{"id":136419,"date":"2018-05-12T20:19:08","date_gmt":"2018-05-13T02:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=136419"},"modified":"2018-05-13T00:57:13","modified_gmt":"2018-05-13T06:57:13","slug":"but-arent-leaks-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/05\/12\/but-arent-leaks-wrong.html","title":{"rendered":"But aren’t leaks wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the dangers of these polarized times, and of the 2- or 3-Sigma behavior of Trump and his Administration, is that it invites similarly extreme opposition, and acceptance of behavior of that is generally frowned upon, justified as “Well, Trump is an ass-hat, and so are the people who work for him, and civility is not a suicide pact, so do whatever is necessary to bring this regime down, or at least render it impotent.”<\/p>\n

I am not unsympathetic to that position.<\/p>\n

But I think it’s of value also to examine what one would consider civility, and what norms ought to be.<\/p>\n

If there’s a meeting at the White House, or amongst White House staff, how outraged should we be that the contents are leaked to the press?<\/p>\n

There are two parts to this. First, insistence that the contents are leaked in a reasonably accurate fashion. A leak that says that Trump bit off the head of a live puppy, whereas he merely kicked it across the room, is not good. Trump’s use of “Fake News!” to label anything that criticizes him can only be criticized if the “Fake News” is actually reasonably accurate.<\/p>\n

The second part is … um, well, yeah, actually, I think I’m okay with that, within certain bounds.<\/p>\n

There are certain discussions that take place regarding material that is either secret from a national security perspective (e.g., impending military actions), or confidential from a personal privacy perspective (e.g., HR matters). Leaking that level of stuff is wrong without some hugely countervening reason, and even in such cases the leaker should be willing to take the consequences.<\/p>\n

But aside from that … there’s something to be said for transparency in government, even through closed doors. And much of the call for the heads of leakers is not because what they leaked was untrue, or that it wasn’t something that was of interest to the general public, but because it was embarrassing, or inconvenient.<\/p>\n

The test for such matters is, I suppose, “If this happened in an administration that you supported — reporting of embarrassing or impolitic comments in meetings, leaking of political plans, etc. — would you still disagree with that level of transparency?”<\/p>\n

In other words, is it the tactic I approve of, or the circumstances under which it is employed. Am I being hypocritical?<\/p>\n

It may be that the reality of this shambolic Trump Administration means that, even if it inconveniences or embarrasses a different administration I like, I might be willing to have similar shenanigans amongst that staff as a safety valve against something more Trumplike in the future. Or at least have the level of such shenanigans indicate how disliked within its own ranks an administration is.<\/p>\n

I’m not thrilled by that. But it might be necessary, given the current precedent.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nFive White House Staffers Leak Meeting About White House Leaks<\/a><\/span>
\nPresumably there will also be leaks from the meeting about stopping the leaks from leak meetings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the dangers of these polarized times, and of the 2- or 3-Sigma behavior of Trump and his Administration, is that it invites similarly extreme opposition, and acceptance of behavior of that is generally frowned upon, justified as “Well, Trump is an ass-hat, and so are the people who work for him, and civility … Continue reading “But aren’t leaks wrong?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,358,1071],"tags":[1605],"class_list":["post-136419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-poor-citizenship","category-trump","tag-leaks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/sarah-huckabee-sanders.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":134029,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/03\/transcripts-leaked-of-trumps-chats-with-mexico-and-australia.html","url_meta":{"origin":136419,"position":0},"title":"Transcripts leaked of Trump's chats with Mexico and Australia","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 3-Aug-17 2:27pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So someone in the White House has leaked (internal, unpublished) transcripts of the early days conversations between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto (about tariffs and the Wall), and another with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (about taking in refugees). A few thoughts.1. Trump went into office (and still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133201,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/04\/03\/tweetizen-trump-2017-04-03-fox-are-my-friends.html","url_meta":{"origin":136419,"position":1},"title":"Tweetizen Trump – 2017-04-03 "Fox Are My Friends"","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 3-Apr-17 8:45am","format":false,"excerpt":"Long weekend for me Donald, so I missed a few days. But it sure looks like you bought some stock in Fox News, since you quoted them by name multiple times. What's up?\u25ba Wow, @FoxNews just reporting big news. Source: \"Official behind unmasking is high up. Known Intel official is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/fox-news-channel-donald-trump5B15D.jpegimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/fox-news-channel-donald-trump5B15D.jpegimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/fox-news-channel-donald-trump5B15D.jpegimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133117,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/21\/tweetizen-trump-2017-03-21-evil-leaking-leakers-and-wiretaps.html","url_meta":{"origin":136419,"position":2},"title":"Tweetizen Trump – 2017-03-21 "Evil leaking leakers! (And wiretaps!)"","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 21-Mar-17 1:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"(Sorry for delay in getting to you today, Donald -- awfully busy out here in the private sector on a Tuesday morning ...)Well, yesterday was a big day, Donald -- a day for the FBI to tell the world that you and your people are as innocent of collusion with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133934,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/22\/tweetizen-trump-2017-07-22-leaks-leaks-more-leaks.html","url_meta":{"origin":136419,"position":3},"title":"Tweetizen Trump – 2017-07-22: "Leaks! Leaks! More Leaks!"","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 22-Jul-17 2:21pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I glanced at the Twitter a couple of times yesterday and didn't see anything from you worth getting excited about, Donald -- certainly nothing that matches the \"The Dems scream death as OCare dies!\" jewel [1] from Wednesday.But it seems like you've caught up a bit Donald ...===I'll hit some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/oz%2Bscandal%2Bleak.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":132852,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/15\/tweetizen-trump-2017-02-15-leaks-mean-bad-evil-leaks.html","url_meta":{"origin":136419,"position":4},"title":"Tweetizen Trump – 2017-02-15 "Leaks! Mean, bad, evil leaks!"","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 15-Feb-17 8:24am","format":false,"excerpt":"Well yesterday seemed dominated by the brouhaha at the White House, Donald, as your National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned (or, we are assured, was fired by you) for ... well, honestly, the story has changed so often it's hard to tell. Was it for making inappropriate, possibly illegal, certainly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Trump%2Btweet%2BRussian%2Bconnection.JPGimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Trump%2Btweet%2BRussian%2Bconnection.JPGimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Trump%2Btweet%2BRussian%2Bconnection.JPGimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":136448,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/05\/16\/leaks-arent-a-problem-but-we-must-hunt-down-all-leakers.html","url_meta":{"origin":136419,"position":5},"title":"Leaks aren’t a problem, but we must hunt down all Leakers!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 16-May-18 7:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/996129630913482755 https:\/\/twitter.com\/18965459\/status\/996273986299486208 Trump tries to both deny WH leaks are a problem (or maybe, even, that they exist) AND that WH leakers will be hunted down as traitors. https:\/\/t.co\/vEIcKTGMj7","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/leak1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/leak1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/leak1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/leak1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/leak1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136429,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136419\/revisions\/136429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}