On MSNBC and "Authoritarianism"

A brief response to the latest hit piece

by Matt Taibbi

MSNBC opinion columnist Zeesham Aleem just penned the latest in what’s become a parade of hit pieces from mainstream outlets directed at me and other independent journalists. Even by the low standards of the genre, “How the populist left has become vulnerable to the populist right” is a humorous standout. It argues that after I spent a month detailing how the FBI, DHS, DOD, CIA and other agencies built a system for mass delivery of censorship requests to firms like Twitter and Facebook, I helped fuel a subculture that “could funnel people from leftism to authoritarianism.”

Here’s a brief list of talking heads at the network now claiming people like me, Glenn Greenwald, Tulsi Gabbard and Jimmy Dore are the ones guilty of funneling audiences to “authoritarianism”:

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

    Frank Figliuzzi, formeer Assistant Director of Counterintelligence at the FBI

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

    Nicolle Wallace, former Communications Director for George W. Bush

    Jeremy Bash, former Chief of Staff of the CIA

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

    Chuck Rosenberg, former Acting DEA administrator and senior FBI official

    Nayyera Haq, former Senior Director of the White House

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

    Neal Kaytal, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States

    Ben Rhodes, former National Security Advisor to Barack Obama

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

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

    Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney

    Barbara McQuade, former U.S. Attorney

    Glenn Kirschner, former Assistant U.S. Attorney

The right word to describe this brand of gall escapes me. The nerve? The bottle? The damned cheek? Both MSNBC and similarly foundering competitor CNN (which lost 19% and 27% of their audiences, respectively, last year) have been open for years now in their desire to serve as final revolving door destinations for the shadiest conceivable military and security officials. While MSNBC went after Brennan, Figliuzzi, and Bash, CNN scooped up James Clapper, Michael Hayden, and Steven Hall, among many others. The lists are so long, only an exceptional mind could keep track of them all. How many spooks fled to the Peacock?

Marky, Ricky, Danny, Terry, Mikey, Davey, Timmy, Tommy, Joey, Robbie, Johnny, and Brian. And Brennan. John Brennan. MSNBC, you’re a joke.

Source:

https://www.racket.news/p/on-msnbc-and-authoritarianism?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1042&post_id=95682106&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

Comments

Iran & Yemen’s Maritime Trap: How They Control Global Trade

BreakThrough News Saudi Arabia has $142 billion in American weapons. Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world. So why can't Riyadh win? Last month, Ansar Allah seized Mokha and Perim Island, and with them the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, cutting off Saudi Arabia's alternative oil route around the closed Strait of Hormuz. Mohammed bin Salman begged Trump for US airstrikes, then backed "Dawn of Yemen," a 100-warplane offensive aimed at Sanaa, as crude oil again tops $100 a barrel. Veteran war correspondent and analyst Elijah Magnier joins Rania Khalek and Zoe Alexandra on the Red Sea front, as nearly 1,000 Yemenis have been killed and 184,000 displaced since fighting resumed. But Magnier argues Ansar Allah – often referred to in US media as the Houthis – hasn't lost much ground. He explains why Saudi warplanes are largely powerless in Yemen's mountainous terrain, and why he sees the movement advancing on Taiz and Marib. And Magnier breaks down how Hormuz and Bab ...

Trump & AI Companies Blatantly Meddled in Brazil’s Election to Help the Fascist

The Humanist Report Fascist Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of disgraced insurrectionist ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, came out ahead of leftist President Lula da Silva in Brazil’s election by 2-points. Both candidates will face off in a runoff election in three weeks. Flavio Bolsonaro prevailed, in part, because he enticed Trump to get involved by promising to give American corporations access to Brazil’s natural resources. In other words, Flavio Bolsonaro is willing to sell out his own country for power. Big tech companies also got involved and waged a disinformation campaign to help Bolsonaro. In this video we’ll talk about how Trump and AI companies blatantly meddled with Brazil’s election and talk about why the far right did so well more broadly speaking.

Yemen VAPORIZES Saudi ARAMCO HQ & Obliterates Every Saudi Airport

Jackson Hinkle Official Saudi Arabia's Civil Aviation Authority now confirms that 12 people were killed and 309 injured in Yemen's strike on King Khalid International Airport. Then the strikes kept coming: Terminal 4 in Riyadh, two hits on Dammam's King Fahd airport in 24 hours, Abha, and reports of eight Saudi airports closing. Saudi Airlines is now racing to move billions of dollars' worth of planes out of harm's way, the Misk Global Forum has been cancelled, and the EU–GCC summit has been postponed. After Saudi Arabia struck Yemeni oil fields, Ansarallah issued evacuation warnings for Aramco's Dhahran headquarters, its main Riyadh refinery and King Khalid airport, and footage then showed the Aramco HQ on fire. Now Riyadh is asking for talks in Oman, Trump says nothing happens until after the midterms, and Hinkle shares what the Yemeni delegation went through to reach Iran for the funeral of Sayyed Ali Khamenei.

Iran Has DESTROYED US Bases in the Gulf

The Chris Hedges YouTube Channel

Julian Assange Is Back — Here's What That Means

Glenn Greenwald

LEAKED CIA Assessment: Israel On Brink Of CIVIL WAR

Breaking Points Emily and Saagar discuss a CIA assessment saying Israel is at risk of civil war.

EU Is Finished & China Can Now Pull the Plug on the U.S. Economy

Glenn Diesen Yanis Varoufakis is an economist, the former Finance Minister of Greece, and the author of numerous bestselling books. Varoufakis discusses how the EU is a cartel designed by the U.S. that is no longer fit for purpose. The German economic locomotive has broken down; the EU no longer has an economic model, its foreign policy is consumed by war, and it has already become a technological colony. Varoufakis also argues that China can now pull the plug on the U.S. economy if it chooses to do so.

PROOF Israelis Are SPYING On Us

Revolutionary Change Peter Hager goes over the breaking news that Israel has been spying on us, using spyware and tech through ads and other means to monitor Americans without their knowledge.

Stephen Hawking confirms: The problem is Capitalism, not robots!

globinfo freexchange According to world famous physicist Stephen Hawking, the rising use of automated machines may mean the end of human rights – not just jobs. But he’s not talking about robots with artificial intelligence taking over the world, he’s talking about the current capitalist political system and its major players. On Reddit, Hawking said that the economic gap between the rich and the poor will continue to grow as more jobs are automated by machines, and the owners of said machines hoard them to create more wealth for themselves. The insatiable thirst for capitalist accumulation bestowed upon humans by years of lies and terrible economic policy has affected technology in such a way that one of its major goals has become to replace human jobs. If we do not take this warning seriously, we may face unfathomable corporate domination. If we let the same people who buy and sell our political system and resources maintain control of automated technology, the...

Iran Backs Yemen's MASSIVE Attack, Missiles SLAM Saudi & US Navy

Danny Haiphong Prof. Seyed Mohammad Marandi discusses Iran's major support for Yemen's ongoing offensive against US-Saudi forces and the game changing shift in the war.

the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Search This Blog