I’ve been watching the chatter this morning and seen the argument that Snowden isn’t the issue, the NSA spying is the issue. Indeed, Snowden himself started this argument by saying almost exactly that in the video that introduced him to the world. So I thought I’d explain why I don’t think that’s true. Read More
Russia to vote on law to ban telling children that there are gay people.
One of the notable subplots to the Snowden story are the conflicting narratives given by the different reporters involved, specifically how each seems aimed at diminishing or ridiculing the other party involved – not totally surprising given how rivalries work. For Gellman, Greenwald was brought in late as a sort of desperation move when the Post wouldn’t do Snowden’s bidding. For Greenwald, the move to Gellman was to play to MSM vanity and exploit the Post’s insider cred. In the narrowly factual sense, Greenwald seems to have the better part of the argument at the moment, from what I can tell.
A quirk in Hong Kong law could make a Snowden extradition a lengthy legal battle.
The Post has a good piece, just a show-opener really, on a critical issue raised by the Snowden imbroglio – the massive waste, private sector enrichment or shoddy work that has resulted from the Intelligence Community’s massive reliance on private contractors like Booz Allen Hamilton and many others. Read More
Obama administration gives up effort to restrict access to ‘Morning After Pill’.
Obama administration gives up effort to restrict access to ‘Morning After Pill’.
New Jersey Republicans seem to have decided (if only by default) that their best bet to grab the NJ Senate seat is to get behind a full-bore Tea Partier named Steve Lonegan.
Edward Snowden came forward as the source of NSA leaks. Cable news hosts treated it with as much subtlety and insight as they could muster.
TPM Reader FG hits on one of the points I’ve wondered about too. Should we really be so surprised that Snowden had the vast access he claims when Manning, a very junior Army intelligence analyst, had access to everything he did? Read More