Here is how we nailed the Corps of Engineers. Using free software available to any amateur blogger, I could easily see (in red) that IP address 155.76.159.253 belonged to the Upusace.
Updated June 30, 2014.
Katie Reckdahl, reporting for the Times Picayune, interviewed me yesterday on the Corps Comment Scandal. Her main question was how I came to possess a copy of Jon Donley’s affidavit.
I explained that I asked Mr. Donley to write it when I realized that the Times Picayune did not intend to comply with my request for the usernames and the comments that originated from the Corps.
I have two remarks about the TP story. First, it described Mr. Donley in the opening sentence as a “consultant.” Hardly. Mr. Donley was managing editor of nola.com, the TP’s online affiliate. The top dog. And that explains his access to all the chicanery.
Second, in writing about my request for additional comments data, the reporter wrote “..The Times-Picayune, does not release the identities of online commenters except under court order.”
That implies I requested the identities of the commenters. I did not. I requested the public usernames and the public comments. The TP’s lawyer told me there was no legal reason to NOT let Levees.org see the data. But they refused anyway, citing “policy.”
Click here for the Times Picayune story.
What swine these Times-Picayune people are. They knew that the Corps was using Nola.com to kick New Orleans when it was down and they let it continue. Now they’re helping cover it up. I’ve bought my last copy of that rag. This is a newspaper that needs to go out of business – or radically change its attitude towards the city it supposedly serves.