This and That (short-ish version)

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It was pretty flippin’ delicious watching the Twitter meltdown after this:

Jeffrey Toobin: Edward Snowden Is No Hero

Edward Snowden, a twenty-nine-year-old former C.I.A. employee and current government contractor, has leaked news of National Security Agency programs that collect vast amounts of information about the telephone calls made by millions of Americans, as well as e-mails and other files of foreign targets and their American connections. For this, some, including my colleague John Cassidy, are hailing him as a hero and a whistle-blower. He is neither. He is, rather, a grandiose narcissist who deserves to be in prison.

…. he describes himself as appalled by the government he served … what, one wonders, did Snowden think the N.S.A. did? ….

…. he wasn’t blowing the whistle on anything illegal; he was exposing something that failed to meet his own standards of propriety. The question, of course, is whether the government can function when all of its employees (and contractors) can take it upon themselves to sabotage the programs they don’t like. That’s what Snowden has done.

More here

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@PeteSouza: Photo of Pres Obama w Alan Krueger, chair of CEA, trailed by just-nominated chair Jason Furman and his family

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@VP: VP ceremonially swears in @ErnestMoniz as Sec. of @ENERGY in the Roosevelt Room of the @whitehouse

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Newsie stuff in the morning – chat away.

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PS Happy birthday Sasha …..