The Censor-In-Chief

I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes. -Barack Obama

Given this narrative I've been seeing all year, that Trump's epic pissing match with the Mainstream Media is tantamount to Trump being a censorful dictator, it seems a moment of reflective comparison to his predecessor is in order.

I was tuned out of left / right politics for most of Obama's tenure, so I missed out. But if leftist's denounced Obama for the following sorts of sins then it is not a sin for the same individuals to now lambast Trump for so far hardly doing anything the sort of any of this:

Censorship: 38 journalism groups slam Obama’s ‘politically-driven suppression of news’
In unprecedented criticism of the White House, 38 journalism groups have assailed the president’s team for censoring media coverage, limiting access to top officials and overall “politically-driven suppression of the news.” In a letter to President Obama, the 38, led by the Society of Professional Journalists, said efforts by government officials to stifle or block coverage has grown for years and reached a high-point under his administration despite Obama’s 2008 campaign promise to provide transparency. Worse, they said: As access for reporters has been cut off, the administration has opened the door to lobbyists, special interests and “people with money.” And as a result, they wrote, Obama only has himself to blame for the current cynicism of his administration. “You need look no further than your own administration for a major source of that frustration – politically driven suppression of news and information about federal agencies. We call on you to take a stand to stop the spin and let the sunshine in,” wrote David Cuillier, president of SPJ.

Censorsh ip and Kangaroo Courts: Alive and Well in Obama Administration
As I have reported here before the Obama administration is using kangaroo courts known as military tribunals at the Guantánamo military base. These “legal” proceedings have proven to be an embarrassment to the administration and in its latest move it is trying to silence the media in its reports from Gitmo. The Pentagon has banned four reporters from future Guantánamo Military Commissions’ proceedings for reporting the name of a witness in the pre-trial hearings of Guantánamo detainee Omar Khadr. At these hearings even the government’s own witnesses have revealed some of the abuse that Omar has been subjected to in his years of incarceration in U.S. hellholes. The identity of the witness had already been disclosed in previous news reports and an on-the-record interview he gave in 2008 to the media.

CNN Whistleblower says Obama Admin pays media for censorship and propaganda
“Instead of watchdogging governments around the world, CNN International is earning money from them, producing what might as well be called ‘infomercials-for-dictators’, sponsored shows and content that cast a positive light on some of the world’s most oppressive regimes. With vague disclosures, the news organization is defrauding unsuspecting viewers and its own journalists who often risk their

US Government Has Secret Kill Switch for Communications
Someday, your cell phone and internet may suddenly go out, but it will have nothing to do with failing to pay your bills. Unbeknownst to most Americans, the President has the authority to shut down everyone’s internet and phone service in one fell swoop, reports Mother Jones.

Obama’s lawyer threatens TV stations that run NRA ad
Straight out of the Democratic handbook Harry Reid used to threaten ABC’s broadcast license for showing the “Path to 9/11,” here’s Obama lawyer Robert Bauer warning station managers not to air the NRA’s new anti-Obama “Hunter” ad if they want to stay in the FCC’s good graces.

WordPress.com Succumbs to Pressure of Obama’s Censorship Regime
Apparently, the Obama Regime has reached down to WordPress.com, one of the most popular blogging sites on the Internet, and has gotten WP to “suspend” Rick Rozoff’s website, Stop NATO. ...However, as Rozoff notes in the above link, “no incitement to violence or other illegal action, no attempt to solicit money and no derogatory statement toward any demographic group have ever appeared” on Stop NATO or its mailing lists.

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Trusted News Organization Blasts Obama Administration over Continuing Censorship
AP blogger, Erin Madigan White, wrote: 8 ways the Obama administration is blocking information on Sept. 19, 2014. She quoted AP Washington Bureau Chief Sally Buzbee, who addressed a meeting of American Society of News Editors, the Associated Press Media Editors and the Associated Press Photo Managers. For years, we know Mr. Obama has reneged on his pre-election vow to be transparent. But now, not only the federal government fails to provide information, state and local governments are following his example.

Her eight criticisms:
-There’s a blackout on the war on Islamist terrorists. In previous wars, reporters were even embedded with the troops.
-The administration won’t let journalists observe meetings with foreign leaders. Instead, the White House hands out pictures taken by government photographers.
-With the 9/11 trial of the Guantanamo detainees approaching, there isn’t any access to court filings – even non-classified documents.
-Formerly, during the Bush Administration, Guantanamo information was readily made available. Now, however, nothing is revealed about “the number of prisoners on hunger strikes or the number of assaults on guards.”
-“Day-to-day intimidation of sources is chilling.” Government officials say they’re ordered to censor anything that’s “controversial or that makes the administration look bad.”
-Federal agencies aren’t complying with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Journalists request information as they’re legally entitled to do, but the government is nonresponsive.
-Worse, the Obama Administration is using the FOIA to spy on “what news organizations are pursuing” and “Requests are now routinely forwarded to political appointees. At the agency that oversees the new health care law, for example, political appointees now handle the FOIA requests.”
-The Obama Administration “is trying to control the information that state and local officials can give out.” Ms. White cited clandestine behavior on cellphone spying.

Groundbreaking 'War on Whistleblowers' Investigation Exposes Obama Admin's Record of Censorship & Persecution of Whistleblowers & Journalists
War on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State traces how two of the most powerful and secretive Washington power centers—the Pentagon’s military-industrial complex and Internet era’s national security state—ran amok after 9/11 and declared war on a handful of whistleblowers who went to the press to expose lies, fraud and abuses that meant life or death for troops and spying on millions of Americans. It explores why Obama, who promised the most transparent administration, became the most secretive president in recent decades and even more vindictive to intelligence-related whistleblowers than George W. Bush.

Whistleblowers are not spies or traitors, as the Bush and Obama administration’s lawyers have alleged. They are patriotic and often conservative Americans who work inside the government and with military contractors, and who find unacceptable—and often life-threatening—or illegal behavior goes unheeded when they report it through the traditional chain of command. They worry about doing nothing and feel compelled to go to the press, even if they suspect they may lose their jobs. What they don’t realize is that their lives will never quite be the same again, because they underestimate the years of government persecution that follows.

Obama's CIA Director Pick Called for Censoring the Media
In his 1980 graduate thesis at the University of Texas at Austin, John Brennan denied the existence of “absolute human rights” and argued in favor of censorship on the part of the Egyptian dictatorship.

“Since the press can play such an influential role in determining the perceptions of the masses, I am in favor of some degree of government censorship,” Brennan wrote. “Inflamatory [sic] articles can provoke mass opposition and possible violence, especially in developing political systems.”

Obama Launches Full Court Press On Media Censorship, Control, Targeting Fox
The full court press on media censorship and control surfaced a week ago when White House Communications Director Anita Dunn said Fox News was operating as, “a wing of the Republican Party.” The White House attack on Fox escalated this weekend when White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said that other media outlets should not consider Fox News as a bonafide news network, suggesting other outlets should boycott Fox News.

IRS wasn’t only agency hassling True the Vote
Since filing for tax exemption as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2010, the founders of True the Vote, a Houston-based group that tries to prevent elections fraud, have been overwhelmed with scrutiny from a host of government agencies, in particular, by the Internal Revenue Service. Catherine and Bryan Engelbrecht have suffered through 18 separate encounters with five government agencies, from surprise audits to FBI visits to never-ending demands for paperwork. The government has been scrutinizing True the Vote, the Engelbrechts’ tea party group, which is called King Street Patriots, and the family’s oil services manufacturing business. www.youtube.com...

IRS finally reveals list of tea party groups targeted for extra scrutiny
More than three years after it admitted to targeting tea party groups for intrusive scrutiny, the IRS has finally released a near-complete list of the organizations it snagged in a political dragnet. The tax agency filed the list last month as part of a court case after a series of federal judges, fed up with what they said was the agency’s stonewalling, ordered it to get a move on. The case is a class-action lawsuit, so the list of names is critical to knowing the scope of those who would have a claim against the IRS.

Barack Obama Announces Plan to CENSOR Fox News
And while there are secret efforts to control Fox News through the FCC, now Obama is being completely open about his censorship agenda. Obama announced to the world he wants to “change how the media reports.”

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From the darkness into the light .
Outstanding I.B. !!

Buck

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Obama’s Plan to Surrender Internet Control May Be Unconstitutional
Critics of the move worried that the rest of the world, including much of the Western world, has nothing close to the United States’ ideological commitment to free speech. Even though the old gray mare of free speech ain’t quite what she used to be in these parts, we still have stronger institutional, and Constitutional, resistance to government control of communications than most of the planet.

In the year and a half since ICANN handover was announced, the rest of the world has merrily gone about validating the fears of these critics by censoring and controlling the Internet every way they can. Just a few days ago, the United Nations was expressing its eagerness to turn search engines into censorship engines to battle “cyber violence against women,” which evidently includes spirited disagreement with feminists. Of course, the “global stakeholders” who don’t think women should be allowed to drive cars will want some input into Internet standards, too.

Obama’s Sordid Record on Censorship and Secrecy
While Obama’s record on press freedom is not as disgraceful as Egypt’s, or Turkey’s, or Gabon’s, he has shown enough duplicity on this subject to gain easy admission into the hypocrites’ club. His administration spent almost six years hounding courageous New York Times’ reporter James Risen over material in his 2006 book, A State of War. Last June, the Justice Department persuaded the Supreme Court not to hear a free-speech case involving Risen and leaks he received regarding national security. But the Supreme Court’s refusal to consider Risen’s case ensured that the Justice Department and the White House would continue to have a stack of cards that could legally trump the right to know the truth about federal abuses.

Net Neutrality: Obama's gateway to censorship?
FCC could determine what is in public's 'best' interest
In divining the ultimate intent of the FCC’s new regulations, it may be instructive to look at some of the ideology of the personalities involved in crafting and pushing Net Neutrality. The FCC’s Net Neutrality ruling seems to be the continuation of a plan put in place by the agency’s former chairman, Julius Genachowski. In 2010, FCC’s Genachowski proposed a “third way” to regulate broadband by reclassifying the transmission of data as a telecommunications service to be directly regulated by the agency.

Obama administration sets record for censoring and denying transparency requests
The US censored and refused to provide more documents than ever last year while responding to Freedom of Information Act requests, according to an analysis of federal data performed by the Associated Press. The government responded to just over 647,000 FOIA requests last year, a 4 percent drop from the year prior. In just over 250,000 of those cases, it censored documents or refused to provide access to them outright — nearly two out of every five requests. Censoring, however, may range from a single phone number's removal to the redaction of nearly an entire page.

'The Greatest Enemy of Press Freedom in a Generation'
In any case, Risen has a point. In addition to his own persecution, the Justice Department has pursued Fox reporter James Rosen. Ann Compton, who covered every president from Ford to Obama, also said this is the least transparent. While Holder has promised not to jail reporters, it seems to be a statement of personal preference, not Justice Department policy. He hasn't pulled back from trying to get reporters to divulge their sources—only from certain tactics—and he has presided over a massive crackdown on leaks inside the administration. There are of course good reasons why the government would wish to reduce leaking, but it's also an essential outlet for whistleblowers. Leaks lubricate the machinery of free press.

Stop Obama's Planned Gag Order on Firearm-Related Speech
It's happening again— President Obama is using his imperial pen and telephone to curb your rights and bypass Congress through executive action. Even as news reports have been highlighting the gun control provisions of the Administration's "Unified Agenda" of regulatory objectives (see accompanying story), the Obama State Department has been quietly moving ahead with a proposal that could censor online speech related to firearms. This latest regulatory assault, published in the June 3 issue of the Federal Register, is as much an affront to the First Amendment as it is to the Second. Your action is urgently needed to ensure that online blogs, videos, and web forums devoted to the technical aspects of firearms and ammunition do not become subject to prior review by State Department bureaucrats before they can be published.

Straight-Talking US Admiral Takes Down Obama’s Bible Censorship
Though the president personally professes to be a practitioner of the faith, it is becoming obvious that Christianity has been targeted for censorship and attack by President Barack Obama’s administration. Nowhere is this more evident than in the military, where Obama administration lawyers have virtually demonized the Bible and outlawed so-called “proselytizing” by the men and women of our military. They have practically been ordered to “check their religion at the door,” and are more or less forbidden from speaking about their faith with fellow service members, but are instead instructed to direct all religious matters to a chaplain.

Omar Mateen Swore Allegiance To ISIS, And The Obama Administration Is Censoring It
Here’s a thought experiment: Imagine Omar Mateen had been an outspoken member of the Tea Party. Or the Catholic Church. Or the Republican Party. Or some other group that isn’t considered acceptable outside of Flyover Country. Imagine that even as Mateen was murdering all those people in Orlando, he called the cops and the media to tell them exactly why he did it. Imagine Obama’s Justice Department had transcripts of his every word.

So tell me, was there such liberal outrage when Obama the annointed one was doing all of that?

I imagine there was plenty of non-liberals outraged during all of that.

Remember folks, it's up to us to keep our own groups honest. This goes for everyone. Don't be a bunch of hypocrites! And call out "your own" when it needs called out.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes. -Barack Obama

truthfeed.com...

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that during the last year of Obama’s presidency, his administration broke records by spending $36.2 million in federal funds to fight lawsuits over the release of records requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
Nearly two-thirds of those funds went to fight the release of information from three government agencies: $12 million to fight lawsuits filed against the Department of Justice, $6.3 million to oppose suits against the Department of Homeland Security and $4.8 million to counter suits against the Department of Defense.

It bears mentioning that Obama's position was clearly built on "freely flowing information" that supported The Narrative™ ONLY. Any information which did not directly support The Narrative™ was buried and then the shovel used to dig and bury that information was also buried just to make sure it stayed that way. That's the problem I have with concepts like calling Trump the "censor-in-chief." He's doing the opposite of what Obama did... pushing away the BS that only exists to defend the shield of The Narrative™ and The Narrative's™ blatant Matrix-lite horsecrap while blowing the doors off the vaults housing everything inconvenient to The Narrative™. That's actually the opposite of censoring, for what it's worth. It's a shame people are too hard coded into their coddling and worship of the Establishment to realize that.

originally posted by: burdman30ott6

The Narrative™.

HEY, I like that!!



Yeah that was just clipping headlines for an hour. I'm sure there was more details for those who had been doing the live play by play all those years.

And then there's The SJW Narrative™:

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
Right out of the gates of Obama's reign, the liberal machine quickly started branding any and all criticisms of Obama's policy initiatives as being "racist". Like with Obamacare, not only were criticisms of it branded racist, but even calling it "Obamacare" was too. What better way to stymie prodction discussions about it if it didn't even have a brand name? This argument still persists in the MSM to this day.

Backtrack to 2007. Here the DNC was stomping all about trying to have the "Fairness Doctrine" implement to put a gag on conservative talk show hosts. This would carry on later as a theme, where a common argument became about silencing people from questioning the nation in which Obama was born in. Note that the controversy itself only persisted the way it did given the dubious handling of releasing his birth certificate, which they could have squashed the story early on, but decided to instead let it go on for years. This played out as political gold, as anyone who dared entertain the whole idea was also silenced in the form of being labelled racists. This same theme would continue on in other ways, such as how the Tea Party movement was smeared inside and out as being purely about racism. Maybe a lot of it was a vehicle for typical left/right mud flinging? Nope! RACIST! Nevermind the fact the Tea Party was born out of a disenfranchised public given ever increasing awareness of the Two Party stranglehold & MSM electioneering over our politics & election process, amongst many other growing ills with the Big Government.

In line with liberal PC, with particular regards to Islam we saw all sorts of odd measures and behaviors on the part of Obama (and then some). Of particular note that has had half the nation scratching it's head for nearly a decade, is how even the phrases "Islamic Extremism" & "Islamic Terrorism" are to be a hush hush phrases, despite the fact that the entire War on Terror is based on it. Whether anyone likes it or not, the US is in a culture & military war with this front, thus making these extremists our enemies, and yet he wont name them. But it goes even further than that. Consider the case of the New Army Manual Orders Soldiers Not To Criticize Taliban. The design there was meant to not merely force the troops in Afghanistan not criticize Islam in general, its was very specific in that they weren't even supposed to discuss “anything related to Islam”, especially not barbaric cultural norms over there such as their well documented pedophilia culture. This whole ordeal was but one in a long list of pro-censorship measures such as url=http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2012/02/u-s-bans-linking-terrorism-to-muslims-in-agent-training/]U.S. Bans Linking Terrorism To Muslims In Agent Training[/url], the White House ordered a cleansing of training materials that Islamic groups deemed offensive, Loretta Lynch Vows to Prosecute Those Who Use 'Anti-Muslim' Speech That 'Edges Toward Violence', and Federal Government Authorizes Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to Censor “Anti-Islam” Speech; Lawsuit Filed despite there only being less than one anti-Muslim hate crime per 1,000,000 US residents.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

And Trump is different in exactly WHAT way?

Obama is no longer POTUS (thank God).

Get over it.

originally posted by: RomeByFire
Obama is no longer POTUS (thank God).

Get over it.

So that's one vote for deflective hypocrisy.

Can we get a second, anyone??

I'll post Bush censorship sins too if that makes you feel any better.

PS: Being anti-history is an interesting position for someone with "Rome" in their handle.

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

originally posted by: RomeByFire
Obama is no longer POTUS (thank God).

Get over it.

So that's one vote for deflective hypocrisy.

Can we get a second, anyone??

I'll post Bush censorship sins too if that makes you feel any better.

Please do...

I distrust all professional politicians...they make my skin feel all "oogy." I also distrust the representative of the oligarchy now...the current reigning POTUS. But I know that you can find Bush, Clinton, Bush1 and Reagan censorship sins too...it's always good to present a nice history of censorship, to put current events into perspective.

a reply to: RomeByFire

A lit bit of education does no harm - IgnoranceIsntBlisss efforts in making well researched threads are a delight to ATS readers and what makes ATS worthy of reading. Your simple dismissal of the thread adds nothing of value.

Great thread!

Got popcorn but am afraid our dates won't show up. In the meantime I will actually have a read of this stuff, although some of it seems to ring bells.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

Whenever I see quotes from Barack Obama I always laugh so hard. He says all kinds of things, but NEVER actually does them. Things that sound valorous and good are the things he says but never does.

"I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes. -Barack Obama"

Well it appears he knows what truth is in the above statement, but the problem is that he did everything in his power to hide and sequester the free flowing of information on a daily basis. It was the hallmark of his tenure as you are showing here. He put in place quite a system of this kind of thing, and he is still utilizing it today.

It could very well be true that Obama and those who got him implanted into the white house for 8 years are currently behind the mechanization of what is harming the Trump administration the most. People who hate Trump will claim it is Trump himself, but that isn't reality. A video by a former CIA analyst speaks about it and outlines this very clearly.

Today's news editorials are crying foul about how Trump's shenanigans are inciting people to violence against the press, as if they think they don't deserve it, or that there shouldn't be consequences for their lying and deceitful behavior and reporting. They are the ones causing the entire reaction from the citizenry in the first place. People will wind up getting hurt or killed if they don't change their ways very fast. But it won't cure them because they are far too arrogant and any form of punishment will not help them, it will only help stop them from their actions.

Obama threatened to revoke FCC licenses for the media reporting things he wanted to keep hidden which would have been the real crime. Now they should be losing their licenses for an entirely different reason.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

Nice bit of work you've done there.

I had to smile about the Taliban part. Logic...?
You can shoot them, blow them up or send drones after them but please, whatever you do, don't criticize them!

Politicians, a never ending source of bemusement.

But Trump sent a mean tweet.



That's all it boils down to for the current kerfuffle. When weighed against what is presented in this thread, it just goes to show who the programmed are.

originally posted by: DanteGaland
a reply to: burdman30ott6

And Trump is different in exactly WHAT way?

Uh, did you read my post?

He's doing the opposite of what Obama did... pushing away the BS that only exists to defend the shield of The Narrative™ and The Narrative's™ blatant Matrix-lite horsecrap while blowing the doors off the vaults housing everything inconvenient to The Narrative™. That's actually the opposite of censoring, for what it's worth. It's a shame people are too hard coded into their coddling and worship of the Establishment to realize that.

Politicians...
If at first you're not believed, lie & lie again.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

I don't see any substantive proof.

What I DO see is a lot of insecurity over Trump. CONSTANT reassurance among his supporters that he's doing good.

Lot's of "measuring"....

a reply to: DanteGaland

You can see better with open eyes standing in the center of a room versus having them clamped shut rocking back and forth in the corner.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

Great work IIB as always.