a wider plan by EU elites “to replace an alliance of nations with a federation of states” — a United States of Europe.
“This is the only logical explanation for millions of people being transported to Europe from other cultures – as there must be some sort of explanation for why this is happening now. We cannot consider this to be an accident,” he added.
“Europe could defend its borders if it wanted to … what is lacking is not the ability to do so, but the will. And this lack of will is not unintentional, but the consequence of a definite underlying attitude that, in a United States of Europe, nations and their Christian character are more of a drawback than a benefit.”"
...........................
Among comments at Breitbart:
..........................
"
This outrageous misappropriation of taxpayer funds is yet another indication that the "deep state", that being the left overs from the [Obama] O'Douchebag administration remain entrenched in the government even to a level that they dare operate overtly in stark contrast to the presidents policies. It's been nearly a year and they have yet to be ferreted out and summarily dismissed. Their continued presence and ability to circumvent the president, and even the congress which appropriates the funds is a glaring example of the ineffectiveness of the presidents advisor's and his unwillingness to do the right thing. I'm at my wits end with this garbage, Are you?"
.......................
.........................
Added:
Nov. 2017, "Foreign ministry summons the US charge d’affaires," The Hungary Journal
"Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade summoned David Kostelancik, charge d’affaires at the United States’ embassy in Budapest, after the US State Department launched a media fund for rural media outlets in Hungary, RTL Klub reported.
The 700.000 USD program’s “goal is to support media outlets operating outside the capital in Hungary to produce fact-based reporting and increase their audience and economic sustainability.
The program should increase citizens’ access to objective information about domestic and global issues of public importance, by enhancing local media’s ability to engage a larger audience, including their print, multimedia, and online readership”, according to the State Department’s recent announcement.
The ministry told RTL Klub that Kostelancik was summoned to give explanation. With the upcoming elections in 2018, the Hungarian government considers the State Department’s announcement as “intervention into Hungarian domestic politics”.
Group leader of the ruling Fidesz party, Gergely Gulyas was asked about the State Department’s plans to support the media in the Hungarian provinces. He said that it was “an attempt to interfere with Hungary’s affairs” and added that similar foreign attempts would not be tolerated by the US political elite, no matter where the money comes from.
Kostelancik was summoned to the ministry in October, following his remarks about the “worrying” state of press freedoms in Hungary."
..................
Hungary notes US State Dept. is still filled with Obama holdovers, adding "we trust that this will change":
Added:
https://thehungaryjournal.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/foreign-ministry-summons-the-us-charge-daffaires/amp/
..................................
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/11/22/us-state-dept-700000-hungarian-media-programming-orban-patriots/
..................
George Soros is fined $2.2 million in Hungary for Oct. 2008 stock manipulation, "a significant and strong attack" against Hungarian money and capital markets, causing near default. March 28, 2009, "Soros fined in Hungary for stock manipulation," Bloomberg via Hurriyet, Budapest. Billionaire Soros says European taxpayers should each pay $16,800 per year to support to each asylum seeker for 2 yrs-CNBC
....................
11/22/17, "U.S. State Dept Puts $700,000 into Hungarian Media, Demands ‘Programming’ Against Orban, Patriots," Breitbart, Jack Montgomery
"The U.S. State Department has courted controversy by announcing it will plough $700,000 into Hungarian media, angering the country’s anti-globalist, conservative government.
The funding was announced by U.S. Chargé d‘Affaires David Kostelancik, who has previously appeared to openly criticise the Trump administration by alluding to “apparent inconsistencies in [U.S.] foreign policy” and remarking that “not every criticism of the government is ‘fake news’.”
Breitbart London spoke to a State Department official who confirmed it supports what it calls “democracy and human rights programming” in many countries, and that its intentions in Hungary — a NATO ally — are to “support media outlets operating outside the capital … to produce fact-based reporting and increase their audience and economic sustainability”.
The State Department also echoed Kostelancik’s claim that too many Hungarian news outlets are sympathetic to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s popular conservative government — which has earned powerful enemies by opposing the European Union on mass migration, building a highly effective border wall, and exposing the network of European politicians deemed “reliable allies” by billionaire open borders campaigner George Soros.
The obvious subtext to all of this is that the State Department [US taxpayer] funding effort is intended to bolster anti-government and opposition media. This suggests it is still pursuing Obama era, anti-conservative policy objectives internationally in defiance of President Trump, who has praised Prime Minister Orbán — the first European leader to back him — as “strong and brave”.
The Hungarian leader has maintained a position of strong opposition to “globalist elites, the bureaucrats who serve them, the politicians in their pay, and the agents of the Soros-type networks that embody their interests” despite fierce opposition from Brussels, pro-mass immigration NGOs, and left-liberal U.S. media, believing he is standing up for a “silent majority” of hard-pressed families across the West, who wish to preserve their Christian heritage and national identity.
For its part, the Hungarian government has denounced the State Department for what it regards as blatant interference in its internal affairs ahead of national elections in Spring 2018.
“What is this if not an intervention in the election campaign and the domestic politics of Hungary? Which Washington office can judge the applications of media organisations from a Hungarian county and what kind of balanced service they would like to offer?” asked Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who said it was shocking that American taxpayers’ money was being used to — to quote the State Department — “educate journalists on how to practice their trade” in an allied democracy.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has summoned the U.S. Chargé d‘Affaires, asking for an explanation, and told him that we consider this a political intervention by the U.S. Department of State ahead of the elections,” a spokesman added.
The Hungarians have also robustly rejected the State Department’s accusations that there is no press freedom in their country.
For example, Prime Minister Orbán’s Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, Dr. Zoltán Kovács, has highlighted the following exchange between journalists at Hungarian outlets 168óra and RTL Klub — neither of which “would ever be described as linked to the Orbán Government”, in his estimation:
- 168óra: Is there press freedom in Hungary?
- Péter Kolosi: There is. If there weren’t, then there wouldn’t be an RTL Klub either.
He also took the Chargé d‘Affaires to task for praising journalists of the “Communist old guard” who attended his speech for supposedly “striving to speak the truth” — a scene the Hungarian described as “stomach-turning”, given their history of collaboration with the Soviet-backed dictatorship.
Prime Minister Orbán, who opposed the Leftist regime at some personal risk as a younger man, has often chided Western leaders — and the European Union in particular — of “making excuses for the crimes of Communism”, and worked to make sure its victims are given due attention since his election.
Dr Kovács went on the publish a more extensive response to Kostelancik and the State Department, in which he lamented their actions as “astonishing and disappointing coming from an ally”.
Beyond the “clear interference in the domestic affairs of an ally”, he noted that “the media in the U.S. has its own issues. Criticisms related to concentration of media ownership, commercial relationships, and mainstream media bias – Harvey Weinstein, anyone? — are now the stuff of everyday in the U.S.”
He concluded by observing that one of George Soros’s many so-called civil society organisations launched a media training operation in Hungary around the same time as Kostalencik announced the State Department funding scheme— leaving some suspicious as to who the “partner” the State Department intends to select to deliver its programme might turn out to be.
Hungary is in the midst of a fierce struggle with Soros and his EU backers over its opposition to his plan for the migrant crisis.
Hungary believes that the EU is implementing this plan on behalf of the convicted insider trader [Soros] through the compulsory redistribution of migrants by a system quotas, among other measures, and is currently conducting a national consultation on it to demonstrate that its opposition to the plan has widespread public support.
“Let’s speak to the point. Migration is not the goal of the Soros Plan, but merely its means,” Prime Minister Orbán observed in a November 12th speech.
“Millions of people in Africa and the Middle East are being encouraged to come to Europe; indeed they are even being transported here, in order to debilitate nations and deliver the coup de grâce to Christian culture.”
The Hungarian premier believes that this process of undermining nation-states, revealed as a globalist imperative by United Nations migration chief Peter Sutherland in 2012, ["EU should "do its best to undermine" the "homogeneity" of its member states, the UN's special representative for migration has said."] forms part of a wider plan by EU elites “to replace an alliance of nations with a federation of states” — a United States of Europe.
“This is the only logical explanation for millions of people being transported to Europe from other cultures – as there must be some sort of explanation for why this is happening now. We cannot consider this to be an accident,” he added.
“Europe could defend its borders if it wanted to … what is lacking is not the ability to do so, but the will. And this lack of will is not unintentional, but the consequence of a definite underlying attitude that, in a United States of Europe, nations and their Christian character are more of a drawback than a benefit.”"
...........................
Among comments at Breitbart:
..........................
"
- We sit helplessly as laws are selectively enforced against us to stifle our wishes and undermine our political will. All over the world. Even the people we elect let it happen.
This is a complete misappropriation of taxpayer funds. This is the kind of stuff that will sink Trump. Like he has all these rogue agencies blatantly defying him and he apparently has no interest in stopping them or whipping them into shape. Why continue to support a castrated, ineffectual leader that refuses to crack down on this insurrection by his own underlings?
Even if Hungarian media is too slanted in one direction, since when is that the business of the State Department? I say the US media is too slanted in favour of Hillary, Democrats and far-let beliefs - are you going to give more money to FOX NEWS and Breitbart in the interest of balance?
Would it be okay if a foreign government (like Russia) gave them money, like say $700,000? No? That would be collusion. right?"...
This outrageous misappropriation of taxpayer funds is yet another indication that the "deep state", that being the left overs from the [Obama] O'Douchebag administration remain entrenched in the government even to a level that they dare operate overtly in stark contrast to the presidents policies. It's been nearly a year and they have yet to be ferreted out and summarily dismissed. Their continued presence and ability to circumvent the president, and even the congress which appropriates the funds is a glaring example of the ineffectiveness of the presidents advisor's and his unwillingness to do the right thing. I'm at my wits end with this garbage, Are you?"
.......................
.........................
Added:
Nov. 2017, "Foreign ministry summons the US charge d’affaires," The Hungary Journal
"Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade summoned David Kostelancik, charge d’affaires at the United States’ embassy in Budapest, after the US State Department launched a media fund for rural media outlets in Hungary, RTL Klub reported.
The 700.000 USD program’s “goal is to support media outlets operating outside the capital in Hungary to produce fact-based reporting and increase their audience and economic sustainability.
The program should increase citizens’ access to objective information about domestic and global issues of public importance, by enhancing local media’s ability to engage a larger audience, including their print, multimedia, and online readership”, according to the State Department’s recent announcement.
The ministry told RTL Klub that Kostelancik was summoned to give explanation. With the upcoming elections in 2018, the Hungarian government considers the State Department’s announcement as “intervention into Hungarian domestic politics”.
Group leader of the ruling Fidesz party, Gergely Gulyas was asked about the State Department’s plans to support the media in the Hungarian provinces. He said that it was “an attempt to interfere with Hungary’s affairs” and added that similar foreign attempts would not be tolerated by the US political elite, no matter where the money comes from.
Kostelancik was summoned to the ministry in October, following his remarks about the “worrying” state of press freedoms in Hungary."
..................
Hungary notes US State Dept. is still filled with Obama holdovers, adding "we trust that this will change":
Added:
11/16/17, "Hungary accuses US of meddling in election. Backlash against State Department for planning to fund media projects," Politico, Lili Bayer, Budapest
"The Hungarian government on Thursday accused the U.S. State Department of interfering in the country’s election campaign.
The Hungarian Foreign Ministry summoned the top American diplomat in Budapest, chargé d’affaires David Kostelancik, after the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announced on November 7 that it would provide up to $700,000 “for projects that increase citizens’ access to objective information about domestic and global issues in Hungary.”
“DRL’s goal is to support media outlets operating outside the capital in Hungary to produce fact-based reporting and increase their audience and economic sustainability,” the State Department wrote on its website....
The Hungarian government, which is a vocal supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, has repeatedly claimed that State Department policies do not represent the White House’s views.
“Several tens of thousands of people work in the State Department, a great deal of whom are holdovers from the Obama administration,” said László Szabó, Hungary’s ambassador to the U.S., in an interview with Hungarian state agency MTI in August.
“We trust that this will change and we’ll have more and more friends in the State Department too,” he said."...
........................ "The Hungarian government on Thursday accused the U.S. State Department of interfering in the country’s election campaign.
The Hungarian Foreign Ministry summoned the top American diplomat in Budapest, chargé d’affaires David Kostelancik, after the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announced on November 7 that it would provide up to $700,000 “for projects that increase citizens’ access to objective information about domestic and global issues in Hungary.”
“DRL’s goal is to support media outlets operating outside the capital in Hungary to produce fact-based reporting and increase their audience and economic sustainability,” the State Department wrote on its website....
The Hungarian government, which is a vocal supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, has repeatedly claimed that State Department policies do not represent the White House’s views.
“Several tens of thousands of people work in the State Department, a great deal of whom are holdovers from the Obama administration,” said László Szabó, Hungary’s ambassador to the U.S., in an interview with Hungarian state agency MTI in August.
“We trust that this will change and we’ll have more and more friends in the State Department too,” he said."...
https://thehungaryjournal.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/foreign-ministry-summons-the-us-charge-daffaires/amp/
..................................
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/11/22/us-state-dept-700000-hungarian-media-programming-orban-patriots/
..................
Friday, November 24, 2017
China teachers continue to inject toddlers with mystery substances, give them pills, some children stripped naked or locked in a dark room. China RYB education provider was listed on NY Stock Exchange in Sept. 2017-BBC
.
"Last year four teachers at a RYB nursery in Jilin province were jailed for abuse, also involving giving injections to children. State news agency Xinhua reported at the time that one child was found to have more than 50 needle marks."
11/24/17, "Beijing nursery 'needle abuse' of children shocks China," BBC
"Beijing nursery is accused of giving injections and feeding drugs to toddlers, in a case that has sparked outrage in China.
Authorities are now investigating the nursery, which is a branch of the well-known RYB Education chain.
The company says it "deeply apologises" for the matter that has caused "severe disquiet". Beijing officials are also conducting a security check in all nurseries in the Chinese capital.
The incident comes weeks after a Shanghai childcare centre was alleged to have abused several toddlers.
'Forced to stand naked'
At least eight children attending the RYB Education pre-school in the upscale Chaoyang district are said to have been injected with unknown substances.
Parents told local media they had discovered needle marks on their children's bodies in recent days, and also circulated photographs online.
They also said their children were fed pills or syrup before their naptime. One father told state broadcaster CCTV that his child had said that every day after lunch they would be given two white pills, and "go to sleep" after eating the pills.
Local media report that some parents are also alleging possible sexual abuse, saying their children were stripped naked.
On Thursday, several parents gathered outside the kindergarten to protest. Some told Caixin Global that they suspected teachers had used needles to discipline children.
"Disobedient students were also forced to stand naked or were locked up in a dark room at the kindergarten," one parent told the news portal.
Police have seized CCTV footage at the nursery, and three teachers have also been suspended.
The Beijing Municipal Commission of Education said that a "comprehensive security check" was being conducted in all nurseries in Beijing.
RYB Education issued a statement on Thursday (in Chinese) saying it was co-operating with police and added: "We deeply apologise for this matter which has brought severe disquiet to parents and society!"
It also said: "If any wrongdoing is found, we will not shake off the responsibility. And we have also reported to the police some false accusations against us."
Suspected Censorship
The case has sparked an intense outcry and reignited anxieties over childcare standards in China, which has seen other cases of abuse at nurseries in recent years.
Last year four teachers at a RYB nursery in Jilin province were jailed for abuse, also involving giving injections to children. State news agency Xinhua reported at the time that one child was found to have more than 50 needle marks.
Mainstream media have extensively covered the latest Beijing case,
which has drawn tens of thousands of comments on microblogging network
Sina Weibo.
Most expressed outrage at the nursery and education authorities, and demanded fuller explanations as well as heavier punishments for the teachers. "Suspension? That's just too easy," said one commenter, while another said: "Don't let these beasts harm anyone else!"
Many also claimed that some online discussion was being scrubbed. A check on FreeWeibo, a website which tracks censorship on the network, found the top censored search was "Honghuanglan", RYB Education's Chinese name.
"The authorities are covering things up, and have an attitude where they do not directly answer questions. After this, no matter what kind of explanations they give, it will be hard to believe them. They are losing public trust step by step!" said one commenter."
...............
"An issue with explosive potential"
Stephen McDonell, BBC News, Beijing
"A storm of social media attention came after a crowd of angry Beijing parents gathered outside the kindergarten.
There are reports that police have already confirmed that the marks on the children are consistent with needle punctures.
Realising the explosive potential for this issue to spread, the Beijing education authorities have been quick to announce a full safety check of all kindergartens under its control.
Shock over the allegations follows an investigation last month into bruised children at a kindergarten in Wuhan, Hubei province and another scandal in Shanghai, also in November this year, after a video was released appearing to show kindergarten children being assaulted and injured by teachers."
.............
"Last year four teachers at a RYB nursery in Jilin province were jailed for abuse, also involving giving injections to children. State news agency Xinhua reported at the time that one child was found to have more than 50 needle marks."
11/24/17, "Beijing nursery 'needle abuse' of children shocks China," BBC"Beijing nursery is accused of giving injections and feeding drugs to toddlers, in a case that has sparked outrage in China.
Authorities are now investigating the nursery, which is a branch of the well-known RYB Education chain.
The company says it "deeply apologises" for the matter that has caused "severe disquiet". Beijing officials are also conducting a security check in all nurseries in the Chinese capital.
The incident comes weeks after a Shanghai childcare centre was alleged to have abused several toddlers.
'Forced to stand naked'
At least eight children attending the RYB Education pre-school in the upscale Chaoyang district are said to have been injected with unknown substances.
Parents told local media they had discovered needle marks on their children's bodies in recent days, and also circulated photographs online.
They also said their children were fed pills or syrup before their naptime. One father told state broadcaster CCTV that his child had said that every day after lunch they would be given two white pills, and "go to sleep" after eating the pills.
Local media report that some parents are also alleging possible sexual abuse, saying their children were stripped naked.
On Thursday, several parents gathered outside the kindergarten to protest. Some told Caixin Global that they suspected teachers had used needles to discipline children.
"Disobedient students were also forced to stand naked or were locked up in a dark room at the kindergarten," one parent told the news portal.
Police have seized CCTV footage at the nursery, and three teachers have also been suspended.
The Beijing Municipal Commission of Education said that a "comprehensive security check" was being conducted in all nurseries in Beijing.
RYB Education issued a statement on Thursday (in Chinese) saying it was co-operating with police and added: "We deeply apologise for this matter which has brought severe disquiet to parents and society!"
It also said: "If any wrongdoing is found, we will not shake off the responsibility. And we have also reported to the police some false accusations against us."
The company is one
of China's most well-known early childhood education providers, and was
listed on the New York Stock Exchange in September.
The case has sparked an intense outcry and reignited anxieties over childcare standards in China, which has seen other cases of abuse at nurseries in recent years.
Last year four teachers at a RYB nursery in Jilin province were jailed for abuse, also involving giving injections to children. State news agency Xinhua reported at the time that one child was found to have more than 50 needle marks.
Mainstream media have extensively covered the latest Beijing case,
which has drawn tens of thousands of comments on microblogging network
Sina Weibo.Most expressed outrage at the nursery and education authorities, and demanded fuller explanations as well as heavier punishments for the teachers. "Suspension? That's just too easy," said one commenter, while another said: "Don't let these beasts harm anyone else!"
Many also claimed that some online discussion was being scrubbed. A check on FreeWeibo, a website which tracks censorship on the network, found the top censored search was "Honghuanglan", RYB Education's Chinese name.
"The authorities are covering things up, and have an attitude where they do not directly answer questions. After this, no matter what kind of explanations they give, it will be hard to believe them. They are losing public trust step by step!" said one commenter."
...............
"An issue with explosive potential"
Stephen McDonell, BBC News, Beijing
"A storm of social media attention came after a crowd of angry Beijing parents gathered outside the kindergarten.
There are reports that police have already confirmed that the marks on the children are consistent with needle punctures.
Realising the explosive potential for this issue to spread, the Beijing education authorities have been quick to announce a full safety check of all kindergartens under its control.
Shock over the allegations follows an investigation last month into bruised children at a kindergarten in Wuhan, Hubei province and another scandal in Shanghai, also in November this year, after a video was released appearing to show kindergarten children being assaulted and injured by teachers."
.............
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