Clinton Email Scandal Falls Apart

Clinton Email Scandal Falls Apart As State Dept. Says There Was No Policy Against Private Email (Jason Easley) from Politicus USA
"The Republican Hillary Clinton email scandal is falling apart as the State Department confirmed that there was no policy against Clinton using private email."

Ending Bulk Data Collection by the NSA

House Approves Bill That Would End NSA Bulk Data Collection from Reuters 
"The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill that would end spy agencies' bulk collections of Americans' telephone data, setting up a potential showdown with the U.S. Senate over the program that expires on June 1."

Outrage in Jordan: Better Late Than Never I Guess

Outrage In Mideast Over ISIS Killing Of Jordanian Pilot from the Associated Press
"The gruesome militant video of the last moments in the life of 26-year-old Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh, whose F-16 crashed in Syria in December during a U.S.-led coalition raid on the extremist group, crossed a line — beyond the beheadings of Western hostages at the hands of Islamic State extremists. From the world's most prestigious seat of Sunni Islam learning, Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb said the IS militants deserve the Quranic punishment of death, crucifixion or the chopping off of their arms for being enemies of God and the Prophet Muhammad."
IT IS ABOUT TIME!!  When were Islamic authorities going to take a stand against the heinous acts of ISIS [and by extension al Qaida, the Taliban, and their ilk]. Now... unfortunately some folks immediately went to the following position: "Jordanian politician Mohammed al-Rousan wept openly on national television as he described watching al-Kaseasbeh's death, saying even people accustomed to violence could not bear to see a man burned alive. Then, his tears turned to rage. "Let's use the same methods as them!" he shouted during the interview with Lebanon's al-Mayadeen TV. "Let's kill their children! Let's kill their women!"" There -- that'll solve ... somthing. -- Nuggetsman

MARTIN LUTHER KING NUGGET [of a sort]!!

Read the letter the FBI sent MLK to try to convince him to kill himself from Vox
"When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech before huge crowds on the National Mall in August 1963, the FBI took notice. "We must mark him now, if we have not done so before, as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this Nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security," FBI domestic intelligence chief William Sullivan wrote in a memo two days later."
For those who are nonchalant about surveylance, this letter's text and the accompanying quotes from FBI files should remind people how dangerous our own government was and can be when we give them a free pass.

House Intelligence Committee's Benghazi Report Torches Conspiracy Theories

House Intelligence Committee's Benghazi Report Torches Conspiracy Theories from the Huffington Post
"Yet another detailed investigation into the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, has refuted claims that there was a coverup or that officials didn't do all they could at the time to save the four Americans killed that night."

The CIA WANTED the Taliban Leaders Released

CIA Chief, White House Chief of Staff Long Argued the Taliban 5 Could Go Free (Josh Rogin) from the Daily Beast
"As far back as 2011, top Obama aides argued privately that five Taliban leaders could be released. Those aides eventually won the day—and the deal for Bowe Bergdahl was struck."

TODAY'S BIG NUGGET: A Manufactured Crisis in Iran?

The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare from Harper's Magazine
Gareth Porter on the true history of Iran’s nuclear program. "Are you saying that the claim of secret work on nuclear weapons is equally fraudulent, and that the Iranians have never had a nuclear-weapons program?  Yes. In Manufactured Crisis, I show that the claim of an Iranian nuclear-weapons program has been based on false history and falsified records. ... According to the worst-case scenarios conjured up by conservative U.S. think tanks and others promoting the myth, Iran has had the same theoretical capacity for breakout — a month or two — since 2010."
Regular readers know that I have been VERY skeptical of the real threat the Iran nuclear program has posed to the US or anyone else.  This author really puts the entire "bomb bomb bomb Iran" crowd on the spot.  We'll see if this book holds up under what promises to be a LOT of challenge.

Snowden Looking to Cop a Plea?

NSA Leaker Snowden Hires 'Well-known Washington Attorney' in the Hopes of Cutting a Plea Deal to Bring Him Back from Moscow from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"One year after National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden retained the services of a well-known Washington defense lawyer in hopes of reaching a plea deal with federal prosecutors, negotiations remain in the early stages with no agreement on the horizon."
Good luck, dude.  You'll NEED it!  I wonder if it actually doesn't work for the White House that Snowden stays in Moscow right now.  The longer he remains "protected" by Putin, the more discredited he becomes.

Waking Up from Bush's 'War on Terror'

What Did We Learn from Abu Ghraib? (Karen Greenberg) from Mother Jones Magazine
"Now, the nation awaits the newest chapter in the torture debate without having any idea whether it will close the book on American torture or open a path of pain and shame into the distant future. No one yet knows whether we will be allowed to awake from the nightmarish and unacceptable world of illegality and obfuscation into which torture and the network of offshore prisons, or "black sites," plunged us all."

FBI HISTORY NUGGET!!

Let’s Break into the FBI! Before Snowden and Manning, there was “1971" from Salon
"Four decades later, lefties who stole secret files and got away with it come clean on a heist that changed history."

Snowden Losing His Halo

Edward Snowden Is Russia's Puppet Now (Benjamin Wittes) from the New Republic
"Any shred of heroism was lost at Putin's press farce. ... Snowden’s appearance on Russian television yesterday in a highly-scripted propaganda stunt for Vladimir Putin does not settle the question of whether he was originally an FSB tool. But it sure does settle the question—at least in my mind—of his role now."

US Trying to Alter Putin's Calculations in Ukraine

Here’s What the CIA Director Was Really Doing in Kiev (Eli Lake & Josh Rogin) from the Daily Beast
"The head of the CIA just made a secretive journey to Ukraine—to do what, he won’t say. But the answer could change the power equation in the hottest of geopolitical hotspots."