The Commentariat -- July 1, 2013

Michael Shear of the New York Times: On Sunday, President Obama visited the Robben Island cell where former South African President Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years of the first 27 years of his life.

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Julian Assange ... said on Sunday that ... the disclosures from the classified documents [Edward Snowden] took as a National Security Agency contractor would continue." Here's the ABC News interview:

... Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "European officials reacted angrily on Sunday to a report that the United States had been spying on its European Union allies, saying the claims could threaten talks with Washington on an important trade agreement." ...

... Laura Poitras, et al., in Der Spiegel: "America's National Security Agency (NSA) is apparently spying on Germany more than previously believed. Secret documents from the US intelligence service, which have been viewed by Spiegel journalists, reveal that the NSA systematically monitors and stores a large share of the country's telephone and Internet connection data." Spiegel Online International will publish its full report some time today. ...

... Der Spiegel: "Germany's Federal Prosecutors' Office confirmed to Spiegel on Sunday that it is looking into whether systematic data spying against the country conducted by America's National Security Agency violated laws aimed at protecting German citizens." ...

... Ewen MacAskill & Julian Borger of the Guardian have a bit more on the U.S.'s bugging our European friends. ...

... Get Over It. Lara Jakes & Frank Jordans in Salon: "The U.S. says it gathers the same kinds of intelligence as other nations to safeguard against foreign terror threats, pushing back on fresh outrage from key allies over secret American surveillance programs that reportedly installed covert listening devices in European Union offices. Facing threatened investigations and sanctions from Europe, U.S. intelligence officials plan to discuss the new allegations -- reported in Sunday's editions of the German newsweekly Der Spiegel -- directly with EU officials.... Some European counties have much stronger privacy laws than does the U.S." ...

... Hadas Gold of Politico: "NSA leaker Edward Snowden damaged the 'security of the country,' former President George W. Bush said in an interview that aired Monday." CW: ah, well, good. Then it's all okay. The video & CNN story are here. ...

... Ian Traynor, et al., of the Guardian: "The prospects for a new trade pact between the US and the European Union worth hundreds of billions have suffered a severe setback following allegations that Washington bugged key EU offices and intercepted phonecalls and emails from top officials." CW: as contributor Ken Winkes pointed out, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps, however, sabotaging our so-called national security apparatus is not the best way to sink the trade agreement. ...

... Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "... an examination of public statements over a period of years suggests that officials, [including President Obama,] have often relied on legalistic parsing and carefully hedged characterizations in discussing the NSA's collection of communications." ...

... The Bluffdale Black Box. Tony Semerad of the Salt Lake Tribune: "The [NSA's] Utah Data Center spans 1 million square feet, with a 100,000-square-foot, raised-floor area divided into four separate data halls, each holding what the NSA calls 'mission-critical' computing servers and data-storage capacity. An additional 900,000 square feet will be devoted to technical support and administrative staff, amounting to fewer than 200 NSA employees." (It's a 3-pager; click thru.) The official government site describing the Bluffdale facility, which is still under construction, is here. ...

... Rick Hamilton, in Salon, on the last significant NSA defections: William Martin & Bernon Mitchell, who defected to Russia in 1960 amid charges they were "sex deviates."

Paul Krugman: "... there's a nationwide [Republican] movement under way to punish the unemployed, based on the proposition that we can cure unemployment by making the jobless even more miserable.... The war on the unemployed isn't motivated solely by cruelty; rather, it's a case of meanspiritedness converging with bad economic analysis."

Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog: "Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy turned down at midday Sunday a request to stop same-sex marriages from occurring in California. Without comment, and without seeking views from the other side, Kennedy rejected a challenge to action by the Ninth Circuit Court on Friday implementing a federal judge's ruling allowing such marriages. The plea had been made on Saturday b the sponsors of California's 'Proposition 8,' a voter-approved measure that permitted marriage only between a man and a woman." ...

... Jeff Toobin, in the New Yorker, on Anthony Kennedy's decisions to strike DOMA & gut the Voting Rights Act. "... the real reason that [Edie] Windsor, and the country, won [the DOMA case] was that Democrats won -- in the eighties, when the Senate turned down Bork, and in 2008, when Barack Obama defeated John McCain. To an extent that the public and, especially, the Justices themselves rarely acknowledge, the Supreme Court is a political body. It reflects, above all, the values and the priorities of the Presidents who nominate the Justices and the senators who confirm them (or refuse to do so)." CW: I dedicate this post to Kate Madison -- "Remember the Supremes!" ...

... Julia Preston of the New York Times: "An American man in Florida and his husband, who is from Bulgaria, have become the first same-sex married couple to be approved for a permanent resident visa, an immigration milestone that comes after the Supreme Court struck down a federal law against same-sex marriage.... The approval was evidence that the Obama administration was acting swiftly to change its visa policies in the wake of the court's decision on Wednesday invalidating ... DOMA."

... Andrew of Clean Technica: "Already cost-competitive with thermal coal and natural gas power generation -- not to mention its numerous other often ignored and unaccounted for social and ecological benefits and cost savings, which are substantial -- GE's looking to drive the cost of wind energy down further, pushing the envelope outward by incorporating 'industrial Internet' capabilities and short-term, grid-scale power storage...." Via Juan Cole.

Local News

Corrie MacLaggan of Reuters: " When the Texas Legislature convenes on Monday for a second special session, the Republican majority will seek to ... pass sweeping abortion restrictions." ...

... Ann Friedman writes a moving account in New York magazine, about her reaction to Wendy Davis's filibuster & the women who supported her: "The burden of proof is on women and gay people and nonwhite Americans to justify their lives, to explain to those who have never felt this sort of powerlessness or discrimination that it's very much real." CW: the trouble is, of course, that no matter what the powerless say, the powerful don't listen. See, Alito, Sam; Perry, Rick.

News Ledes

The Orlando Sentinel has the latest on the George Zimmerman trial.

Washington Post: "Citigroup announced Monday that it had agreed to pay mortgage-finance giant Fannie Mae $968 million to resolve claims on 3.7 million home loans that have soured or might go bad. The bank is one of many institutions that sell home loans to the government-sponsored entity, which bundles them into mortgage-backed securities and guarantees the bonds."

Arizona Republic: "Nineteen firefighters, including 18 from the elite Granite Mountain Hotshots of Prescott, died Sunday fighting an out-of-control wildfire in Yarnell, a tiny Yavapai County town roughly 80 miles northwest of Phoenix. About half of the town's 500 homes were feared destroyed by the blaze, which began early Friday evening, and by Sunday the fire had spread to 8,000 acres. All of Yarnell and the neighboring Peeples Valley were evacuated."

AP: "Protesters stormed and ransacked the Cairo headquarters of President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group early Monday, in an attack that could spark more violence as demonstrators gear up for a second day of mass rallies aimed at forcing the Islamist leader from power. Organizers of the protests, meanwhile, gave Morsi until 5 p.m. on Tuesday to step down and called on the police and the military to clearly state their support for what the protest movement called the popular will." ...

     ... Al Jazeera Update: "The Egyptian army has asked President Mohamed Morsi to resolve huge protests against his rule or face intervention within 48 hours, placing huge pressure on country's first democratically elected leader." ...

     ... Guardian Update: "Mohamen Morsi's regime has indicated that it will not give in to the threat of a military coup, just hours after the Egyptian army gave it 48 hours to placate the millions who have taken to the streets calling for the president's departure.... The presidency indicated that it viewed the statement as a coup d'etat, and implied that Morsi was safe as long as his administration still had US support."

AP: As 200,000 people travel to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War battle -- July 1-3, 1863 -- capitalism thrives!

The Commentariat -- June 30, 2013

Michael Shear & Rick Lyman of the New York Times: "... President Obama abandoned his hope for a visit [with Nelson Mandela] and instead on Saturday used every stop [in South Africa] to talk in emotional and sweeping terms about what Mr. Mandela meant to the world, and to him."

Enough Already. Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog: "Attorneys for the parties who sought to defend Proposition 8 in federal court have filed an emergency motion in the Supreme Court seeking to block same-sex marriages from proceeding in California. The filing (via Jess Bravin) is available here." ...

... "The Real John Roberts Emerges." Linda Greenhouse: "In its sweeping disregard of history, precedent and constitutional text, the chief justice's 5-to-4 opinion in the voting rights case was startling for its naked activism, but no one watching the court over the past few years could have been surprised by the outcome.... Clearly, he doesn't trust Congress.... But oddly for someone who earned his early stripes in the Justice Department and White House Counsel's Office, he doesn't like the executive branch any better.... What's left? The Supreme Court." ...

... New York Times Editors: "The most fundamental change Congress could make would be a law declaring a universal right to vote that could not be infringed by any level of government. The Voting Rights Act was aimed at combating discrimination 'on account of race or color,' which was the urgent problem of the time. Discrimination has now broadened to encompass more groups of different kinds, and it is time for a broader law, especially given the Supreme Court's clear intent to dismantle all racial protections." CW: oh yeah? Watch the Tenthers on the Court find universal voting rights unconstitutional. ...

... Lincoln Caplan of the New York Times: "Elena Kagan..., the first Supreme Court justice appointed in almost 40 years who wasn't a judge before she arrived at the court..., is achieving a goal that other justices say they strive for and yet seldom attain: writing readable judicial opinions that non-lawyers can understand.... What puts her in a class by herself is her combination of down-to-earth writing and the ingredients essential to influential opinions: conceptual insight, penetrating legal analysis and argumentative verve.... Before she joined the court in 2010, the dominance of the five conservatives was bolstered by their aggressiveness and sometimes arrogance at oral arguments and in opinions. Their bravado and occasional bullying haven't abated much, but she is an effective counterweight." ...

... Just the fact that he talks about black people voting as an entitlement, that is so much more racist than anything Paula Deen ever said. -- Bill Maher on Antonin Scalia

New York Times Editors: "Wendy Davis's filibuster is a reminder of the need for engagement by elected officials and voters to prevent further restrictions that trample on the rights and health of women. With so many damaging restrictions already on the books, though, much also depends on the courts to do their job and insist on respect for existing constitutional protections. That includes the Supreme Court...."

David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Edward Snowden is 'marooned in Russia' without a valid U.S. passport, [Julian Assange,] the leader of the WikiLeaks organization said Sunday morning on ABC's 'This Week With George Stephanopoulos.'" ...

... Joe's on the Case. William Neuman of the New York Times: "President Rafael Correa of Ecuador said Saturday that Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had asked him in a telephone call not to grant asylum to Edward J. Snowden.... Mr. Correa, speaking on his weekly television broadcast, said that the two had a 'cordial' conversation on Friday initiated by Mr. Biden, but said he could not decide on Mr. Snowden's request until he entered Ecuador." ...

... Poornima Gupta of Reuters: "Former National Security Agency director Mike McConnell, who now works for defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, said people employed to sift through classified government data should not have solo access to the information. McConnell, a Booz Allen vice chairman, was making one of his first public comments since former U.S. spy agency contractor and Booz Allen employee Edward Snowden revealed the agency's top-secret monitoring of phone and internet data. Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Friday, McConnell said he supports a proposal made by NSA chief General Keith Alexander." CW: so I guess this safeguard hasn't been obvious for, oh, the last half-century. ...

... Laura Poitras, et al., in Der Spiegel: "Information obtained by Spiegel shows that America's National Security Agency (NSA) not only conducted online surveillance of European citizens, but also appears to have specifically targeted buildings housing European Union institutions. The information appears in secret documents obtained by whistleblower Edward Snowden that Spiegel has in part seen. A 'top secret' 2010 document describes how the secret service attacked the EU's diplomatic representation in Washington. The document suggests that in addition to installing bugs in the building in downtown Washington, DC, the EU representation's computer network was also infiltrated. In this way, the Americans were able to access discussions in EU rooms as well as emails and internal documents on computers."

... Komrade Snowden. Ellen Barry of the New York Times: "While Edward J. Snowden has remained mysteriously hidden from sight during his visit to Russia this week, Russian television has been making him a hero.... Since Mr. Snowden landed in Moscow on Sunday, the likelihood that he will remain in Russia has steadily crept up.... The chance that Russia will turn him in [to the U.S.] has all but vanished, as evidenced by Thursday's television programs, which were almost certainly produced under Kremlin orders and have a powerful effect on public opinion. Officials here have signaled an openness to granting him political asylum, and each passing day would seem to narrow Mr. Snowden's options, giving the United States time to negotiate with Ecuador and Venezuela, other countries that may grant him asylum." ...

... Ian Phillips of the AP: "... I deliberately got myself sequestered in the hopes of finding Edward Snowden at Moscow's main airport. The experience leaves me feeling that if the NSA leaker is indeed in the transit zone of the airport, as President Vladimir Putin claims, he may already have a taste of what it's like to be in prison.... But no sign of Snowden." ...

... Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog: "It's ironic if [Snowden] refused to return to the U.S. because he didn't want to face Bradley Manning's fate and is now effectively a prisoner somewhere in Putin's sphere of interest." ...

... Edith Lederer of the AP: "U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice dismissed claims that Edward Snowden's highly classified leaks have weakened the Obama presidency and damaged U.S. foreign policy, insisting that the United States will remain 'the most influential, powerful and important country in the world.'" CW: how does Rice know this? Why, because the NSA has been reading the correspondence & listening in on the phone calls of world leaders, & they're not actually all that ticked off. ...

... Really? "Germans Loved Obama. Now We Don't Trust Him. Malte Spitz, of Germany's Green Party, in a New York Times op-ed: "During Mr. Obama's presidency, no American political debate has received as much attention in Germany as the N.S.A. Prism program. People are beginning to second-guess the belief that digital communication stays private. It changes both our perception of communication and our trust in Mr. Obama." CW P.S. Our European allies also will be right pleased to read the new Der Spiegel story above.

... Glenn Greenwald's speech to the Socialism Conference in Chicago, video & transcript courtesy of Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake. The part about Bill Keller is exceptional. ...

... Edward Epstein, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, asks who helped Ed Snowden steal classified documents. Epstein implies Glenn Greenwald & others might have done so, since they began communicating with Snowden prior to his taking the Booz Allen job, which Snowden says he sought & took only so he could get access to the data. ...

To the extent that you have aided and abetted Snowden, even in his current movements, why shouldn't you, Mr. Greenwald, be charged with a crime? -- David Gregory, to Glenn Greenwald, last week ...

... If It's Sunday, It's "Meet the Press." On the subject of accusing Greenwald, without evidence, BTW, of aiding & abetting Snowden, Frank Rich asks -- & implicitly answers -- the question, "Is David Gregory a journalist?" CW: Given the obvious answer, here's my question: "Is NBC violating truth-in-advertising standards by calling The Dancing Dave Show "Meet the Press?" Think about it. No actual reporters appear on the show -- uh, unless it's to accuse them of committing the crime of journalism. Their paid "journalists" run to Mary Matelin, Peggy Noonan & Carly Fiorina.

Brendan Farrington of the AP: "A group of atheists unveiled a monument to their nonbelief in God on Saturday to sit alongside a granite slab that lists the Ten Commandments in front of the Bradford County, [Florida,] courthouse. As a small group of protesters blasted Christian country music and waved 'Honk for Jesus' signs, the atheists celebrated what they believe is the first atheist monument allowed on government property in the United States."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Hundreds of thousands of protesters demanding the ouster of Egypt's president, Mohamed Morsi, poured into the streets of the capital and cities across the country Sunday, while tens of thousands of his Islamist allies gathered with makeshift clubs, helmets and shields vowing to defend the presidential palace."

Jerusalem Post: "Any future agreement with the Palestinians will be brought to the country in the form of a referendum, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the outset of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, just hours after finishing a six-hour late-night meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry.... Generally promises of a referendum are made to neutralize a political crisis by assuring ministers opposed that they need not bolt the government over the issue because the public will ultimately decide." ...

... Reuters: "U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry ended a marathon round of shuttle diplomacy between Israelis and Palestinians on Sunday without an agreement on restarting peace talks."

The Commentariat -- June 29, 2013

Declan Walsh, et al., of the New York Times: " President Obama arrived in South Africa on Friday evening, saying he was bearing a message of 'profound gratitude' to Nelson Mandela, the stricken former leader, and that he would defer to Mr. Mandela's family on whether to visit him. After an eight-hour flight, Air Force One landed at Waterkloof Air Base, just a few miles from the Pretoria hospital where Mr. Mandela has been under intensive care with a serious lung infection for nearly three weeks, as concerns about his health have intensified in recent days despite government assurances that Mr. Mandela's condition had stabilized." ...

     ... Update: "President Obama will meet privately with members of Nelson Mandela's family Saturday afternoon.... [Obama] still plans to salute Mr. Mandela's life with a visit on Sunday to Robben Island, the prison where the iconic South African leader spent 18 years in a tiny cell."

The President's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here. ...

... Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic: "The best television coverage of President Obama's climate speech Tuesday wasn't on Fox, CNN, or even MSNBC. It was on the Weather Channel, the only network to carry the address live and to treat it as the major development that it was. Before Obama spoke, the network carried a special, 'The Science Behind Climate Change.' After the speech, the network ran more analysis, including a discussion of ways to reduce carbon emissions." This was all lost on Republicans. ...

... Jeff Goodell in Rolling Stone: "By century's end, rising sea levels will turn [Miami,] the nation's urban fantasyland, into an American Atlantis. But long before the city is completely underwater, chaos will begin."

(Camille Dodero of Gawker has the backstory on the New Yorker cover.)

Ah, Love. Maura Dolan, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "Same-sex marriages in California resumed Friday when a federal appeals court lifted a hold on a 2010 injunction, sparking jubilation among gays and cries of lawlessness from the supporters of Proposition 8. In a surprise action, a federal appeals court cleared the way, bypassing a normal waiting period and lifting a hold on a trial judge's order that declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional. The news came in a single, legalistic sentence Friday afternoon from the appeals court. 'The stay in the above matter is dissolved immediately,' the three-judge panel wrote. Gov. Jerry Brown told county clerks that they could begin marrying same-sex couples immediately...." ...

... Lisa Leff of the AP: "The lead plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned California's same-sex marriage ban tied the knot at San Francisco City Hall on Friday, about an hour after a federal appeals court freed gay couples to obtain marriage licenses for the first time in 4 1/2 years. State Attorney General Kamala Harris presided at the wedding of Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, of Berkeley, as hundreds of supporters looked on and cheered." ...

... Dorothy Wickenden of the New Yorker speaks with Jeff Toobin & Ariel Levy about this week's Supreme Court decisions. Justice Anthony Kennedy is "actually rather extreme in his views; he just has eccentric enthusiasms. Fortunately for the world, I think, one of his enthusiasms is gay rights," Toobin says:

Rick Hertzberg explains what treason is. He gets too het up about Kerry's use of the word "traitor," which I find appropriate. Webster defines traitor as "one who betrays another's trust or is false to an obligation or duty," which is exactly what Snowden did. Webster's second definition is "one who commits treason." But that aside, it's good to remember what "treason" is as others foolishly throw the term around. ...

... Dan Roberts of the Guardian: "A bipartisan group of 26 US senators has written to intelligence chiefs to complain that the administration is relying on a 'secret body of law' to collect massive amounts of data on US citizens. The senators accuse officials of making misleading statements and demand that the director of national intelligence James Clapper answer a series of specific questions on the scale of domestic surveillance as well as the legal justification for it." A facsimile of the letter is here. Good luck reading the names of some of the signers. Looks as if Tom Hanks has become a U.S. Senator.

GOP Intimidates NFL. Sandhya Somashekhar & Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "Earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius disclosed that the Obama administration was in talks with the [NFL] to help promote [ObamaCare], which enters a new phase as advocates prepare to begin enrolling millions of Americans in health insurance this fall. On Friday, Republican leaders in the Senate issued a stern warning to sports organizations not to partner with the White House on an issue marked by such 'divisiveness and persistent unpopularity.' ... NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said [in an e-mail], 'We have responded to the letters we received from members of Congress to inform them we currently have no plans to engage in this area and have had no substantive contact with the administration about [the health-care law's] implementation.'"

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "No one will ever be able to say John Kerry didn't try hard enough. Whether he brings the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table or ultimately fails where so many have failed before him, Kerry seems a man obsessed. Currently on his fifth trip to the region since becoming secretary of state in February, he met Friday afternoon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just 15 hours after the two had ended marathon talks that extended well past midnight."

Dana Milbank. This guy "is full of [sh]it." Milbank runs down Darrell's fanciful efforts to bring down President Obama & members of his administration with a series of fake "scandals." Definitely worth a read.

Julia Moskin of the New York Times: "Paula Deen's ... new cookbook hit No. 1 on the best-seller list at Amazon.com, as thousands of fans ... ordered the book months before its October release. But on Friday, its publisher, Random House, said it would not publish the cookbook, and would cancel a five-book contract it signed with Ms. Deen last year.... Its cancellation came on a day when Sears, Kmart and J. C. Penney announced that they would stop selling products, including cookbooks, branded with her name. Since last week, the Food Network, Smithfield Foods, Walmart, Target, Caesars Entertainment, QVC and the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk have decided to suspend or sever ties with Ms. Deen after her admission in a legal deposition that she had used racist language in the past and allowed racist, sexist, homophobic and anti-Semitic jokes in one of her restaurants."

Gail Collins: Texas Gov. Rick "Perry claimed that, in fighting for abortion rights, [State Senator Wendy] Davis, the daughter of a single mother and herself a single mother at 19 who got herself through college and Harvard Law, 'hasn't learned from her own example.' You will not be stunned to hear that Davis takes a different lesson from her story. 'The Planned Parenthood clinic on Henderson Street in Fort Worth was my sole source of health care for four to five years when I was a young adult,' she said. 'Consider a 19-year-old single mom who wants to be smarter about her family planning so she can go to school and move forward with her career. Had I not had those services available to me, I would not be standing where I am today.'" Collins illuminates what usually get short shrift in this story -- the bill was not just about curtailing abortions; it would have (or will) shut down most of the state's women's health clinics.

Local News

Kevin Murphy of Reuters: "A Kansas judge on Friday issued a temporary injunction on two parts of the state's new anti-abortion law, while upholding the majority of far-reaching measure that goes into effect Monday. Shawnee County District Judge Rebecca Crotty struck down a part of the law that forbids a waiver of the required 24-hour waiting period to be granted based on the woman's mental health. Crotty also struck down a part of the law requiring abortion providers on their websites to vouch for the accuracy and independence of the state's health department material on abortions." ...

... CW: not much of a victory for women and their healthcare providers. Pause, if you will, to think about the Kansas law. The mullahs of Brownbackistan scream freeeedom! for themselves, but they have no compunction about denying free speech rights to medical personnel. They don't want to just probe lady parts; they want to muzzle the professionals who do so honorably as part of their jobs. No matter how charitable you may try to be, it is simply impossible not to see these petty despots as dangerous, sick fucks.

News Ledes

New York Times: " Secretary of State John Kerry extended his trip to Israel a day on Saturday amid speculation that he was closing in on a deal to revive the dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks."

AP: Hasan Rouhani, "Iran's president-elect, called his win in national elections this month a vote for change and vowed Saturday to remain committed to his campaign promises of moderation and constructive interaction with the outside world."