Night owl chat – new composer Monday

Well, new composer to ME. His name is Michael Gandolfi, and I’ve been listening to his music non-stop today.

Vientos y Tangos

chat away – brave sir gigi

And:

Greenwald: "Whether he ends up in the hands of Castro or whatever, it doesn't really make a difference." Done, done, on to the next one.

—
Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) June 25, 2013

This is your pre-night owl chat, um, chat.

Chat Away

@Lawrence: A lot of kids in Malawi have only 1 shirt but no kid in the world is prouder of a shirt than this one.

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Schedule for trip here

President Obama Speaks at an Immigration Reform Roundtable

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"Scandals" falling apart. Immigration moving apace. Big leadership moment on climate tomorrow. POTUS steady throughout. DC CW off again.

— David Plouffe (@davidplouffe) June 24, 2013

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Will catch up with the news in the morning’s R&S, meanwhile: chat away

chat away – questions

Crossposted on The Peoples View.

The biggest news of the day is the confirmation by the South China Morning Post that Edward Snowden went after the NSA job with the express purpose of accessing and leaking US security secrets. He has gone from “whistleblower”—which he never was—to pretty much of a spy and traitor.

Now he’s holed up in Russia, where it’s quite certain that the FSB is pumping him dry, at least as dry as Chinese intelligence did. And his whirlwind tour of quasi-democracies and outright dictatorships puts paid to the idea that he’s a starry-eyed defender of democratic ideals.

‘Snowden is a Spy’

Michael Tomasky: Snowden Is a Spy

If this South China Morning Post story is right, Edward Snowden isn’t admirable in the least and is nothing more than a spy:

Edward Snowden secured a job with a US government contractor for one reason alone – to obtain evidence on Washington’s cyberspying networks….

That’s a spy. Period……

A jerk. But more importantly, a run-of-the-mill lawbreaker. The “whistleblower” case was always a little bit dodgy. Whistleblowers expose criminal acts. He just didn’t like his country’s policy. That’s fine. Millions agree with him. But we can’t live in a world where citizens are allowed to do what he’s done without repercussion.

Full post here

Oh my…..

EXCLUSIVE: Snowden sought Booz Allen job to gather evidence on NSA surveillance http://t.co/ktnsUvrvYX

— Steve Weinstein (@steveweinstein) June 24, 2013

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Remember my screen cap of @ggreenwald Now Snowden’s job at Booz admission underscores timeline’s importance. pic.twitter.com/z8NwnYDVBt

— Wieland (@lawscribe) June 24, 2013

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Why did Snowden take the job at Booz Allen? http://t.co/iDZsY0ISFR

— Smartypants (@Smartypants32) June 24, 2013

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So if you decide in advance to break the law . . . you’re definitely not a whistleblower: http://t.co/1I61cEJhnR

— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) June 24, 2013

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Today at the Supreme Court

Steve Benen: High court largely sidesteps affirmative action case in 7-1 ruling

One of the four biggest cases of the current Supreme Court term deals with the constitutionality of affirmative action in a case called Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. The ruling came down this morning, and in a 7-1 decision, the high court majority sent the case back to the lower court to be heard again.

More here

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NBC: Supreme Court raises bar for affirmative action in college admissions

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed affirmative action to survive in college admissions but imposed a tough legal standard, ruling that schools must prove there are “no workable race-neutral alternatives” to achieve diversity on campus.

While the ruling was not a sweeping pronouncement on the future of affirmative action, it amounts to a warning to colleges nationwide that the courts will treat race-conscious admissions policies with a high degree of skepticism.

More here

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Rise and Shine

Random Pic: President Obama talks with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew outside the Oval Office, May 1, 2013 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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Today:

11:45: The President meets with Secretary of the Treasury Lew

12:0: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney

2:0: The President meets with CEOs, business owners and entrepreneurs to discuss the importance of commonsense immigration reform

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NYT: Within days, the Supreme Court is expected to issue a series of decisions that could transform three fundamental social institutions: marriage, education and voting.

The extraordinary run of blockbuster rulings due in the space of a single week will also reshape the meaning of legal equality and help define for decades to come one of the Constitution’s grandest commands: “the equal protection of the laws.”

If those words require only equal treatment from the government, the rulings are likely to be a mixed bag that will delight and disappoint liberals and conservatives in equal measure. Under that approach, same-sex couples who want to marry would be better off at the end of the term, while blacks and Hispanics could find it harder to get into college and to vote.

More here

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SCOTUS Blog: On Monday, June 24, we will begin live blogging at 9 a.m. ET.

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Michael Tomasky: Today begins one of the biggest weeks in the Supreme Court’s recent history. Certainly the biggest since it decided on Obamacare almost exactly a year ago, and I would say even bigger, because while that was a huge deal in a news sense, these decisions will drill right into the muscle and bone of our competing constitutional theories in this country—whether the Constitution is a living document that permits judges to use it to reach conclusions about changing social morality (the liberal view), or whether it should do no such thing and judges should never think about “outcomes” (the conservative one). The decisions should certainly focus liberals’ minds on what a crucial role the Court plays in shaping our lives, and the fact that we have four justices, two on each side, age 75 or older is a reminder of how the next president may well shape the nature and size of the Court’s majority for at least a generation to come, maybe two.

More here

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Rep Thompson hangs the coathanger on the mike. Bloody awesome. #HB60 pic.twitter.com/poq3Sutaas

— Beck Wise (@wisebeck) June 24, 2013

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Time: Republicans used their majority to cut short debate and give preliminary approval early Monday to some of the toughest abortion restrictions in the country as time was running out on the Texas Legislature’s special session.

Many members of the conservative majority had flyers on their desks that read “Psalm 139:13-14,” which reads in part, “You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Democrats gained strength from more than 800 demonstrators who packed the hallways of the Capitol carrying signs reading, “Stop the War on Women” to oppose Senate Bill 5. The measure would ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, require doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and limit abortions to surgical centers.

More here – and more at ThinkProgress

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@ReignOfApril As POTUS says, it will be tough and the climb steep, but we will get there. OFA team is down here & I don’t bet against them.

— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) June 24, 2013

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y’all keep making jokes at Texas’s expense. when we start to go blue in 2014, line of apology for kissing my Texas feminist ass forms left.

— Kat, Holy Soap (@meadowgirl) June 24, 2013

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i care about the NSA, but #reprorights are under assault in this country. since civil libertarians are silent, abortion HAS to be my issue.

— Lauren Rankin (@laurenarankin) June 24, 2013

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Excellent:

HealthCare.gov

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Steve Benen: Where in the world is Edward Snowden?” is proving to be a rather complicated question.

….. there was apparently some drama in Moscow’s airport this morning, when there was heavy security surrounding a flight to Havana. Journalists tracking Snowden’s whereabouts quickly bought tickets on the flight, only to discover once they were on board and the doors were shut that he would not be on the plane.

It is, incidentally, a 12-hour flight from Moscow to Havana, which those journalists are apparently taking for no reason. On the other hand, it’ll be a whole lot of frequent-flier miles for them.

….. All of this, by the way, is turning into quite an international media spectacle. The New York Times front-page report on Snowden’s whereabouts this morning featured reporting from ten journalists in five cities on two continents…. Who knew the Snowden story would become a full-employment initiative for reporters?

Full post here

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