The Commentariat -- Aug. 22, 2013
** Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The National Security Agency unlawfully gathered as many as tens of thousands of e-mails and other electronic communications between Americans as part of a now-discontinued collection method, according to a 2011 secret court opinion. The 86-page opinion, which was declassified by U.S. intelligence officials Wednesday, explains why the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ruled the collection method unconstitutional":
The Court is troubled that the government's revelations regarding NSA's acquisition of Internet transactions mark the third instance in less than three years in which the government has disclosed a substantial misrepresentation regarding the scope of a major collection program. [...] Contrary to the government's repeated assurances, NSA has been routinely running queries of the metadata using querying terms that did not meet the standard required for querying. The Court concluded that this requirement had been 'so frequently and systematically violated that it can be fairly said that this critical element of the overall ... regime has never functioned effectively. [Emphasis added.
... The New York Times report, by Charlie Savage & Scott Shane, is here. ...
... Hayes Brown of Think Progress: "The release of the formerly Top Secret documents is being portrayed as part of the Obama administration's efforts to shine light on the NSA, in hopes of tamping down on criticism that the body lacks transparency.... However, the documents' release was not entirely voluntary, instead being the result of a Freedom of Information Act request from the Electronic Freedom Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union." ...
... Mark Rumold of the Electronic Frontier Foundation: "In response to EFF's FOIA lawsuit, the government has released the 2011 FISA court opinion ruling some NSA surveillance unconstitutional." ...
... Charles Pierce on Chief Justice Roberts' appointment of a ConservaDem to the FISA court (see yesterday's Commentariat -- almost all of Roberts' previous appointments were Republicans): "Roberts is not going to appoint anyone -- Democrat or Republican -- who's going to rock the boat on the FISA court, where so are they all, all honorable men. So he searched around and found the most surveillance-friendly Democrat he could find and, presto! Bipartisanship! The Beltway must be plotzing." ...
... ** Dana Milbank: "You don’t need to agree with what [Bradley] Manning did to agree with [his attorney David] Coombs that government secrecy has gone too far." ...
... New York Times Editors: "Bradley Manning's sentence is excessive.... In their drastic attempt to put Private Manning away for most of the rest of his life, prosecutors were also trying to discourage other potential leakers, but as the continuing release of classified documents by Edward Snowden shows, even the threat of significant prison time is not a deterrent when people believe their government keeps too many secrets." ...
... Digby: "'No charges have been filed against the American soldiers in the Apache helicopter who shot and killed the civilians in the video [which Manning released to WikiLeaks].' So the people who did that wanton killing will pay no price. But Bradley Manning will do many years in prison for revealing what they did." ...
... CW: I thought the adage was "The coverup was worse than the crime." Turns out disclosure of the crime is worse than the crime.
... Scott Lemieux in Lawyers, Guns & Money: "... the idea that his leaks merit a 35-year sentence is absurd. And as I said before, it’s particularly appalling when you consider the Obama administration's 'look forward not back' approach on torture. It's hard to square this life-ruining sentence with the fact that no torturer was even considered worthy of being charged. I'd also say that at this point that it's pretty hard to the American government to complain when other countries refuse to extradite whistleblowers." ...
... Scott Stump, for NBC's "Today" show: "Bradley Manning ... revealed he intends to live out the remainder of his life as a woman. 'I am Chelsea Manning. I am female,' the Army private wrote in a statement read on TODAY Thursday. 'Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition.'" ...
... John Aravosis of AmericaBlog: "Now that he -- Manning asked to be referred to as 'she' in the future -- she has acknowledged being transgender, it is no longer clear if Manning is gay. It's a bit complicated, but being gay means you are attracted primarily to the same-sex. If Manning was gay because he, a man, was attracted to other men, and he now says she is a woman, then she is a woman attracted to men. So while she is trans, she is no longer gay.... Manning's news will certainly lead to more discussion of, and education on, trans issues."
** CW: Yesterday I linked to a piece in which the New Yorker's Jeff Toobin, not for the first time, excoriated Ed Snowden for stealing classified documents, which Toobin asserts Snowden handed over, whether knowingly or not, to both Russian & Chinese intelligence personnel. I would guess Toobin is right about that. But maybe Jeff Toobin is not the best messenger. Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake reminds us of Toobin's youthful misadventures: "In journalist Michael Isikoff's book, Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story, he described how Toobin was caught 'having absconded with large loads of classified and grand-jury related documents from the office of Iran-Contra independent counsel Lawrence Walsh' in 1991.... Toobin was 'petrified' that he would have to face criminal charges for stealing information for a rather dubious book deal.... Toobin 'resigned from the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn (where he had gone to work after Walsh) and abandoned the practice of law.'"
Danielle Douglas of the Washington Post: "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday that it has launched investigations at banks and other financial firms after finding myriad problems in the way they service residential mortgages."
Tom Edsall of the New York Times: President "Obama has put the goal of a revived middle class at the top of his agenda, but he has not publicly voiced an understanding of the size and scope of the problem he seeks to address." CW: Edsall doesn't really develop this point, but this is a question I have, too; it so often seems that President Obama doesn't understand macroeconomics, or that his "understanding" is hopelessly skewed by the narrow views of the boys on his economic & political teams.
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama will offer a series of proposals this week aimed at making college more affordable by reshaping the way Americans pay for higher education, he said in an e-mail to supporters on Tuesday." ...
... Update. Tamar Lewin of the New York Times: "A draft of the [Obama] proposal, obtained by The New York Times and likely to cause some consternation among colleges, shows a plan to rate colleges before the 2015 school year based on measures like tuition, graduation rates, debt and earnings of graduates, and the percentage of lower-income students who attend. The ratings would compare colleges against their peer institutions. If the plan can win Congressional approval, the idea is to base federal financial aid to students attending the colleges partly on those rankings."
Jay Hancock of Kaiser Health News, in USA Today: "Partly blaming the health law, United Parcel Service is set to remove thousands of spouses from its medical plan because they are eligible for coverage elsewhere. Many analysts downplay the Affordable Care Act's effect on companies such as UPS, noting that the move is part of a long-term trend of shrinking corporate medical benefits. But the shipping giant repeatedly cites the act to explain the decision, adding fuel to the debate over whether it erodes traditional employer coverage." CW: Just about every winger outlet picked up this story; I can't find any commentary from the left. ...
... The New York Times report, by Steven Greenhouse, is here. "Several health care experts ... said they believed the company was motivated by a desire to hold down health care costs, rather than because of cost increases under the law."
Paul Krugman: "The merits of Yellen versus Summers aside, it sounds as if the WH wants Summers, and doesn't want Yellen, for all the wrong reasons. They want a team player -- and consider Yellen's somewhat independent stance as a liability, even though she has been consistently right.... All in all, this whole episode is not making anyone think better of Obama's judgment."
Our Brilliant Electorate. Tom Kludt of TPM: "A significant chunk of Louisiana Republicans evidently believe that President Barack Obama is to blame for the poor response to the hurricane [Katrina].... The latest survey from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling, provided exclusively to TPM, showed ... [28] percent said they think former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time, was more responsible for the poor federal response while 29 percent said Obama, who was still a freshman U.S. Senator when the storm battered the Gulf Coast in 2005, was more responsible. Nearly half of Louisiana Republicans -- 44 percent -- said they aren't sure who to blame." ...
... Steve Benen: "... I imagine if PPP asked, a non-trivial number of Louisiana Republicans would also blame the president for 9/11, Watergate, the Hindenburg disaster, the 1919 White Sox, and the U.S. Civil War. In other words, Louisiana Republicans may say they blame Obama for the response to Katrina, but what they're really saying is they just hate the president and blame him reflexively for everything." ...
... Elsewhere in Real America, there's trouble a'brewin' along with the Tea. Alex Rogers of Time: "The defund ObamaCare effort may be fading in Washington, but for many GOP members of the House and Senate vacationing in their home districts, there has been no break from the constant pressure from outside groups. The late-summer burst of organized conservative opposition to Republican incumbents is the sort of red-on-red conflict that bodes poorly for the fall, when Republican leaders hope to form a united front on issues as varied as funding the government, dealing with immigration reform and extending the debt ceiling."
** Dark Money. Alex Altman of Time: "On Wednesday, Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen, the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, filed a federal lawsuit against the IRS, claiming that the agency's rules fail to comply with tax law, unfairly permitting Van Hollen's political opponents 'to obtain an improper benefit -- the advantage of tax exemption without the requirement of donor disclosure.'"
"Obama Hasn't Evolved on Pot -- Yet." Steven Dennis of Roll Call: "President Barack Obama doesn't favor changing marijuana laws 'at this point' but he also believes that federal law enforcement resources should not be focused on individual users, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday. Earnest was asked for a second day if the White House might re-examine its hard line on marijuana after Dr. Sanjay Gupta -- the CNN health reporter who Obama once eyed for the surgeon general post -- penned a column explaining why he changed his mind on the benefits of marijuana. He also apologized for his earlier reporting on the issue."
Don Terry of the Southern Poverty Law Center, in Salon: "Ron Paul to be keynote speaker at anti-Semitic conference. Beyond the obvious, what do a far-right Italian politician, the president of the John Birch Society and former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul have in common? In early September, the men are all scheduled to speak -- along with a lengthy list of archconservative clergy, lawyers and academics -- at a conference in Canada sponsored by the Fatima Center, part of the 'radical traditionalist Catholic' movement, perhaps the single largest group of hard-core anti-Semites in North America." ...
... Charles Pierce: "There is no secular political reason why Crazy Uncle Liberty (!) should be appearing at this conference. Neither is there a specifically religious reason, since he's not a Catholic. The only reason he's going is because he feels comfortable among these people.... And he's as much of a Nativist nutbag as he's always been."
Killer Asteroid. Gail Collins: "The Obama administration is currently promoting an 'asteroid grand challenge,' in which we're invited 'to find all asteroid threats to human populations' and figure out what to do about them.... Even members of Congress who pooh-pooh the peril of global warming believe in the danger of global asteroid-exploding.... [But] there hasn't been all that much money spent on the mission.... It's ... conceivable that the Science Committee doesn't like the Obama plan because it's the Obama plan. This has been known to happen in the House."
Gubernatorial, Senatorial, Presidential Races, Whatever
Mario Trujillo of the Hill: "Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said Wednesday night he will not run for Massachusetts governor in 2014. Brown said he wanted to remain in the private sector, noting that another run for public office would take a lot of 'thought, analysis, money and sometimes personal sacrifice.' ... Brown had left the door open to a run for governor and possibly another Senate race after his loss to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in 2012.... In a recent interview, he said he was curious if there was an interest in a [presidential] run in 2016."
Local News
CBS News/AP: "Embattled San Diego Mayor Bob Filner on Wednesday reached a tentative deal involving a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him -- but details were not made public, including whether settlement hinged on the former congressman resigning. CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reported that a source close to the talks says it appears that Filner's resignation is part of the settlement, but nothing will be official until the city council approves the agreement on Friday." ...
... Craig Gustafson & Mark Walker of the San Diego Union-Tribune suppose Filner is on his way out inasmuch as "political aides to potential mayoral candidates by insiders Wednesday night to expect a special election campaign to begin Saturday." CW: Unfortunately, the sentence is missing a verb, but I think the reporters mean that aides to local politicians in on the mediation are anticipating a near-future special mayoral election to replace Filner. ...
... UPDATE: Tony Perry of the Los Angeles Times: "Mayor Bob Filner will resign from office as part of a mediation deal reached in his sexual harassment lawsuit, sources familiar with the negotiations said Thursday. Filner's decision to resign comes after three days of closed-door mediation and after six weeks of scandal in the city. At least 18 women have publicly accused Filner of sexual harassment, including one former aide who filed the lawsuit."
Carpetbagging Liar Nabbed in Wyoming. Angus Thuermer, Jr., of the Jackson Hole News & Guide: "U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Lynne Cheney posted a $220 bond in Ninth Circuit Court in Teton County on Monday on a charge of making a false statement to procure a fishing license. A citation/complaint ticket in the court file states that Cheney 'fail[ed] to meet residency requirements as required,' according to the ticket signed by Wyoming Game and Fish Jackson Supervisor Tim Fuchs." CW: just a reminder to the multitudes of Wyoming Republicans who follow this site: Liz Cheney is using you people. She doesn't give a flying fish about Wyoming. ...
... Hunter of Daily Kos: "That's apparently where we're going to be drawing the line now, with the Cheney clan; you can drum up support for a badly premised war, you can violate international prohibitions on on the torture of prisoners, and you can shoot a guy in the face because you confused him with a six-inch bird, but you do not lie on a fishing application. You monster."
Eli Stokols of KDVR Denver: "Democratic lawmakers couldn't believe their ears as they listened to Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, deliver a long soliloquy explaining that more blacks and Hispanics live in poverty, in part, because of fried chicken."
News Ledes
Politico: "Army Pfc. Bradley Manning will have access to psychiatric services while serving a prison sentence for his role in the WikiLeaks case, but the Army will not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery, a spokesman said Thursday."
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Reader Comments (7)
From the Digby piece: "... the people who did that wanton killing will pay no price ...", referring to the Apache pilots who killed civilians in Iraq, 2007, gunsight film and cockpit voice leaked and put on YouTube.
Not condoning the pilots' actions. From my viewing of the film a while ago, my impression was that the gun pilot pushed the limits of the perceived threat, the rules of engagement and controller approval process, and had I been the pilot I don't think I would have engaged (killed.)
But ...
This is what gunship pilots do. They don't have to like it, but they have to be willing to do it, and they get really good at doing it. And at some point, in a war, everyone in the field who is "not you" who is carrying a tube-like object of certain dimensions, looks like someone who can kill you or the grunts you are covering. And once you decide they are a threat, you do what those guns did. And there is no such thing as "shooting to scare off." This is one of the many reasons why combat really sucks -- combatants are not just licensed, but encouraged, to kill. It is what combat IS. And unfortunately the personal price for holding fire can be much worse than caging the trigger.
Just? No. Legal? Yes. Really, combat sucks in so many ways.
@Patrick. Thanks for your post. Here's Mark Thompson of Time writing about the video (with a link to the video) shortly after WikiLeaks released it. Like you, Thompson says the video doesn't tell the whole story.
Marie
Cat's out of the bag, now. Manning was part of the Gay Agenda.
@Patrick: I agree. Combat sucks. When you're a kid, the movie version looks so romantic. Nobody really gets hurt. deaths are dignified with tasteful wounds. In the real thing, people do get hurt and killed in extremely messy ways.
@CW; The problem with reviving the middle class, which has been waning since the 80's, is that productivity has decreased the amount of available manufacturing work, which was a large part of the backbone of the middle class, and extraction industries, another vertebrum, is static or declining, while the number of adults on the planet continues to increase. Health care has been growing, but it's already leveling off and should decline. At some point we are going to have to come to grips with what we are going to have all these excess people do. The easy button would be public works, which the Dutch and Scandinavians have used with some success. But that would take a sea change in our political ocean. I haven't heard a single beltway swell, and precious few pundits, take on this issue.
@James Singer; Chelsea Manning isn't gay. He is a woman trapped
in a man's body. He wants to become a woman and probably wants
to date men (straight, no doubt). There is an ocean of difference
between being gay and being transexual. FYI.
Forrest. Thanks, but I know that. I doubt the howler monkeys who yammer about the gay agenda do, however.