7 ms·
Not the ACLU. James Risen. Journalist.
by themeek 11y ago
Not the ACLU. James Risen. Journalist.
- dragonwriter 11y agoOk, when was James Risen charged with treason by the US? AFAICT, the most significant legal battle he's had with the US Justice Department was over the latter's attempt to force him to testify in the trial of Jeffery Sterling, a former CIA officer charged with leaking. Risen himself hasn't been charged with anything.
- themeek 11y agoHe was charged with the Espionage Act. Please refer to the original comment to see that I did not claim the US charges individuals with treason. Risen got it better than others though in some ways. Binney and his family were held at gunpoint. Nacchio was blackmailed.
- rayiner 11y agoSource that Risen was charged with the Espionage Act? The Wikipedia page just mentions Sterling. Binney was never indicted for anything. As for Nacchio: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/qwests-joseph-nacchio-tries-to-rewrite-history-2014-04-03 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/qwests-joseph-nacchio-tries... ("Nacchio, after all, had deep pockets and millions of dollars in legal indemnification from Qwest. He fully exhausted the federal-appeals process and still lost his case, Eid said.")
- themeek 11y agoYou are right about Risen and Sterling. I think you get the point though. The leverage placed on Risen to reveal his sources and the placement of Sterling under the Espionage Act - the use of backroom deals to keep Risen's publication of mass surveillance out of the Times when it was first published - the use of NSLs - the hacking of the Associated Press to spoil their sources during the Benghazi Affair. The US uses these things to curdle journalistic coverage and their sources. Binney wasn't indicted for anything. He and his family was held at gunpoint and threatened. The link you gave just had people calling Nacchio pathetic. Was there a specific fact you were trying to highlight? (I mentioned character defamation in the top post.)
- tptacek 11y agoRisen wasn't charged. His source was. Nacchio was one of several executives at a variety of companies charged with bilking shareholders out of tens of millions of dollars. The case against him appears to have been quite strong: he stipulated to a number of high-dollar sales of his stocks during times where he knew the price of Qwest's stock was going to crater.
- themeek 11y agoYes, see the other thread. Responded there. Right, he was involved in insider trading. If you don't do anything illegal it's hard to blackmail you for it. That was the claim. Blackmail. Sure, he did something wrong(-ish).
- xfdsfjsdlfs 11y agopeople should ignore tptacek as he regularly shills for government corruption and power.
- themeek 11y agoI'm not sure if he's paid, if his interests align (he's in the security contracting circle), or if he's genuinely naive in his cheerleading. I think most of the stuff he has to say is legitimate. It's just he very often is fallacious and uncharitable as well - and that's when you hope others can see through the BS. Luckily HN is a pretty smart crowd.