In the past, we've talked about the creepy guys at Pando. They are the ones trying to slam Glenn Greenwald on the grounds that he's working for a new journalistic enterprise funded by an alleged libertarian named Pierre Omidyar. Of course, the hypocrisy here is mind-boggling, since Pando itself is funded by a real libertarian (as in total hard-core dickishness) named Peter Thiel.

The Pando-ites are now saying that The Intercept has stopped publishing. They also say that Marcy Wheeler has stopped all professional association with them.

Oh really?

Guys, there's this thing called journalism. You may want to try your hand at it one of these days. Journalism involves checking things out with sources. Even I, lazy bastard that I am, have been known to do that sort of thing from time to time, and I'm just a blogger in an attic who thought he'd get in a quick post before making the dog's dinner.

I checked Greenwald's site, and guess what? The Intercept is still publishing.

I checked with Marcy. She's still in. Nothing has changed.

So why is Thiel's operation so hell-bent on destroying the reputations of people like Glenn Greenwald and Marcy Wheeler? In my opinion, those two are doing the best reporting on national security issues since the heyday of CAIB. (You probably have to be as grey-haired as I to know what those initials mean.)

The Pando folk would have you believe that only the paranoid or the purchased would dare to question Theil's operation. They also want you to think that if you say anything positive about Greenwald or Snowden, commies are gonna getcha. Um...no. It's not that simple.

Here's the truth about Thiel:

He's a libertarian. But he has also funded the secretive data-mining company Palantir, which works for the FBI and the CIA.

Palantir is now worth billions. Serious intelligence reforms could cause that valuation to plummet.

Get the picture?