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.
But this real-time John Le Carre novel begs several questions:
How did Snowden get by background screening to get a job at Booz Allen?
How did Snowden even get past screening with his paltry CV?
Why did Booz Allen contract him for sensitive intelligence work?
What political strings were pulled to get Snowden that job, and who pulled them.
Who benefits from secrets being spilled to the Chinese and Russians?
Who’s the patsy? Snowden? Greenwald? Or are they both quite aware of what they did?
We’re going to be entering the looking glass on this one. If this is in fact an attempt to somehow hurt or even bring down the Obama administration, it’s at best a ham-handed affair, and at worst gives the president the opportunity to once more burnish his national security bona fides. High school dropouts with spurious claims of having taken “computer courses” do not—or at least should not—gain access to the keys of the security kingdom.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist; usually the simplest explanation is the right one. And I’m not going to speculate on these still-developing events with my theories. To be frank, I have none, just questions. But the fallout of this escapade will last all summer. I’m quite curious to see how this plays out, and how the administration works to bring Snowden and any accomplices / enablers to justice.
This is your “spy who came in from the cold” open thread.
The Obama Diary 
hey!!
Snowden is a spy, and GG is arrogant.
Congrats, ison!
GG is more than arrogant. He’s a loathsome bigot and charlatan. Makes my skin crawl.
And as Derbingle pointed out this morning, he’s Huntley to Chris Hayes’ Brinkley (NBC evening news anchor duo in the 1960s).
The Snowden affair could finish Chris Hayes. He is coming unhinged.
LOL – but a gross insult to two pretty good anchors and reporters. I’d say it’s more Abbot to Costello though their work was intentionally funny where Hayes and GG are not. To self important by half.
And Ison is in the house! Hey, it’s good to see you!
Should have said in the ‘village’, but you know what I mean.
Hey VC, I check in every now and then. Good to see you holdin’ it down…
Not holding well today, at all, Ison. I don’t think I have completed a single thread before being pulled along, all out of breath, to the next! 🙄 I trust you and your young man are fine and all planned for summer with lots to do? This looks like it’s going to be another hot, hazy summer with a lot of political hype (as usual?).
What really upsets me about this whole GG/Snowden thing is the fact that intelligent folks are acting like this is something new and just started under PBO. I am really disappointed in Randi Rhodes’ attitude on this. she just said that she is more interested in what the NSA is doing instead of the folks who are leaking, I. E. GG and Snowden. I think both are important for the credibility of the sources.
Sorry, but Rhodes is being disingenuous here. She’s moving the goalposts to fit her own agenda. She suddenly doesn’t care about motives or accuracy of the leakers, but she cares so deeply about what the NSA is doing – even though that info has been out there for more than FIVE years now?
Sorry Rhandi, but I ain’t buying what you’re peddling.
This!!! I am not with her on this one.
Randi really screwed the pooch on this one. She was ‘outraged’ that GG motives were questioned by David Gregory on Meet the Press.
Since when did ‘journalist’ become immune to questions about how they operate?
I was a little shocked by her attitude. She always talks about ‘the facts’. She doesn’t know the answer to the question, because GG never answered it. Whenever he is cornered, he lashes out with some self-righteous, and very personal attack.
COS, it really is disappointing that otherwise reasonable people are allowing GG and his backers to distract them. Nothing has been revealed about NSA’s practices that wasn’t already widely known. It’s just that people refused to review, read or listen at the time and so they’re just waking up to old news. What is new news right now is a deliberate effort by persons or organizations still unknown to undermine the Obama administration and put the US at risk around the world. The president has already opened up a discussion about the balance between privacy and security. If our desire for privacy allowed a major terrorist attack to occur on US soil, PBO would be the first to be blamed. Is that the goal? No one knows because the players are still in the background and the media is dutifully concentrating on the bleating idiot in Moscow.
Say it again in all caps!
Congrats Ison!! My Kindle fire moving more like a sizzle than a fire, lol !
Congrats on #1 ison!
2nd
Just a little place holder until Chips gets done with her This and That.
It’s quite a fine post, LL, and thanks for sharing your perspective. CNN is “covering” it with a special report, but … well, you know … gag. I’d rather read what you have to say.
We want answers!! I hope they depose Greenwald.
WTH? (Hinman is a producer on Jake Tapper’s CNN show):
We can’t let GG get away with his f**king lies!
So want him to go down, so much more than the pathetic paranoid pawn #Snowden.
Hahahahahaa. That is the best piece of BS, I’ve read all day.
Why can’t this get publicity though? We only hear about how the big bad IRS victimized the poor T’Baggers. The media needs to reveal all the facts and stop presenting this story as a scandal.
Of course, pk, targeting progressives doesn’t fit the narrative, so you’ll never hear about it. I see Issa is still bleating. What a bore he is.
So why did it take so long for these little tidbits about the screening to come out? It pretty much discredits the claim that only conservative groups were targeted.
Oh yeah… Issa was being selective of the facts that were presented.
This is why I’m steamed today. 6 weeks later we get a verifiable phrase that could have shut this whole mess down? WTH, Dems.
For all you know, “Occupy” was funded by the same groups that funded the “Tea Party.”
This requires serious re-tweeting:
So they scrutinized left wing groups seeking tax exemption too. Who knew? Seems like they treated the left and right evenhandedly.
Can you believe that this EXACT phrase is first coming out now?
Sometimes I am astounded at Democrats. Yes, we heard the stats, yada yada. But the statement – these words were used to scrutinize liberal-leaning groups. This whole damn mess would have evaporated a whole lot faster.
Seriously, PBO, I wish you hadn’t jumped on the outrage bandwagon. THIS is the statement that should have been made at the outset of this poutrage.
oh no! they were targeting organizations with political language in their application documents! but, of course, political groups are not eligible for the exemption applied for. hmmm…maybe this was just really good use of technology to save taxpayer money, and secure revenues from entities ineligible for exemptions? ya think??!
It WAS. It was meant to expedite the process, like any good sorting of priorities would be.
Let’s see: I’m writing a book about basketballs. Let’s so a search for basketballs, and eliminate footballs, tennis balls from the search.
God.
Great analogy.
Ah, Mellesia, Rand Paul, the great Clarence Darrow, who knows all about fine moments in murder trails. Wasn’t he supposed to be an eye doctor? Did he spend his days attending trials?
Seems like it may have been snark? Who knows. It’s all sickening.
Anybody who watched that spectacle knows it was a complete hot mess. Unbelievably inept.
A Must Read: “…Obama’s statecraft in Syria may look less like indecisiveness and more like a Machiavellian strategy that cannot be described in the usual idealistic vocabulary presidents employ to describe their actions on the world stage….Firefighters would call that strategy the “let-it-burn’’ approach….is having a debilitating effect not only on the Assad regime but also on its allies, the clerical regime in Iran and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah….But for now, they are spending down Iran’s dwindling reserves, while bleeding and being weakened in a war that could persist for many more years.”
Interesting take – thank you.
i like, except for the word ‘machiavelian’. that is a negative term, applying to the person, not the strategy. and what pbo has positively done is apply wisdom, patience, and diplomacy to the situation.
Most of the reporting on these matters is superficial. If the media doesn’t know the facts, they fill the gap with speculation.
Why do all these people think they know better, know more the the freaking President of the United States of America? Anything they know is just the tip of a gigantic iceberg, most of which they never know.
They attempt to assume PBO’s motives, mostly in a negative light. They give more credence to leaders in foreign countries , than they do to our own leader.
I am so tired of this bullshit. I trust my President, and I don’t have to justify or qualify that loyalty. Fuck the Emos.
If I could cut and paste your articulation for “fill in the blank issue _____” regarding anything PBO’s administration does I would. These people get paid for page views and ratings…..and 90% of them don’t even know anything about the subject they are *reporting* on….. but it is nice when someone takes the time to attempt the thought process behind complex decisions, and doing so objectively. As the esteemed Bobfr would say…. #TrustBarack
or that every word you write or utter is suspect? yeah, that’s what i thought.
haaaaaaaaaaaa!
Hips don’t lie
http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/303944/slide_303944_2588290_free.gif?1371659144747
Clarence Thomas……Really?
Calling Affirmative Action as a form of Slavery? Since most of the Beneficiaries were White Women……How can Justice Thomas make that claim? Slavery…….people were beaten to death……..tortured…..raped…..etc. Calgon please, for Karma’s sake, take this Fool away…..
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/06/24/justice-thomas-affirmative-action-opinion-compares-it-with-segregation-slavery/
“Calgon please…….” HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Say! Snowden! You think that you are a profile in courage welp NOT! You are a profile in cowardice!
Flipping through channels and see that Chris Matthews is not broadcasting from the studio. Is he one of the journalists stranded in Cuba?
oh, that would be high-larious.
He is in Boston all excited about the Senate race tomorrow. The turn out might be 20% and Markey has at least a 10% lead.
I read the Cuban government requires at least a three day layover for visitors. The journalists will have a fun time in Havana.
Thanks Bill. Didn’t watch long enough to figure out where he was. Should have known it wasn’t a location as amusing as Havana would have been. 🙂
hello Bill….
This low voter turnout really concerns me….we have to do better ….not winning more seats in the Congress is not an option….our very freedom maybe at stake….
I agree. I talked to a politically active friend in Boston today who said he and his wife were not voting tomorrow. I was shocked and disappointed. He said they did not care for Markey and would never vote GOP. There is way too much of that attitude.
I really have to wonder at times if we deserve a democracy.
Many Americans do not.
Sigh, LL. Sigh.
Wow….
This is exactly why we lose important elections. These fair-weather patriots make me sick.
That little sniveling prick Hayes is going to once again shove Greenwald down people’s throats with more BS tonight? Please boycott MSNBC.
reason 10190190191 why Hayes’ ratings are in the toilet:
Dylan Byers @DylanByers2m
Glenn Greenwald will be on “All In With Chris Hayes” tonight #MSNBC
How low do Chris’s ratings have to go before he is let go? They should act as quickly and decisively as the Food Network!
As our own 4morefor44 would say, you can’t compare Hayes to Paula Deen. Food Network DOES have to think about its ratings and its diverse audience; Deen was toxic, and was thus fired. Hayes is there to push a certain political viewpoint. That trumps ratings. The goal is to whipsaw the Democratic base between Obama supporters like Rev. Al, and pretty much the rest of the MSNBC lineup.
Media consolidation: another gift given to us by Bubba Clinton.
I agree with you LL. The issue here is not about ratings, it’s about dividing the DEM base for 2014.
Funny HF, I was thinking the same thing. Democrats had better wake up and stop falling for all of these diversions. I saw a headline yesterday on how Christie is dividing the Democrats. We never hear anything about the lady who is running against him. As soon as he is re-elected, he is going to do more damage. Scott Walker is a prime example. Look at all of the damage he has done since he won the recall election. They had a chance to get rid of him and blew it. It is hard for me to sympathize with the folks in Wisconsin now who are compalining about Scott Walker.
Yup. Telecom bill of 1996 gave the keys (and the profits) to the crazies.
Clintons are only liberal lions when they’re campaigning.
Yep, LL. As you know, some of us have been asking those questions since day 1 😉
Let’s keep asking ….
https://www.youtube.com/user/BuonoForGovernor?feature=watch
Yes We Can
Awesomeee…Thumbs UP!
What a great ad! Factual, calm, intelligent. THINK NJ! I RT’d your version Bobfr.
Yesss….what is this love affair with Christie all about….
Shortsightedness on the part of voters?
Really Glen?
Oh, well then, please accept our apologies Mr. Greenwald.
Yeah. Just because you say so.
Did he vet ANYTHING?
Apparently, Snowball didn’t vet the classified information he Stole, and is giving to foreign governments, who can use the information against us.
LL, as a heartfelt thank you, the greatest penalty EVER!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/video/2013/jun/24/luis-boa-morte-penalty-video
How the hell did I miss that penalty? Epic win!
If I was the GK, I’d have kicked him up the ass!
http://twitter.com/lawscribe/status/349271957319057408
I seem to remember LOD asking Greenwald how he was able to communicate with Snowden for so long without their communications being intercepted. Greenwald bragged about the complex encrypting that allowed their communications to go on for as long as it did.
Seems like he’s now trying to back off some of the bragging he was doing earlier on.
DFD(dog face dana) really irritates me
My brother thinks she looks like a giraffe.
You meant rooster didn’t you? I find her reporting very gossipy. She loves gossip and mess.
She must have irritated John King. After he converted to Judaism for her and having a child together they divorced after less than 4 yours of marriage. I’ll bet it is awkward around the studio.
They were on the same panel yesterday ..
It’s ‘critical’, yet Dana can offer no constructive points to educate citizens. This is all so negative and wrong, IMO.
I heard Hal Sparks say on the Stephanie Miller show that Booze Allen also set up the security system for Saudi Arabia and another country. This is gonna get deep or deeper.
before that he just knew him as ‘deeper, really deep, throat’.
To be honest, I think we can all get off the (unproven) theory that GG had any pull with Booz Allen in order to get Snowden his job. We have plenty of facts on our side – we don’t need conspiracy theories so we look as loony as everyone else.
If there’s evidence, fine. I don’t think GG is anywhere near that powerful with defense contractors, frankly.
🙄 😆 🙄
Too many lies……GG is Not able to keep his stories straight….. 😉
He bragged many days ago. Today, lies and selective amnesia or Cold Calculations to deceive?
BOLO doc shows that in one instance, 176 applicants for 501c4 status used the same address; Rep. Levin has asked Treasury IG Russell George to explain why he omitted the progressive BOLO in his report and testimony, Among targets: groups advocating ACA, medical marijuana, disputed Mid East territories
What I’m about to say may not be immediately popular or even accepted – but I’ll say it anyway. It’s very possible that many of these “progressive” groups, even those that purportedly advocated for “progressive” causes, were in fact funded by conservative sources. I for one, would not be surprised to learn that “Occupy” and many of the “far-left” advocacy groups like the medical marijuana groups,etc were in fact set up to divide the DEM party, creating conflict with PBO and his supporters, and make it easier for Republicans to win in 2012 and in 2014. I don’t mean to engage in too much tinfoilery here, but this is not particularly far-fetched, given some of the stuff we’ve already observed on Twitter (e.g., Unite Blue, various “Democratic” groups, etc, who are by and large RW operatives). That may also explain why the GOP/Tea Party was immediately up in arms about being targeted by the IRS because in fact the ultimate funding source of all these groups was pro-GOP, despite overseeing a multitude of “progressive” and other groups.
As you say, if 176 groups applying all had the same address – that tells you that they’re probably the same entity or closely related. Thus this HAD to have triggered a red flag for the IRS who was simply doing it’s job. So while there was no intent to target conservative groups on the part of the IRS, the end result may have been just that – conservative groups were targeted – even those with “liberal” or “left” sounding names/causes. But the GOP cannot now come out and say that these “progressive” groups were in fact conservative or funded by conservative sources – because that would totally destroy their little gameplan for 2014 and possibly 2016.
That kind of thing seems to happen quite a bit with republicans.
I am so glad that Jon is able to speak (tweet) his mind!
he forgot the rest of the sentence: ‘nothing about your tweet is factually accurate…YOU LYING SACK OF SHHT!!’
Was just about to post this 🙂 RT’d! 🙂
The question to this Ron F is why is he always willing and eagerly to believe and report the worse about pres Obama…..especially coming from a guy who wanted McCain/Palin in the WH? His reporting should be questioned for his Obvious bias. When he writes or is on TV, how come he Never makes that as a declaration of disclosure that the viewers and his audience are owed to be informed.
I am so happy that Favreau does not let this guy get away with his lies.
Yes, seems as though Jon’s being doing that since the day after he left! Love him. He cuts right to the chase and is totally loyal.
*been doing that*
Media weeks later picks up the story we already knew.
Alert: senate votes to advance 30B dollar border enforcement amendment.
Repubs discovered jobs they could create. That, and saving the asses of air traffic controllers.
Now, what about those crumbling water mains throughout the U.S. and our woefully out of date electrical grid, much less crumbling bridges, schools, roads.
I loathe Republicans.
Cruz was in full force before the vote speaking against it.
What was the final Vote count?
Still waiting the final count.
Why does it take 100 Senators an hour to vote and 435 House members only 10 minutes ?
Wonder what they are talking about standing on the floor while waiting? Probably not business.
But we can’t get 10B for an infrastructure bank. Wow. Just Wow.
Here He is…….Directly from the WH YouTube Channel
Jay “Clark Kent” Carney’s presser 6-24-13 😉
Move those goal post pubs!
Here’s POTUS on Immigration
Please, Ms Chips, delete the above video once it’s OK to do so without messing up the order of TOD commenters. So sorry for the duplicate. Thanks.
Here is, knock on wood, the POTUS with a few comments on Immigration and a comment on Snowden 🙂
I give up….I don’t know why I am Not able to post the 4 mins plus video. I am so sorry.
Where is that little fucker? I DEMAND transparency!!!!!!!!!
Being treated to a “debriefing”, former KGB style.
Seems to me that once Snowden’s laptops are in the hands of the Chinese or Russians or whoever, Snowden himself becomes about as important as chewing gum on the underside of a table or later perhaps on the sidewalk. What was the idiot thinking?! He’d be far safer turning himself in quickly even facing a trial.
Hi overseasgranny, where you been hidin’?? I haven’t seen you around. LOL, you are so right regarding his usefulness once he’s turned over his stolen goods.
I’m always here. Maybe not always in the comments but I read every post every day.
Immigration bill just passed the Senate. Now on to a slow death in the House.
They only voted to “end debate ” on the ” Border Surge ” Amendment…..and someone named Coats just wandered in to vote NO,
Ah, I misread my TL. Thanks LInda.
Indiana senator took Bayh spot.
Is she the hostess of a game show ?
Wolf says CNN is waiting for another Aeroflot flight to arrive in Havana to determine if Snowden is aboard.
Is Anderson cooper on location with his tight white tee?
New post:
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/06/24/president-obama-speaks-at-an-immigration-reform-roundtable/
I just discovered this fool Dana Rohrabacher tweeted me today : R U telling these uninformed people to ignore the many prominent Scientist who nix Global Warming Theory?
omg what a knucklehead.