Prosecutors can complain about students paying sources, who then go buy drugs, when PROSECUTORS and COPS stop doing the same fucking thing with informants. Quit fucking crying, crybaby prosecutors. #journalismschool
Actually, the kids who worked on this project (or, at least, previous classes) have found corroboration that convicted felons are actually guilty. They don't get better grades by proving the guy is innocent, the get better grades by investigating the issue thoroughly.
Also, who cares if they paid a source? It's not like they're going to introduce this shit into evidence. That's the prosecutor's job. #journalismschool
I have it from a reliable source that those prosecutors are working on this case in order to receive paychecks. Can we really trust the work of individuals with a profit motive? #medillinnocenceproject
By the modern definition, Gawker is technically practicing "journalism" and well... there's going to be a time, if there hasn't already, when you're going to need the cover of "journalism" to hold up in court.
@If_I_Had_a_Poodle: And I want to see his law degree, a notarized statement from the college president that donations from his folks did not influence his grades, his Illinois law license, a statment from the state bar there never has been discipline nor pending, and a notarized statement he was a virgin along with his wife, when they married.
Here's what I got from this clip-instead of being stupid and lying about big things, like death panels and fascism, be smart and lie about little things, like that Republicans are really concerned about Medicare or that taxes are going up.
@Unsolicited Advice: I am pretty sure I fall into the "ordinary American" category in the link below.
If it's all a gigantic lie, like his secret birth certificate, or his secret love of -isms, like communism/fascism/socialism, then I will retract when it all comes down. Or up, as the case may be.
Well, it's just that historically tax increases track increases in sovereign debt. While possible that the so-called "ordinary American" won't be taxed, I'm a skeptic in that area. Not trying to be all "SECRET NAZI TRICKS!" about it, but my thought was that we collectively understood that health care and the like were going to result in tax increases.
I used to bitch about "dishonesty" from the Obama administration about who would pay for the public option, for example, but I eventually agreed with supporters that most people had an understanding that there would be cost-to-you implications. It's a transaction, not a gift. If you're expecting a gift I'd recalibrate those expectations. #joescarborough
@Unsolicited Advice: I imagine that the 5% that owns all the wealth in the country, the ones that are not in the "ordinary American tax break" category have a lot to do with all this. There is no secret that that category will be taxed.
Which is the very reason why Republicans are frantically using so many of those big stupid lies AND little smart lies. #joescarborough
@Kobayashi Maru: There are always going to be people on the other side of the aisle with whom we disagree. At least Scarborough is a rationale human being and not one of the tea-party nut jobs that is rapidly taking over the Republican party. #joescarborough
@Fuzzy Dunlop: He's still flat out lying, is my point.
Like Medicare? Unless it helps them scare the shit out of the olds, Republicans don't give a rat's ass about Medicare, and haven't since it started. #joescarborough
This is sort of like when a girl who desperately wants to impress a group of guys goes off on a tirade about how she just hates women OMG they're sooooo annoying! (be my boyfriend!) #joescarborough
@morninggloria: "I just like, don't relate to girls at all. I only want to hang around with dudes, because girls are such shallow bitches. Not like me. I am deep. Also, I like sports. And belching." #joescarborough
@Notes from the underwhelmed: "And sex. Like, most chicks don't even watch porn, but I love porn, and sex. Like a guy. Except I want to have sex with guys. Unless making out with chicks turns you on.
@Notes from the underwhelmed: "And I hate drama. I can't stand all that girl-drama. Girls can be so dramatic."
This is what kills me (even as a woman, myself) because they're the ones who usually turn out to be the nuclear winters of drama. Always tell your guy friends to stay away from the girl who makes it a point to point out that she hates all the dramz. #joescarborough
So if I read this correctly, The Times lied. Unless maybe it didn't, because over several months the Taliban may have changed its mind -- again. Unless it hadn't. Or maybe the Times was confused, or just dishonest. But we have a call in . . . to the lying liars.
OK.
I understand Gawker wants to publish stories fast and let them develop. [www.theawl.com] And hats off, John, for pointing out the possible explanations, what you know and what you don't. But that comes at the end of a long post under a headline about "the great falsehood."
The publication of Rohde's story makes this is a great time for Times editors to answer your questions. Maybe this post will pressure them to do so. But I for one would like to know how long you waited to hear back before calling them out.
I would think that, if anything had happened to Rohde after the press blackout had been breached, the recriminations (both self- and from outsiders) would have been immense.
Was the importance of a kidnapping story of a journalist (whose name was unfamiliar) to most THAT much more important than the chance that his life could be saved? I guess I don't understand why this is even an issue for Gawker or anyone - the NY Times had a reporter being held in tribal Pakistan, where (after the fact) the reporter says the story, situation, and players changed regularly. Who WOULDN'T have vilified the Times if he'd been killed once the story got it?
One of the kidnappers wanted to "eat the flesh of someone who worked with the West". Really, do they sound rational? Why fu** with them from the comfort of your office? #davidrohde
@FormerEnglishMajor: You just summed up exactly the thinking behind going along with the blackout. Who were we to second-guess the Times' assertions about Rohde's captors? It was the right judgment to make. But now that Rohde's safe and sound (thankfully) it doesn't mean that the NYT and its actions during his captivity should be off limits to questioning. #davidrohde
@FormerEnglishMajor: Seriously. Thanks Gawker for keeping quiet at the time, like the thousands (literally) of other people who knew about Rohde's captivity and kept the story out of the media. I'm glad to see you can be team players. The fact of the matter is that nobody knew enough about the situation to determine whether publicizing the story would be a risk, but if Rohde himself now says he was afraid of a video being released, shouldn't that be enough reason to let the issue go?
Maybe from your media bubble it makes sense to equate the NYT p.r. machine's prevarications with the Taliban's. But what would give you the right to decide whether this story was news? If you had gone live with it, and he had been killed or whisked deeper into captivity in Waziristan, how would you have lived with yourselves?
To the guy who was held almost incommunicado for 7 months and was in fear of his and his companions lives the entire time, your regret at lost page views over outing his ordeal must seem at once juvenile and monstrous. #davidrohde
@procrastination_state: A quote from Rohde's third installment, today, that further supports the logic of a media blackout, and casts it as an informal agreement by all the press in Afghanistan for all kidnapped journalists:
"I had heard before our abduction that the Afghan and foreign news media had struck an informal agreement not to publicize the kidnappings of journalists in Afghanistan if their organization requested it.
"The October 2008 kidnapping of a Canadian journalist in Kabul, Melissa Fung, had been kept quiet. Keeping the kidnappings out of the news, it was hoped, would decrease the expectations of hostage-takers that they could garner vast amounts of publicity or ransom for journalists." #davidrohde
Here's what chaps my ass: The Taliban spoke on cell phones in Afghanistan, which has a fairly comprehensive nationwide cellular phone system. There are areas without service, but most cities and large towns have strong reception. The system is one of the major achievements of the American-led reconstruction effort since 2001.
Yet, I can't even travel by train across New Jersey without repeatedly having my call dropped. #davidrohde
Tucker Max hopes to become a Tyler Perry for white people. if he has any success from this movie, I'm hopping a steamship to parts unknown. Do people still do that, BTW?
11/11/09
11/11/09
Also, who cares if they paid a source? It's not like they're going to introduce this shit into evidence. That's the prosecutor's job. #journalismschool
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/10/09
11/11/09
Otherwise, he's not a real American. #medillinnocenceproject
10/30/09
Scarborough is douche-lite. #joescarborough
10/30/09
You don't think taxes are going to increase?
Interesting. #joescarborough
10/30/09
If it's all a gigantic lie, like his secret birth certificate, or his secret love of -isms, like communism/fascism/socialism, then I will retract when it all comes down. Or up, as the case may be.
[www.barackobama.com] #joescarborough
10/30/09
Well, it's just that historically tax increases track increases in sovereign debt. While possible that the so-called "ordinary American" won't be taxed, I'm a skeptic in that area. Not trying to be all "SECRET NAZI TRICKS!" about it, but my thought was that we collectively understood that health care and the like were going to result in tax increases.
I used to bitch about "dishonesty" from the Obama administration about who would pay for the public option, for example, but I eventually agreed with supporters that most people had an understanding that there would be cost-to-you implications. It's a transaction, not a gift. If you're expecting a gift I'd recalibrate those expectations. #joescarborough
10/30/09
Which is the very reason why Republicans are frantically using so many of those big stupid lies AND little smart lies. #joescarborough
10/30/09
10/30/09
Like Medicare? Unless it helps them scare the shit out of the olds, Republicans don't give a rat's ass about Medicare, and haven't since it started. #joescarborough
10/30/09
10/30/09
10/30/09
10/30/09
10/30/09
"... please love me?" #joescarborough
10/30/09
This is what kills me (even as a woman, myself) because they're the ones who usually turn out to be the nuclear winters of drama. Always tell your guy friends to stay away from the girl who makes it a point to point out that she hates all the dramz.
#joescarborough
10/30/09
10/19/09
OK.
I understand Gawker wants to publish stories fast and let them develop. [www.theawl.com] And hats off, John, for pointing out the possible explanations, what you know and what you don't. But that comes at the end of a long post under a headline about "the great falsehood."
The publication of Rohde's story makes this is a great time for Times editors to answer your questions. Maybe this post will pressure them to do so. But I for one would like to know how long you waited to hear back before calling them out.
10/19/09
10/19/09
Was the importance of a kidnapping story of a journalist (whose name was unfamiliar) to most THAT much more important than the chance that his life could be saved? I guess I don't understand why this is even an issue for Gawker or anyone - the NY Times had a reporter being held in tribal Pakistan, where (after the fact) the reporter says the story, situation, and players changed regularly. Who WOULDN'T have vilified the Times if he'd been killed once the story got it?
One of the kidnappers wanted to "eat the flesh of someone who worked with the West". Really, do they sound rational? Why fu** with them from the comfort of your office? #davidrohde
10/19/09
10/19/09
Maybe from your media bubble it makes sense to equate the NYT p.r. machine's prevarications with the Taliban's. But what would give you the right to decide whether this story was news? If you had gone live with it, and he had been killed or whisked deeper into captivity in Waziristan, how would you have lived with yourselves?
To the guy who was held almost incommunicado for 7 months and was in fear of his and his companions lives the entire time, your regret at lost page views over outing his ordeal must seem at once juvenile and monstrous. #davidrohde
10/20/09
"I had heard before our abduction that the Afghan and foreign news media had struck an informal agreement not to publicize the kidnappings of journalists in Afghanistan if their organization requested it.
"The October 2008 kidnapping of a Canadian journalist in Kabul, Melissa Fung, had been kept quiet. Keeping the kidnappings out of the news, it was hoped, would decrease the expectations of hostage-takers that they could garner vast amounts of publicity or ransom for journalists." #davidrohde
10/19/09
Yet, I can't even travel by train across New Jersey without repeatedly having my call dropped. #davidrohde
09/22/09
09/21/09
09/21/09