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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTimothy Geithner Owed Back Taxes, Became Treasury Secretary.
Owing back taxes has suddenly become a major crime in America, it appears. But just a few years ago, it was so inconsequential that it had no impact on a nomination for Treasury Secretary in the President's cabinet.
Here's how it works, it depends on who you are. IF you are a journalist who has published leaks that are embarrassing to the US government, smearing your reputation by digging up information such as you owed back taxes, is supposed to make the stories you published somehow less important.
That's not true of course. Those stories will continue to be important as they should.
We have 'Security Contractors' now who get contracts for this kind of work, which is then spread around by using rags like The Daily Mail and of course, internet operatives.
HB Gary's exposed emails revealed that they, a 'Security Contractor', had proposed a smear campaign against Greenwald a few years ago, then just a blogger, in order to get him to stop writing about Bank of America and The Chamber of Commerce. How many others are doing so, we don't yet know, but let's hope more Whistle Blowers step forward because knowledge is power.
More facts emerge about the leaked smear campaigns
Greenberg is referring to this series of emails, first from HBGarys Barr addressed to Palantirs Matthew Steckman and Eli Bingham along with Bericos Sam Kremin (click image to enlarge):
Yes, they were planning a smear campaign against Glenn Greenwald to 'pressure him' to stop telling the truth about Bank of America and The Chamber of Commerce, for money!
Anonymous was responsible for the HB Gary exposures.
But, what happens if you are a member of the top 1% and you 'forget' to pay taxes on your housekeeper for several years? Will people dismiss you once it's been exposed?
Hardly, you apologize, pay your back taxes, and Congress will nominate you to the position of Treasury Secretary:
Timothy Geithner says he regrets tax mistakes
In total, Geithner paid $34,023 in back taxes and $8,679 in interest.
Well, we should all be glad that in the end the taxes got paid.
HB Gary had to forget about their 'contract proposal' to BOA and The Chamber of Commerce because Americans on the whole, are nice people. They don't like to see these kinds of dirty tricks being played to try to silence a journalist. Sometimes they have the opposite effect. See Clinton eg. And BOA and The Chamber weren't happy to have these things see the light of day, the way they deal with people who tell the truth about them.
But just because HB Gary didn't get the Contract to smear Greenwald, doesn't mean someone else didn't get one. Apparently there is money in smearing Greenwald. For being a real journalist. It looks like someone else did get that contract.
Is this the kind of country we want? Because if it is, then once it is exposed, as it has been, it won't be just one side doing it. I personally think it is despicable and will not be distracted from the main issue which they are attempting to cover up.
Watch out Journalists, if you are even thinking of publishing the facts. Watch what is happening to journalists who do and then decide if your country is worth the risk.
Give them hell Glenn. You are one hell of a reporter and the more they do this the more we know you are telling the truth!
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)But at least here, that is falling. And on twitter...it is hilarious
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)from the smear campaign against Clinton.
Clearly an opposition research file on @ggreenwald was delivered to these "journalists" at the same time. They're tools.
Dragonfli
(10,622 posts)You make a good point and what I posted sounds flippant but I really believe the gay thing is purposefully being used in the smear campaign. I do think Sabrina, that all oxygen wasted on the smearing and the defense of smears is oxygen need to fuel debate on the actual issue.
We should point out the personality distraction /vilification of the messengers for what they are but must remember also that they want us talking about the personalities rather than the issue itself, I don't think it matters to them which side of the personality debate we are on, only that THAT is what we talk about.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)from that.
It won't. I have been reading more and more information that did not get nearly enough attention in the past by several of the other Whistle Blowers, like Binney and Drake and even before the, and it should blow the minds of Americans to learn what is already out there, and make them demand to know what is going on with this government.
But they also have to know that attacking Greenwald will not work.
Tonight all over the internet, people are coming out in support of him. Even some who don't necessarily like him, like even less, these attacks on journalists. That is a very scary thing to see and I am glad to see even people like Jeremy Scahill up late slamming what he called 'the despicable attacks on Greenwald'.
This is going to backfire on them. It IS despicable. They want US to have a lesser opinion of him, we have to let them know it won't work.
And no, it won't distract from the issues they are trying to hide from us. It will do the opposite.
Dragonfli
(10,622 posts)In that light I am sure you are aware the smears will soon spread to include Binney and Drake, it's what they do, they have grown exceedingly efficient at it.
Thanks for the response, in my tunnel vision I hadn't considered the obvious, "They want US to have a lesser opinion of him, we have to let them know it won't work."
It's probably better to confront the psyops as well as the issue, else the smear technicians will have the microphone all to themselves.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)supporting him and that they are wasting their time. HE needs to know how much support he has, as I can imagine how scary it must be to know that the US Government is watching you, that they are angry at you and that there are people, like the Chamber of Commerce, powerful people, who you already know, targeted you before.
There is strength in numbers and I am so glad to see the support he is getting all over the internet tonight.
I agree, confront the psyops (I suspect the same people who targeted him before) AND keep the pressure on Congress to investigate these leaks and start applying the law to those who so far, seem impervious to our laws. It is up to the people, what kind of country we want to live in.
MNBrewer
(8,462 posts)kenny blankenship
(15,689 posts)He kinda looks like his name should be "The Butcher of Ingolstadt" or similar, no?
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Mr. Brennans Excuse
Yet, at his Senate confirmation hearing in February, he appeared to be one of the few people (apart from maybe Dick Cheney and some other die-hard right-wingers) who thinks there is some doubt still about whether the Bush administration tortured prisoners, hid its actions from Congress and misled everyone about whether coerced testimony provided valuable intelligence.
It just keeps getting worse. This is one scary individual. How many Republicans are there in this administration now? I've lost count. 'Vote for Democrats, put Republicans back in office'. Unbelievable.
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)think we are stupid'? Regarding this smear campaign. The author pointed out that these smear campaigns are not only meant to frighten the target, they are meant to scare others who might normally have done their jobs as reporters.
I know that by writing an OP about the smears in some ways it is doing what they want, spending time on this rather than the real issue. However, I think it is also important to support Greenwald and any other reporter they go after and let them know, this is not going to work. AND at the same time to continue to focus on the what they are so desperate to hide.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)I got a hearty laugh this morning seeing how spectacularly this has backfired on said idiots.
LuvNewcastle
(16,849 posts)Plenty of popular stars and entertainers have tax issues and end up owing money to the IRS, not to mention all the ordinary people who do. As long as they keep up with the payments they owe and are working toward paying the debt, it's no problem. Greenwald's detractors are looking desperate and weak by pointing out such an insignificant thing. If that's all they have, they're the ones who are going to wind up with egg on their faces.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)They do look desperate, because they are. Which makes you wonder, what we already know is bad enough, so what is it they are so desperate to hide that they would go after a journalist with a sleazy rag as the The Daily Mail? Attacking a journalist personally is extremely bad.
BlueCheese
(2,522 posts)I really hope it's nobody inside government.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)and if anyone can get to the bottom of it, he can.
I have some suspects considering that we know Greenwald was a target before, thanks to the Anonymous exposure of HB Gary's emails. They led to more 'Spy Corporations' who do this kind of work for Big Corporations, and for the Chamber of Commerce eg. The FBI was implicated in that mess, and one of our Democratic Reps in Congress called for an investigation into the possible illegal involvement of the FBI. So far, nothing has come of that.
Here's a link that dealt with the smears that were planned for Greenwald among others at the time:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/02/10/143428/chamberleaks-target-families/
US Chambers Lobbyists Solicited Firm To Investigate Opponents Families, Children
New emails reveal that the private spy company investigated the families and children of the Chambers political opponents. The apparent spearhead of this project was Aaron Barr, an executive at HBGary. Barr circulated numerous emails and documents detailing information about political opponents children, spouses, and personal lives.
One of the targets was Mike Gehrke, a former staffer with Change to Win. Among the information circulated about Gehrke was the specific Jewish church he attended and a link to pictures of his wife and two children (sensitive information was redacted by ThinkProgress):
Here's the kind of nasty thing they do, despicable actually and you wonder why it is not illegal:
I have no doubt this is a paid-for smear campaign, and I hope some of the investigative journalists who are appalled by it, and have said so publicly, will start using their skills to expose them.
Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)Apparently, we have 2 of those now. The one we always knew, and a newer, private one, that operates without any oversight except by the people that own it.
Privatization yeah!
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)either. i think i recall at least two others but can't call up the names.
and then of course there's the high profile tax dodgers, but it doesn't seem to impede their attainment of high office, even when they're going to be managing money. maybe it's a qualification for the job in fact:
http://www.ctj.org/taxjusticedigest/archive/2013/05/tax_rules_for_the_rich_are_dif.php
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Marc Rich died today. Tax evader and fugitive from justice, he was pardoned by Clinton. I wonder if he ever did pay his taxes?
I think this one is blowing up in their faces. As someone else said, if that's all they have on him, and they've been doing opposition research on him since he went after the Banks, he has nothing to worry about. But they obviously do.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)paid off clinton's campaign fund.
geckosfeet
(9,644 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)claimed he had tried to figure it all out which is what delayed him from paying. Lol, he couldn't figure out the taxes on ONE person's salary, but they made Treasury Secretary.
Years of non payment while he was at the IMF and even after it was pointed out to him by an accountant, he still didn't pay.
So, you are correct, he paid only after he was caught. Unlike Greenwald apparently.
Greenwald isn't in the 'club' as George Carlin called it. 'It's a big club and we ain't in it'. All he has to do is what Gregory does, in order to gain entry and after that, he could commit murder and they would protect him.
forestpath
(3,102 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Geithner actually has shifty eyes. Seriously.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)money set aside to help Main St. miniscule by comparison to what his buddies on Wall St took to cover their gambling debts, he was so angry, angry that anyone should deign to question him about anything.
But she was relentless, demanding to know why most of that money had 'not been spent' while millions were still waiting for loan modifications. Well now we know, thanks to yet another Whistle Blower, that the banks were lying to the people, pretending to be reviewing their mortgages under that program, when in fact they were ignoring them.
We never found out, because refused to tell Elizabeth Warren, where all that money was. Shifty isn't the word for what he is.
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)that he didn't bother hiring an accountant to handle his piles of $$$ he'd accumulated as an "insider", and instead tried to do it all through Turbo Tax. Now, I've used TT myself for many years without a problem at all, but I'm just an ordinary working stiff with a very simple income structure.
K&R.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Definitive of the Obama Family ethics. While appointing a tax cheat to run the IRS, Obama was busily explaining that gay folks are not as spiritual as straights and thus, we are not 'Sanctified' in marriage. Very important intellectual stuff.