Journalists and spies

John Keegan:

As defence correspondent, then defence editor of The Daily Telegraph, i decided that entanglement with intelligence organisations was unwise, having concluded, by that stage of my life, through reading, conversation and a little personal observation, that anyone who mingled in the intelligence world, in the belief that he could make use of contacts thus made, would more probably be made use of, to his disadvantage. I continue to believe that to be the case

Intelligence in War

Now, about CNN's scoop about Bandidos seeking revenge for Waco:

Narrative Of Convenient Paranoia – Waco Police Claim Threats From Non-Existent Motorcycle Gangs….

Just like the violent sovereign citizens report, aka “right-wing extremists”, this latest claim of threats against law enforcement appears completely fabricated.

In a just world every CNN anchor would have to read this on air

Massad Ayoob on George Zimmerman

GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: THE SAGA CONTINUES

At this and that discussion forum, we keep hearing that Zimmerman has become a “shit magnet.”

If so, it’s because a clueless, sensationalist media has so magnetized him.

When the world hung in the balance

This BBC podcast by Clive James is a wonderful appreciation of Sir Keith Park-- one of the key commanders in the Battle of Britain.

The Man on the Fourth Plinth

Related:

Six weeks that saved the world

Oh, I think we've met her type many times before

ABC News:

Meet the College Democrat Who Told Jeb Bush: ‘Your Brother Created ISIS’

Ivy Ziedrich little partisan stunt made me think of something Mark Steyn wrote a decade ago:

In the days after September 11, I ran into no end of college students eager to lecture me on the "root causes"-- poverty breeds despair, despair breeds anger, anger breeds terrorism, terrorism breeds generalizations-- yet unable to name the capital of Saudi Arabia or find Afghanistan on a map.

Inconvenient truths every marketer needs to hear

The Ad Contrarian: 10 Facts From The Real World:

Check out the author's new book:

Apologists for treason

From Intelligence Analysis and Reporting

In 1953, Rees became principal of Aberystwyth University. In 1956, a series of articles appeared in The People. They described their anonymous author as a “Most intimate friend, a man in a high academic position.” Guy Burgess appeared in them as a corrupt man, spy, blackmailer, homosexual, and drunk. The Daily Telegraph then revealed Rees was author. The university held an enquiry into the matter (1956-1957). Despite student support, university staff did not support him. Rees resigned before the enquiry ended, thus also ending his academic career. The enquiry’s report was very critical of Rees. Moreover, “It turned out that a great many old acquaintances of Burgess and Maclean were much more horrified–felt, indeed, much more betrayed–by the fact that the late Goronwy Rees gave a version of their flight to the People than by the flight itself. When Stephen Spender showed the Daily Express a friend’s letter about Burgess, he was held to have disgraced himself.”

This BBC recent podcast is also less than critical of a man who loved Stalin more than his own country:

Great Lives: Guy Burgess

What hope is there for a nation when its self-styled intellectual leaders defend traitors, protects child rapists (Jimmy Savile, Rotherham, Lord Janner) but is driven mad with anger toward someone like Jeremy Clarkson?

A thread that connects Baltimore to Garland

David Gelernter:

Between lawmen and reporters on the whole it is impossible, however, not to notice this difference: Most lawmen seem to hate criminals, and most reporters couldn't care less.