The Associated Press has discovered the risks of performing as a henchman for the Obama Mafia. The 1st Amendment is the actual casualty.
It is my opinion that the Associated Press has been, in the most general sense, a reliable partner to the political establishment for many years. They have stepped outside the bounds of objective journalism and far too consistantly, injected the narratives of the socialist / fascist agenda into their reports on any number of issues. Much of the reporting has had the effect of bolstering the Obama regime as it moves from one violation of the Constitution to another.
Their reward for this loyal support? Well, how about I let the Associated Press themselves, tell you?
The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into how news organizations gather the news.
The records obtained by the Justice Department listed outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, for general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and for the main number for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP. It was not clear if the records also included incoming calls or the duration of the calls.
In all, the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown, but more than 100 journalists work in the offices where phone records were targeted, on a wide array of stories about government and other matters.
It does seem like a strange way of showing appreciation for services rendered, but when a socialist / fascist regime acquires new tools for the purposes of executing the functions of a paranoid Police State, it never wants to let an opportunity to put them to use be squandered. You know that little thingy about a crisis’ going to waste, right?
The operational tactics of Obama’s Justice Department have followed a clear arc in every instance in which the constitution’s protections have been shredded – ask forgiveness later, rather than for permission first. Actually, this administration doesn’t really even concern itself with the forgiveness part.
Obama, through the ministrations of the shadow government that installed him, believes that he has been coronated rather than elected. Still, he adopts the posture of the surprised Monarch. “I had no idea that a member of my Imperial court was engaged in such roguish activities”. That has been his shtick from the beginning – the good cop, bad cop routine. It’s worn bare to the threads now.
Associated Press CEO Gary Pruitt took strong exception to his news organization being the unwilling subject of government monitoring:
“There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP’s newsgathering operations and disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know,” Pruitt said.
What is interesting and chilling about the Justice Department’s methods of proceeding on subpeonas is the practise of obtaining them and then proceeding with the intrusion in stealth mode, with the object of the subpeona, in this case the AP, only being notified after the fact. “Oh, BTW, just a little note to let you know that we’ve been stalking your reporters. Peace – out”.
The AP, in it’s news coverage of this incident notes that news organizations normally are notified in advance that the government wants phone records and then they enter into negotiations over the desired information. In this case, however, the government, in its letter to the AP, cited an exemption to those rules that holds that prior notification can be waived if such notice, in the exemption’s wording, might “pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation.”
It should come as no shock to anyone that these peeping Erics’ represent that their Stalinesque manuevers are fully permissable – according to their own lights, anyway. William Miller, a Justice Department spokeshole, said Monday that the U.S. attorney follows “all applicable laws, federal regulations and Department of Justice policies when issuing subpoenas for phone records of media organizations.” It’s anyone’s guess if the Obama Justice Department considers there being any ‘applicable’ laws to what they do.
Observers as seemingly diverse as Darrell Issa (House 49th District), Chairman of the House Oversight Committee and the ACLU, have weighed in on this (yet another) emerging scandal:
“They had an obligation to look for every other way to get it before they intruded on the freedom of the press.”
The ACLU, wasn’t exactly amused by the abuses of power exemplified by this incident:
“The attorney general must explain the Justice Department’s actions to the public so that we can make sure this kind of press intimidation does not happen again,” said Laura Murphy, the director of ACLU’s Washington legislative office.
I do concur with them that indeed, the racketeering operation run by Consigliere Eric Holder, in service to his Mafia Boss, ‘Don Obama’ – has, in the words of Ricky Ricardo, “some splainin’ to do”.
Blasted Fools 
Michael
May 14, 2013
Our local paper today has nary a peep about this. They were probably warned about a visit from some Chicago insurance agents.