The Commentariat -- March 12, 2014
Internal links removed.
Mark Mazzetti & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "A festering conflict between the Central Intelligence Agency and its congressional overseers broke into the open Tuesday when Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the intelligence committee and one of the C.I.A.'s staunchest defenders, delivered an extraordinary denunciation of the agency, accusing it of withholding information about its treatment of prisoners and trying to intimidate committee staff members investigating the detention program." ...
... Via Roll Call, here's the full transcript of Feinstein's speech. ...
... ** New York Times Editors: Sen. "Dianne Feinstein has provided stark and convincing evidence that the C.I.A. may have committed crimes to prevent the exposure of interrogations that she said were 'far different and far more harsh' than anything the agency had described to Congress.... The lingering fog about the C.I.A. detentions is a result of Mr. Obama's decision when he took office to conduct no investigation of them. We can only hope he knows that when he has lost Dianne Feinstein, he has no choice but to act in favor of disclosure and accountability." ...
... Eli Lake of the Daily Beast: "The normally cool and calm director of the CIA, John Brennan, may have flinched Tuesday. After a scathing speech from Sen. Dianne Feinstein..., Brennan largely defended the CIA from charges that it illegally spied on Senate staffers.... But the CIA chief also left open the prospect that he may have been wrong. 'If I did something wrong,' Brennan said. 'I will go to the president and I will explain to him what I did and what the findings were. And he is the one who can ask me to stay or to go.'" CW: Sounds as if he's typed his resignation letter & is prepared to, well, fall on it. Which could lead to a paper cut, not a pre-existing condition that would preclude his getting a lucrative private-sector job. ...
... Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "... Edward Snowden accused the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee of double standards on Tuesday, pointing out that her outrage at evidence her staff were spied on by the CIA was not matched by concern about widespread surveillance of ordinary citizens." ...
If it is correct that the CIA breached the security of Senate computers, that is a very serious allegation. I would note, it is consistent with a pattern of the Obama administration, of disregarding the constitutional liberties of the citizenry and disrespecting the constitutional role of the United States Congress. And I would say that protecting the institutional authority of the U.S. Congress is not helped, when during the State of the Union, President Obama says, 'If Congress won't act, I will,' and virtually every Democrat in Congress stands and cheers. -- Sen. Ted Cruz (RTP-Texas)., forgetting to specifically mention Benghaaazi! ...
... David Corn of Mother Jones: "What Feinstein didn't say -- but it's surely implied -- is that without effective monitoring, secret government cannot be justified in a democracy. This is indeed a defining moment. It's a big deal for President Barack Obama, who, as is often noted in these situations, once upon a time taught constitutional law. Feinstein has ripped open a scab to reveal a deep wound that has been festering for decades. The president needs to respond in a way that demonstrates he is serious about making the system work and restoring faith in the oversight of the intelligence establishment. This is more than a spies-versus-pols DC turf battle. It is a constitutional crisis." ...
... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "There were crimes, after September 11th, that took place in hidden rooms with video cameras running. And then there were coverups, a whole series of them, escalating from the destruction of the videotapes to the deleting of documents to what Feinstein now calls 'a defining moment' in the constitutional balance between the legislature and the executive branch, and between privacy and surveillance. Senator Patrick Leahy said afterward that he could not remember a speech he considered so important." ...
... Dana Milbank: "President Obama's foes have been trying for years to uncover scandal in his administration. But the most damning allegation of wrongdoing was leveled on the Senate floor Tuesday morning -- by ... Dianne Feinstein.... The White House needs to cough up documents it is withholding from the public, and it should remove the CIA officials involved and subject them to an independent prosecutor's investigation. ...
... Maureen Dowd: "Barack Obama, the former Constitutional law teacher who became president vowing to clean up the excesses and Constitutional corrosion of W. and Cheney, will now have to clean up the excesses and Constitutional corrosion in his own administration. And he'd better get out from between two ferns and get in between the warring Congressional Democrats and administration officials -- all opening criminal investigations of each other -- because it looks as if the C.I.A. is continuing to run amok to cover up what happened in the years W. and Vice encouraged it to run amok. Langley needs a come-to-Jesus moment -- pronto." ...
... CW BTW: If you didn't watch Zack Galifianakis's "Between the Ferns" "interview" of President Obama yesterday, you missed something. President Obama is an excellent comedian. Although I had no trouble playing it early in the day yesterday, I did notice that there were loading problems both with my embed & at the Funny or Die site, as there are now (late Tuesday). An unintentional tribute to Healthcare.gov, I guess. (I had better luck in Chrome than in Firefox.) ...
Abe Lincoln would never have appeared on 'Funny or Die.' -- Bill O'Reilly
[Lincoln was] 'the first authentic humorist to occupy the Executive Office in Washington, his gift of laughter and his flair for the funny being taken as a national belonging. -- Carl Sandburg (via Steve M.)
Personally, I believe that Zack Galifianakis is a Russian agent. You would, too, if you followed O'Reilly's logic. Also, As Steve M. points out, O'Reilly -- the supposed co-author of a book about Lincoln -- seems to know nothing about Lincoln. But, hey -- Bill O'Reilly, Carl Sandburg -- who ya gonna believe? -- Constant Weader
** David Firestone, of the New York Times, responding to commenters' claims that unions "far outspend" the Koch brothers' political contributions: "... unions poured about $400 million into the 2012 elections. That almost matched the $407 million raised and spent by the Koch network in that same election cycle. Two brothers, aided by a small and shadowy group of similarly wealthy donors, spent more than millions of union members.... For the most part, unions, unlike the Koch network, don't try to disguise their contributions in a maze of interlocking 'social welfare' groups.... There's a world of difference between a small group of tycoons writing huge checks, and a huge group of workers writing small ones." P.S. Many Times commenters are ignorant, as is Kim Stassel of the Wall Street Journal.
Eduardo Porter of the New York Times: "In his bracing 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century,' which hit bookstores on Monday, Professor [Thomas] Piketty provides a fresh and sweeping analysis of the world's economic history.... The economic forces concentrating more and more wealth into the hands of the fortunate few are almost sure to prevail for a very long time. It is possible to slow, or even reverse, the trend, if political leaders like President Obama, who proposed that income inequality was the 'defining challenge of our time,' really push." Porter has a Q&A with Piketty here.
Michael Shear & Steven Greenblatt of the New York Times: "President Obama this week will seek to force American businesses to pay more overtime to millions of workers, the latest move by his administration to confront corporations that have had soaring profits even as wages have stagnated. On Thursday, the president will direct the Labor Department to revamp its regulations to require overtime pay for several million additional fast-food managers, loan officers, computer technicians and others whom many businesses currently classify as 'executive or professional' employees to avoid paying them overtime...."
Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Almost a million people signed up last month for private health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, federal officials said Tuesday, bringing the total to date to 4.2 million but leaving the Obama administration well short of its original goal, with less than a month to go before the end of the open enrollment period."
The '60s Are Back. Emily Bazelon of Slate: "What the religious right really thinks of birth control: ... Protected sex demeans women by making men disrespect them.... By separating sex from childbearing, birth control is to blame for the erosion of marriage, for the economic difficulties of single motherhood, and even for the rotten behavior of men who beat their girlfriends and wives. Birth control is the original sin of modernity. Its widespread availability changed everything, for the worse." The right of women to have protected sexual relations is what the Supreme Court will decide in two cases coming before it this year.
Charlie Savage of the New York Times & Laura Poitras: Documents leaked by Edward Snowden "add new details to the emerging public understanding of a secret body of law that the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance C]ourt has developed since 2001. The files help explain how the court evolved from its original task -- approving wiretap requests -- to engaging in complex analysis of the law to justify activities like the bulk collection of data about Americans' emails and phone calls."
Nicholas Watt of the Guardian: "The European Union is on course to impose travel bans and to freeze the assets of Russian officials and military officers involved in the occupation of Crimea by next Monday if Moscow declines to accept the formation of a 'contact group' to establish a dialogue with Ukraine."
Where in the World Is Russ Feingold? Stuart Reid has the answer in a long Politico Magazine piece.
Congressional Race
Alex Cleary, et al., of the Tampa Bay Times: "Republican David Jolly on Tuesday night won the closely-watched, extremely expensive and relentlessly negative battle for Florida's 13th Congressional District, signaling trouble for Democrats as they head into the midterm elections and face the weight of Obamacare.... Jolly's victory over Democrat Alex Sink was secured about 7:30 p.m., and he will fill the seat that had been occupied more than four decades by his former boss, Rep. C.W. Bill Young, whose death in October set off the special election."
Josh Kraushaar of the National Journal: "Tuesday night's special election in Florida should be a serious scare for Democrats who worry that Obamacare will be a major burden for their party in 2014. Despite recruiting favored candidate Alex Sink, outspending Republicans, and utilizing turnout tools to help motivate reliable voters, Democrats still lost to Republican lobbyist David Jolly -- and it wasn't particularly close."
Greg Sargent: "... there are too many variables in play to say whether this means Dems will be in serious trouble in states like Michigan and Colorado many months from now. Maybe they will be, but we just don;t know yet." ...
** Charles Pierce: "If you want to take any lesson from the election in Florida, take this one. Defend the [Affordable Care Act]. Defend it on the basis of the fact that millions of people no longer face economic ruin because a member of their family might get sick. Defend the law on the basis of economic populism; marry your support for the law to an increase in the minimum wage, Elizabeth Warren's student-loan reform, and expanded unemployment benefits. (Tie it to this excellent idea that the president announced today.) Explain, in detail, why expanding Social Security makes sense in a stalled economy. Defend the law on the basis of the fact that the Republicans have absolutely nothing to offer on the issue...."
David Nir of Daily Kos: "Daily Kos Elections is moving this [November's] race [for Florida's 13th] from Tossup to Lean Republican, though we anticipate it will become less competitive and not more so in the future."
Beyond the Beltway Disgusting
Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "... New Hampshire Republican ... State Rep. Kyle Tasker (R-Nottingham) posted an image Monday on his public Facebook page that showed two figures engaged in oral sex with the caption, '50,000 battered women and I still eat [mine] plain.'" ...
... William Tucker of Miscellany.blue posts the original Facebook entry. ...
... CW: New Hampshire legislators receive a salary of $100/year. Tasker is overpaid. His colleagues should impeach him.
News Ledes
New York Times: "After four days of reticence and evasive answers, the Malaysian military acknowledged on Wednesday that it had recorded, but initially ignored, radar signalsthat could have prompted a mission to intercept and track a missing jetliner -- data that vastly expands the area where the plane might have traveled. Radar signals from the location where the missing aircraft, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, was last contacted by ground controllers suggested that the plane may have turned away from its northeastward.... Military radar then detected an unidentified aircraft at several points, apparently headed west across the Malay Peninsula and out into the Indian Ocean, the head of the country's air force told reporters. The last detected location was hundreds of miles to the west of where search and rescue efforts were initially focused."
New York Times: "The nutritional supplement company Herbalife said on Wednesday that it had received a civil investigative demandfrom the Federal Trade Commission. The company has been the focus of a 15-month crusade by the hedge fund billionaire William A. Ackman, who has accused the company of being a pyramid scheme and has wagered $1 billion on its collapse."
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Reader Comments (10)
Based on news reporting it appears that Senator Feinstein has created another witch-hunt prospect for Rep. Issa $ Co. Senator Cruz is already on it, stirring the pot. Here is what seems to have happened:
-- the Senate intelligence committee (Sen. Feinstein's) started its investigation of CIA torture practices, 5 years ago
-- Congress does not have access to executive branch classified information systems, so CIA agreed to make available a special system, in a CIA-controlled location, for the senators and staff to research pertinent material. CIA, not Senate, system administrators and systems security personnel "own" and run that system.
-- CIA put documents into that system based on requests made by the Senate investigators; some (many) of those documents are Sensitive Comparted Information with very strict handling restrictions, and which contain information about sources and methods
-- CIA "briefed-in" individual investigators to provide them clearance to access the system. The brief would include prohibitions on copying, retaining and disseminating SCI materials.
-- One or some investigators found some material that they wanted to ensure was not subsequently "disappeared" by the CIA from its system, copied the material and removed it.
-- Such action is a security violation. The CIA Systems Security folks would have had to identify who violated security, and would have run on-system checks to determine who that was and the extent of the violation. That implies CIA SS would check the user logs (all the Senate investigators who accessed the system.) The CIA Systems Security people would be remiss NOT to do that.
-- When CIA started to cite Senate investigators for violations (which have severe consequences for government employees), the Senate investigators characterized the systems checks as CIA hacking into their work, even though IT IS A CIA SYSTEM.
-- Senator Feinstein seems to be claiming that the CIA system is actually a legislative branch internal document system, in order to protect her investigators from being hauled up for security violations in an executive branch classified system.
GOP members will make a lot of hay out of this.
Follow-up to my earlier post: the probable cause of Senator Feinstein's accusation may be that CIA systems security people checked Word documents on that system that were written by Senate investigators and filed on that system, looking for controlled information that investigators might have cut and pasted into their (Senate-created) notes and reports. The Senate investigators would (wrongly) think those were "Legislative Branch" docs. But anything on such an Executive Branch classified system "belongs" to the system administrators (CIA). And investigators are not allowed to cut and paste controlled docs.
"Between Two Ferns," which I thought very funny and clever in trying to reach all those young uninsured that are sitting on the fence. But over in the henhouse where the squawk is heard round the barnyard, some of the foxes are OUTRAGED that Obama would stoop so low as to degrade the office of the Presidency by putting on "that little stunt." He should be spending his time tending to business like getting Putin to change his mind about Crimea. See, the trouble is he is WEAK––the rest of the world does not respect him––didn't even know how to spell that, what does THAT tell you? He plays too much golf, and his appearance on all those talk shows is demeaning. One sane voice cut in and reminded the foxes that as far back as talk shows go all presidents made appearances.( Richard Nixon even played the piano after his seven minute monologue on the Jack Parr Show. ) Now that we read Obama has lost Feinstein, the poor man will be fresh fodder for the foxes that lay in wait for the kill.
@Patrick. Presuming you're right about the "cut & paste" jobs, the question remains as to why the CIA would be perusing -- apparently without the permission of the Senate committee -- the work product of Senate staffers. I might steal your stuff, but unless I publish it or otherwise expose my crime, you need to subpoena my files to prove I've been rifling through yours.
BTW, I find Ed Snowden's criticism of Feinstein to be remarkably lamebrained. He's comparing storing my files to snooping on Senate investigators. The fact that he can't tell the difference sheds further light on why he just stole files en masse & has released them to journalists around the world. He's a naive young man whose intellectual limitations necessarily render his personal "ethical code" worthless.
Marie
Marie: Because Systems Security folks are not the most politically sophisticated people on the payroll. They think ANY doc on their system is theirs to review. And Senate staffers are usually pretty sloppy about the details, and probably did not get a prior "hands off" agreement from CIA. Just my guess.
" Birth control is the original sin of modernity. Its widespread availability changed everything, for the worse."
Such hogwash! Birth control finally gave women the power and control of their own bodies thereby giving them the freedom of choice, allowing them to remove the heavy cudgel of male dominance. But I can understand how some would find this outcome pretty darn scary given their puny mindset. We are seeing all this playing out in the closing of all those women's health clinics.I, personally, would like to blame God. If God hadn't had his only begotten (I never knew what begotten actually meant) son born of a VIRGIN, we wouldn't be in such a mess, sex wise. And why the heck did HE need to do this anyway? If HE was able to create everything and anything couldn't he have just created this son? But no, HE had to go ahead and do the virgin business which screwed up the works for women and confused the poor men who still have trouble with it. Modernity? I wish! Will we ever grow up?
A little off topic, but I was tasked by a friend with coming up with a Putin joke, which is a bit tricky given the ongoing situation since, if John McCain and other wingnuts have their way, WWIII will kick off any day. But since it's done, I'm in a sharing mood.
Obama complains about Putin's aggression in the Ukraine and wants to know where it will all end. Putin says "Crimea river".
Ba-dum-dum.
PD,
Will we ever grow up regarding sexuality, birth control, women's--scratch that--human rights, or choice?
Not any time soon. Especially when we have people talking about "legitimate" rape, aspirins between the legs, and making sport of abused women (like that New Hampshire Republican rep). I'd say these guys are Troglodytes, but that may be insulting to prehistoric cave dwellers who were probably more advanced than your average conservative schmuck.
(Hint to Marie....don't move to New Hampshire. You might be trading one set of idiot pols for another.)
And speaking of idiot pols...the victory of David Jolly in Florida, replacing the deceased Bill Young, is being touted by the right as proof positive that the GOP will regain the House and the Senate. They leave out the fact that it is Florida, after all, a ridiculously red state where the ACA has been painted as nothing short of the Black Death. But never fear, Floridians, the new guy, a former hack for the old guy, has said that he will continue on in Bill Young's footsteps. Bill Young, you may recall was the guy who, when bearded by a constituent asking whether or not he'd support a hike in the minimum wage, blew the guy off and told him to "get a job".
The guy already had one, but thanks for that advice anyway.
The GOP, repository of ignorance, 18th century bromides, and equally antique views of the world, women, technology, and human rights. They march on, ever backwards. Maybe they'll encounter the Big Bang on their lurch into the past.
Seems American conservatives are not the only ones who call those they consider an enemy "Nazis".
The right's latest heartthrob, Mad Vlad Putin, has been decorating Crimean billboards with Russian propaganda that equates anything not Russian (ie, any connection to the west, to Ukraine, to the EU) with Nazis. Billboards (see link) show two Crimean maps side by side. On one side, the map is covered with the glorious colors of the Russian flag. On the other, barbed wire and a swastika.
Subtle, in'it?
Putin, by the way, is not allowing any advertising for the other side. No wonder conservatives love him.
Putin:Freedom; Ukraine:Fascism
Kentucky's Att. General. Jack Conway, is another person we should raise our glasses to––so few we can do:
http://www.upworthy.com/attorney-general-refuses-to-defend-gay-marriage-ban-breaks-down-crying-humanity-cheers-3?c=hpstream