Sunday, May 29, 2016

Support independent journalism!

Unlike nearly every blogger or struggling journalist on the Internet, I rarely ask for money. But I'm pretty much in desperate need now. The last time I asked for contributions was in February 26, 2015, and since then, many of my stories were picked up by media outlets and journalists from The New York Times, BBC, MSNBC, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Judicial Watch, Huffington Post, DC Examiner, and even Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones and Breitbart News.

My PayPal account is ronbrynaert@yahoo.com

Since late February, I've had 30 stories published by the Daily Caller, mostly on presidential candidates Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton; and former contenders Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. I've also done stories on Pakistan, the Panama Papers and President Barack Obama. Even though I'm liberal, the Daily Caller lets me report fairly and critically on all the candidates. Regretfully, many left-leaning journalists and readers refuse to read articles based on where they are published, even though I'm an independent reporter, and no one ever tells me what to write and my stories are never one-sided. All my Daily Caller articles can be read here: link.

The Washington Post, The New York Times and Wired have added corrections to many articles based on my reporting, but have never credited me once. Unfortunately, some of my work has also been plagiarized or presented as new news, even though I reported it months earlier. The Washington Post's Tom Hamburger and Politico's Rachael Bade stories reported articles on Teneo and how it relates to the Clintons, and even though both contacted me before publishing, neither of them gave me credit for breaking their "exclusives" first. Both of them, and their editors, along with media critics who regularly report on plagiarism ignored my complaints in emails, tweets and Direct Messages, regarding this unethical injustice.

I do my best to show all sides, get to the truth, listen to critics, and allow readers to make up their own minds on whom to support in this quite crazy presidential race. Since I'm a media critic, too, I also often defend candidates when false stories are reported about them.

Thanks to the thousands of readers who retweet or like my articles on Twitter (@ronbryn) or share them on Facebook! I've been trying to follow back on Twitter nearly everyone who has linked to me, critically or supportive. So just follow me on Twitter or mention me, if I overlooked you (but don't mock my avatar, because Krazy Kat will get upset).

Here are a few of my Daily Caller articles: Sanders Took Heat From The Anti-War Left Over Gulf War, Yugoslavia Intervention; Ambassador Joked About State Dept. ‘Incompetent Nincompoops’ After Mystery Hostage Release; Ex-Army Chief Quietly Hired By Firm With Close Clinton Ties; Longtime Clinton Aide Also Used Personal Email Address At State Department; and Hillary’s IT Guru Jokes About Security Risks Posed By Federal Employees Using Personal Mobile Devices [VIDEO] by Chuck Ross, who noted, "Former RAWSTORY Executive Editor Ron Brynaert — who recently reported for the Daily Caller that another longtime Hillary Clinton aide used a private email address while working at the State Department — provided some research for this article."

Last year, Judicial Watch did an entire article on my reporting on Teneo and the Clintons, which can be read at this link. It's one of the first articles that come up on Google searches for "Teneo." I also had an article published on the front page of the Washington Times op-ed section called A liberal take on the Clinton email scandal, which was mostly about the dangers of the revolving door at the White House.

Huffington Post published a big story that had an enormous impact - and still does - on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign called "Banks Behind Hillary Clinton’s Canadian Speeches Really Want The Keystone Pipeline", and it credited me as the reporter who broke some of its findings first. Hillary Clinton still hasn't released the transcripts for the speeches she gave to those banks, and I exclusively reported she was paid $150,000 for a speech plus a meet-and-greet at the CIBC 18th Annual Whistler Institutional Investor Conference in January of 2015.

I worked at RAW STORY for six years, including four years as Executive Editor. Most of my stories can be read here: link. During my stint running the website, I provided research and edited nearly every story we published, and had reporters in the White House, Afghanistan and Iraq. I was one of the first editors to publish battlefield stories written by James Foley, who was kidnapped and murdered by ISIS terrorists, which you can read about at this link.

Thanks, and, once again, my PayPal account is ronbrynaert@yahoo.com

Original post from February 26, 2015:

From 2007 to 2010, I was Executive Editor of RAWSTORY.COM where I broke many big stories that were appreciated by liberals AND conservatives, and which sometimes even influenced events and were reported by the mainstream media. Some include: alleged plagiarism by Ann Coulter that was later confirmed by an expert, the smearing of a conservative-leaning military blogger by the Washington Post, non-profit wrote editorials for Abramoff clients, Vice President Cheney given power to preside over NSC meetings, US changed Iraq policy to begin airstrikes before war and Miers provided misleading info to Judiciary Committee.

Since leaving RAW STORY, I worked with David Corn and Mother Jones on a story based on WikiLeaks documents called "Does an Al Qaeda 'Anthrax Operative' Own New York Pharmacies?", Jennifer Preston and The New York Times on "Fake identities were used on Twitter to get information on Weiner", Kevin Morris at The Daily Dot on "Gen. John Allen didn't troll Jill Kelley on Wikipedia" and, most recently, with Chuck Johnson at Got News on multiple stories about NBC News anchor Brian Williams including "April 2003 Essay Proves #BrianWilliams Apology & Faulty Memory Story Are Fake" and "2003 NBC News Book Claimed Brian Williams Was on 'Receiving End of an Ambush'".

At this blog I broke the news that former Congressman Weiner was running for NYC mayor months before anyone else and I was cited by the Observer for being the first to report on the last scandal that hurt his campaign, even though he denied it in speeches, as reported by The Huffington Post. Click on my archives to read exclusive reporting on Vice President Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Adrian Lamo, Bradley Manning, Barrett Brown, former Pakistan military coup leader Musharraf, and other stories that you won't find anywhere else.

I haven't been paid for any of my reporting since I left RAWSTORY, so please help support -sometimes incredibly risky - independent journalism by contributing to my PayPal account at RonBrynaert@Yahoo.com.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Former CENTCOM commander victim of 'cybersecurity incident' Hillary Clinton didn't report

The State Department's inspector general report reveals that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and two key staff members failed to report a potential hacking attempt that was referred to as a "cybersecurity incident" they received on Friday the 13th in May of 2011.

A footnote on page 40 of the report states, "In another incident occurring on May 13, 2011, two of Secretary Clinton’s immediate staff discussed via email the Secretary’s concern that someone was 'hacking into her email' after she received an email with a suspicious link."



"Several hours later, Secretary Clinton received an email from the personal account of then-Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs that also had a link to a suspect website," the footnote continues. "The next morning, Secretary Clinton replied to the email with the following message to the Under Secretary: 'Is this really from you? I was worried about opening it!'”

The link in the email sent by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Joseph Burns appears to be a virus that could have infected multiple email accounts belonging to one of her top aides and former officials, including the former Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM).

Along with Clinton, the possible malware virus was sent to Joseph E. Macmanus, who served as Secretary Clinton's Executive Assistant until April of 2011, before becoming Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs in May. Clinton cc'd her response to the email to Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin, who is now the vice chairwoman of her 2016 presidential campaign.

It was also sent to former US ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg; Sr. Vice President, Public Affairs, Communications & Governance Apache Corporation Sarah Teslik; retired United States Marine Corps general and former CENTCOM Commander in Chief Anthony Charles Zinni; Philip N. Remler, the Head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Moldova; U.S./Middle East Project President Henry Siegman; Mark Foulon, former Deputy Undersecretary for Industry and Security at the Department of Commerce from 2003 to 2006 and Acting Under Secretary of Industry and Security from 2006 to 2007; and unknown persons referred to as "sburns" and "iburns."

The footnote adds: "Department policy requires employees to report cybersecurity incidents to IRM security officials when any improper cyber-security practice comes to their attention. 12 FAM 592.4 (January 10, 2007). Notification is required when a user suspects compromise of, among other things, a personally owned device containing personally identifiable information. 12 FAM 682.2-6 (August 4, 2008)."

"However, OIG found no evidence that the Secretary or her staff reported these incidents to computer security personnel or anyone else within the Department," the inspector general report noted.

Another embarrassing error in Washington Post reporting of Clinton emails

(Update: Three hours after publishing this article and alerting four Washington Post journalists, I noticed today's typo was fixed, but there was no editor's note for the correction added. The error can still be viewed at other outlets that picked up the Washington Post story which was published four hours before my article. But the December 31, 2015 typo still hasn't been fixed)

Nearly six months after I reported about an embarrassing mistake by the Washington Post in its reporting on Hillary Clinton's email scandal, there was another one in a top article published today.

At The Washington Post, Rosalind S. Helderman wrote on December 31, 2015: "In the emails released most recently, for instance, Clinton thanked a top aide, Joe McManus, in July 2012 for forwarding what appeared to be information about a threat against her long-serving close personal aide, Huma Abedin...as part of an email chain titled 'Huma' and that included the State Department's top security officer, Eric Bosworth. Abedin's primary residence with her husband, former Rep. Anthony Weiner, was in Manhattan."

The "State Department's top security officer" was actually Eric Boswell, not Bosworth, as the Post wrongly reported.

Ms. Helderman and multiple Washington Post reporters and editors have ignored emails and tweets about that typo, which they still haven't corrected.

Today, in another story that Helderman worked on, Carol Morello and Jia Lynn Yang reported: "In June 2011, there were two hacking attempts on the Clinton email system in one day. An adviser to President Bill Clinton tried to shut down the server each time."

However, the screenshot from page 19 of the State Department inspector general report, that the paper ran right beneath those sentences, clearly states, "On January 9, 2011, the non-Departmental advisor to President Clinton who provided technical support to the Clinton email system notified the Secretary’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations that he had to shut down the server because he believed 'someone was trying to hack us and while they did not get in i didnt [sic] want to let them have the chance to.' Later that day, the advisor again wrote to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, 'We were attacked again so I shut [the server] down for a few min.'"

"Tom Hamburger, Rosalind Helderman and Carol D. Leonnig contributed to this report," today's Washington Post article notes at the bottom.

As usual, I will tweet this article to the reporters about the error, and, as usual, I presume my tweets will be ignored and it won't be corrected. I won't be tweeting Pulitzer winner @CarolLeonnig, because she has blocked me on Twitter for criticizing her reporting in 8 tweets on 4 separate days last year.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Daily Caller stories

Sorry, I've promised a few new blog posts the past couple of months, but I've been busy working on stories that have been published at Daily Caller instead.

I have more to add to some of these stories, that I'll eventually blog about here, but, in the meantime, in case you don't know, my twitter account is at @ronbryn, and my Daily Caller articles can all be accessed at this link.

This blog isn't dying. I'll still be doing stuff here, too. See you, soon.