It seems that everybody wants to know what's been going on at the NSA. Everybody, that is, except for 53 US Senators. Last week Senators were given a briefing by high-ranking intelligence officials about the surveillance programs. Only 47 Senators showed up. That's not even half—and as we all know, it actually takes 60 Senators to do anything at all.
Well, Dick Cheney is all for spying—but then that's no surprise, coming from a man who likes to spend "time in the shadows," if you will. Cheney called Edward Snowden a traitor who might be working for China. Under Dick Cheney, we sent countless jobs to China, and our debt to them skyrocketed. If China wants someone who really works for their interests they couldn't do better than Dick Cheney.
Even as the NSA scandal continues to play out, the bogus IRS "scandal" is pretty much already played out. Republicans have been unable to find any evidence to support their allegations that the White House was involved in IRS targeting of conservative groups. So they just decided to pretend that their allegations were facts.
Meanwhile, Glenn Beck is telling his listeners that this time we really are at the end times. The amazing thing is how a person so shallow can still go off the deep end. Beck told his staff and listeners "we are at the end." It's not clear if Glenn has gone completely insane, or if he's just doing a paid tie-in to the new Seth Rogan/James Franco movie "This Is the End." I don't know if the movie is funny, but it can't possibly be as funny as Glenn Beck.
Uh oh! We have another incoherent and rambling response to a question by a beauty queen. This time Miss Utah was asked a question about... well, it doesn't really matter what the question was about, does it? The question was about gender income disparity. The answer was about... about 30 seconds. The answer started out about education, veered wildly into job creation, and touched on men for a moment before climaxing with "we need to see how to create education better." I couldn't say it more gooder me self.
Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show weekdays 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL 1600.
Tea Party senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) says that "restoring faith in government" is "the wrong solution." Well then by all means, keep talking, Senator. Instead, Johnson says "we need to engender that healthy distrust, that healthy distrust that our Founders found with government." Is Ron Johnson aware that our Founders didn't found a corporation? They founded a government. The Founders didn't mistrust government. Most of our Founders gladly took important posts in the government that they created. The difference between the Founders and Ron Johnson is that the Founders weren't working to undermine the government.
Our Founders didn't mistrust government. They realized that government has a function but that it needs to be carefully monitored and regulated… kind of like how they felt about firearms. But then that's lost on these idiots as well. If our Founders hated the idea of government, they had an entire continent full of people living in tribal societies that they could have fled to. But then John Adams never chucked it all to go the Great Plains and hunt buffalo from horseback, did he?
US intelligence agencies routinely swap data with thousands of private firms. Hardware and software makers, banks, and internet security firms all provide our spy agencies with data and equipment specifications that help them infiltrate foreign computers. The spy agencies are corporate-assisted hackers! It would be like spy agencies trying to gain access to your home… with the help of your home security provider and the company who made the locks on your doors.
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) says that the surveillance programs that have been exposed are "just the tip of the iceberg." And if you want to see the rest of it, you have to enter some pretty icy waters. House lawmakers were briefed by intelligence officials about the surveillance programs. The good news is that, as far as we know, nobody left the meeting and immediately cancelled their internet and cell phone service.
Congresswoman Sanchez said of the spying "I think it's just broader than most people even realize." Let's just hope that it's not any broader than a lot of people fear. According to Sanchez, the scope of the surveillance "astounded most of us." Yes, unfortunately, the reaction of some of them will be just to hit up Booz Allen for campaign contributions.
Finally, in Texas, students are being sent to jail for skipping school. Some school officials say that the prosecutions have helped improve attendance. Yes. So would executing a few offenders and posting their heads on pikes outside the school. But then I shouldn't be giving Texas ideas.
Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show weekdays 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL 1600.
Senator Elizabeth Warren is fighting hard for government transparency, and it has nothing to do with the NSA. On Thursday, Senator Warren sent a letter to President Obama's U.S. trade negotiations nominee, calling on the Administration to publicly release documents about the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
For several years, the Obama Administration has been negotiating the TPP, which could grant corporations the ability to reject various regulations in several countries, which is a power usually reserved only for other sovereign nations. Despite the international impact the TPP could have, only Congress and members of the so-called "Trade Advisory Committee" - which is stacked with corporate officials - have been able to review the deal.
In her letter, Senator Warren wrote, "I appreciate the willingness of the [U.S. Trade Office] to make various documents available for review by members of Congress, but I do not believe that is a substitute for more robust public transparency." And, as if to hint that the public would not approve of the plan if details were released, she said, "If transparency would lead to widespread public opposition to a trade agreement, then that trade agreement should not be the policy of the United States."
The TPP could have a profound impact on our lives. Trade agreements affect everything from the food we eat, to the price of medicine, to the availability of the jobs. Americans do not want these agreements negotiated in secret, where only corporate interests are represented. Senator Elizabeth Warren has proven once again, she's not only tough when it comes to bank regulation. She will fight to protect consumers where ever and how ever it matters.
Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program weekdays 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.
While signing a Merry Christmas bill in June, legalizing usage of phrases like 'Merry Christmas' on school property, Texas Governor Rick Perry took the opportunity to appeal to his evangelical base. "I'm proud we are standing up for religious freedom in our state," Perry said. "Freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom from religion."
It's typical conservative ignorance, since Governor Perry's statement implies if you aren't a Christian, you don't have religion. Someone should remind the governor that just because you aren't a Christian doesn't mean you're not religious.
Listen to The Ed Schutlz Show weekdays 12 Noon to 3 PM on WWRL 1600.
The Supreme Court ruled that human genes cannot be patented, because they are a product of nature. However, the offered a compromise which allowed synthetic, complementary DNA, known as cDNA, to be protected by patent law, because it is not naturally occurring.
The case, Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, challenged the biotechnology company's existing patents on two genes associated with high risks of breast cancer, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2. Cancer researchers argued that the patents prevented other groups from developing more effective and less expensive methods to test for gene mutations. Myriad claimed that the patents protected billions of dollars in research and investment.
In the ruling, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote, "it is undisputed that Myriad did not create or alter any of the genetic information encoded in the BRCA1 and BRCA 2 genes," but in the case of cDNA, a genetic technician "unquestionably creates something new." Myriad investors were obviously happy with the compromise, as company shares jumped eight percent after the ruling was issued.
Today's Supreme Court decision will open the door to new scientific research and testing methods, which could provide breakthroughs in diagnosing and curing breast cancer. It's great to know that scientific research will continue, and that no company has the right to own our DNA.
Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program weekdays 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.
Before last week, very few people knew the name Edward Snowden. Not the case now. It seems he's either a hero or traitor, depending on who you talk to and their political ideology. No matter what you think of him, however, we owe him a collective thanks for the information he exposed. In a nutshell, Edward Snowden (through Glenn Greenwald) told America about an out of control national security and intelligence superstructure that desperately needs to be curbed.
I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any politician to recognize and address this. As one of the callers to my show Thursday morning said, "Barack Obama, I love you, but dude, you're wrong on this." What have we come to as a nation? We need to collect data on millions of innocent Americans to catch potential terrorists? What happened to those watch lists we were told about? And don't tell me about dozens of terror attacks the data mining prevented. Unless you can share more information with the nation, I for one am not buying it.
Then there's that famed security hawk Peter King, the Congressman from Long Island. Once upon a time he supported an organization some regarded as terrorist. But that was then, this is now. These days he wants to lock up journalist Glenn Greenwald, the bearer of the bad news Edward Snowden exposed. What followed was a game of "Who's the traitor? You're the traitor." I leave it to you to decide which is which.
Under normal circumstances, in a different day and time, one might expect Americans to be outraged. Most don't appear to be, in particular young people. I got a great explanation for this from Chris Dunn of the NYCLU. He says most young people go so public with the intimate details of their lives (and bodies) that spying on their phones or e-mails means little or nothing to them. He may well have a point.
For the past week or so I've been conflicted about how to view Edward Snowden, and what he did. Is it too much to call him a hero? Perhaps. But then again, he's not a traitor either. Maybe we should leave it to him.
Says Edward Snowden, "I'm not a hero or a traitor. I'm an American."
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives will do anything to avoid getting any actual work done. As if 37 votes to repeal Obamacare didn't waste enough taxpayer time and money, the House GOP has decided to vote on a 20-week abortion ban, despite the fact that the bill would never be approved by the Senate. The anti-abortion bill is sponsored by Arizona Republican, Congressman Trent Franks, and it is strongly endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee.
If the bill stood any chance of passing in the upper chamber, it would roll back women's constitutionally protected right to an abortion until the point of viability – which is 24 weeks. Representative Franks' restriction is based on the scientifically-specious notion that a fetus can feel pain after 20 weeks. But, the vote is nothing but a dog-and-pony show. Republicans know that the bill would never survive a Senate vote, and it certainly wouldn't be signed into law by President Obama. Apparently, Republican lawmakers would rather play to their hard-right base, than pass any jobs bills, or work to undo the damage of the sequester.
Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Congress are frustrated about wasting taxpayer time and money on another meaningless vote. The American people are tired of lawmakers who refuse to represent them, and they are tired of the ongoing attack on women's reproductive rights. Even Representative Mary Bono Mack – a Republican – said, "There were real issues to focus on that should have been the news of the day. It wasn't this."
Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program weekdays 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.
We need to have a debate over surveillance. Even more, we need to have a debate over exactly who is doing the surveilling. Government surveillance can be worrisome, but it's much more worrisome when the surveillance is being done by private contractors. Ultimately, we are willing to accept a certain level of surveillance if the final goal is to keep us safer. But the final goal of a private company is not to keep us safer—the final goal of a private company is always to make money. We have to make a difficult tradeoff between our privacy and our safety, but by leaving surveillance in the hands of private contractors we're risking both of them.
Outsourcing intelligence work is risky—it will cost us much more in the long run. That's almost a moot point though, since it costs us much more in the short run too! A private contractor doing intelligence work costs twice as much as a government employee. That pretty much takes the "intelligence" out of the equation right at the start. A report to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said that a private contractor in intelligence costs $250,000 per year, while a government employee costs $126,500. Contractors are supposed to keep us safe from attack? They can't even keep us safe from being overcharged.
There are hundreds of thousands of private contractors with the kind of Top Secret clearance that Edward Snowden had. If Snowden alerted us to nothing else, he alerted us to all the potential Snowdens out there. A report this year to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said that a total of 483,263 contractors held Top Secret clearances in 2012. It's almost as easy to get Top Secret clearance in this country as it is to get a gun! 483,263 private contractors! That's 483,263 potential leakers. I certainly wouldn't buy a boat if there was that much of a possibility of damaging leaks.
His employer Booz Allen has announced that they have fired Ed Snowden. That's a step forward—the next step should be to fire Booz Allen. In their statement, Booz Allen said that Snowden "was an employee of our firm for less than 3 months." Right. Guys, that doesn't make it sound any better. "Less than three months"? What are you saying, Booz Allen—that you hardly knew this Snowden guy? That's not a good thing to be saying about somebody that you got top secret security clearance for!
It turns out that Edward Snowden had a live-in girlfriend who is a pole dancer. She is described in news reports as "an acrobatic pole performer." If you look at the video from her YouTube channel, you'll realize that it ain't Cirque du Soleil. So Edward Snowden had a cushy job in Hawaii with a poll-dancing girlfriend! In his interview with the Guardian, Snowden asked "What would it take to make you leave everything behind?" How about "terrible decision-making skills"?
Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show weekdays 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL 1600.
Today, the United States Senate will begin debate on the so-called comprehensive immigration plan. Senators will consider the overall legislation, and dozens of amendments, before a final vote can be reached. The debate is likely to last weeks, which means a decision may be delayed until after the Senate's Fourth of July recess.
A large portion of that delay will be the result of several "poison pill" amendments, like Sen. John Cornyn's border security benchmarks, and Sen. Rand Paul's provision, which "requires Congress to vote every year on border security." Democratic Senators have called Cornyn's amendment "unfeasible", because it requires 90 percent of all illegal border crossings to be stopped before any undocumented immigrant could even apply for legal status. Immigration advocates have called Senator Rand Paul's amendment "extremely problematic", saying the requirement would mean a path to citizenship is subject to the partisan politics of future Congresses.
And Senators Cornyn and Paul aren't the only Republicans trying to gum up immigration reform. Senator Orrin Hatch will also offer an amendment to increase the number of H1B visas, and allow tech companies to hire immigrants directly, without having to search for American citizens willing to take those jobs. Senators Marco Rubio, Tom Coburn, and Lindsey Graham are also getting in on the action by demanding even stronger border security measures, and congressional control of a plan to secure our Southern border.
These "poison pill" amendments show that many Republican senators are determined to make citizenship – which they call amnesty – unattainable for the 11 million immigrants already living in our country. They include provisions in the legislation that doom it to failure, so they can try to convince Latino voters that it wasn't their fault if and when the immigration bill gets voted down. We'll have to wait and see if Democrats can defeat these poison-pill amendments, and start fixing our broken immigration system.
Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program weekdays 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.
A large portion of that delay will be the result of several "poison pill" amendments, like Sen. John Cornyn's border security benchmarks, and Sen. Rand Paul's provision, which "requires Congress to vote every year on border security." Democratic Senators have called Cornyn's amendment "unfeasible", because it requires 90 percent of all illegal border crossings to be stopped before any undocumented immigrant could even apply for legal status. Immigration advocates have called Senator Rand Paul's amendment "extremely problematic", saying the requirement would mean a path to citizenship is subject to the partisan politics of future Congresses.
And Senators Cornyn and Paul aren't the only Republicans trying to gum up immigration reform. Senator Orrin Hatch will also offer an amendment to increase the number of H1B visas, and allow tech companies to hire immigrants directly, without having to search for American citizens willing to take those jobs. Senators Marco Rubio, Tom Coburn, and Lindsey Graham are also getting in on the action by demanding even stronger border security measures, and congressional control of a plan to secure our Southern border.
These "poison pill" amendments show that many Republican senators are determined to make citizenship – which they call amnesty – unattainable for the 11 million immigrants already living in our country. They include provisions in the legislation that doom it to failure, so they can try to convince Latino voters that it wasn't their fault if and when the immigration bill gets voted down. We'll have to wait and see if Democrats can defeat these poison-pill amendments, and start fixing our broken immigration system. - See more at: http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2013/06/republicans-gum-works-immigration-reform#sthash.BOWUlNYl.dpufToday, the United States Senate will begin debate on the so-called comprehensive immigration plan. Senators will consider the overall legislation, and dozens of amendments, before a final vote can be reached. The debate is likely to last weeks, which means a decision may be delayed until after the Senate's Fourth of July recess.
A large portion of that delay will be the result of several "poison pill" amendments, like Sen. John Cornyn's border security benchmarks, and Sen. Rand Paul's provision, which "requires Congress to vote every year on border security." Democratic Senators have called Cornyn's amendment "unfeasible", because it requires 90 percent of all illegal border crossings to be stopped before any undocumented immigrant could even apply for legal status. Immigration advocates have called Senator Rand Paul's amendment "extremely problematic", saying the requirement would mean a path to citizenship is subject to the partisan politics of future Congresses.
And Senators Cornyn and Paul aren't the only Republicans trying to gum up immigration reform. Senator Orrin Hatch will also offer an amendment to increase the number of H1B visas, and allow tech companies to hire immigrants directly, without having to search for American citizens willing to take those jobs. Senators Marco Rubio, Tom Coburn, and Lindsey Graham are also getting in on the action by demanding even stronger border security measures, and congressional control of a plan to secure our Southern border.
These "poison pill" amendments show that many Republican senators are determined to make citizenship – which they call amnesty – unattainable for the 11 million immigrants already living in our country. They include provisions in the legislation that doom it to failure, so they can try to convince Latino voters that it wasn't their fault if and when the immigration bill gets voted down. We'll have to wait and see if Democrats can defeat these poison-pill amendments, and start fixing our broken immigration system.
Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program weekdays 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.
Is Edward Snowden a whistleblower or a leaker? This story still has a lot of gray areas. For now, he's something like a whistle-leaker. To some people, Snowden is a hero, to others he is a traitor. To most Americans, he's the guy whose face in on CNN when they're looking for information on the Michael Jackson trial. Snowden has fled to Hong Kong. At least he's in the kind of business where he can do his job over the internet.
Edward Snowden was a private contractor. If we learn nothing else from this whole thing, it's that national security shouldn't be farmed out to contractors. It's bad enough that we have private contractors fighting our wars. I don't want private companies in charge of our national security. I don't trust private companies to bill me correctly—I'm not going to trust them to stop terrorism. No more contractors! If someone is working for the NSA, I want them to be vetted by the government—not by the HR department at some company called Booz Allen Hamilton.
Total surveillance is not an American thing. It's more the kind of thing that you associate with East Germany or the Soviet Union. And neither of those is around anymore—which gives you an idea just how well total surveillance works. If it did work, the NSA would still be keeping tabs on East Germany and the Soviet Union.
There are some significant differences between surveillance programs under Barack Obama and under George Bush. For starters, George Bush's surveillance program was under George Bush. We can disagree about what the rules on surveillance ought to be, but you can depend on Obama to follow the rules—almost as much as you could count on Bush to break the rules. Under Bush, the NSA was conducting surveillance on Americans in America—surveillance that was not court-approved. The Bush NSA program was everything that this latest NSA program is not.
Some people need to calm down a bit. This is something that needs to be carefully scrutinized. It's hard to properly scrutinize when you're screaming. We need to take a good look at what is going on... just like the NSA has to take a good look at what is going on. The trick in both cases is deciding just how much of a look is "good." Before people get too upset, they should realize that nobody is actually listening to phone calls. President Obama said that. Of course, the fact that Obama said it is what is upsetting some people. There are two types of people who are really worked up over this—Obama supporters who don't think Obama is doing enough, and Obama-haters who think Obama is doing too much.
Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show weekdays 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL 1600.
One of our nation's richest men, billionaire Nick Hanauer, just destroyed the GOP's economic talking points. In a testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Hanauer explained why rich people like him are not, in fact, the real job creators. He said, "In the same way that it's a fact that the sun, not earth, is the center of the solar system, it's also a fact that the middle class, not rich business people like me, are the center of America's economy."
Hanauer talked about a "virtuous cycle," where middle class consumers have enough money to buy things, which stimulates the economy and creates more jobs. Nick Hanauer was an original investor in Amazon.com, and he founded the company that became Overstock.com. He said that as an investor, he helped start dozens of businesses, but he added, "if no one could have afforded to buy what we had to sell, my businesses would have all failed, and all those jobs would have evaporated."
During his testimony, Mr. Hanauer called for higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, and said that money should be used to invest in our middle class. He said, "Prosperity is built from the middle out." Nick Hanauer understands that we must invest in our nation to get our economy growing again... hopefully, our lawmakers were listening.
Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program weekdays 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.
One of our nation's largest phone carriers, Verizon, is sharing information on millions of customers with the NSA. According to the Guardian newspaper, a secret court order issued in April requires Verizon to hand over all call records on an "ongoing, daily basis."
The document obtained by the Guardian shows that a secret FISA Court granted the FBI authority to collect three month of Verizon data, including telephone numbers, duration of calls, location data, and the times that calls were made. The court order did not grant the FBI authority to listen to conversations, and it's unclear as to whether text messages were also intercepted.
The court order applies to Verizon, and bars the company from informing customers about the information request. It's unclear whether any other phone carriers are handing over similar data, or whether this three-month request was part of an ongoing process, or a one-time event.
According to the Guardian, the document may explain two years of ominous warnings by U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, who have warned about the government spying on Americans. Last year, those two senators sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, writing, "there is now a significant gap between what most Americans think the law allows and what the government secretly claims the law allows."
The sweeping request for information is reminiscent of the policies of President George W. Bush. It's also the first top-secret document to confirm that the Obama Administration is continuing to spy on Americans.
Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program weekdays 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.
So many strange and not so wonderful things going on in the country of ours. Racists hating on an interracial Cheerios commercial, a judge (federal, no less) in Texas saying blacks and Latinos are predisposed to violent crime, government making Verizon give up all its phone records, and that's just for openers. How about this one? The Department of Homeland Security says a behavior detection program used by some managers and screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport to engage in racial profiling didn't even work at identifying potential terrorists. That, of course, was its primary function.
The Inspector General's Office of DHS is already looking into the racial profiling allegations, which go back to 2008-09. Yet the galling thing about this report is that DHS spent a whopping $878 million dollars on this program from 2007-12. The report says the Transportation Security Administration was essentially clueless about training, finance, and effectiveness when it came to this program, named the Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT.
And what did air passengers get for this nearly billion dollar program? Racial profiling, that's what. The SPOT program was supposed to teach screeners to recognize sweating, fidgeting, avoidance of eye contact, and such as possible reasons to flag a passenger. What ended up happening was some, not all screeners and their bosses started flagging Latino passengers in an effort to make the program look effective.
Despite this complete waste of money, the SPOT program won't be eliminated. It simply won't be expended beyond its current 2800 employees nationwide. Since 9/11/2001, I've talked to a fair number of security experts who say what most passengers experience in then nation's airport checkpoints isn't really about passenger safety at all. They call it "security theater", meaning it's meant to put riders' minds at ease.
Would you like your theater with or without racial profiling?
It seems that everybody wants to know what's been going on at the NSA. Everybody, that is, except for 53 US Senators. Last week Senators were given a briefing by high-ranking intelligence officials about the surveillance programs. Only 47...
Tea Party senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) says that "restoring faith in government" is "the wrong solution." Well then by all means, keep talking, Senator. Instead, Johnson says "we need to engender that healthy distrust, that healthy...
Senator Elizabeth Warren is fighting hard for government transparency, and it has nothing to do with the NSA. On Thursday, Senator Warren sent a letter to President Obama's U.S. trade negotiations nominee, calling on the Administration to...
While signing a Merry Christmas bill in June, legalizing usage of phrases like 'Merry Christmas' on school property, Texas Governor Rick Perry took the opportunity to appeal to his evangelical base. "I'm proud we are standing up for...
The Supreme Court ruled that human genes cannot be patented, because they are a product of nature. However, the offered a compromise which allowed synthetic, complementary DNA, known as cDNA, to be protected by patent law, because it is not...
Before last week, very few people knew the name Edward Snowden. Not the case now. It seems he's either a hero or traitor, depending on who you talk to and their political ideology. No matter what you think of him, however, we owe him a...
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives will do anything to avoid getting any actual work done. As if 37 votes to repeal Obamacare didn't waste enough taxpayer time and money, the House GOP has decided to vote on a...
We need to have a debate over surveillance. Even more, we need to have a debate over exactly who is doing the surveilling. Government surveillance can be worrisome, but it's much more worrisome when the surveillance is being done by private...
Today, the United States Senate will begin debate on the so-called comprehensive immigration plan. Senators will consider the overall legislation, and dozens of amendments, before a final vote can be reached. The debate is likely to last...
Is Edward Snowden a whistleblower or a leaker? This story still has a lot of gray areas. For now, he's something like a whistle-leaker. To some people, Snowden is a hero, to others he is a traitor. To most Americans, he's the guy whose face in...
