by David Phinney
Thursday October 3rd 2024

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Tom Wolfe

Tom Wolfe

Sad news. Tom Wolfe, one of the best writers of his generation has passed away. I met Tom in San Francisco while he was researching Man in Full. He was alone going through some newspaper archives at the San Francisco library. Very friendly, and easy going. We talked a lot about Emeryville in the East Bay -- full of political corruption, shady [...]

CIA Director Gets Hostile Over WikiLeaks, Etc.

CIA Director Gets Hostile Over WikiLeaks, Etc.

April 13 -- Mike Pompeo seemed combative as a tank platoon commander and happy as a former member of Congress now with a great paying gig that doesn’t require sitting on the telephone making calls to campaign donors. CIA Director Mike Pompeo answers questions at the Center for Strategic and International Studies The three-term conservative [...]

Intel Vets Talk about Trump

Intel Vets Talk about Trump

April 13 -- Thursday was yap day for three former intelligence heads and the present CIA director who spoke at two different think tank forums in D.C. “WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service. It has encouraged its followers to find jobs at CIA in order to obtain intelligence,” [...]

Swampland: Watching and Leaking, Susan Rice and Unmasking Washington

Swampland: Watching and Leaking, Susan Rice and Unmasking Washington

April 18 -- Okay, I’m way out of orbit from the consensus of reporters reporting on anonymous sources that say Susan Rice was not politicizing her choice of unmasking. I retract any skepticism in the blather below. Twitter is full of claims by journalists claiming that Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker has obliterated any claims to the contrary. John [...]

Inside Out

Inside Out

Nov. 11, 2016 -- Ever since Bill Clinton campaigned for the White House, every president has campaigned as an Washington outsider. Once elected, they all relied on Beltway insiders. Obama may have been the most guarded, but he succumbed. The real issue for Trump is who he relies on, not the finger-pointing, partisan hysteria. The thing to [...]

NPR Offers Staff Buyouts After Buying New $200-Million Building

NPR Offers Staff Buyouts After Buying New $200-Million Building

Sept. 13, 2013 -- Red ink is dousing National Public Radio after moving into a plush new building while corporate sponsors have been taking a pass on underwriting programming. The news comes on the heels of current CEO Gary Knell announcing plans move on to the top job at the National Geographic Society, He will be replaced by NPR board Vice [...]

Dems Get Together for National Security Consulting

Dems Get Together for National Security Consulting

Sept. 4, 2013 -- Well connected and ready to consult -- Washington style. They are getting together under the banner, Beacon Global Strategies, with an initial address on L St. All recently had former positions working close to those at the highest level of government with a focus on international affairs and national security. Those who worked [...]

National Security Contracts into Three-Ring Circus

National Security Contracts into Three-Ring Circus

by David Phinney June 21, 2013 -- A contractor vetted a contractor to work for a contractor that is contracted to the U.S. National Security Agency – all for the security of U.S. taxpayers that the contractors are being paid to sometimes apparently surveil. This dizzying U.S. contractor cluster f#%k is becoming familiar routine [...]

Sitting on the Secret Spy Court: The Judges

Sitting on the Secret Spy Court: The Judges

by David Phinney Several judges made headlines by threatening reporters with prison sentences after refusing to reveal sources. One ruled on proceedings of the drilling moratorium following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill while owning investments in oil companies with drilling interests. Some have presided over serious terrorist [...]

Hiring National Security Contractors Is Dangerous Business

Hiring National Security Contractors Is Dangerous Business

When high-level government officials are reduced to blaming a single, low-level contractor employee for upending U.S. intelligence operations, then those high-level officials have a big problem. The troublemaker, Edward Snowden, was just one of over a million intelligence private employees with government security clearances. A high school [...]

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