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I Was a CIA Whistleblower, Now I'm a Black Inmate
- protossimba 10y agoYou were faster than me, I wanted to submit this as well. Golden read.
- gcp 10y agoThis article is making me very happy that uBlock can block remote fonts. The default font they use (some variation of Neue) is completely unreadable here.
- mod 10y agoIt's interesting to me that I find the article very hard to read, but I wouldn't have considered that the font was to blame unless I had seen your comment. I would have figured I was distracted or similar. Can someone chime in with a little detail about why it's hard to read, and how I should know?
- x1798DE 10y agoWhat is the point of the "Read More" button that blocks half the article? Usually I get to one and think, "No thanks" and just leave the article. Is there a way to configure an ad-blocker to block them in the first place?
- danso 10y agoI believe it's a concession/"feature" for mobile users -- you don't see it on desktop, even if you narrow the window to a mobile-equivalent media query. Not sure what the analytics say about it, but I'm guessing the reasoning is that on mobile, there's no room for the usual sidebar or even headernav to allow the user to bounce somewhere else on the site if they're bored with the article. The "Read More" makes it easy for the user to see footer-stuff, such as the newsletter link.
- 3chelon 10y agoNo, I saw it on desktop.
- danso 10y agoI don't see it on Chrome or Safari, with or without Adblock, FWIW.
- x1798DE 10y agoOh, I see, I didn't realize that the page continues below "read more" on to another story. I suppose that makes sense, though it would be nice if a link to the story was enough to signal that you actually want to go to the story.
- 3chelon 10y agoI think it's just for their digest or "feed" type view, so that overly-long articles don't hog the entire page. I can live with it.
- tptacek 10y agoAs background: Sterling was convicted after it discovered that he'd been leaking details of "Operation Merlin" to reporter James Risen. "Merlin" was a scheme in which blueprints for Russian nuclear arms technology was to be altered, such that attempts to test those weapons would fail, and then passed through to Iran's nuclear program. "Merlin" ultimately failed.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- lostboys67 10y agoso where is the public interest to justify whistleblowing?
- tptacek 10y agoHere I am veering from simply providing a précis to something closer to analysis, but not too close --- I think this is uncontroversial: Sterling isn't in prison for "whistleblowing", which describes the actions he took to alert the Senate Intelligence Committee to his concerns about "Merlin" and his complaints to CIA's IG about racial discrimination inside the agency. He's in prison for leaking details of a sensitive counterproliferation operation to a reporter, which is something else.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- zeveb 10y agoHe wasn't a whistleblower: he was a leaker. He permitted national-security information to fall into the hands of someone not cleared to handle it. Moreover, he shows not one whit of repentance for his crime.
- 3chelon 10y agoTo be fair, very early on he says, "I was charged with, and a jury convicted me of, leaking classified information to a New York Times reporter." He doesn't try to protest his innocence.
- zeveb 10y ago> He doesn't try to protest his innocence. No, but neither does he seem to have any real recognition that he did wrong. Indeed, reading his article I get the sense that he's a narcissist.
- zzzcpan 10y agoMaybe don't assume that he's wrong. You only see what government presents to you about him. And you know, government would never make itself look bad.
- nl 10y agoIt's an article in The Intercept. That isn't a publication that is known for making government look good.
- 3chelon 10y agoYeah. I have to turn my propaganda shades the other way round when I read that site - if you mix it up with Fox News you get a nice balanced world view!
- M_Grey 10y agoFor a view from the other side of political spectrum: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/twisted-view-of-cias-operation-merlin/2015/01/26/dc107fd6-a3e7-11e4-9f89-561284a573f8_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/twist...
- yread 10y agoOff topic but what is the name for this (as a style element?): > "Man, this is prison." > "Man, this is America."
- rm_-rf_slash 10y agoIf I get what you're saying... 1: Regular text 2: >greentext On 4chan, starting a line with ">" makes the text green, hence the name. It is often used to write stories in the present tense, as in: >be me >be bored at work >go on HN >lol new* can't even greentext. >told him to delete system32
- NoGravitas 10y agoI don't think the GP is asking about quoting, but about the slightly altered repetition. "This is prison." "This is America." The best I can do for giving a name to it is [literary parallelism][0]. There may be a more specific poetic term, but I don't know it and couldn't come up with it. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallelism_(rhetoric) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallelism_(rhetoric)
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- seren 10y agoI believe this an Anaphora, even if in this case, repetition are not really close to each other https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphora_%28rhetoric%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphora_%28rhetoric%29
- linguisticNoob 10y agoSide question to the side question: what's the term for that verbal habit some in the UK have developed in recent years, where the pronoun is restated at the end of the sentence? "That's good, that." Never found a good definition or analysis of it.
- jessaustin 10y ago
- JabavuAdams 10y agoI just don't see how pursuing a complaint of racial discrimination against an organisation like the CIA is wise. This guy is obviously more courageous or naive than I am. Unless you're beyond reproach, they will find a way to lynch you. Maybe even if you've done everything right. Going beyond official channels and trying to get revenge against the CIA seems suicidal.
- okwhatthe2 10y agoIt's funny how they say "these disclosures put lives at risk", and put him into prison. Because prison is itself risky and torturous.
- niccaluim 10y agoLots of comments here about the information he leaked from the CIA and zilch about race. This article isn't about the CIA; it's about racism in America.
- helthanatos 10y agoYeah, let's talk about that. Racism in America vs natural segregation vs enforced segregation. Let's talk about how ice makers only provide 1 thing, but TVs provide many channels. Personal preference or group mentality. Would everyone in that prison be OK with watching ESPN or Cops? What differences drive the differences in programming? How does innate racism fit in?
- orthogon 10y agoSo, honest question: Why does HN seem to have a consistent morbid curiosity, regarding the CIA? I count at least one post a month, in the front page, in which the CIA is the main focus and topic. Given the regularity of recurrence, I question whether it's honest intrigue, or something more subversive, like a an informational recruitment and promotion campaign, complete with informational reinforcement components. (in this example, we find out what happens to employees and entrusted individuals who spill the beans, or whatever, who cares, big deal...)