Eh, I doubt that Alamy is the originator. They license their photos from other entities.
I'll one up you by "shooting myself in the foot":
Trump White House Archived
https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse45/
#2 https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse45/49649253478/
#3 https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse45/49649546612/
#4 https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse45/49651862436/
#5 https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse45/49651324448/
The only image that does not exist on the WH45 archive is #1.
George News has linked specifically to the WH45 archive in some of their chat lines (I don't remember which but that's how I know about this Flickr). The Flickr archive lists as many details about the photo as necessary, including the photographer of each shot. No paytriot would ever divulge the source of their material so easily.
So here's my take on it. My guess is that the operator (individual or group) for this Flickr archive is the same operator behind George News. Now, you could say that GN operates the Flickr to pull wool over our eyes, and scalps all their images from sites like Alamy. But, if there were any copyright violations or licensing issues, the Flickr would have been taken down already, because Flickr is ruthless when it comes to licensing. The archive has 14,995 photos, and remains accessible since Trump took office in 2016. So we can be certain that the Flickr operator is legit.
Now, where does #1 come from? Well, perhaps the Flickr operator is also the licensor of #1, and they licensed it to Alamy and other image distribution services. If they were the licensor of #1, then it stands to reason that they could also be the licensor of #2, #3, #4 and #5.
Then if the WH45 operator is the same as the GN operator, then it would make sense that the GN operator is also the licensor of #1-#5, and that's why they could post it so freely on their Telegram.
The problem is that there's no direct evidence of a connection between GN and WH45. The only thing that I have to support that is that the GN operator has linked to WH45 without hesitation, has access to emails available only to WH staff, has access to a Zoom meeting exclusive to credentialed press (see above, and also here), and has posted all 5 photos of which only 4 are freely accessible on Flickr. In the absence of this evidence, logic provides at least two possibilities that satisfies this connection:
- GN is a total and clever and smooth-talking fraud that is willing to pay good money to buy photos, goods and other materials to pretend to be legit and pull wool over our eyes, has insider access to WH comms (thus is able to compromise WH network security and is able to circumvent intelligence services, and is broadcasting it to the world just to prove that they can), and is willing to divulge at least one good source of material who is actually legit.
- GN and the licensor are one and the same, and thus has WH-level access to all of this content and comms.
I lean toward the 2nd possibility, because it's strangely difficult to maintain a facade that's so convoluted for so long.
But I suppose you'd be distrusting of George for their use of paper.li and trackers. Well, in that case, you'd have to distrust anyone who uses wordpress or other Content Management Systems, because that's what it is, a platform and framework to manage content. Trackers come almost standard especially if you want to include devices for transactions or anything that relies on location services. If your primary concern is to manage content, as it is in GN's case, then you probably don't want or have time and energy to understand the source code of your features (I mean who here wants to look into the .win site code just to see if it's good to use?). Just because you're WH media doesn't mean you have the technical skills of an IT specialist. In that case, our investigations into paper.li don't really mean anything.
Well then, what about the DVIDS? DVIDS is just like Alamy and Flickr, they distrubute content for other publishers and content creators to use, in this case DOD Visual Information. If GN as the WH45 photo licensor has privileged access to the WH, then it stands to reason that they have privileged access to DOD materials.
And what about merch and donations? Well, a paytriot would certainly keep that open, that's their income stream. But if they were the legitimate licensor of this content, then it's possible that they want to protect their audience from being conned by people who would accept donations and sell merch and make a profit "on their behalf". You can't stop people giving money to causes they want to support, so "Donors gonna donate and buyers gonna buy." By accepting donations and selling merch, they are preventing those contributions from going into the wrong hands and are cornering their segment of the donation market.
All in all, I have confidence and total faith that George News is trustworthy.
Eh, I doubt that Alamy is the originator. They license their photos from other entities.
I'll one up you by "shooting myself in the foot":
Trump White House Archived
https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse45/
#2 https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse45/49649253478/ #3 https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse45/49649546612/ #4 https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse45/49651862436/ #5 https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse45/49651324448/
The only image that does not exist on the WH45 archive is #1.
George News has linked specifically to the WH45 archive in some of their chat lines (I don't remember which but that's how I know about this Flickr). The Flickr archive lists as many details about the photo as necessary, including the photographer of each shot. No paytriot would ever divulge the source of their material so easily.
So here's my take on it. My guess is that the operator (individual or group) for this Flickr archive is the same operator behind George News. Now, you could say that GN operates the Flickr to pull wool over our eyes, and scalps all their images from sites like Alamy. But, if there were any copyright violations or licensing issues, the Flickr would have been taken down already, because Flickr is ruthless when it comes to licensing. The archive has 14,995 photos, and remains accessible since Trump took office in 2016. So we can be certain that the Flickr operator is legit.
Now, where does #1 come from? Well, perhaps the Flickr operator is also the licensor of #1, and they licensed it to Alamy and other image distribution services. If they were the licensor of #1, then it stands to reason that they could also be the licensor of #2, #3, #4 and #5.
Then if the WH45 operator is the same as the GN operator, then it would make sense that the GN operator is also the licensor of #1-#5, and that's why they could post it so freely on their Telegram.
The problem is that there's no direct evidence of a connection between GN and WH45. The only thing that I have to support that is that the GN operator has linked to WH45 without hesitation, has access to emails available only to WH staff, has access to a Zoom meeting exclusive to credentialed press (see above, and also here), and has posted all 5 photos of which only 4 are freely accessible on Flickr. In the absence of this evidence, logic provides at least two possibilities that satisfies this connection:
- GN is a total and clever and smooth-talking fraud that is willing to pay good money to buy photos, goods and other materials to pretend to be legit and pull wool over our eyes, has insider access to WH comms (thus is able to compromise WH network security and is able to circumvent intelligence services, and is broadcasting it to the world just to prove that they can), and is willing to divulge at least one good source of material who is actually legit.
- GN and the licensor are one and the same, and thus has WH-level access to all of this content and comms.
I lean toward the 2nd possibility, because it's strangely difficult to maintain a facade that's so convoluted for so long.
But I suppose you'd be distrusting of George for their use of paper.li and trackers. Well, in that case, you'd have to distrust anyone who uses wordpress or other Content Management Systems, because that's what it is, a platform and framework to manage content. Trackers come almost standard especially if you want to include devices for transactions or anything that relies on location services. If your primary concern is to manage content, as it is in GN's case, then you probably don't want or have time and energy to understand the source code of your features (I mean who here wants to look into the .win site code just to see if it's good to use?). Just because you're WH media doesn't mean you have the technical skills of an IT specialist. In that case, our investigations into paper.li don't really mean anything.
Well then, what about the DVIDS? DVIDS is just like Alamy and Flickr, they distrubute content for other publishers and content creators to use, in this case DOD Visual Information. If GN as the WH45 photo licensor has privileged access to the WH, then it stands to reason that they have privileged access to DOD materials.
And what about merch and donations? Well, a paytriot would certainly keep that open, that's their income stream. But if they were the legitimate licensor of this content, then it's possible that they want to protect their audience from being conned by people who would accept donations and sell merch and make a profit "on their behalf". You can't stop people giving money to causes they want to support, so "Donors gonna donate and buyers gonna buy." By accepting donations and selling merch, they are preventing those contributions from going into the wrong hands and are cornering their segment of the donation market.
All in all, I have confidence and total faith that George News is trustworthy.