Sharyl Attkisson

Untouchable Subjects. Fearless, Nonpartisan Reporting.

Sharyl Attkisson

Assange fighting extradition to U.S.

The following is an excerpt from a Time magazine article.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to appear in court as he fights extradition to the United States on charges of conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer.

The 48-year-old Australian is set to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a case management hearing. Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid signed an order in June allowing Assange to be extradited.

U.S. authorities accuse Assange of scheming with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break a password for a classified government computer.

The case is expected to take months to resolve, with each side able to make several appeals of rulings. (Continued...)

Read the rest of the article by clicking the link below.

https://time.com/5705893/julian-assange-wikileaks-extradition-hearing/

Thank you to the thousands who are supporting the landmark case of Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI for the government computer intrusions.

Desert Eyes: the art of border control without the feds

The Cochise County, Arizona Sheriff's Dept. deploys a unique, low cost system to interdict illegal drugs

The following is an excerpt of my Full Measure report. Watch the video and read the rest of the article by clicking the link at the end.

Today, we head to the Southwest border for an incredible story about an Arizona county that felt overrun by Mexican drug cartels for years. Now they claim they’ve been able to slow that to a trickle— without a lot of money, high tech, federal help or even a wall. How are they doing it? Today’s cover story is: Desert Eyes.

Sharyl: John Ladd is a fourth generation rancher. His great-grandparents settled this land in Arizona along Mexico’s border in 1896.

Listen to the related Podcast from Full Measure After Hours

John Ladd: Originally the ranch was about twice as big.

By Ladd’s count, the Border Patrol has caught hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants on his 16,000 acres over the past thirty years.

John Ladd: It's an every day deal.

Sharyl: What do you do?

John Ladd: We used to help them, but when you get 200 a day it gets overwhelming. They’ve stole about every car or truck we owned, and saddles, and horses.

Sharyl: The march of illegal immigrants into Arizona from Mexico is virtually nonstop. Here, a large group crosses over a so-called Normandy fence— like it’s not even there.

And with the traffic comes a steady stream of crime. This man crossed from Mexico and fired off a few shots.

These five drug smugglers brought 7 backpacks of meth and marijuana.

In a matter of days 380 pounds of pot, heroin, and meth, 1600 pounds of pot, Fentanyl opioids hidden in shoes, smuggled in bras, Meth disguised as ice pops, in vehicles, 50 pounds, 227 pounds.

But in Cochise County, where John Ladd lives, we found there’s been an incredible turnaround you may not have heard about.

Sheriff Mark Dannels: What I'm talking about is a virtual system of cameras, up to over 500 cameras now, that we've implemented.

Sharyl: One camera covers about 200 square feet. The success has been so dramatic, it surprised even those responsible, including Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels.

Sheriff Mark Dannels: We’re doing something right, and it's fair to our citizens. It's what they expect. I'm pretty proud of what we've done here.

Sharyl: And to point out, you've done this improved enforcement and you've gotten this result without a wall?

Sheriff Mark Dannels: Without a wall. Without a wall.

Sharyl: To see firsthand, we took to the air with Sheriff Dannels over the 6,200 rural square miles of Cochise County

Sharyl: Flying over the rugged terrain, it's easy to see why some people think you don't need a big wall here it’s too tough to cross but is that actually the case?

Sheriff Mark Dannels: No. The cartel likes this area out here. Though it's rugged, it provides great concealment for them to smuggle both humans and drugs into this country.

Sharyl: That led to the simple but ingenious concept to deploy a carefully placed network of motion-activated cameras in areas where there are gaps in federal surveillance.

Sheriff Mark Dannels: Remember that the end of that fence is where the federal government stops their protective plan. We pick that up here and that's where our virtual system has become effective. We have cameras inserted, throughout this region, this grid.

Sharyl: We landed to see the type of area where the hidden cameras have been put to good use, their precise locations a tightly held secret.

Sheriff Mark Dannels: You know this is where our virtual system was implemented, in places like this.

Sharyl: There are cameras out here, we just don't know where?

Sheriff Mark Dannels: Yeah, we have, this is part of our virtual system.

Sharyl: Dannels explained that cartels learned to evade Border Patrol cameras by traveling in gullies and ditches. The new system plugs some critical holes.

Sheriff Mark Dannels: You know, the surface systems that the federal government has in place are up on top surface areas. They don't get down to the washes like this. So the cartels have exploited these areas. So we came into our areas with our virtual system. This is the areas we watch cause we know they're coming through here just like we're standing and, and that's one of the reasons we've been successful. We went to areas that the federal government didn't go.

Sharyl: So Mexico is right there?

Sergeant Timothy Williams: And we're probably being watched right now.

http://fullmeasure.news/news/cover-story/desert-eyes

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Howard Kurtz and his take on "Media Madness"

The following is an excerpt from my Full Measure story with media critic Howard Kurtz. Watch the video and read the full story at the link at the end of this article.

In recent days, after President Trump withdrew US troops from Syria, some of the criticism was accompanied by dramatic video on the news. ABC News aired video they claimed showed attacks by Turkish troops on Kurdish civilians, telling of slaughter and 'horrific reports of atrocities'. But ABC removed the video and apologized on Monday after online viewers seemed to find the video wasn’t shot recently and wasn’t even from the Mideast... but from a gun show demonstration in Kentucky in 2017.

The network did not explain -how- such a mistake could have happened. President Trump tweeted: A big scandal at @ABC News. They got caught using really gruesome FAKE footage of the Turks bombing in Syria.

The war between the media and Donald Trump sometimes looks like one of mutually assured destruction. And sometimes, truth is a casualty.

We talk about that with Fox News media critic Howie Kurtz, author of: Media Madness: Donald Trump, the Press and the War Over the Truth.

Sharyl: Is there such a thing as an objective press?

Howie Kurtz: There may not be such a thing as a purely objective press, because everybody brings their own biases. But, I think there is such a thing as a press corps that strives to be fair. I think there are reporters and journalists and even some anchors that do try to be fair, even in this hyper-polarized environment, where whatever you say or do, you get hammered by one side or the other as being pro-Trump or anti-Trump. It happens to me every hour or so. But, I think we're seeing fewer and fewer organizations committed to the notion of trying to be fair. There is this tone. Sometimes, it's snarky. Sometimes, it's disgusted about, what did he do today? How is he undermining democracy? Look, there's a lot to investigate in this administration. There was a two-year investigation of the Russia matter. Even when Bob Mueller came out and recommended no criminal charges, it seemed like there was a brief pause, and then the press was back at it night after night, day after day, in what Trump supporters would see as pretty hostile coverage.

Sharyl: You were on the leading edge in a way. You wrote before the Special Counsel Robert Mueller Report came out that the press had overreached too often when reporting on that.

Howie Kurtz: I don't think there is any question, even though I never said that this is a witch hunt or the Mueller investigation was somehow illegitimate or a coup. I've never bought into any of that language. Of course, there were a number of indictments. But, it seemed to me that every little development, somebody hiring a lawyer, some new peripheral player being interviewed, some subpoena battle on Capitol Hill, got the breaking news banners, crisis treatment, constantly, to the point where I think it exhausted the country. Especially, now, the President is not going to face any criminal charges, I think a lot of people are just tired of it. But, the media are not tired of it, and I think it's still working for them as a narrative and working for them as a business model. (Continued...)

Watch the story and read the rest of the article by clicking the link below.

http://fullmeasure.news/news/politics/media-mistakes-10-16-2019

Fight improper government surveillance. Support Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI over the government computer intrusions of Attkisson's work while she was a CBS News investigative correspondent. Visit the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund. Click here.

Border control... without help from the feds (PODCAST)

In this episode, Sharyl and investigative producer Daniel Steinberger talk about their trip to the Southern border where they found one county in Arizona taking care of business without federal funds or federal agents. We also talk about what we saw in terms of new border walls and fencing. (CLICK THE ARROW AT THE AUDIO LINK BELOW TO PLAY.)

Watch Full Measure every Sunday or anytime it's convenient. Find out how and where by clicking here.

Meantime, subscribe to this podcast and to "The Sharyl Attkisson Podcast." Follow us on Twitter @FullMeasureAH @SharylPodcast

Do your own research. Make up your own mind. Think for yourself.

Fight improper government surveillance. Support Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI over the government computer intrusions of Attkisson's work while she was a CBS News investigative correspondent. Visit the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund. Click here.

Enthusiasm for 2020 campaign: High

Our latest unscientific poll at SharylAttkisson.com finds widespread enthusiasm when it comes to voting in Campaign 2020.

Ninety-three percent (93%) of those who responded described their enthusiasm to vote as "high."

Only 5% described their enthusiasm as "low" or "nonexistent."

Read the full results below. Meantime, be sure and vote in our latest poll at SharylAttkisson.com on the home page. Look for the black box in the right sidebar or scroll way down on the mobile site!

My enthusiasm to vote in 2020 election is:

93% High

2% Low

3% Nonexistent

1% Hard to say

<1% What election?

Fight improper government surveillance. Support Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI over the government computer intrusions of Attkisson's work while she was a CBS News investigative correspondent. Visit the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund. Click here.

Border control without the feds, big money or high tech

Sunset on the border in Cochise County, Arizona

Nearly every move President Trump has tried to make to tighten up the southern U.S. border has been met with opposition and legal challenges.

So some border towns have been left to find their own way to protect their communities. And it turns out necessity is the mother of invention!

During my most recent reporting trip to the border, I found an Arizona County that recently devised and deployed an inexpensive, simple system to stop drug traffic. Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels says it's been so effective that it's nearly shut down drug trafficking in notorious hot spots.

The secret is a system of motion detecting game cameras. How could that make such a difference?

Cochise County, Arizona Sheriff Mark Dannels with Full Measure

We'll explain in our cover story investigation on Sunday's Full Measure.

I also have a very timely interview with Howie Kurtz, Fox News media critic and author of the book "Media Madness." He'll dig into the psychology and pathology behind media mistakes and bias in the era of Trump.

And we'll bring you a fascinating report by Scott Thuman on the U.S. effort to destroy our last stockpiles of chemical weapons of mass destruction. It's a time consuming and dangerous process that few outsiders have seen.

We hope you'll check us out!

Fight improper government surveillance. Support Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI over the government computer intrusions of Attkisson's work while she was a CBS News investigative correspondent. Visit the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund. Click here.

Report: NBC hired "Wikipedia Whitewasher" in Matt Lauer case

The following is a news analysis.

There's a new article that echoes the reporting I've done on the co-opting, bias and agenda editing that has become rampant at the world's most popular encyclopedia: Wikipedia.

According to the report in Hollywood Reporter, NBC hired a "Wikipedia Whitewasher" to handle Matt Lauer's biography page and make it look cleaner than it otherwise might.

According to the article, which reports on a new book by Ronan Farrow:

Farrow asserts that NBC used other methods to sanitize and neutralize reporting about Lauer's behavior, including employing a Wikipedia whitewasher to 'unbraid references to Oppenheim, Weinstein and Lauer' after the allegations became public. When the network hired as a paid contributor an outside reporter who made investigative calls to women who worked with Lauer, one woman who had received those calls texted Farrow: 'Coverup.' Farrow doesn't identify the reporter. 'There are several striking examples of the way in which that routine corporate practice of covering up and paying out to get rid of allegations of misconduct rather than addressing them or removing the people involved intersected with my [Weinstein] reporting in a very direct way,' Farrow says. 'That is not an appropriate corporate practice when you are a news outlet.'

The Hollywood Reporter

I recently sat down to talk with the co-founder of Wikipedia, Larry Sanger, who parted ways with the project over its biases and other problems. You can watch that interview by clicking here.

Sanger and others have started a modern online encyclopedia that they hope will solve some of the nagging problems Wikipedia has experienced. It's called Everipedia.

If you're interested, you can listen to my podcast on "The Weaponization of Wikipedia" and read some of my previous reporting on the topic.

Read a related article about NBC's alleged Wikipedia Whitewashing in Newsweek by clicking the link below:

https://www.newsweek.com/nbc-wikipedia-whitewashing-matt-lauer-weinstein-ronan-farrow-1464118

Fight improper government surveillance. Support Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI over the government computer intrusions of Attkisson's work while she was a CBS News investigative correspondent. Visit the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund. Click here.

False 'combat video' raises many questions, cautions for media

The following is an excerpt of a news analysis in The Hill.

I feel pretty safe in saying that most Americans can’t tell you off the top of their head who the Kurds are or what the U.S. relationship with them is — let alone how that factors into Iran, Russia, China, Turkey and Syria.

Without explaining as much, the topic of President Trump’s “abandonment” of the Kurds and how it will surely put a resurgence of the Islamic extremist terrorist group ISIS on Trump’s shoulders, has dominated news coverage for much of the past week.

Now comes word from ABC News that it has pulled down video that aired on its flagship broadcasts, which claimed to show a “slaughter” by Turkey on the Syrian border after President Trump’s announced withdrawal of U.S. troops.

ABC correspondent Ian Panell reported on Sunday that the video “obtained by ABC News, appears to show the fury of the Turkish attack on the border town of Tal Abyad two nights ago.”

The pictures show massive explosions lighting up the night sky. But it turns out ABC may have been hoodwinked, according to its own account.

A tweet issued by ABC News on Monday morning reads: “CORRECTION: We’ve taken down video that aired on ‘World News Tonight’ Sunday and ‘Good Morning America’ this morning that appeared to be from the Syrian border immediately after questions were raised about its accuracy. ABC News regrets the error.”

According to National Review, the alleged error was uncovered by social media users who compared the supposed combat footage to a YouTube video of a Kentucky military show — and it appears to be identical. (National Review credited Gizmodo with first reporting on the alleged error and publishing the videos side by side for comparison.)

ABC’s correction is the right move, of course. But I don’t think that’s the end of the story. It’s yet another in a long series of pretty serious media mistakes that never should have happened — and, arguably, would not have if appropriate journalistic standards had been deployed.

Read the rest of the article by clicking the link below:

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/465726-false-combat-video-raises-many-questions-cautions-for-media

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