June 19, 2013

Here's last night's interview with Charlie Rose

in case it hasn't been already posted. I couldn't figure out which thread to put it in, NSA or Ireland:
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President Barack Obama Sits Down with Charlie Rose 06/17/2013 (FULL INTERVIEW)

President Barack Obama sits down with Charlie Rose for an exclusive interview at the White House. The President shares his thoughts on Iran, Syria, China. NSA leaks, and more.

Published on Jun 17, 2013 - 50 minutes.
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Link borrowed from Uzair's excellent "Is It Because He's Black?" thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3042330

Highlights:

1 - Iran, Syria, and China - first 25 minutes

2 - NSA-gate starts at 25 minutes

3 - A few words from Charlie about Fathers' Day and Ireland, then about 5 minutes of PBO's Belfast speech at the end.

June 18, 2013

Wikileaks released the "hacked" CRU emails, a deed Assange proudly takes credit for here:

June 18, 2013

He's in character at the moment, playing the part of the disappointed Obama supporter

but apparently he's a former male model, read actor, so I suspect his entire backstory including you-know-who is a lot of baloney. I seriously doubt if he knows much more than what he's been coached to say, which is basically Manning was coached to say, and exactly what fake-left luminaries like Hedges say every chance they get:

“I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals and private businesses because it is dangerous,” he wrote in the online Q&A, adding that part of what motivated him to leak the details was his disillusionment with Obama’s failure to live up to some of his 2008 campaign promises.

“Obama’s campaign promises and election gave me faith that he would lead us toward fixing the problems he outlined in his quest for votes. Many Americans felt similarly,” he said. “Unfortunately, shortly after assuming power, he closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge.”

http://www.france24.com/en/20130617-snowden-guardian-nsa-surveillance-obama-cheney-china

Let's see, Paul supporter Snowden was disillusioned by Obama's "human rights violations" at Guantanamo so he slipped classified US intel to the Guardian to splash around the world at politically embarrassing moments like the G8?



Heck yeah, I believe that, you betcha!

June 18, 2013

Thanks, I understand what you're suggesting, and I'm flattered.

And that was post 1,001!

MILESTONE!!! SPEECH!!!!

To all who support the FORWARD agenda of our Democratic President Barack Obama:

June 18, 2013

Just to clarify the dates:

1. Climategate was a row over e-mails hacked from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and released in Nov. 2009, by Wikileaks, fronted by Julian Assange, the result being to sandbag Obama at the international Climate conference in Copenhagen that began on Dec. 7, 2009. Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-Fox1-12

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2. NSA-gate broke out two weeks ago, just before Obama met with new Chinese president Xi Jinging in Sunnylands, near Palm Springs CA, June 7-8, details here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014502822

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3. Russia-gate is a row over NSA spying on then-Russian president Medvedev at the G-20 in London in May 2009, based on docs supposedly leaked by Snowden that appeared in yesterday's Guardian; Putin and Obama met at the G-8 in Belfast today, more here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014510777

June 18, 2013

Obama in Copenhagen: Climategate. Obama in Sunnylands: NSA-gate. Obama in Belfast:

Russia-gate, namely Russian outrage over "leaked" documents published in the UK Guardian on Sunday, the day before Obama and Putin were scheduled to personally discuss Syria at the G8 in Belfast:

This time, we're told, the "leaked" docs were provided by the Guardian's latest super-model whistleblower, a blond choir boy much like the last one, this time with glasses:





Does anyone else smell a rat?

June 17, 2013

Obama arrives in Northern Ireland for G8 summit

Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)



LONDON — US President Barack Obama arrived in Northern Ireland on Monday for the first day of the G8 summit, an AFP reporter on board his plane said.

Obama's Air Force One jet landed at Belfast International Airport outside the capital shortly after 8:35am (0735 GMT). He is due to give a speech in the city centre before meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks. Obama disembarked with his wife Michelle and their two daughters, transferring to a helicopter to fly to the smaller Belfast City Airport near the city centre.

Obama was heading to the Waterfront Hall conference centre to speak to an invited audience of 2,000 mostly young people, touching on Northern Ireland's peace process.

(snip)

Obama visited the Republic of Ireland two years ago but this is his first trip to Northern Ireland, which is in the United Kingdom.





Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ilXzEvAICkEcDLWJKP4tdtkYpTIA?docId=CNG.e3c10e61cf2ceb48f612ada7cc9f43fc.a11

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Kind of a scary place, Belfast. Dublin it isn't but I wish the first family all the luck in the world.

June 16, 2013

Naomi Wolf calls bullshit on the Snowden story

My creeping concern that the NSA leaker is not who he purports to be ...

by Naomi Wolf (Notes) on Friday, June 14, 2013


I hate to do this but I feel obligated to share, as the story unfolds, my creeping concern that the NSA leaker is not who he purports to be, and that the motivations involved in the story may be more complex than they appear to be. . . .

(snip)

b) In the Greenwald video interview, I was concerned about the way Snowden conveys his message. He is not struggling for words, or thinking hard, as even bright, articulate whistleblowers under stress will do. Rather he appears to be transmitting whole paragraphs smoothly, without stumbling. To me this reads as someone who has learned his talking points — again the way that political campaigns train surrogates to transmit talking points.

c) He keeps saying things like, “If you are a journalist and they think you are the transmission point of this info, they will certainly kill you.” Or: “I fully expect to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act.” He also keeps stressing what he will lose: his $200,000 salary, his girlfriend, his house in Hawaii. These are the kinds of messages that the police state would LIKE journalists to take away; a real whistleblower also does not put out potential legal penalties as options, and almost always by this point has a lawyer by his/her side who would PROHIBIT him/her from saying, ‘come get me under the Espionage Act.” Finally in my experience, real whistleblowers are completely focused on their act of public service and trying to manage the jeopardy to themselves and their loved ones; they don’t tend ever to call attention to their own self-sacrifice. That is why they are heroes, among other reasons. . . .

(snip)

e) In stories that intelligence services are advancing (I would call the prostitutes-with-the-secret-service such a story), there are great sexy or sex-related mediagenic visuals that keep being dropped in, to keep media focus on the issue. That very pretty pole-dancing Facebooking girlfriend who appeared for, well, no reason in the media coverage…and who keeps leaking commentary, so her picture can be recycled in the press…really, she happens to pole-dance? . . .

f) Snowden is in Hong Kong, which has close ties to the UK. . . .

(snip)

Again I hate to cast any skepticism on what seems to be a great story of a brave spy coming in from the cold in the service of American freedom. . . .

https://www.facebook.com/notes/naomi-wolf/my-creeping-concern-that-the-nsa-leaker-is-not-who-he-purports-to-be-/10151559239607949
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I don't necessarily agree with Wolf's conclusions, but do I agree with her observation that Snowden is being stage managed and recites talking points that someone has written for him.

June 15, 2013

You trust a man who looks and sounds like a Koch?

Separated at birth?

June 14, 2013

If Greenwald and Snowden are heroes, why aren't they talking about Syria?

Why are they trying to scare up storm over programs launched by Bush-Cheney and cleaned up by Obama at the very moment dubious evidence is being used to push the US into yet another catastrophe in the Middle East? Just yesterday the Obama administration reluctantly made a concession to the drum-beaters to increase military aid to Syrian "rebels," which I was really hoping wouldn't happen:

Isn't trying to prevent US military intervention in a sovereign nation more important than kneecapping Obama at a US-China summit and getting a national scare on about the NSA? Does NSA-gate sound like something a progressive hero would focus attention on at this vital moment? It doesn't to me.