{"id":1617,"date":"2001-12-03T20:45:32","date_gmt":"2001-12-04T01:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=1617"},"modified":"2001-12-03T20:45:32","modified_gmt":"2001-12-04T01:45:32","slug":"a_case_for_wart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/12\/03\/a_case_for_wart.html","title":{"rendered":"A case for wartime censorship?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I am a huge proponent of the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>But <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/Stories\/0,1002,53%7E247578,00.html\">this story<\/a> &#8212; about US government policy to quash news about the Japanese &#8220;balloon bombs&#8221; gives one cause to think.  The Japanese, in WWII, launched some 9000 balloons, with various explosives, into the wind currents that would carry them over the US.  The idea was to (a) cause massive forest fires in the West, diverting US manpower, and (b) cause mass hysteria among the US population.<\/p>\n<p>About 300 of the balloons are recorded in government records as having actually made it.  But the government quashed the story at the time, both to avoid the panic that the Japanese were looking for, and to deny the Japanese the intelligence that the balloons were actually making it (and where they were landing, and what was or wasn&#8217;t working when they got here).<\/p>\n<p>If it were happening today, I&#8217;ve little doubt folks would be screaming about censorship, about government cover-ups, about the public&#8217;s right to know.  We&#8217;re more cynical about the government&#8217;s motivations these days &#8212; with more than a little reason, to be sure.  Still &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Of course, if it were happening today, would we know?  And would that be a good thing?<\/p>\n<p><small>(Via <a href=\"http:\/\/instapundit.blogspot.com\/2001_12_02_instapundit_archive.html#7600552\">InstaPundit<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am a huge proponent of the First Amendment. But this story &#8212; about US government policy to quash news about the Japanese &#8220;balloon bombs&#8221; gives one cause to think&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homeland-security"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30197,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/10\/balloons-all-about-me.html","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":0},"title":"Balloons all about me","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 10-Sep-12 9:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes. This. \u00a0But is that ADD, or just too many balloons?Reshared post from +Jon WeberAn amazing depiction of constant struggle. Embedded Link xkcd: ADD < Prev \u00b7 Random; Next >; >|. Permanent link to this comic: http:\/\/xkcd.com\/1106\/ Image URL (for hotlinking\/embedding): http:\/\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/add.png. Selected Comics. Search comic title... Google+: View post\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26854,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/05\/not-all-french-balloons-are-red-ones.html","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":1},"title":"Not all French balloons are red ones","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 5-Mar-12 6:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"But they're just as magical. #ddtbReshared post from +Rupesh NandyThe largest hot-air balloon gathering in the world, Chambley, FrancePhoto by Gaston BatistiniDon't forget to Like or Comment or Share","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5811,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/07\/14\/hello.html","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":2},"title":"Hello!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 14-Jul-04 3:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello Kitty is 30 years old -- and still going strong. Faster, pussycat -- sell, sell! So goes the unspoken mantra for Hello Kitty, one of global pop culture's most...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Media &amp; Culture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Media &amp; Culture","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6327,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/09\/21\/true_believer.html","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":3},"title":"True Believer","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 21-Sep-04 9:06am","format":false,"excerpt":"Brian Michael Bendis convinces the New York Times to run a cartoon. About Brian Michael Bendis, of course. (via Thought Balloons)...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comics &amp; Comic Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comics &amp; Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4608,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/07\/30\/deconstructing.html","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":4},"title":"Deconstructing the sink","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 30-Jul-03 11:55am","format":false,"excerpt":"And it will only set you back $3000 or so -- not counting installation. As one commenter asked, \"How do you fill up water balloons?\" (via BoingBoing)...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Home Improvement&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Home Improvement","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/home-improvement"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hand basin extra","src":"\/blog\/images\/sink.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":37752,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/10\/moons-loons-and-logo-balloons.html","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":5},"title":"Moons, Loons, and Logo Balloons","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 10-Jun-13 10:17pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Nice Proctor & Gamble logo redesign, changing from a dull pair of letters to something evokes their legacy moon imagery (in spite ongoing \"It's Satanic!\" conspiracy theories). Brand New: P&G is Over the Moon Brand New: Opinions on corporate and brand identity work. A division of UnderConsideration. View this post\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617","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=1617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}