The Washington Post apparently hoped it had successfully tamped down the controversy over a story that defamed Naked Capitalism and many other reputable sites. As the letter below shows, that is not the case.
Three other publlishers, Black Agenda Report, Counterpunch, and Paul Craig Roberts, have joined us in again calling for the Post to retract the article by Craig Timberg, Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say, issue a prominent apology, and give us an equivalent opportunity to respond.
Truthdig and Naked Capitalism both sent letters to the Post earlier this month demanding the article be retracted. The Post instead appended an “Editor’s Note” at the top of the now-in-the-archives story and sent Truthdig’s and our attorney letters saying why the Post thought this response was sufficient.
The Columbia Journalism Review, the media watchdog FAIR, and many journalists on Twitter gave the “Editor’s Note” a thumbs down. Perhaps more important from the Post’s perspective, its failure to take adequate steps to remedy the damage done has led more and more of the defamed websites to combine forces.
As you will see below, Black Agenda Report, Counterpunch, and Paul Craig Roberts have joined us. We’ve also had five other sites say they would participate in a lawsuit against the Post, and one other prominent site is seriously interested. Mind you, we’ve gotten this level of interest despite doing almost no outreach.
Please circulate the letter below widely. Be sure to read the section toward the end that discusses how the victims of this McCarthyite campaign are still being harmed. The Post’s article is still being treated as authoritative by other news outlets and major Silicon Valley “fake news” initiatives even after the Post tried to distance itself from its reporting. Thanks again for your patience and support. This is not just a fight for our long-term survival but also for the preservation of a free and open Internet.
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Go git ’em – they are the worst of the fake newsers, purveyors of warmongering fake WMD stories, filthy lying scum – make ’em pay!
Here, here!
sory for the pedantry, but it’s “hear hear”
Right on!
There, there.
i here that
It waz the Rushinz. They hacked our neudespaper and planted the story. We know it waz the rushins becauce the periods in the piece are little pointed stars.
And teh CIA told us, after 20 or 30 beers.
It was the Russians — that’s what the NYT is claiming in a epic 8,420 word article titled “The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S.”
The NYT claims that Russia hijacked our election; that Russia supplied the documents to Wikileaks; and that even they (the NYT) were acting as agents of Russian intelligence by publishing excerpts from Wikileaks.
This is one of the most over-the-top things I’ve ever seen in the press. Looks like the soft coup plotters are deadly serious.
What’s worst on all this is that the real stuff, which includes holding Trumps feet to the fire on his various election promises (quite a few already reneged on) is getting ignored.
These Russians seem like a very competent bunch. Perhaps we can talk them into running our government?
I’d put running the government out to bid. Oh, wait…
This is the Podesta mail that Obama said (paraphrasing) was a nothing burger and not very interesting?
Obama must be a Russian stooge!
It appears this will end up in front of a judge; and nothing good comes out of such fights without clearly written contracts. Remember that even rating agencies that gave investment level grades to junk bonds simply got away with a similarly “facile” trick
Hope it does not cost much money and energy on your side, as it appears the coordinated attack on both sides of the Atlantic against “fake news” sources was botched and thus has been aborted, at least for now.
News as presented by Disney, Comcast (GE is still a minority owner), Viacom, Time Warner, Warren Buffet, and Rupert Murdoch will always have a problem when making claims about “fake news” especially when media trust is at all time lows.
Exactly. The CIA, masters at deception, years ago admitted to congress they worked closely with NYTimes and other major publications to manipulate public opinion in the US. It’s also ironic the [lying] CIA is concerned about a sovereign state influencing the elections or administration of another. Since the 50s, America [CIA+military] have changed administrations in Libya, Ukraine, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Haiti, Kuwait, Panama, Grenada, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Chile, Dominican Republic, plus attempts upon Cuba, Lebanon, Guatemala, Korea, Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, Philippines, Puerto Rico and others. Motivation? Destroying [non-capitalist] democracies and/or the search for OIL.. However in this case it’s far more likely an inside job, not the Russians. The US establishment media is dying. They just don’t know it yet. http://bit.ly/who-leaked-emails
what do contracts have to do with this?
What divadab said!
The establishment agenda is too, too obvious; only pro establishment propaganda will be allowed and all alt media sites need to be censored if they do not conform. This agenda must be immediately stopped in its tracks before it gains momentum; it is pure unadulterated tyranny.
Glad others both left of center and right of center are joining your fight. The information in the letter is damning. Google and others are using the fake news and propernot as reasons to blacklist sites. Blacklists. McCartyism 2.0.
Thank you for fighting this fight.
How can the Washington Post hold anyone to be presented as *expert* with no credentials or identity to vet?
“you can’t see us, but trust that we know whats best!”
Oh, I guess it comes under *Anonymous Experts* Presumably they (experts) made a study….all very scientific!
Wapo: eggspert not expert.
That’s WaPoo not WaPo;)
Bravo! This is well-argued and an excellent next step, to have joined with similarly high-caliber others. I might wish there had been one more proofread before sending, though; presentation counts for a lot in these matters, I fear (in terms of WaPo taking it seriously). I can just see them responding with a bunch of [sic]s in their letter – ugh.
Also makes me fear you are running yourself ragged. Hope you see a doc so you have court-worthy documentation of the stress this is causing.
Thanks for fighting the good fight on everyone’s behalf!
Super! Let’s get ’em!
In the meantime, we all should join to boycott Bezos’ evil enterprises, mainly Amazon.
Agree. I will have to make a donation to NC when I get home this evening. Hope the rest of you will esp any rich ppl
Agree on the proofread, but the trouble is, you need to get someone with a fresh set of eyes, or if that is impossible, read aloud. Those who wrote, and even those who typed, a lengthy document end up seeing what they meant to have put down.
My attorney (and other lawyers) didn’t regard the typos as a big deal and said that lawyers correct documents all the time. As a matter of good order, he did send a tidied-up letter to Mr. McLaughlin and we replaced the original version with that one.
Although not a big amzn customer, each year at this time I used to do a lot of the xmas shopping in one big order. Now? Oh, hell no…
Good luck. Keep up the fight.
It’s heinous what they’ve done, and I totally disagree with it.
It’s clear that our .01% Overlords are intolerant of anything by their own manufactured propaganda getting out. This cannot stand.
Good that NC is not alone in its important effort to figth the McCarthyite campaign.
In Europe, while Trump is being linked with Putin, Clintonite claims blaming her electoral defeat on russian propaganda are being parroted uncritically. In a different but related corps of news, while resistants were identified as yihaddists in Mosul, they are labelled just as “rebels” in Aleppo. Similarly, nobody seemed to care about civilan losses in Mosul while they matter in Aleppo.
According to the press The IMF asks Spain to rise taxes and reduce public expenditures and they say they are not asking for more and more austerity. Just increasing taxes and reducing expenses! It is pure TINA politics! Move on!
The famously free-press of the free-world is running wild with their freedom to disinform.
So “fake news” is one piece of the strategy, put out by the institutional generators of Bernaysian-soup Fake News on a huge scale, to choke off any awareness of how ordinary people are being screwed by the Few. So much to keep track of, so hard to wipe the cow feeses off the side of the bus fast enough to keep up with the flingers.
Is it even possible to maybe counter the Wurlitzer by figuring out where enough people get their “Nooz” to inject constant actual real documented investigated political facts in a place where lots of people will see them? Or is the corruption and perversion and Bernaysianism too pervasive? The “PolitiFact”ers have their wonderful way of first selecting Narrative-ready items to “check”, and then working in various weird, off-the-wall category and frame bits to make the “Calibrated Gauge Rating, and the issue they end up actually opining on, come out bad for us ordinary people.
I hope this effort links up with other bits of resistance (hopefully working the “offensive” side of play) to Corporatocracy chokeholds on the means of communication that makes coordinated action by ordinary people even possible, except on the most local level.
What are the strategies and tactics of asymmetry that might work in opposing this attempt at domination by “overwhelming force?” Seems to me that hoping that some judge might eventually smack down Bezos et al and maybe even do a Hulk Hogan and levy some significant monetary sanctions and compensation is “fighting the last war,” with rusty weapons. One sees that there are a few “tech” people and insiders who have the tools and talent to “blow the whistle” and even take direct cyber action to resist, but of course like in “The Matrix,” there’s those creepy-crawly machine monsters and Agent Smiths going full bore, 24/7, to kill all resistance. I have no answers, too old and not “tech” enough to see what might be done. Also, not the kind of stuff one discusses openly…
What?!?
In furtherance of WaPoo’s growing reputation as a generator of fake news, I found it a delicious irony that in response to Mr. Moody’s first letter, WaPoo’s lawyer made factual errors in their response to Mr. Moody.
The list of 200 websites (actually 199 since one name was duplicated, so the “more than 200” is another error that separately calls for correction) was not in the embargoed report that is the foundation of Mr.Timberg’s article. The report and the list of 199 sites are entirely different documents published at different times. Moreover, the 199 site list was public before you published Fake News. Had Mr. Timberg, your editors and fact checkers merely skimmed the embargoed report, they would have easily seen there was no long list of websites in it.
Your response evidently failed to include any independent verification with respect to the issues the Letter
I’m no lawyer, but there is a certain pleasure in the way Mr Moody takes WaPoo’s Deputy General Council’s keyboard and slaps him in the face with it.
The MSM is experiencing a death rattle, are circling the wagons, and attempting to trap everyone inside their circle. It’s too late, and their power of persuasion is lost.
Cnchal. You are very optimistic. MSM IS THE EXPRESSION OF THE POWER ELITE. MSM will bit be going away any time soon.
MSM lost this election after ordering the peasants to vote for Hillary. What good is all that power when it backfires?
“MSM LOST?”
Unlike us ordinary people, they and the rest of the Ellite get paid to come to work the morning after the “election” and keep on hammering and chiseling and lobbying and corrupting away at the little bits of foundations we mopes may still have under our ordinary-people lives and homes and futures.
They LOST? Look closely at Trump and what he is about, how big and intrusive the state security apparatus is, what’s happening to ‘education’ in the formerly “public” schools, how many countries the Rulers have chaoticized, money to the MICC and money from ordinary people and their little bits of “social security” and “medical care,” need I say more?
What’s the answer to Warren Buffett’s snotty and totally accurate observation, “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”?
Is the answer “We won the election by defeating the Clantons”?
Not even in the game…
+1000 sadly
I don’t think we would be defeatalist if Secret Establishment Operatives came on here and counselled hopelessness, despair, and give-upitude. So I don’t think we should get all defeatalist if fellow commenters share the hopelessness and despair they truly feel and want us to join them in feeling . . . just because they are sincere.
Yes, lost. What is the MSM’s currency? Where does their power lie? Is it in telling lies? Their power is persuasion, in getting the electorate to vote the way they want and this time it didn’t go their way, and Trump is the result, so yes they lost. They gave it their best shot at influencing voters to vote for Hillary, and enough peasants gave them the finger and a big fuck you to the media big boys.
Trump didn’t create the security apparatus, and it’s enjoyable to watch the MSM pundits spin their heads around like a Chucky doll when he calls the CIA out. How dare he insult the intelligence apparatus workers in this abhorrent manner. Has he no respect for them? Doesn’t he realize he will have to rely on them for “intelligence”? He is a narcissist so of course not, but that doesn’t deter the lesser narcissists in the MSM from proclaiming Trump is bad for insulting the spooks. He is an equal opportunity insulter.
Trump is bad, and you can see what’s coming. The treasury secretary nominee is the guy that ate Sears from the inside out, so expect the same on a national level. Will the MSM ever clue anyone in on this?
The WaPoo and NYTwits doing this double spook fake news crapola is a sign of weakness and desperation, and a sign that little nakedcapitalism and the other targets of WaPoo’s smear are actually “speaking truth to power” and truth in general which stands in stark contrast to MSM BS.
What is the MSM’s record. Over the last decade and a half, through their absurd lies and propaganda, the Middle East has been set on fire, trillions of dollars have been wasted and thousands and thousands of lives have been destroyed, even those that escaped with their lives, and for what. So these assholes could get more eyeballs to sell detergent, pills and cars to. Those are facts, not fake news.
It was a pick between the lesser of two evils. Thank the MSM for that. Now they are losers, and they can’t take it.
Agree. MSM lost and continues to lose. Look at Trump’s use of Twitter and his YouTube press release. He is totally by-passing the MSM and communicating directly with Americans. This is sealing the fate of the MSM. And, frankly, they deserve it.
Maybe now sites like NC will be discovered by lots more people when folks see how much more accurate and insightful this content is in comparison to the biased drivel in the MSM. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if more people discovered NC because of the WaPo’s article?!!
When Yves get’s her front page space to respond and rebut the smears, she will rip WaPoo another asshole, then they can be called the WaPooPoo.
Let’s hope it’s before they have no readers remaining, which is where they are headed due to no credibility at all, today.
This is all such a messed up attempt by the nearly irrelevant corporate-owned MSM to salvage some credibility. From getting it wrong on the Iraq War to this most current debacle of an election, they are blinded by their being so deeply imbedded in the web of deceit made manifest by their “manufacturing of consent.” Comfortable elitists and members of the establishment, themselves, they are beginning to believe their own lies and conceit. Or to put it more succinctly, GE owns MSNBC. GE is a primary defense contractor that benefits fiscally from deadly conflict all over the world. If Rachel Maddow ever dared to speak truth to power (e.g. oppose the demonization of Russia currently ongoing that is obviously paving the way to armed conflict), she would lose her job (as did Olbermann, Cenk Uygur, etc.) Independent media is the only place to turn to for the truth.
I heard a FOX News spokesmodel espousing the importance of “trusted brands” on an NPR interview about so-called fake news this morning on the radio, and I am amused by the efforts to “re-legitimatize” the MSM through Ministry of Truth – like lists of “trusted” news outlets and self-censoring web browser plug-ins. It’s like trying to breath life into a long-dead cadaver. Stick a fork in the MSM, turn it over, it’s done.
As Patrick Henningsen from consortiumnews.com said in the best PropOrNot takedown I’ve read,
It looks like there is to be a new war, based on the most recent lame duck McCarthyesque legislation (oddly introduced just before the election). The War on Dissent.
One correction – I’m pretty sure GE sold off NBC and no longer owns MSNBC. But the ownership doesn’t make all that much difference to your overall excellent point.
great letter, much detail. The most disconcerting thing so far is Google’s refusal to service Counterpunch. Google should be sued back to the stone-age on that one act alone, even if it never does anything so stupid again. Who the fuck does Google think they are? Google should be shut down by the government for crimes against our civil rights to open access. And they should also be forced to pay extreme damages because this one act is tantamount to treason.
can I give you some advice? Get Google out of you life. Set your search engine to Duck Duck Go. Install browser extensions like Disconnect to block all of Google’s tracking cookies which are served up by almost all websites and don’t use g-mail. Google is a surveillance operation dressed up as search engine and Eric Schmidt is a card carrying member of the deep state.
+1. the funny thing is, while Google fiddles your search results it may also be indirectly f*ching its own internal data sets. ‘true AI is just around the corner.’ Say ‘hello’ to Ada. GIGO
The CNN piece referenced in Mr. Moody’s letter, touting PorN as legitimate researchers, made my blood run cold. As did reading about the removal of Counterpunch from the Google news feed after they were slandered via the WaPo.
Meanwhile, the legacy media is in a McCarthy-ite frenzy on their front pages again today. Who is really trying to de-legitimize the 2016 U.S. election?
Your actions have a massive level of support amongst the general population- left /right, up(not so much)/ down.
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
People are waking up. I used to believe everything I read/heard/saw from the “reputable” news outlets. I never really questioned it. It was the “news”.
Now I realize that they are trying to enslave me, my friends, my community, my family. Bastards
It is dystopian. I imagined this time, but never thought I would experience it, “right this moment”. Well done Naked Capitalism!!!!
This is a historic time, and you are on the side of the righteous.
I think you are right to stand up for yourselves and push back but I don’t think you have the basis for a winning lawsuit against the Post. You obviously have a reputable attorney advising you, but as I read the facts and the law it seems any case against the Post is a stretch. The Post has done more damage to itself with its ridiculous story which caused an uproar that resulted in massive ridicule and scorn of its pathetic journalism. That is a powerful form of justice in an of itself.
Only if one lives in a world constructed purely of values, and believes that self-righteous oligarchs should live to irritate the world with impunity another day. Which is exactly the world the MSM wants to create. And exactly the world alt-news seeks to destroy. Whose interests do YOU represent with your typically liberal exhortations to not bother the very important very busy people with my trifles?
Another person attempting to convince all of us the cause is hopeless so we should count our blessings and move on. Must pay well.
No, the Post has not “done more damage to itself.” It is a well-known major newspaper the content of which is unquestioningly accepted by a large number of people. They have done very real damage by labeling perfectly legitimate news sites as untrustwothy, and their narrative is being embraced by many who need to be persuaded to seek other sources of information. Worse, they know the alternative sources rely on public support to maintain their independence, and as Mr. Moody’s letter notes this has resulted in a loss of revenue.
I wasn’t aware of Google’s throttling of Counterpunch, but I do know I can no longer directly share articles from RTAmerica and one of the other sites on the PorN list to Facebook. So far, I can still copy and paste, but unless this attack on freedom of the press is stopped dead now, I don’t doubt my page will suddenly be discovered in violation of Facebook’s terms of service.
Must I quote Edmund Burke?
Elizabeth Burton – “It is a well-known major newspaper, the content of which is unquestionably accepted by a large number of people.”
Yes, isn’t that the problem? How could anyone believe such nonsense? I mean, when you hear the words come out of Hillary’s mouth, you know she is lying. And so is every other politician or media personality. Are people actually this stupid? They very well might have said it was “aliens,” and sadly, it would still be believed. Unbelievable.
I don’t think Robert is attempting to convince you that the cause is hopeless. Depending on the judge you get, he might slap the Washington Post. Might. I, along with others here, have been saying that what the Post did was unconscionable, but the way to fight them is to go after them yourself, make THEM go on the defensive. Highlight every single falsehood they tell, every lie, every omission. Make life absolutely miserable for them. Set a fire under them. That’s not rolling over!
If the case is kept simple, and the wronged parties are very well prepared, then I say go after them. But if you lose, you may get assessed THEIR lawyers’ fees, which could add up into the thousands, especially if they delay the case. This is the chance you take. Had you thought about being assessed their lawyers’ fees if you lose? These are called “costs” in a courtroom.
Elizabeth Burton – “It is a well-known major newspaper, the content of which is unquestionably accepted by a large number of people.”
Yes, isn’t that the problem? How could anyone believe such nonsense? I mean, when you hear the words come out of Hillary’s mouth, you know she is lying. And so is every other politician or media personality. Are people actually this stupid? They very well might have said it was “aliens,” and sadly, it would still be believed. Unbelievable.
I don’t think Robert is attempting to convince you that the cause is hopeless. Depending on the judge you get, he might slap the Washington Post. Might. I, along with others here, have been saying that what the Post did was unconscionable, but the way to fight them is to go after them yourself, make THEM go on the defensive. Highlight every single falsehood they tell, every lie, every omission. Make life absolutely miserable for them. Set a fire under them. That’s not rolling over!
If the case is kept simple, and the wronged parties are very well prepared, then I say go after them. But if you lose, you may get assessed THEIR lawyers’ fees, which could add up into the thousands, especially if they delay the case. This is the chance you take. Had you thought about being assessed their lawyers’ fees if you lose? These are called “costs” in a courtroom.
Comments like Robert NYC’s, urging a quiet “lie-down-and-enjoy-it because they’ll never convict him anyway”, make me wonder afresh if what Wapoo & Co really fear is not a damage award in dollars, but the results of discovery if a case is brought.
So many suspicions and accusations are flying right now, and so many fingers are pointing in all directions about so many covert ops and their alleged originators that my mind is giving me reruns of Yellow Submarine. But all remain at the level conveniently dismissed as “conspiracy theory”.
Now though, with a major “news” purveyor at the wrong end of many pointing fingers due to their own oh-so-clumsy participation in the game, I wonder what might be discoverable in court about the background of this particularly inept move. Admissible evidence concerning the background of such a contemptible attack being made by a once-respected major news supplier would be untouchable by the “conspiracy theory” label. Fascinating!
I have directed a lot of litigation in my life and my comments reflect the practical realities involved with suing the Post. Litigation is mind numbingly expensive, time consuming and inefficient. And if that weren’t bad enough it is shockingly capricious in terms of results.. It is also a massive distraction for the principals of the plaintiff and defendants which cuts both ways. A plaintiff can still achieve certain objectives even if they have a low chance of success because you can effectively punish a defendant without winning if your are willing to bear the hassles and expense. Discovery in and of itself is a potent weapon, but discovery can be contested and drag on for months if not years. I think it is safe to say that very few commenters have any meaningful experience with litigation. I am not advocation one way or another, just commenting on the practical realities based on over fifteen years of litigation experience. I dislike the Post and NYT and think it is great to hold them accountable but you have to know what you are getting into.
Not an expert on libel law but not sure this suit would withstand a summary judgment motion.
You do not recognize that this is an existential issue. If we do not fight this “fake news” assault on every front, we will not be in business in five years, possibly even three. Google and Facebook are on their way to blacklisting certain sites as “fake news” Stories like the Post’s give them cover.
Yves Smith – you are right, stories like this DO give them cover. But these guys are out to get “cover”; it is what they’re after. They’re inventing it. Hillary, Stein, the rest of the politicians who are talking about the fake Russian problem are all assisting. If they don’t get it this way, they’ll get it another way. They’re all in it together. In their minds, THEY will control the narrative, not you or sites like yours. They’ll just keep chipping away. If you win, which I hope that you do, they will come at you again, just differently. Perhaps with the new law passed by Congress and the Senate. If you stand far enough back, you can see it all unfolding. Dangerous people. Find out who is controlling the puppets/front men (in the Congress and the Senate), who is really pulling their strings, and then go after those people. Start looking for a common denominator.
Existential discovery.
You are fighting them and have been for years by telling the truth. It has been very effective as evidenced by your ever growing readership and influence. That is your most potent weapon. And yes, the deep state and the state propaganda apparatus are pushing back in an aggressive and ruthless way. Not sure it is an existential threat though. The genie is out of the bottle and it seems to me that much of the public is on to the mainstream media. The NYT’s recent articles on Russia are comical in their desperation. And a lot of us know that when you see the names David Sanger, Scott Shane, etc. you can be sure the article was vetted and approved by their handlers. By all means sue them but I think your real power comes from doing what you do everyday. You saw what happened with the Post article. Greenwald and dozens of other heavyweights rushed in expose the rot. For years Chomsky has been fighting this battle, nearly alone, now it seems there is a small army fighting back.
and only fools let Google and Facebook filter their news.
You do not understand.
If Google stops indexing us in searches, it would be as if we did not exist. You could put in “naked capitalism” or the exact name of a post, and our site would not come up in searches. You could find Naked Capitalism only if you already knew about us and put in the URL.
I was confused when the Democrats kept pressing on with the McCarthy 2.0 tactics after the election- what was the goal now that Clinton wouldn’t be getting her war with Russia? This made it clear though- they have a long term plan to prevent another Bernie Sanders, by scaring well-meaning liberals into accepting censorship so people won’t easily find information outside of the well-heeled mainstream media and they control the message. The Clinton machine is clearly not done with us.
Robert NYC is our astroturf ‘let’s be friends’ flower child (what’s his IP/useragent/canvas? we’ll get to work on it.) Robert does not realize that in Ultimate Samizdat Fighting, self-inflicted damage is not victory. Victory is ruinous punitive damages. Victory is judicial and extrajudicial exposure of ICCPR-illegal CIA war propaganda. Victory is annihilation of a once-reputable newspaper brand. Victory is making fake CIA journalists crawl and lick your shoes for mercy. Grinding the Propornot pukes into dust is only round one.
Absolutely right. Sue the fuckers.
In our current economic system, requiring using one’s capital repeatedly, the best form of legal action is one that injuncts assets of the defendant to provide a fund for damages at the end of the day.
By interrupting his money-go-round he is obliged to attend to your protest realistically instead of giggling and sending nonsensical letters to you.
Bezos likely bought the paper for the political value of its beltway following but there must still be an underlying economic rationale to his purchase, at least not a loss of the potential size of the four libelled plaintiffs’ claims.
This action may require crowd-funding and the collection of those other victims into a class action.
Bezo’s wealth is the equivalent of nearly 14 1/2 Nimitz units, so losing a couple of hundred million is pocket lint. Thanks to the stawk market, he gained the equivalent of 4.3 Nimitz units in the last year. Second richest on the planet now, according to Forbes.
Trump has their back, or so he said at the public portion of the squillionaire’s meeting, but I bet he says that to all the boys. I doubt though that he asked Jeffy why he was selling fake Apple stuff off his website, nor prodded Timmy to stand up to Jeffy and tell him to stop stealing his lunch money.
Bezos bought the WawPoo for its value as a social prestige bestower, and as a propaganda outlet. The only cost that Bezos would feel relative to the WawPoo is if it became a social prestige embarrasser, and a reverse-propaganda own-goal generator.
Victory against the WawPoo means exterminating it from existence and wiping it from the face of the earth. And turning every WawPoo employee connected with this McCarthyite story into a homeless unemployable freezing in its restless sleep behind a dumpster somewhere.
One has to start somewhere. I am just a layman and if Yves Smith thinks a lawsuit is a good place to start, I don’t know enough to say differently.
Bezos, once the target of Trump’s attacks, went with other Silicon Valley big players to a meeting with Trump yesterday. Silicon Valley tech companies have been highly critical of Trump. Now Trump holds the power of govt contracts, trade deals, Chinese imports, etc. It will be interesting to see if the tenor of la Post’s reporting changes. (The neocons (MIC) and big media companies (TPP) have their own reasons for bashing Trump and the election results.)
That said, there is no excuse for the McCarthyist smear the Post published. None.
> “demonstrably counterfactual”
That’s a keeper!
And that’s a very good letter indeed.
Yves – re supposed Russian hacking, Karl Denninger (who does know his Internet technology), has a post entitled “So It WAS NOT Hacking”. Karl quotes the Daily Mail in U.K. and Craig Murray’s involvement:
“Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and associate of Julian Assange, told the Dailymail.com he flew to Washington, D.C. for emails.
He claims he had a clandestine hand-off in a wooded area near American University with one of the email sources.
The leakers’ motivation was ‘disgust at the corruption of the Clinton Foundation and the ’tilting of the primary election playing field against Bernie Sanders.
Murray says: ‘The source had legal access to the information. The documents came from inside leaks, not hacks’.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4034038/Ex-British-ambassador-WikiLeaks-operative-claims-Russia-did-NOT-provide-Clinton-emails-handed-D-C-park-intermediary-disgusted-Democratic-insiders.html
And then Karl says:
“The source gave it to him.
There was no hacking. There was instead a disguntled Democrat operative who had access to the data, dumped it, and turned it over.
This is a guy who (1) claims to have met the actual source, (2) received the actual data and (3) got the data because the person who took it was*****ed off that the Democrats stole the nomination from Sanders.
The “Russian” claim just went up in smoke.”
Then Karl (who is not a fellow who is into conspiracy theories at all) says:
“PPS: Was his name “Seth Rich”? Because if so then every single person supporting the “hack” narrative, repeating it or cheering it on is in fact cheering on murder and it is my sincere wish to each of you, collectively and individually, that you burn eternally in Hell for your open and outrageous support of both corruption and murder.”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=231717
The plot is getting thicker by the minute.
I wasn’t doing Links the last few days due to distractions, but Lambert gave prominent play to the Craig Murray quote in the Guardian and his related blog post saying it was leakers and he knew them personally.
WaPo still has their lie posted on their site. Just accessed it.
Did the WaPo ever respond to the 2nd letter?