(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Right-wing pundits and politicians are trying to make a hero out of document leaker Jack Teixeira [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-14 Those who read the daily “Ukraine Update” will know that a portion of that update over the last two days has been dedicated to taking The Washington Post to task for their treatment of Teixeira, both before and after his arrest. On Thursday, the paper described Teixeira, who had at that point not been named, as a “charismatic” member of a group formed by young men “seeking companionship” who bonded over their love of guns, the military, and God. On Friday, the Post was back after the arrest to insist that the “slim and boyish” Teixeira “came from a patriotic family.” That included starting off the article with Teixeira’s mom making a proud post on Facebook and buying him a “patriotic-themed balloon.” If this sounds like the same kind of sickening drivel that is used all too often in pearl-clutching post mortems of a mass shooting incident, those where the shooter is white, that’s not a coincidence. In their coverage, CNN spoke with others who had known Teixeira in high school. Those conversations revealed a young man who classmates remembered him because he made racist comments, “mumbled derogatory things about people under his breath,” gave off a “menacing vibe,” carried a “dictionary-sized book on guns,” and wore a shirt featuring an AR-15 to school the day after the mass shooting in Las Vegas. If Teixeira is actually the man responsible for leaking dozens of classified documents, he was not a kid playing video games. He was a member of the U.S. military who betrayed the trust of his superiors and fellow servicemembers. He damaged relationships between nations and violated security in ways that are likely to make future planning more difficult. He placed real soldiers, in the midst of hard and bitter fighting in the muddy trenches around Bakhmut and all along the front lines in Ukraine, at increased risk. The documents, which include both information Teixeira compiled and summarized himself, as well as photographs of maps, tables, and other information, included those classified as “Top Secret.” Some of these carried codes indicating they were not to be revealed to foreign nationals, even allies. Among the items posted were details of both U.S. and Ukrainian military capabilities, positions of Ukrainian air defenses, and an analysis of Ukraine’s positioning for a possible counteroffensive against invading Russian forces. And more. A lot more. The total number of documents released appears to be in the hundreds. In one particularly egregious example, by revealing the location of air defenses in the middle of a war, Teixeira knowingly placed the lives of every single Ukrainian military and civilian at risk. The Washington Post may describe him as young, charismatic, slim, and boyish. But try telling that to a mother wailing over the body of a child killed by a Russian missile. Did Teixeira’s information assist Russia in targeting their attacks. We don’t know that. Neither does he. Neither do Greene or Carlson. Teixeira posted these documents to a Discord server where he reportedly served as administrator. That server, named “Thug Shaker Central,” reportedly included members from outside the United States, including from unspecified locations in Eastern Europe. Those members were reported to be particularly interested in the documents Teixeira posted. A video released on the site shows Teixeira spraying racist and anti-Semetic slurs in between bursts of gunfire at a shooting range. It’s a fairly good bet that the reason the whole “Thug Shaker Central'' group broke off from another group that was dedicated to discussing military systems, is that the original group didn’t include enough appreciation for violence and racism. The name of the site itself is drawn from a racist, anti-gay meme. It’s a very good bet that those on the site spent very little time talking about their “love of God,” unless that was in terms of how the members, as good Christians, wanted to slaughter people who weren’t exactly like them. But if there is one place where a violent, racist, anti-Semetic loner with a gun fetish can find genuine appreciation, it’s in the arms of Marjorie Taylor Greene and the anti-American right. This is, after all, the same group that made a hero of two-time killer Kyle Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse checked all the same boxes as Teixeirawhite, young, white, male, white, Christian, white, loves guns, white. Just substitute handing out top-secret documents like candy for unloading an AR-15 into people at close range. For Greene, the arrest of Teixeira simply represents another opportunity to be outrageously vile. Which is her one and only talent. Greene has no concern about the results of Teixeira’s actions. In 2017, while working for a military contractor, former Air Force Senior Airman Reality Winner sent a copy of a report on Russian interference in the 2016 election to the online news site The Intercept. In later interviews, Winner said she sent the document because she was concerned about the measures Russia was taking to influence U.S. elections and, in particular, their role in the 2016 election. The document she sent did not include any information on military dispositions, either in the U.S. or elsewhere, and very little that might be a threat to either sources or methods. It was a brief post-election analysis of Russia’s impact on the election, which Winner insisted she took because “I am somebody who only acted out of love for what this country stands for,” and she felt the public “was being lied to” when it came to Russia’s role in the election of Donald Trump. Winner was arrested even before any of the material in the report appeared in print. In August 2017, she was sentenced to 63 months in prison for this single violation of the Espionage Act. It was the longest sentence ever imposed for the unauthorized release of government information to the media. A case can certainly be made that Winner really was a whistleblower, out to inform the public about facts being withheld by a government that benefited from general ignorance. No such case can possibly be put forward concerning Teixeira. He made no effort to bring the documents to the attention of the public, the media, or any authority. He used them primarily to inflate his status among a group of young men exchanging LOLs about guns and racism. When it comes to Carlson, his motivations certainly overlap with those of Greene, but in a way, they’re purerCarlson just wants Vladimir Putin to be successful in his invasion of Ukraine, and he means to help by using any means at hand to reduce U.S. support for the Ukrainian effort. To that end, Carlson skipped over a document that Teixeira had released showing U.S. military estimates of both Russian and Ukrainian losses in Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion. Instead, Carlson seized on what he clearly knew was a crudely photoshopped version of the same document where the Russian numbers had been greatly reduced, and the Ukrainian numbers had been grossly exaggerated. Carlson then used this document to claim that the government has been covering up a disaster in Ukraine. Both Greene and Carlson also claimed that Teixeira’s slides show “direct U.S. involvement” in Ukraine, a feature that has already been picked up on by Russian state media, which is enjoying this leak as much as might be expected. x Here is Vladimir Solovyov’s first reaction to Jack Teixeira's arrest: blaming Biden for the lack of information security. His narrative will change in light of the “hero whistleblower” angle that is being pushed by Tucker Carlson & Marjorie Taylor Greene.https://t.co/AUbfWhbXvC — Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) April 14, 2023 The claim made here—that Teixeira’s leak shows a breakdown of the security under Biden—also echoes statements made by Greene, Carlson, and others on the right. Except Teixeira formed his group and began leaking in 2020—under Donald Trump. Don’t expect them to acknowledge that while turning Teixeira into their next big right-wing hero. However, unlike Rittenhouse, no one should expect to see Teixeira on a speaking tour soon. That is, unless Donald Trump happens to get re-elected. Because the time from now until Trump declares that he would give Teixeira a full pardon can likely be measured in milliseconds. On today’s episode, Markos and Kerry are joined by a friend of the podcast, Democratic political strategist Simon Rosenberg. Rosenberg was one of the few outsiders who, like Daily Kos, kept telling the world that nothing supported the idea of a red wave. Simon and the crew break down his strategy for Democratic candidates to achieve a 55% popular vote in all elections—a number that a few years ago would have seemed unattainable, but now feels within reach. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/14/2163931/-Right-wing-pundits-and-politicians-are-trying-to-make-a-hero-out-of-document-leaker-Jack-Teixeira Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/