Yes, I will admit it. Even I have been somewhat guilty of spending an inordinate amount of time talking about whistleblower Edward Snowden himself, rather than the repercussions of the things he has leaked to the media. Is there no hope for any of us? Is corporate media that adept at controlling the conversation and changing the subject? Or are we as Americans just too willing to stick our heads in the sand when we hear something we don’t like or don’t understand?
The Washington Post has published an opinion piece by Daniel Ellsberg. Like Snowden, Ellsberg was charged under the Espionage Act because he released the famous “Pentagon Papers” to the press in 1971. The Pentagon Papers were top-secret documents that exposed that successive presidents had lied about the Vietnam War.
You really should read it, but here are two short quotes:
Snowden believes that he has done nothing wrong. I agree wholeheartedly. More than 40 years after my unauthorized disclosure of the Pentagon Papers, such leaks remain the lifeblood of a free press and our republic. One lesson of the Pentagon Papers and Snowden’s leaks is simple: secrecy corrupts, just as power corrupts.
I hope that he finds a haven, as safe as possible from kidnapping or assassination by U.S. Special Operations forces, preferably where he can speak freely.
What he has given us is our best chance — if we respond to his information and his challenge — to rescue ourselves from out-of-control surveillance that shifts all practical power to the executive branch and its intelligence agencies: a United Stasi of America.
“It is a great day, of course, for supporters of gay marriage. Congratulations to same-sex couples. You can now be as miserable as everybody else.” – Craig Ferguson
“Yesterday, the Supreme Court opened the door for same-sex marriage to resume in California. Apparently, the judges were really swayed by that Liberace movie.” – Jay Leno
“If you really don’t want gay people to get married, you shouldn’t ban gay marriage. You should ban gay divorce.” – Craig Ferguson
“Now that the Supreme Court has overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, this ruling means California gay guys can finally marry someone other than Liza Minnelli.” – Jay Leno
“It’s gay pride week here in New York City. Here’s how you can tell. The construction workers are hooting at EACH OTHER.” – David Letterman
“It’s been a bit of a week for the Supreme Court. Yesterday they ruled that it’s okay for gay people to get married. Today, they ruled it’s okay for straight people to rollerblade.” – Craig Ferguson
“And then of course they have the big gay pride parade. I’m going as Cindi Lauper. The gay pride parade starts on West 12th Street and ends in Sarah Jessica Parker’s walk-in shoe closet.” – David Letterman
“President Obama is currently on a week-long trip to Africa, where he will promote freedom, democracy, and economic opportunity. I guess he figured it hasn’t worked here – so try it somewhere else.” – Jay Leno
“The Girl Scouts announced that their pension plan has a $347 million deficit. The Girl Scouts are $347 million in debt so in addition to teaching girls about camping it also is preparing them for careers in government.” – Jay Leno
Here’s an interesting twist to the Edward Snowden saga: “Have We All Been Fooled By Edward Snowden?”
Some people have been looking into postings done by Snowden on various internet chat rooms and forums, such as Ars Technica. For example, in 2009, Snowden ripped into leakers and whistleblowers, saying they “should be shot in the balls”, and attacked the NY Times for printing the leaked information. During the Bush administration, he defended the warrantless wiretapping program.
But once Obama was elected, his tune changed and he started complaining about the president with increasing frequency. He was particularly upset at gun restrictions, social security, cuts in defense spending, and Obama’s appointment of Leon Panetta to head the CIA, saying “Obama just appointed a fucking POLITICIAN to run the CIA! … I am so angry now. This is completely unbelievable.”
People who remember Snowden back from his days posting on Ars Technica are not so kind about him. One said “He was kind of a dick”. Another says “He was a total cockmonger”.
The question is, did Snowden somehow change his mind, his beliefs, and his life, and become a whistleblower. Or is there something more nefarious going on? And by “nefarious”, I could go either way. Like, are we seeing a smear campaign against Snowden in order to discredit him? Or alternatively, is Snowden part of an attempt to smear Obama?
“The Supreme Court has overturned the Defense of Marriage Act. How about that? We don’t need a Defense of Marriage Act. What we need in this country is a marriage cap. You’re allowed three, and after that, you’re done.” – Jay Leno
“The Supreme Court has ruled the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. Once someone explains this to me I’m sure I’ll be thrilled about it. Listen to what happened. Earlier today, Rush Limbaugh’s head exploded.” – David Letterman
“If DOMA is unconstitutional that means the Constitution is gay. Of course, no real shocker. It was written by a bunch of dudes in wigs in the City of Brotherly Love, and it calls for a legislature that’s bicameral. It’s a bit curious. Plus, look at that aged parchment and fancy calligraphy. It looks like a gay wedding invitation.” – Stephen Colbert
“Until this morning, marriage in the united states was defined as a contract between one man, one woman and the producers of The Bachelor.” – Jimmy Kimmel
“Same-sex married couples are now entitled to the same benefits as other married couples. That’s great news for the Lone Ranger and Tonto, Batman and Robin, Abercrombie and Fitch, Ben and Jerry, me and Paul.” – David Letterman
“Bill Clinton hailed the court’s decision today, even though he signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law. But in fairness to Clinton, he didn’t totally understand the law. When he signed the bill, he thought the Defense of Marriage Act was defending marriage as though it was really just an act.” – Jay Leno
“The next issue for the Supreme Court is defense of a Kardashian marriage.” – David Letterman
“In New York, the new front-runner in the New York City mayor’s race is Anthony Weiner. Some analysts say it’s due to name recognition. Actually, I think a few people recognize more than just his name.” – Conan O’Brien
“According to the polls, Anthony Weiner is the favorite to become the next mayor of New York City. How many of you have seen the Weiner poll? Anthony Weiner is out front. Isn’t that what got him into trouble in the first place? It’ll be a long campaign. All the guy has to do is stick it out. I hope the guy doesn’t get cocky. Weiner has a firm lead and his popularity is swelling.” – David Letterman
“The term ‘Big Brother’ is from George Orwell’s book ‘1984’ – where everyone’s watched over by a network of cameras called Big Brother. I’ve never understood why Orwell chose that phrase for somebody watching you all the time. Isn’t that more like ‘Creepy Uncle’?” – Craig Ferguson
I have to admit, I’m not really sure what to think about what is going on in Egypt right now. Some of you may remember that I visited Egypt less than two years ago, just after the revolution but before the elections. But if I learned one thing from talking to people there, it is that what gets reported in the US media about Egypt has very little to do with what’s actually going on there.
A little over a year ago, Egypt was one of the prime movers of the “Arab Spring”. A popular, and relatively blood-less uprising deposed dictator-for-life Hosni Mubarak. As it has done in the past, the military took over, but the popular uprising continued, insisting that the country should become a democracy and hold elections.
And so they did. But a curious thing happened on the way to the ballot box. The political party of the Muslim Brotherhood won, controlling both the parliament and electing president Mohammed Morsi. Now, a year later, after more massive protests, the Army has stepped in and removed Morsi from office.
Now here is where it gets ironic. The same people who insisted that Egypt hold democratic elections are now celebrating that Morsi was removed from office by the military. They claim that once elected, the Muslim brotherhood spent most of their time entrenching themselves and consolidating power, rather than trying to fix the problems Egypt was facing. About the only thing that is clear is that the Egyptian economy got worse after the election, instead of better like everyone expected.
You might think that the US would have been worried by having Islamists in power in Egypt. After all, Egypt is the only Arab nation that has a peace treaty with Israel, one of our closest allies, and the Islamists have threatened to throw that treaty away. But ironically, the Egyptians are mad at the US government for supporting the democratically elected president of Egypt, and are accusing Obama and Secretary of State Clinton of meddling to keep Morsi in power.
It just doesn’t add up. Either everything has gone bizarre in Egypt, or there is something going on that our news media isn’t telling us.
“NSA leaker Edward Snowden somehow managed to get out of the U.S. with all their information. Now where is he? He’s in Russia now, going to be in Ecuador or wherever. He remains at large. Now what are the odds out of 350 million Americans, the only one the government wasn’t watching was him?” – Jay Leno
“No one knows exactly where NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is hiding at the moment. He released a statement that says, ‘No one will find me unless some big-mouth jerk starts blabbing’.” – Conan O’Brien
“The NSA says they have developed a robotic bird that looks and flies like a bird to use for surveillance. So if you see a bird outside your window tweeting with a BlackBerry, it’s spying on you.” – Jay Leno
“In the middle of all these scandals, President Obama got some good news today. The IRS ruled that he can write off the first half of his second term as a total loss.” – Jay Leno
“President Obama gave a big speech on climate change. He believes global warming is getting worse because apparently he’s sweating a lot more during his second term.” – Jay Leno
“In an interview, Pat Buchanan predicted that the inflow of Hispanics from the immigration bill will break the U.S. into two countries with different cultures and different languages. Of course, as a resident of Los Angeles, I can’t imagine what that would be like.” – Jay Leno
UPDATE: An interesting article in The Guardian points out that Snowden is not a spy, despite claims by US authorities.
I would say the religious arguments are more based in fear than in the actual teachings, that they’re based upon stray texts that actually don’t mean what you think they mean, and that Jesus himself only said one thing about marriage, which is that you can’t divorce. And we live in a country were countless people are divorced and that doesn’t seem to threaten the religious liberty of Catholics, and it’s as fundamental an issue. So if Catholics can live with religious liberty with divorced people, they should be perfectly able to live with gay people, I mean, as married, as a civil marriage.
– gay conservative (and practicing Catholic) Andrew Sullivan
Sullivan hits the nail on the head, pointing out the hypocrisy of religious conservatives who cherry-pick the bible to oppose some things, while ignoring other parts.
The full answer is even better:
“President Obama spoke was in Germany and spoke at the Brandenburg Gate, which divided that city during the Cold War. Obama said it’s taught me a lot. When I was a kid, West Germany taught me the importance of standing tall, and East Germany taught me the importance of reading everyone’s mail.” – Bill Maher
“At the Berlin Wall, Obama said no wall can stand against the people’s yearning for freedom that burns in our heart – except for the one we’re going to build on the Mexican border.” – Bill Maher
“Mitt Romney’s former campaign manager has launched a super PAC to stop Hillary Clinton from becoming president. It makes sense because if there’s one thing Romney’s campaign manager is good at, it’s stopping someone from becoming president.” – Jimmy Fallon
“I challenge The Onion to come up with a headline, in their brilliant but crazy worldview, that is more weird than the real one: ‘Republican Congressman Believes in Masturbating Fetuses‘.” – Bill Maher
“Over in the Senate, they found a way to get Republicans on board with immigration reform. They’re going to militarize the border. They’re going to build a border surge. … Sounds like something you eat at Taco Bell. Or something that happens after you eat at Taco Bell.” – Bill Maher
“We’re going to build 7,000 miles of new fencing and add 20,000 more – in addition to the 20,000 we have – border agents, enough to put one every 250 feet. They said if this does not keep Arnold Schwarzenegger from impregnating the help, nothing will.” – Bill Maher
“I kid the Republicans, but whether it is border security or gun rights or gay issues, they always have the same fear — someone coming in the back door.” – Bill Maher
“What a bad week for the stock market. Yesterday was so bad the numbers looked worse than a Paula Deen talk show on the BET network.” – Jay Leno
“Stocks are dropping like a Super Bowl ring into Vladimir Putin’s pocket. That is how bad it was.” – Jay Leno
“The American Medical Association declared obesity a disease. People are already taking advantage of this; they’re calling in sick with a case of the fats.” – Bill Maher
The New York Times has published a scathing editorial titled “The Criminal N.S.A.”, claiming that the spying being done on Americans by the Obama administration and the N.S.A. has gone far beyond even the overly broad surveillance authority granted by the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. What has been done in the name of the so-called “War on Terror” is in fact “criminal” and makes a “mockery” of the constitution.
Meanwhile, European officials “reacted with fury” to a report that the N.S.A. spied on European officials and diplomats by bugging their offices and infiltrating their computer networks. The President of the European Parliament said “I am deeply worried and shocked about the allegations. If the allegations prove to be true, it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-US relations. On behalf of the European Parliament, I demand full clarification and require further information speedily from the U.S. authorities with regard to these allegations.”
“Last night the White House staff played softball against a team made of marijuana lobbyists. Which explains why there were 20 hits before the game even started.” – Jimmy Fallon
“The on-deck circle was a drum circle.” – Jimmy Fallon
“Did you see the pictures of Obama and Putin at the G-8 summit? It was like Thanksgiving with your relatives.” – David Letterman
“See, the problem there is they have nothing to say to one another because they’ve been bugging each other’s phones.” – David Letterman
“Are you aware of the fact that Vladimir Putin stole a Super Bowl ring from the owner of the Patriots? Listen to this: Today he stole Ricki Lake’s daytime Emmy. The guy’s whacko.” – David Letterman
“Bad day on Wall Street – the stock market dropped over 350 points today. See, I knew Obama shouldn’t have come back home. I knew this was going to happen.” – Jay Leno
“During the summer all scandals will be reruns. That’s a programming reminder from the White House.” – David Letterman
“Yesterday the FBI admitted they do use drones on U.S. soil for domestic surveillance. The FBI’s Robert Mueller told Congress that he does sometimes use drones, but he said the good news is that these drones are made in America, by Americans, to spy on Americans.” – Jay Leno
“Fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana have been sentenced to 20 months in jail for tax evasion. Their lawyers are appealing the sentence while Dolce & Gabbana are appealing the prison uniform. Orange is so last year.” – Jimmy Fallon
“That’s right. Dolce & Gabbana were convicted of tax evasion. It didn’t help when the judge asked how they pled, and they were like ‘Fabulous?'” – Jimmy Fallon
A reader in Mexico sends me news that a cat is running for mayor of Xalapa, the capital of the Mexican state of Veracruz. Candigato (“gato” is Spanish for cat) Morris promises to rid the city of rats, including the human kind.
Candigato Morris is running a modern campaign, including a Facebook page. Judging by the number of “Likes” received, Morris has already passed three of the four mayoral candidates in popularity, and is on a trajectory to pass the last one before the election.
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