Mission Statement
It is apparent to many of us that attempt to distinguish news from propaganda and political spin that our own Mainstream News Media is failing the American public and most of the time, publish what they want us to read rather than concentrating on investigative journalism and simply reporting the events occurring throughout the Global Community without deciding “what” is in their best corporate and/or political interests for the public to read. We believe that a free press is essential to maintaining and promoting true democracy. Our news media has failed the public miserably by “spinning” the news rather than reporting it without bias or self-censoring themselves in order to further the self-serving goals of corporate America. We will continue to engage in political commentary, however, when we do so, whenever possible, we will concentrate on providing links and quotes from other sources to substantiate our opinions so that our commentary is based on fact and other reliable news sources rather than resorting to making wild accusations and opinion that has no basis in fact or reality that is the hallmark of right-wing “talking heads.”
We actively engage in investigative journalism and will continue to report upon global events by constantly combing the Internet and using foreign as well as local sources and substantiated factual evidence that our own news media refuses to relay to the American public. We believe that it is essential that the American public remains an “informed public” and whether our media chooses to report upon issues that are frowned upon by the government or Corporate America, you are likely to find some of those issues covered here to the best of our knowledge and ability. The Federal Court has ruled that Blogger’s can claim journalistic privileges if their content reflects that they are pursuing journalism rather than commentary based on nothing other than speculation and opinion. We believe that this is vital in covering local issues where releasing a confidential source could potentially harm to an individual or cause a person to lose his/her employment simply because they have decided to speak-out on an issue(s) and choose to remain anonymous, however, we will only exercise that right if we deem it necessary to report upon information that we have received from the public, and most of all, from reliable sources. If you have information on any issue that you believe the public should know about, please contact us at administrator@thepoliticalbandit.com, and we will reply as soon as possible, and if we decide to post information that we can verify, will take every measure possible to protect your identity.
Our site has been hacked several times over the past few months and working with our hosting company, have implemented tighter security and are able to restore the site almost immediately once we find out it’s down and back-up our data on a daily basis. To allow a greater diversity in our comment system, we are implementing the Disqus commenting system that will allow the readership to log-in through Facebook, Yahoo, Open ID, and several other methods. Comments will not be moderated unless they contain objectionable language, or in the alternative, are racially based or obvious “hate” related comments that we choose not to publish. If a comment appears to be unacceptable, please flag the comment and a moderator will examine it as soon as possible. We also choose not to publish comments that use extreme profanity unless an individual is quoting a public official that has chosen to drop-down to a level that should be made public to expose their vile and obscene language. (And even then, it’s easy to substitute some characters that vividly demonstrate what their language was without actually dropping-down to their level.) We also believe that it’s in the best interests of the general public to be informed of any instance where a public official has issued racial epitaphs, attempt to incite violence, or otherwise express “hate speech” that is detrimental to the general public. We are extremely concerned with the current political climate where instead of meaningful dialogue, some people, including public figures, are advocating and/or alluding to threatening behavior and acts of vandalism that are creating an atmosphere of hate and fear that is often based on misconceptions and downright lies in order to further a political agenda that has the potential to lead the nation into chaos and anarchy.
We do believe in our right of assembly and free speech, and when it’s necessary, civil disobedience – however these acts which are usually defined as an “acceptable” means of expressing our discontent are general strikes, marches, sit-in’s, and other means of non-violent behavior that if organized on a massive scale, are historically extremely effective in making it known to Washington that society in general is protesting within our rights and have often been the “American Way” of achieving change when our government refuses to act in the best interests of the people. We soundly condemn acts of vandalism and violence and believe it’s counterproductive to achieving any meaningful “change that we can believe in.”
On the other hand, we do not delete or hide comments that are critical of our opinions or disagree with what we have posted; that’s simply free speech and while we hope to post articles that are in the best interests of our readership, we do respect other people’s opinions and their right to post those opinions whether we agree with them or not. On the other hand, bigoted comments and obscene language is not acceptable on this site, as we prefer to maintain a degree of civility and people whose personal ethics and morals that do not care to read obscenity are often turned-off by such comments and will refuse to return to any site that doesn’t maintain standards that even their children can read without being exposed to vulgarity and hate speech.
We are working on implementing an in-house email system where subscribers can contact one another and none of those internal messages will be read by, moderated, or even viewed by site administrator’s. (We are not sure if this feature will be available on the WordPress platform we are currently utilizing.) Our email system was also disabled several months ago and we are working to reinstall the necessary components that will allow someone to email adminsitrator@thepoliticalbandit.com and other important methods of contact. If you have attempted to contact us using normal means of attempting to contact someone with administrator privileges, we apologize that the system has been down for such a long period of time. We believe that it was essential to address extremely important security issues before revamping our email and messaging system, and this was to protect your privacy as well as our own.
We welcome any suggestions that would improve this site, and also urge writer’s to submit articles and Op-Eds that address issues that are currently being debated or of interest to the general public. Author’s with a proven track record of being reliable and are known for addressing the loss of our civil liberties and the shredding of our Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the rule of law may receive posting privileges without being moderated by simply requesting said permission by sending an email to Administrator@thepoliticalbandit.com.
William Cormier, Site Administrator
Mitch Gurney, Site Administrator
