Snowden Sought Booz Allen Job to Gather Evidence on NSA Surveillance from the South China Morning Post [from Hong Kong]
"Fugitive whistle-blower reveals for first time he took job at US government contractor with the sole aim of collecting proof of spying activities."
Edward Snowden and the Strongmen Who Love Him (Michael Moynihan) from the Daily Beast
"The notorious leaker slams America for its lack of transparency and sham democracy—then takes shelter with our undemocratic enemies. Michael Moynihan on the leaker’s fatal flaw."
Lost Generations? Wealth Building among Young Americans from the Urban Institute
"Despite the Great Recession and slow recovery, the American dream of working hard, saving more, and becoming wealthier than one's parents holds true for many. Unless you're under 40. Stagnant wages, diminishing job opportunities, and lost home values may be painting a vastly different future for Gen X and Gen Y."
IRS Targeted Progressive Groups, Too, Documents Reveal (Sam Stein) from the Huffington Post
"Republicans in particular argued the finding proved the IRS was trying to tip the scales of the election during the heat of the campaign. Now it appears the agency's BOLOs were applied to organizations across the ideological spectrum."
Pinch me if I'm missing something -- but if the groups from across the ideological spectrum were targeted -- then where's the scandal!?
Ah, looks like it's ... disappearing!
The IRS Non-Scandal ‘Scandal’ (Beverly Bandler) from the Daily Banter via the Daily Beast
"The Internal Revenue “scandal” has turned out not to be a scandal. ... Even the mainstream media – after much initial sloppy, knee-jerk reporting – finally realized that they and the American public were being played by the Republican Party."
Mitch McConnell Realizes IRS Scandal Is Over (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
"Mitch McConnell delivered a speech today at the American Enterprise Institute to officially signal that the IRS scandal has entered its post-fact phase. ... McConnell’s speech is an attempt to reframe the issue in a way that it can survive the utter absence of incriminating facts."
The Obama IRS Scandal Retreats to the Fever Swamps (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"GOP scandal overreach really did produce a media backlash of sorts, with the press doing a good job of picking apart the various stories and separating the scandal wheat from the chaff. (Those who remember the 1990s should be heartened by what we’ve seen. So far, at least.)"
House GOP Must Do the Math to Avoid the Red Faces (David Hawkings) from Roll Call
"Forgetting this one lesson next time, on the immigration bill, will almost surely prove fatal to the most sweeping domestic policy overhaul of this decade. It will very likely lead to the dismissal of all three men at the helm of the majority caucus. And it could well poison the Republican Party for years in the eyes of the nation's fastest-expanding demographic group."
Immigration Reform Foes Down to Just One Argument (Jay Bookman) from the Atlanta Journal Constitution
"If you oppose the Senate bill, even after all this, you oppose it because you oppose a path to legitimacy for the 11 million or so illegal immigrants in this country. Period. If you oppose the Senate bill, you cast your lot with Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin and other hardliners who offer no solution to the problem other than keeping those people in the shadows as a permanent underclass for the rest of their lives."
The Senate GOP’s Primary Problem (Charlie Cook) from the National Journal
"As both parties prepare for 2014, primaries may again threaten the Republicans’ ability to win a majority."
When Journalists Attack (Jon Favreau) from the Daily Beast
"With its rush to compare Obama to Nixon and to overhype any and all scandals, the media is ruining America’s ability to engage in nuanced debate, says Jon Favreau."
Trump's Iowa Trip Sparks Speculation on Presidential Bid from the Des Moines Register
"Two-time-almost-but-not-quite presidential candidate Donald Trump will make his very first trip to Iowa in August to speak to religious conservative activists sizing up a lineup of possible 2016 candidates."
PERFECT!! The more clowns the merrier!!
NAVAL HISTORY NUGGET!!
Mahan, the Forgotten Grand Strategist (Benjamin Armstrong) from National Interest
"Over a hundred years ago there was a strategist, historian and former naval officer who recognized and wrote on these subjects. He developed U.S. strategic approaches to difficult times and laid the foundation for what some have termed “The American Century.” Today, that thinker is all but forgotten in strategic discussions of modern day challenges. Yet the work of Alfred Thayer Mahan is a relevant source and should be considered in realist solutions for twenty-first century international relations."
I mention this guy all the time in many of my courses.
HOLLYWOOD MOVIE NUGGET!!
Jim Carrey’s Rant Against ‘Kick-Ass 2’ and 13 Other Stars Who Hate Their Own Films from the Daily Beast
"Jim Carrey ripped his upcoming film Kick-Ass 2. From Clooney to Theron, stars who hate their own movies."
Interesting. Virtually none of them come right out and say: "Yeah, I did that dog of a film for the money!"
PAULA DEEN NUGGETS!!
Usually I avoid commenting on the day-in-and-day-out nutiness that comes out of the mouths of cultural figures such as Paula Deen. However, today we have two VERY INTERESTING, thoughtful, diametrically opposed views on Paula Deen's travails -- each of which I find quite compelling.
Paula’s Worst Ingredients (Frank Bruni) from the New York Times
"... people can change, growing past wrongful ways in the name of what’s right. We pass new laws. We adopt new language. That’s the recipe for progress: putting justice ahead of habit, principle over precedent. It’s not one that’s been mastered by Deen, whose worst ingredient isn’t corn syrup or Crisco but willful obtuseness."
In Defense of Paula Deen (Charles C. W. Cooke) from National Journal
"According to the New York Times, in the course of denying that she had “told racial jokes,” Deen, stated that “most jokes” are about Jews, gay people, black people and “rednecks.” “I can’t, myself, determine what offends another person,” she said. Indeed, she cannot. Nor can I, and nor can you. Therein lies the problem with elevating “offense” above all considerations."
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