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I Was a CIA Whistleblower, Now I'm a Black Inmate

theintercept.com

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Re: I Was a CIA Whistleblower, Now I'm a Black Inmate

#11

Post by 3chelon »

danso wrote: post #6
x1798DE wrote: post #4

What 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?

I 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…

No, I saw it on desktop.

Re: I Was a CIA Whistleblower, Now I'm a Black Inmate

#12

Post by mod »

gcp wrote: post #3

This 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.

It'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?

Re: I Was a CIA Whistleblower, Now I'm a Black Inmate

#14

Post by tptacek »

lostboys67 wrote: post #10
tptacek wrote: post #5

As 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.

so where is the public interest to justify whistleblowing?

Here 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.

Re: I Was a CIA Whistleblower, Now I'm a Black Inmate

#16

Post by js8 »

lostboys67 wrote: post #10
tptacek wrote: post #5

As 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.

so where is the public interest to justify whistleblowing?

Not an U.S. citizen, just a wild guess: It's not very wise to give somebody, even altered, nuclear blueprints. It's a similar type of stupid stuff that NSA does when it puts backdoors into devices or cryptosystems.

Re: I Was a CIA Whistleblower, Now I'm a Black Inmate

#17

Post by danso »

3chelon wrote: post #11
danso wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 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…

No, I saw it on desktop.

I don't see it on Chrome or Safari, with or without Adblock, FWIW.

Re: I Was a CIA Whistleblower, Now I'm a Black Inmate

#18

Post by 3chelon »

zeveb wrote: post #13

He 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.

To 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.

Re: I Was a CIA Whistleblower, Now I'm a Black Inmate

#19

Post by zeveb »

3chelon wrote: post #18
zeveb wrote: post #13

He 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.

To 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.

> 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.

Re: I Was a CIA Whistleblower, Now I'm a Black Inmate

#20

Post by rm_-rf_slash »

yread wrote: post #15

Off topic but what is the name for this (as a style element?): > "Man, this is prison." > "Man, this is America."

If 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

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