I’ve seen a lot of chatter around the blogosphere about the NSA phone records program that goes like this: “Those who argue that it’s constitutional are in favor of it.” But the two do not necessarily go together. I don’t … Continue reading →
Richard Fernandez always has something interesting to say, and this post of his is no exception: For much of history our ability to harm ourselves was fortunately limited by the crude nature of our means. But by the dawn of … Continue reading →
…to read the classics: … George Orwell’s “1984” is enjoying a surge in popularity, landing at No. 4 on Amazon’s list of “Movers and Shakers.” Sales of Orwell’s classic have risen an astonishing 5,771% as of Tuesday morning, with a … Continue reading →
Let me get one thing completely cleared up at the outset of this post: the NSA data-collection story is important. Vitally important. The program exists, and we need to know more about how it works, and whether it is (or … Continue reading →
…about this: [Glenn Greenwald] also wrote he had been “working with” Snowden since February… That’s part of a lengthy article about a feud between Greenwald and WaPo writer Barton Gellman about who spoke to Snowden when and about what. I’m … Continue reading →
…and no whistleblower either. I can’t say I’ve agreed a whole lot with Jeffrey Toobin (or anything political in the New Yorker) in recent years. But for the most part I agree with Toobin about Snowden. In fact, what Toobin … Continue reading →
…does not think Snowden’s any kind of hero, and believes the brouhaha over the NSA program is overblown. I don’t find his arguments all that compelling, although I’m not part of the unequivocal “Snowden’s a hero” bandwagon, either. I see … Continue reading →
Gone to Hong Kong, at least for now. The plot thickens as Edward Snowden, 29—IT guy, apparent Ron Paul supporter and disillusioned Obama-hoper—declares himself as the leaker of the NSA data-collection disclosure and then hot-foots it to Hong Kong because … Continue reading →
National Journal‘s Ron Fournier (who used to be Washington bureau chief at the AP), is puzzled and perturbed by the disconnect between his preferred vision and the recent news: I like government. I don’t like what the fallout from these … Continue reading →
From Jane Mayer at the New Yorker: …[A]ccording to the mathematician and former Sun Microsystems engineer Susan Landau…it’s worse than many might think. “The public doesn’t understand,” she told me, speaking about so-called metadata. “It’s much more intrusive than content.” … Continue reading →
The WSJ isn’t perturbed by the revelation of the data-mining continuation by the Obama administration: …[U]unlike the other White House scandals there seems to be little here that is scandalous. The existence of the program was exposed years ago and … Continue reading →
Today is the 64th anniversary of the publication of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, and with all the news that’s been occurring in the last few weeks (up to and including today), somehow it seems apropos. We are not (yet) in the … Continue reading →