The attempted Clinton-CIA coup against Donald Trump

[Lauren Johnson]

The latest credentialed independent journalist, Seymour Hersh, blasts the media for uncritically promoting Russian hacking story.

But is he, like most other independent reporters just ::headbang::::headbang::::headbang:: in the face of a rampant psychological contagion?

Hersh also noted that Trump's counter-attack on the media was "right out of national socialism" and also warned about Trump's access to the unbridled power and snooping ability of the US Intelligence Community.

Seymour Hersh? The guy who accepts the official version of the JFK assassination and wrote that there may have been "some justice" done when he was killed?

::laughingdog:eople's perceptions about JFK is your guiding philosophy for making judgements today is it? Something that happened over 50 years ago?

Meanwhile, back in the land of reality some facts: Seymour Hersh has won the Pulitzer prize, two National Magazine awards, five George Polk awards and one George Orwell report - he's the guy who broke the My Lai massacre story and too many others to mention here - and who has regularly embarrassed and held power to account.

Tell us what amazing things have you done journalistically, Tracy?

David, I think Tracy has a point here. Hersh is a very questionable character. In fact, anyone who is allowed to be a part of the Mighty Wurlizter should be treated with at least some degree of skepticism.

Doug Valentine in his The CIA as Organized nothing good to say about Hersh. His criticism is that in his reporting on My Lai, he turned the story into a cover-up by the higher brass of a group of bad soldiers who disobeyed orders. He ignored the real story in that this group was a part of the Phoenix Program who were supposed to kill civilians indiscriminately in order to terrorize the population. He goes on further to say:

Like Seymour Hersh and other liberal media icons, he avoids naming CIA officers or detailing the CIA's class functions. He's an expert who tells the bourgeoisie it's all under control. He serves this symbolic function and he's been doing it for forty years. And if, like me, you violate his sanctity by revealing the truth, you'll never get published by the Compatible Left. You lose access.

Valentine, Douglas. The CIA as Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World (Kindle Locations 424-427). Clarity Press, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Further he has nothing good to say about Daniel Ellsberg nor any of the current crop of celebrity truth tellers like Jeremy Scahill, etc.

Maintaining Ellsberg's image is mostly a business decision, because Ellsberg is what the Mafia calls "a money-maker." If one of these Compatible Left media outlets has Ellsberg talk at a peace conference it's sponsoring, a hundred fans will pay cash to see him. The Compatible Left is a business venture that's dependent on the capitalist society within which it operates. At the same time, Ellsberg is a symbol of the illusion that change is possible within the system. He calls for reform, yes, and like the Compatible Left, he backs many important progressive programs. But more importantly, by covering up his own CIA connections, he's reassuring the bourgeoisie that subscribes to these media outlets that everything they assume about their leaders is right. And that's how symbolic heroes mislead the way. This is Ellsberg's symbolic function; as a certified hero who has achieved celebrity status, he proves the system works. He leaked the Pentagon Papers and stopped the war. And he suffered for it. President Nixon wanted to put him on trial for treason. Nixon's staff pulled all sports of dirty tricks to intimidate and discredit him, but he soldiered on. That's the myth of the hero. But there are no heroes, and the system doesn't work for everyone, like it rewards Amy Goodman at Democracy Now! Or like it rewards Greenwald and Scahill.


Valentine, Douglas. The CIA as Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World (Kindle Locations 411-421). Clarity Press, Inc.. Kindle Edition.