Your Country Is Doing This

I wouldn't be surprised in the least if we had just seen the final installment of "60 Minutes."

Canada ran the "60 Minutes" excerpt on the prison dungeons (that's what they should be called) in El Salvador for those people picked up by ICE and transferred there. An overwhelming percentage of them don't deserve to be in any kind of custody. The conditions there, as they are described, are nothing less than abuse.

If you recall, Bari Weiss spiked the report in this country. Of course she made up excuses:

• She didn't have enough opportunity to review it. That's a lie.
• Alfonsi said that she had attempted to contact the White House, the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department for comments.r lie.Weiss said that she had contact numbers that Alfonsi didn't have, implying that had Alfonsi had them, she would have gotten through. Another lie. "Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story," wrote Alfonsi in a comment she published. "If the standard for airing a story becomes 'the government must agree to be interviewed,' then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes board cast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state."
• It will be aired later. Yet another lie, or at the very least, a dismissal into irrelevance. "Later" might mean 2029, when 47 is through (maybe) with his second term.

Weiss didn't allow a discussion on the matter requested by Alfonsi, either. That silence is complicitness in the coverup.

But the internet world is too transparent. It's on You Tube now. I saw it. I know what's in it. Go and find it.

The report, made by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, is devastating, like those arrested are being treated. Remember: Our country is doing this. These are human rights violations unlike any other suffered by anyone prosecuted or held captive by us, which frankly is saying a lot. 

The evidence, if that's what you want to call it, that got them into that hellhole is flimsy at best, at worst non-existent. They were released after 242 days of pure hell, yes, but because of an exchange for American prisoners in Venezuela. Needless to say, that probably won't be happening again.

The pretext for these arrests is that these men are "the worst of the worst," except most of them are far from that. One of the inmates interviewed after release was merely waiting for his asylum case to be adjudicated. "I never even had a traffic violation," he said.

Stephen Miller, that snake behind most of this, lashed out at the management of "60 Minutes" and condemned the perpetrators for being murderers and rapists. If any of them are, they deserve to be treated humanely while they are being held--which they're not--and arraigned like any other person within these borders as they await trial on charges brought against them.

I have no doubt that the 47ers are assuming that the Supreme Court, or at least a deceitful majority of it, will spin the 14th Amendment, which is coming under review, enough to justify harsh and disgusting treatment of non-U.S. citizens. They're just getting out in front of it a bit, you know.

What that means, too, is the unthinkable, at least to this point in our history: That people who speak out about these outrages will be labeled "enemies of the state," and imprisoned--a cancellation of the First Amendment and the descent of our society into that of a police state. We are all but there, folks. Count on it. 

It's okay if you aren't that scared right now. You'll have plenty of time for that when it all hits you.

In the meantime, what is the rest of the reportorial staff of "60 Minutes" going to do--Scott Pelley, Bill Whitaker, Lesley Stahl, Anderson Cooper, and the rest? They are compromised, too. If they quit, will "60 Minutes" disappear, or be re-staffed with marginal, if any, credibility? Scott Pelley has been quoted recently as saying that "60 Minutes" hasn't lost its integrity, and that all their stories are being broadcast. He'll likely be adjusting that viewpoint now.

In any event, a fellow named Jeff Newton, a producer of "60 Minutes" for 15 years (and "Vice" on HBO, another outstanding piece of journalism), got up on Facebook to comment on this usurpation of journalism (which I'd recommend if you can spare 15 minutes): " '60 Minutes' is fucked," he said, more than once. I'd be surprised if it wasn't. "Democracy really does die in darkness," he said in quoting the statement from the masthead of The Washington Post, "and it's getting darker by the day."

Lots of lights have just been turned off, in fact. The bootlickers are winning. And we, we the people, are watching whatever power we've had slip away in real time. Watch for the next attack, which will be aimed at the Post and the New York Times. They're whatever national journalistic credibility we have left. By this time next year, we may have nothing at all except independent bloggers without funding, if that.

Once again, please understand: Your country is doing this. The "news" will be manipulated and adjusted to make the state look great, even if it steals others' rights right out from under them. 

Be well. Be careful. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.

Mister Mark