Gary Webb: CIA trafficking drugs in U.S.

Posted on January 23, 2013 by admin

Journalist reveals CIA involvement in drug trafficking in the U.S.

“Investigative reporting is being sort of squeezed out of the picture, and I think intentionally, because it tends to ruffle feathers and it’s good investigative reporting that does ruffle feathers, and it draws lawsuits and it gets newspapers in trouble.”

These are the words of late journalist Gary Webb, who was a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News, and a Pulitzer prize winner that revealed that the CIA was linked to crack cocaine sales in Los Angeles, where tons of cocaine was sold to street gangs, and millions of dollars in drug profits were funneled to the Nicaraguan Contras.

In 1996, Webb wrote a series of articles named “Dark Alliance” for the San Jose Mercury News that exposed Nicaraguans who were linked to the CIA-backed Contras, for smuggling cocaine into the U.S.. Their cocaine was distributed in Los Angeles as crack cocaine which in turn sparked an epidemic of crack cocaine throughout the U.S. during the 80′s.

The series of articles about CIA corruption brought a firestorm of controversy which resulted in the San Jose Newspaper backing away from the stories, and Webb was blacklisted as a journalist.

Despite the media’s widespread denunciation of Webb’s stories on the CIA trafficking drugs, Webb continued to assert the validity of his reporting and spoke at different media venues:

On December 10, 2004, Webb was found dead with two gunshot wounds to the head. His death was ruled a suicide, as there was a suicide note left at the scene.

As two-shot suicides are highly unusual, Webb’s death begs the question as to whether his death was actually a murder, instead of a suicide. Webb’s allegations likely exposed corruption in the federal government going all the way to the White House.

It’s definitely something to think about.

Firebrand Central

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Why the TEA Party owes Andrew Breitbart

Posted on December 14, 2012 by admin

On the morning of March 1, 2012, conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart died, at the age of 43, of unexpected natural causes.

That same afternoon, on the floor of Congress, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) payed tribute to Breitbart, in which he refers to as a “marvelous gift” from God. He also claims Breitbart “gave a good dose of chemotherapy to the cancer.”

The “cancer” that Gohmert is referring to was former community organization named the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now, otherwise known as ACORN.

ACORN was dismantled due to a firestorm of political controversy and negative publicity, stemming from a highly-edited videotape that portrays ACORN employees engaging in criminal activity, apparently counseling two conservative activists, James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, on how to hide prostitution and avoid taxes. James O’ Keefe was an employee of Andrew Breitbart, founder of the website biggovernment.com. ACORN was defunded by Congress and other private donors, and ultimately had to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidate in 2010.

Congressmen such as Louie Gohmert and Steve King (R-Iowa) express a great debt to Breitbart. Rep. Steve king said, “I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for the influence of Andrew Breitbart. In fact, we might not even know about the threat to the underpinnings of our Constitution … if it hadn’t been for Andrew Breitbart.”

There’s one thing in particular that Gohmert and King have in common: They are members of the TEA Party.

There is overwhelming evidence which shows that the TEA Party owes a lot to Andrew Breitbart. Here is the incident that brought Breitbart to TEA Party greatness.

During the summer of 2010, NAACP president Benjamin Jealous challenged the TEA Party to sign a resolution, asking the TEA Party to “expel the bigots and racists” in their ranks or “take the responsibility for them and their actions.”

The TEA Party responded with counterclaims of racism. The St. Louis TEA Party released its own resolution, while condemning the organization and demanding its “bigoted, false and inflammatory resolution” be withdrawn.

In May of 2010, a Washington Post/ABC News poll suggested that nearly a third of Americans see racism as an underlying current of the TEA Party.

The TEA Party appeared to be losing this fight with the NAACP, until Andrew Breitbart came to its rescue.

On July 19, 2010, Andrew Breitbart releases a video of Shirley Sherrod, who was the USDA Director of Rural Development for the State of Georgia, on his website biggovernment.com which appeared to show Sherrod admitting discrimination against a white farmer. The video was a two and a half minute clip of a 45 minute speech that Sherrod gave at an NAACP convention, earlier in 2010. The video created a firestorm of controversy and media coverage through major media stations like FOX and CNN, as well as commentary from many right-wing pundits like Rush Limbaugh, Joe Scarborough, Laura Ingraham, and others.

On that same day, Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign by the USDA, but was later vindicated of any wrongdoing and offered a new job, and was offered apologies by USDA and the White House.

In February of 2011, Shirley Sherrod filed a defamation lawsuit against Andrew Breitbart for the misleading video posted on his website that cost Sherrod her job at the USDA.

Here are three reasons why the TEA Party owes Andrew Breitbart so much:

1. Breitbart’s video may have smeared Sherrod and made her a political scapegoat, but it succeeded in laying cover for the TEA Party, in regards to the NAACP and its challenge to the TEA Party to sign their resolution denouncing all of the racist elements in their party. The video fabricated an equalizing narrative that portrayed racism within the NAACP, although it was a false equivalency since it was a mischaracterization of Sherrod’s statements.

2. Breitbart proverbially “took a bullet” for the TEA Party, by opening himself up for a civil suit, where there is a good chance he may lose, even in his passing. Sherrod has continued her lawsuit against his estate.

3. Even though Sherrod was cleared of the charges of racism, Breitbart succeeded in creating such a political circus, and distraction, that the TEA Party escaped the NAACP challenge to a resolution that would have likely exposed the TEA Party, and since the NAACP denounced Sherrod’s statements when Breitbart’s video was first released without researching their own video, the NAACP hurt its own credibility. NAACP president Benjamin Jealous later admitted that they were “snookered” by Breitbart’s video.

In conclusion, the TEA Party certainly owes that conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart for his loyalty and political courage, but the debt is one the TEA Party can easily pay. Just continue protecting the racist element of the TEA Party, even if you have to destroy the lives of the innocent to do so.

Firebrand Central

For a timeline on the Breitbart-Sherrod saga, click the link below:

http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/22/timeline-of-breitbarts-sherrod-smear/168090

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Cenk Uygur was right; the American press failed us in their coverage of 9/11

Posted on July 25, 2012 by admin

Mainstream press failed; Two-thirds of U.S. wrong about who attacked us on 9/11

In the video above (2006), Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks (TYT), is infuriated about the mainstream media’s coverage in regards to who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Uygur vehemently insists that the mainstream press failed the public, since over half the U.S. believed in a lie 5 years after the 9/11 attacks.

According to Uygur, in reference to a CNN poll, “43% of Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the attacks on 9/11.” The CNN poll reveals that a high percentage of the American public believes something to be true that is factually inaccurate, five years after the 9/11 attacks!

Uygur continues further stating that “43% of Americans are ‘dead wrong’ on a fact” and concluding that the statistic represents “a colossal failure on the part of the Press.”

Uygur also concludes that there is “no excuse” for the press’s failure in this case, but TYT co-host Michael Shure has a different perspective on who is to blame for this misinformed belief.

Michael Shure opines that “the people have to have a curiosity in this” and further commented, “this ‘fact’ as you call it has been put out there for American consumption now, for over 18 months!”

Shure concludes that the public should be more responsible, more inquiring, and intellectually curious, if the public wants to be better informed; in other words, Shure doesn’t believe the press failed in this case.

Jill Pike, now a former TYT co-host, concurred with Uygur’s assertion that the press failed the public, by questioning “why isn’t it a bold-faced headline on the cover of Newsweek, NY Times…?” and “why is it only buried in articles that intellectuals read?”

Pike understands that the social significance, on a macro-level, makes the story crucial to the public interest and discourse, in regards to the state of domestic and international affairs; this is why Pike finds it anomalous that the mainstream press has not driven this fact home: The fact that Saddam Hussein was not behind the attacks on 9/11!

Here is one area where Shure may have a stronger argument than Uygur: In the context of our journalistic times; in the midst of corporate power buying away editorial independence from our press and broadcast media, the quality and truthfulness in reporting has plummeted to suit the corporate agenda, therefore, it is imperative that the public observe the media with a much higher level of scrutiny and critical thinking.

FOX News Kingpin Rupert Murdoch has been a major player in the destruction of editorial independence, in order to expand his corporate empire.

With all of this being said, Cenk Uygur is still 100% right; the American press failed the public by not headlining the truth to the American people. USA Today is the highest circulating newspaper in the U.S. yet never put this information on a serious platform. To say that almost half of the U.S. population believes that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, five years afterwards, is a tragedy within itself.

It is apparent that the American, mainstream press is suffering from corporatism as well as an avarice for press access that far overrides any commitment or obligation to presenting the truth to the public.

The Framers of the Constitution intended for the ‘Free Press’ to operate as a check on the power of the government, in order for the people to maintain control over their government. Journalists are to operate as ‘Bulwarks of Liberty’ otherwise they serve as an injustice to the work of Founding Fathers, such as Alexander Hamilton and many others. The mainstream press failed decisively in this regard.

In conclusion, the press failed us miserably on amplifying the truth as to who was responsible for the worst mainland attack in U.S. history. Cenk Uygur is undeniably correct in this regard. This is not only a failure in news reporting, it is a failure to democracy.

As this trend continues, citizen journalism will continue to grow, since disseminating truth is far too expensive for much of the mainstream media.

The press failed us then and will continue to fail us, until journalism is taken away from corporate barons like Rupert Murdoch, and into the hands of the People, as it was meant to be.

Firebrand Central

Firebrand Central Blog

Category Archives: Journalism

Why the TEA Party owes Andrew Breitbart

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Cenk Uygur was right; the American press failed us in their coverage of 9/11

Mainstream press failed; Two-thirds of U.S. wrong about who attacked us on 9/11

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