<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>On Sep 16, 2016, at 10:47 AM, William Flynn Wallace <<a href="mailto:foozler83@gmail.com">foozler83@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:"times new roman",serif;font-size:12pt;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:calibri,sans-serif">Well BillW, you know the cure for having not looked into it, ja? So do we.<span><font color="#888888"><u></u><u></u></font></span></span></p><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font color="#888888"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:"times new roman",serif;font-size:12pt;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:calibri,sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:"times new roman",serif;font-size:12pt;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:calibri,sans-serif">spike</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:"times new roman",serif;font-size:12pt;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:calibri,sans-serif"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font face="calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18.6667px">Let's get our issue straight here. Take the Freedom of Information Act Lyndon Johnson signed. I see big problems with it re the press. If the public, including the press, cannot access gov. actions then what good is the freedom of the press? </span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font face="calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18.6667px"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font face="calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18.6667px">Again, I have not looked into it in detail, but here is a problem: the Bush administration, as have numerous others, I suppose, put the lid on sensitive information by declaring it a secret (just researching secrecy would take all my time for weeks, likely). The press howled about the abuse but I never saw anything further about it (following such things is not exactly a hobby of mine, and some of you may know about it).</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font face="calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18.6667px"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font face="calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18.6667px">Clearly, subsequent administrations of different political party, could reclassify such things as would embarrass former gov. officials, and maybe that has been done.</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font face="calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18.6667px"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font face="calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18.6667px">What other freedoms is the press missing? What can we do about it?</span></font></p></font></span></div></div></blockquote><br><div>So you basically view everything in this area as fine, maybe with a few exceptions -- minor ones that can easily be seen as sort of accounting errors? Reporters being threatened, fined, or jailed is a tiny problem for freedom of the press? The fact that tv stations can lose their license is a minor matter, too, I guess. When one reporter is punished, what do think happens to the rest? Will they all be eager to go to court (you ever been to court? not a fun way to spend your day, is it?), pay a fine, or end up in a cage? Unlikely. It can have a chilling effect on others, especially when much of the public might side with the government.</div><div><br></div><div>And government control of information -- not only classified stuff, but the press pooling* done with the first Persian Gulf War (under Bush the Elder) -- is nothing, right? </div><div><br></div><div>It could be that RSF's evaluation method is questionable, that maybe the US doesn't rank as low as they believe. I like to believe some of this stuff overreports US malfeasance and underreports foreign ditto. That still wouldn't erase the very real issues -- issues actual libertarians should care about.</div><div><br></div><div>Also, government classifying stuff as national security started long before Bush. It's a means of avoiding scrutiny. And this stuff goes on in similar fashion in other parts of government. I recall a municipal council meeting where the council went into 'executive session' to clear the public and reporter from the room. Who knows what they discussed, but the point seemed clear: they didn't want the public or the press to know about it. </div><div><br></div><div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><div style="line-height: normal;"><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Regards,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Dan</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> Sample my Kindle books via:</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://author.to/DanUst" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">http://author.to/DanUst</a></font></div></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="line-height: normal;">* The Pentagon learned one lesson from the Vietnam War: Don't give the press a free hand to report on a conflict or you lose the ability to shape the narrative.</div></div><div><div style="line-height: normal;"></div></div></div></div></body></html>