The Commentariat -- July 5, 2013
The Well-Trained Hacker. Christopher Drew & Scott Shane of the New York Times: Edward "Snowden’s résumé ... provides a new picture of how his skills and responsibilities expanded while he worked as an intelligence contractor. Although federal officials offered only a vague description of him as a 'systems administrator,' the résumé suggests that he had transformed himself into the kind of cybersecurity expert the N.S.A. is desperate to recruit, making his decision to release the documents even more embarrassing to the agency.... Mr. Snowden's ability to comb through the networks as a lone wolf -- and walk out the door with the documents on thumb drives -- shows how the agency's internal security system has fallen short, former officials say." ...
... Timothy Heritage & Steve Gutterman of Reuters: Russian "Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia had received no request for political asylum from Snowden and he had to solve his problems himself after 11 days in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.... Moscow also has made clear that Snowden is an increasingly unwelcome guest because the longer he stays, the greater the risk of the diplomatic standoff causing lasting damage to relations with Washington." ...
... Surprise, Surprise. Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "Days after President François Hollande sternly told the United States to stop spying on its allies, Le Monde newspaper disclosed on Thursday that France has its own program of massive data collection, which sweeps up nearly all the data transmissions, including telephone calls, e-mails and social media activity, that come in and out of France." ...
... Juan Karita of the AP: "South America's leftist leaders rallied to support Bolivian President Evo Morales after his plane was rerouted amid suspicions that NSA leaker Edward Snowden was on board and demanded an apology from France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The presidents of Argentina, Ecuador, Suriname, Venezuela and Uruguay joined Morales in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba late Thursday to address the diplomatic row. Morales used the gathering to warn that he would close the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia if necessary." ...
... Kate Connolly, et al., of the Guardian: "Germany and the US will begin talks as soon as Monday, to address mounting European concerns over internet surveillance that are threatening to overshadow trade negotiations and damage Silicon Valley exports." ...
... Julian Pecquet of the Hill: "Revelations of U.S. spying on Chinese universities and businesses risk undermining cybersecurity talks with China scheduled for next week. The Obama administration had hoped to press China on the issue during the fifth round of the U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue. Instead, it finds itself on the defensive amid former contractor Edward Snowden's allegations...." ...
... Gene Robinson of the Washington Post: "I don't believe government officials when they say the National Security Agencys (NSA) surveillance programs do not invade our privacy.... It pains me to sound like some Rand Paul acolyte.... I just wish our government would start treating us like adults -- more important, like participants in a democracy -- and stop lying. We can handle the truth." ...
... Andrew Leonard of Salon: "Shrinking costs. Growing efficiency. That’s the 'frictionless' society, baby! Everybody gets empowered by the Internet. 'We' get easy access to all the world's information and all these neat new services and 'they' get easy access to us. Awkward! ... Maybe Edward Snowden's greatest contribution to society will end up being the way in which his leaks crystallized our previously vague sense that something was awry.... If we know the price, we can start to figure out if what we are gaining is worth what we have lost."
Joan Biskupic of Reuters: "At age 80, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, leader of the Supreme Court's liberal wing, says she is in excellent health, even lifting weights despite having cracked a pair of ribs again, and plans to stay several more years on the bench. In a Reuters interview late on Tuesday, she vowed to resist any pressure to retire that might come from liberals who want to ensure that Democratic President Barack Obama can pick her successor before the November 2016 presidential election. Ginsburg said she had fallen in the bathroom of her home in early May, sustaining the same injury she suffered last year near term's end."
CW: last week I complained about Tim Egan's laundry list of mostly petty complaints about President Obama. But this critique by Walter Bello, excerpted in Salon, is substantive & well-reasoned. The title of the piece is "Obama Should Have Listened to Paul Krugman"; however, Bello doesn't limit himself to Obama's policy mistakes, but goes into his fundamental political failures. Or, as I might put it, Americans -- including many Republicans -- voted for a liberal, & what we got instead was a cautious, mealy-mouthed conservative.
Tim Egan: young men are dying to save people's property -- homes they built in high-fire areas.
The Fake IRS Scandal, Ctd. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Two months of investigation by Congress and the I.R.S. has produced new documents that have clouded much of the controversy's narrative. In the more complicated picture now emerging, many organizations other than conservative groups were singled out: 'progressive' organizations, medical marijuana purveyors, organizations formed to carry out President Obama's health care law, and open source software developers who create software tools for computer code writers and distribute them free of charge." ...
... Jamelle Bouie in the Washington Post: "Today's story from the New York Times on IRS 'filtering' should be the final word on whether this was political targeting or a more mundane instance of mistakes and misjudgments from overworked bureaucrats.... Despite widespread evidence this wasn't politically motivated -- as well as signs it may have been justified -- Republicans have continued to hold the controversy up as an example of government overreach and 'Nixonian' behavior from the Obama White House (which, as of this writing, has not been implicated in the scandal).... We should expect Republicans to run hard on the IRS controversy in elections across the country, even as proof accumulates that this 'scandal' isn't very political at all."
Alex Pareene of Salon: "Basically the 'border surge' [provision of the Senate immigration bill] is a very expensive new expansion of a massive government program only it's the sort that conservatives like because it involves detaining people instead of giving them healthcare or something."
Annie Lowrey of the New York Times has a long piece on a "deficit owl" named Warren Mosler. Even though Mosler is really rich, "his prescriptions for economic policy make him sound like a warrior for the 99 percent. When the recession hit, Mr. Mosler said, the government should have spent and spent until unemployment came down to a comfortable level. Forget saving the banks through the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Washington should have eliminated the payroll tax, given every state $500 per resident and offered a basic job to anyone who wanted one." CW: weirdly, Lowrey does not address a matter she mentions in her second sentence: "Mr. Mosler lives [in the U.S. Virgin Islands] for tax reasons." Apparently Mosler's zeal for radically liberal tax policy does not extend to actually paying U.S. taxes himself. Virgin Island residents pay taxes to the V.I., not to the federal government, & there are lotsa loopholes -- no doubt those tax reasons for Mr. Mosler's V.I. residency.
CW: I wish I believed this. Paul Krugman: "... we are still, in a deep sense, the nation that declared independence and, more important, declared that all men have rights."
... Josh Levs of CNN: "Lady Liberty reopened her doors to the huddled masses Thursday, a sign of recovery from Superstorm Sandy's devastation. The Statue of Liberty's reopening was a big bright spot for an Independence Day dampened by soaking rains in much of the country and limited by the across-the-board federal budget cuts known as the sequester, which left numerous military bases without annual fireworks displays." ...
Independence Day???
A sign in a Lakewood, Ohio, public park. Via Business Insider.
Contributor MAG has sent along the revised, updated, federally-approved & finalized official Lakewood Parks July 4 sign:
News Ledes
The Orlando Sentinel summarizes the day's testimony & other events in the George Zimmerman trial.
New York Times: Egyptian "security officials said at least 30 people were killed and hundreds wounded in political violence nationwide, with half the deaths in Alexandria, Egypt's second-largest city. The Muslim Brotherhood, which organized the protests, said at least 17 of its supporters were killed. Witnesses said they saw at least five pro-Morsi demonstrators killed and many more wounded in gunfire outside the Republican Guard compound in Cairo where Mr. Morsi was believed to be detained...." ...
... New York Times: "The top human rights official at the United Nations, Navi Pillay, expressed concern on Friday at the reported detention of Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Egypt and called on military authorities there to make clear the basis on which they are being held or release them." ...
... Washington Post: Muslim "Brotherhood-allied leaders [in Egypt] responded by calling for a 'day of resistance' on Friday, with nationwide protests planned after the traditional midday prayers. Although organizers called on supporters to remain peaceful, such rallies in the past have led to deadly clashes, and residents of Cairo and other areas braced for more chaos. Egypt's new president, a virtual unknown named Adly Mansour, vowed to include all sections of society, including Islamists, in an interim coalition government shortly after he was sworn in Thursday. But even as he spoke, an arrest warrant was issued for Mohammed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood's 'supreme guide.'" ...
... Al Jazeera: "Thousands of supporters of Mohamed Morsi have gathered in Nasr City in the Egyptian capital to protest against his ouster as the country's president in a military coup. The crowds are expected to swell further after Friday afternoon prayers in response to the call by a coalition of Islamist groups led by the Muslim Brotherhood for demonstrations against the coup. The coalition on Thursday urged people to take part in a 'Friday of Rejection' protest following weekly prayers. The call is being seen as a test of whether Morsi still has a support base in the country, and how the army will deal with it." ...
... Al Jazeera has a rundown of international reactions to Morsi's outster.
AP: "Another solid month of hiring in June could signal the start of a stronger second half of the year for the U.S. economy. Economists predict that the government will report Friday that employers added 165,000 jobs last month, roughly in line with May's increase. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at a still-high 7.6 percent." ...
... New York Times Update: "The economy added 195,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department reported Friday morning, slightly more than analysts had been expecting and suggesting steady growth.... The unemployment rate, which is based on a separate survey from the one that tracks jobs, remained at 7.6 percent, unchanged from May." The writer, Nelson Schwartz, suggests how the report might influence Fed action.
AP: "Residents of a small mountain community northwest of Las Vegas were ordered to evacuate Thursday as firefighters continued to battle searing heat and rugged terrain while fighting a large blaze.The mandatory evacuation of Trout Canyon, a small community of about 21 homes, was issued late in the afternoon as a precaution...."
AP: "Pope Francis has cleared John Paul II for sainthood, approving a miracle attributed to his intercession. Francis also decided Friday to canonize another pope, John XXIII, even though there has been no second miracle attributed to his intercession. The Vatican said Francis approved a decision by cardinals and bishops."
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Surprised the Lakewood park sign omitted the times for the Bible readings.
"3. Police will be conducting searches of bags and coolers for reasons of public safety." Women of child bearing age may also be subjected to vaginal probes for reasons that originated with a bunch of perverted old white guys.
A kindly TP fellow handed me a copy of the Declaration of Independence last night at the Albany NY celebration. He wanted me to have it because: "It won't get read from the podium, it's not 'politically correct.' This is what our country was founded on but (leaning in towards me, slightly hushed) it's not the government we have now!" I happily took the handout and wished him a good day.
I was tempted to engage but not prepared. He seemed to be itching for an opportunity let rip in any number of directions and I really wasn't interested in spoiling a nice evening throwing reason against a brick wall. Not politically correct? For what it's worth, the dead tree edition of the NYT yesterday printed the text and a facsimile of the Declaration on the full back page of section 1.
On Egan, sent to the Times last night but I see not yet posted this AM; an edited version. The one I typed in my lap last night last night, I'm embarrassed to say, needed it.
"Lots of issues here, many revolving around the uneasy partnership between freedom and responsibility.
Should we be free to build homes wherever we wish? If we choose to live in high-risk areas (I think first of Harry Truman--not the President--who refused to leave his home on the Spirit Lake that disappeared along with him when Mt. St. Helens erupted, but what of the millions who choose to live on flood plains or along hurricane-prone coasts?), who's responsible for the predictable damage to our homes when it does occur? (questions not so relevant, I would add this morning, for the hordes who have no choice at all about where they live....for whom the option never exists...the absence of choice raises other questions.)
We often use "pushing the envelope" as some kind of compliment. We say it when we mean that man's creative, or that woman shows admirable courage or when, to shift paper metaphors, their actions are somehow laudably "outside the box."
What might be admirable in one circumstance, however, is just dumb in another. As our population and energy use both increase in tandem, we push more and more environmental envelopes, envelopes such as the fire zones Mr. Egan refers to, which are not infinitely elastic and do not always forgive. Environmental envelopes, in fact, often push back.
Yes, there are philosophic and moral questions here which we need to answer. How much is one life worth? Is it worth far more than a home? Or maybe less? Where and for whom?
But the bigger question is how many times will we have to answer that same query before we acknowledge that the way we live is bound to bring us face to face with that same awful interrogative over and over again."
More than 160 years ago Frederick Douglas asked those gathered at an anti-slavery society "What, to the the American slave, is your fourth of July?"
Douglass answered his question about the Fourth of July, to those gathered abolitionists: “To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.”
But at the end of his long speech he said this:
"Notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country."
And today Krugman gives us, too, that glimmer of optimism. We have to ask ourselves, if given the choice, in what other country would we rather live. If the answer is here the question then is what are we doing to make it better. Do Douglas' words still ring true? Are we being naive by believing in betterment? Sometimes it seems our progress turns itself around (think women's rights, voting rights) yet gay rights, a new right to be reckoned with was just a whisper a decade ago, and that, too, will have set backs–-BUT we see people energized in places like Texas demanding a place at the table fighting to be heard and taken seriously. So––I do not despair, I get angry and when I stop being angry, I will have given up.
I see John Paul II is to become a saint. Since when did achieving sainthood become something like winning an Academy Award or being named to the Hall of Fame?
I seem to recall that a candidate for sainthood had to have had at least three miracles attributed to his or her intercession. And I don't think card tricks or making church assets disappear from the legal reach of children raped by priests count.
Hey-gee-ography here we come.
(He might even come to be as important as someone like Saint Pickip the Czech, patron saint of dining out.)
Not being familiar with Walden Bello I had to look him up.He is a member of the Philippine House of Representatives from the Akbayan (I gather this is a liberal party) Partylist. His bona fides are extensive and impressive––currently he sits on the board of directors of the International Forum on Globalization. The piece Salon featured from his book that Marie posted is thought provoking and well researched–––compared with Egan's article it soars above. I think he's right about everything, but I think he's mistaken about health care. Yes, politically it was a mistake to take it on when Obama did, but it was the RIGHT and MORAL thing to do. The fact that it is flawed and will need to be tweaked and fixed as time goes on, it is HERE, and that means care for millions that otherwise would not have been able to be covered. And although he does acknowledge the opposition Obama got from the very beginning I didn't think he emphasized that fact enough since as we know that has been a large factor in preventing so much getting done. And the old business of Obama not being the progressive progressives thought he was––seems to me it was pretty clear early on that Obama was a middle of the road social democrat who plays a mean game of basketball, can catch flies with one hand, and has a dynamite smile AND for my money he's done a decent job––and I feel so much better saying that when I think of the alternatives.
One of the glaring omissions in the Bello analysis is no mention of the not so subtle racism of Republicans who early on decided to block their ears, like spoiled children, and would never allow votes on the very policies that were being recommended by Krugman, and other progressive economist. One point, for example, is their opposition to a health care plan that originated with the Republicans and actually passed by one, Romney, in Massachusetts. Look me in the eye and tell me that McConnell, Ryan, Cantor, were honest negotiators on this, and a whole host of issues and policies, that would have been best for the country. And it is just too facile to say that Obama "lacked leadership in not rousing his base of support to overcome the opposition." Maybe, but if that were true and the base was demoralized, then, I think Obama could not have won a second term.
@Dan. Obama was reelected because the Repugs ran a fool against him, not because he was either liked or respected. His essential problem was, is, and forever will be Rahm Emanuelism--the idiotic notion of centrism.
@Dan, with whom I would mildly differ:
No, Obama has not managed to accomplish many of the things I as a progressive edging toward socialist would have liked. But, that is BUT, how he could have achieved single payer health care, a vigorous reining in of Wall Streets and the banks that finance it, an immediate cessation of our wars while simultaneously pruning our outsized military by at least half, all while he revived the National Labor Relations Board, resuscitated unions and made three more SCOTUS appointments, I do not know. I just don't see a path to that kind of success in the nation as it is.
As I mentioned in an earlier post in another connection, the environment does matter. Many of our voting citizens have swallowed the Reagan Kool-Aid whole and while today the taste is not so sweet as it once was, it remains the preferred quaff of hundreds of thousands of former Democrats, particularly those in some industries whose unions made them fat enough to join the "I got mine" generation. A remarkable number of union workers have voted R for the last forty years. In addition, we have the solid South; it's still solid, but since Nixon, solid on the R side. There is that thing called racism to factor in.
Furthermore, as the leader of a party that was for a generation or two successfully labeled first, as "soft on Communism" and second, the party that can't possibly keep us safe from the Muslims hiding in the cellar, Obama is naturally constrained from letting peace break out too suddenly.
Then there is the absolute intransigence of the GOP, whose sole interest is in tearing down the castle if they cannot occupy its keep, with a record-busting number of filibusters as their siege weapon of choice. And losing another Presidential election, one notes, has not deterred them a whit, because redistricting has made them safe in their manor houses. They're not in the castle, but they're sitting pretty good.
I will spare you more, but as much as I, too, bridle at the "centrist" approach, which is now far more "right" than it was forty years back, most obviously when it comes to exerting some control over the corporate over-reach which I believe to be our clear and present danger, I do not see any other way for a Democratic President to govern and be re-elected.
As I said, I don't like it either, BUT....
@James: But let's not forget it was Rahm who begged him not to go the health care route. I still look at this achievement, as messy and contentious as it was and is, as a monumental accomplishment. And I, and I think many others, voted for Obama because we liked and respected him and even if the Republicans had run someone not a fool, I still would have voted for Obama; I'm a Democrat, not a Republican.
One more thing and I'll shut up. Since we are critiquing Obama I am getting fed up with many of "those that speak on political shows and are in the know" that say Obama––and it's always Obama, not Kerry or anyone else––should be intervening more in Syria, China, Africa, Israel, Egypt, Turkey ... as though the US is the big papa of the world and no one else can do anything to alleviate the bad stuff that is happening in all those countries. Our large footprint once again? WTF? As though somehow this country is free of ills and problems and we can spend our largesse on the rest of the world. I am puzzled by this stance. Anyone else?