“We don’t have a domestic spying program,” Obama told host Jay Leno. “What we do have is some mechanisms that can track a phone number or an email address that is connected to a terrorist attack. That information is useful.”
That was not the only controversy the President addressed last night.
The President also discussed relations with Russia, his lunch with Hillary, getting older, and the repair of his relationship with John McCain.
I have to say that for the Tonight Show this was a fairly informative and interesting interview. I am not a huge Leno fan but it looked like he did his homework and was good about letting the President answer the questions completely.
I have to say I thought the President was a little evasive, and overly diplomatic, a few times, but overall I think he answered many of the questions that the American people have wanted to hear him address. (But sorry Right Wingers, he did not talk about the Benghazi or IRS "scandals.")
The rest of the interview can be seen here, here, here, and here.
By the way the President just canceled his meeting with Putin this morning which would have taken place during the upcoming G-20 Summit. That kind of makes me think that Obama's feelings about the NSA leaks might be more troubled than he was willing to let on during his interview.
Come on Bitch/RAM, what is taking you so long? Countdown to lunacy begins in 3.2.1, blast off.
ReplyDeleteJay Leno Interview With Lawrence O'Donnell, Political Views, Obama PART 1 & 2 - August 6, 2013
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-wipU0frXE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmGMxxaaIno
President Obama has to be so very careful what he says and how he phrases things...must be a pain in the ass to him. Republicans tear him apart no matter how he responds. And, I'm glad he cancelled the meeting w/Putin, the guy is NOT to be trusted!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the interview -and, I like you, am not a Leno fan. Thought he did a good job though last night! Both of them did.
Thank you, President Obama for being our outstanding POTUS in a sea of muck in D.C. (Congress - doing zero/nothing!)
Well, lookee, lookee. Seems our traitor Eddie is in for a rude awakening. What a tool he is to think he could escape the hand of Putin:
ReplyDeleteRussia Plans To Spy on Its Citizens with Subway SIM Card Trackers
If you thought that the NSA’s motivations for running its PRISM program and gathering metadata about your communications was bad enough, just wait till you see what they’re doing in Russia.
According to a report in the Izvestia newspaper, one of Russia’s most widely read news publications, the Moscow Metro Police have just announced a plan to install ‘equipment’ at all subway stations in the city, which are capable of reading everything on a mobile phone’s SIM card from a distance of about twenty feet. Izvestia goes on to explain that the machines will be used alongside time stamped CCTV cameras so that police can track mobile devices which have been reported as stolen. The system will alert the cops as soon as it located a stolen SIM device passing by one of its trackers.
Now you might think such a measure would be illegal (even Russia has some data protection laws), but apparently the cops can get away with it due to a loophole. While tracking people is illegal without a warrant, it’s not illegal to track property that belongs to someone else – which means that the carrier-owned SIM card in your phone is fair game for the Russian cops.
Izvestia doesn’t reveal the exact nature of the technology that Moscow’s Metro police will be using to track mobile phones, but Ars Technica suggests that the device is most likely to be something known as an “IMSI catcher,” or “Stingray”, which works by tricking SIMs into thinking its a legitimate mobile phone tower, thereby allowing it to read its unique International Mobile Subscriber Identity code, a unique 15-digit number used to distinguish each SIM card in existence. These devices, which have been around for a number of years now, are said to be one of the easiest ways of tracking phone calls being made in a given area, and are believed to be capable of intercepting calls as well.
If Russia’s cops were genuinely interested in tracking stolen mobile phones and nothing else, this plan probably wouldn’t be such a bad thing. But given that Russia is, well, Russia, the plans have come under immediate suspicion from a number of privacy activists.
Izvestia states that “According to experts, the devices can be used more widely to follow all passengers without exception,” and that claim is sure to worry anyone who gives a damn about their digital privacy.
http://siliconangle.com/blog/2013/07/30/russia-plans-to-spy-on-its-citizens-with-subway-sim-card-trackers/
I don't remember the source, but I believe that I read a few days ago that PBO would not meet with Putin during the G20 if Snowden were offered assylum in Russia. If anyone recalls that or otherwise, please pass it on. It might've been just an excuse for now anyway to give a little time for things to thaw from their last frosty meeting. Remember those pics? They both looked like they were constipated and that their dog had died or whatnot.
ReplyDeleteForgive me, but I believe that's assholesylum--properly speaking.
DeleteThat kind of makes me think that Obama's feelings about the NSA leaks might be more troubling than he was willing to let on during his interview.
ReplyDeleteI think you meant "troubled"? Saying that his feelings (to the extent that he revealed them) are "troubling" implies that we should be troubled by them. Of course, that could be what you meant. Just asking.
I did mean troubled so now I have changed it. Feel better?
DeleteWhat I find "troubling" is that everybody is always correcting my grammar and spelling.
I'm doing the best I can after all with what limited intellectual resources are at my disposal.
After all if I had actual talent I would be too busy to write this blog.
(Just kidding, thanks. No really.)
Gryphen, it isn't all that hard to fix. Do you ever use Spell check?
DeleteSeems that when you have a public platform that you would want to do whatever you can to make it appear as intelligent and carefully cared for as possible. It does a huge disservice to you and to how you are represented in the blog world to not pay close attention to these details. People make judgements on how language is used, right her on this blog commenters often point out the ignorance of right wing postings on Baldy's Facebook page as proof of this.
Just a little extra care is all that's needed. Your readers do you a huge service by keeping you on your toes, so stop complaining.
So what you are saying is that you could not detect my tongue in my check from your side of the internet?
DeleteDear 11:31 --
Delete"Judgment" is spelled without a middle "e" in America.
In England, it's spelled "judgement."
"Just a little extra care is all that's needed...."
11:31 AM wrote: Do you ever use Spell check?
DeleteMy query related to his word choice, not spelling. I've rarely seen Gryphen write a word that isn't correctly spelled. In this case, both "troubled" and "troubling" would pass spell check, and either would be perfectly grammatical, and meaningful, here—just with rather different meanings.
11:31 anon practice what you preach:
Delete" People make judgements on how language is used, right her on this blog"
HERE!
“We don’t have a domestic spying program,”
ReplyDeleteOh, great, so we can keep the Patriot Act, nothing to see here, move along.
We already know that they are recording conversations ... why is this NOT a Domestic Spying Program?
ReplyDeleteOh, yes. They'll call it something else, but it will amount to the same thing. Semantics, ladies and gentlemen.
They can only record conversations with a WARRANT, dummy. Even Glenn Greenwald has acknowledged this, but this important fact is always purposely obscured by his hyperbole!
DeleteSo far, your hero Edweird Snowjob hasn't leaked any evidence that the Obama administration has recorded conversations without a warrant. Eric Holder put a stop to that in 2009, when the Obama administration took over. In fact, Edward Snowden hasn't exposed any crime!
P.S.: Collecting meta-data is not "recording conversations." But, let's pretend it is, anyway. Moron.
"Semantics, ladies and gentleman."
If you think that since the Patriot act...they aren't listening...I have a bridge to sell you in Alaska...Just saying...!!!!!
Delete@12 03!
DeleteYou took the words right out of my mouth! People in the media keep "joking" about Obama listening in on us when literally -- LITERALLY -- all snowden exposed was that they are keeping track of phone calls and Internet traffic but in a way that is really no different than, like, the way that corporations collect data for marketing. People are totally exaggerating what's happening.
We need a lottery to pick the time Palin launches her predictable attack on the cancelled meeting via FB or Twitter.
ReplyDeleteThe right wing whacko birds and arm chair presidents will be up in arms.
As soon as Palin gets her talking points from Limbaugh , she will launch.
BTW- My sane Republican friends ask that we don't refer to the crazies as
right " wing ".
A wing implies a large building.
The title for these mental defectives is not wing , but, the right outhouse
or the right septic tank.
Limbaugh , speaking from the right sewer , has been very busy
trashing the Embassy threats
as nonsense ,
so he may not have written Palin's script on Putin , yet.
Limbaugh and the increasingly unhinged Rep Louis Gohmert have been
calling the US Embassy employees
and Marine guards in Yemen and elsewhere
" cowards " for evacuating .
Gohmert lets the Congressional Post Office open his mail
and has the Capitol Police guard him.
Limbaugh hides behind his security guards and highly secure gated compound.
These two wimps have the nerve
to demand that men , women and the military guards
stay put in a volatile Middle East country and be attacked.
"These two wimps have the nerve
Deleteto demand that men , women and the military guards stay put in a volatile Middle East country and be attacked."
Of course!!!! That way, they will be able to blame Obama, Hillary, and John Kerry for the attacks, a la Benghazi. Wash, Rinse Priebus, and Repeat.
Anonymous11:18 AM
DeleteWe need a lottery to pick the time Palin launches her predictable attack on the cancelled meeting via FB or Twitter.
*****
Ya, b/c you know..."uh, ummm when Putin rears his head...ummm, where does he go? Alasssska"!
“We have reached the conclusion that there is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia to hold a U.S.-Russia Summit in early September,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteThe president and his top advisers agreed, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told The Associated Press. “It was the unanimous view of the president and his national security team that a summit did not make sense in the current environment,” Rhodes said.
Obama said in an interview Tuesday that he was “disappointed” by the Russian government’s decision to grant a one-year asylum to Snowden, the former national security contractor who released classified documents and that Putin’s move reflected lingering tensions.
“There have been times where they slip back into Cold War thinking and a Cold War mentality,” he said on “The Tonight Show.” “And what I consistently say to them, and what I say to President Putin, is that’s the past and we’ve got to think about the future, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to cooperate more effectively than we do.”
“A lot of what’s been going on hasn’t been major breaks in the relationship,” but smaller tiffs, the president added. Despite that, he said, “there’s still a lot of business that we can do with them.”
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters Wednesday that the Kremlin was disappointed by the White House’s decision, which he said was “clearly linked” to granting asylum to Snowden, according to the AP. Russia has contended that it had no choice but to take in Snowden, since the United States and Russia don’t share an extradition agreement.
The president’s move, Ushakov said, reflects Washington’s struggles to build a relationship with Russia on an “equal basis.” Still, he said, the Kremlin will continue working with the Obama administration, and the invitation for the president to meet with Putin still stands.
Obama will still travel to Russia in September for the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg but does not plan to have a one-on-one meeting with Putin there.
Rather than framing the White House’s move as an outright cancellation, Carney said the administration has “informed the Russian government that we believe it would be more constructive to postpone the summit until we have more results from our shared agenda.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/obama-putin-meeting-canceled-edward-snowden-nsa-95285.html?hp=t2_3
Ugh. Leno.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama visits 'The Tonight Show'
ReplyDelete"The Tonight Show" host Jay Leno discusses his interview with President Obama with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell.
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-last-word/52690950
For those who need a stupid Sarah fix (since she's the head cheerleader for the Wingnut Nutters antiObama league), here it is:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/08/sarah-palin-was-sort-right-one-thing-2008/68096/
"That kind of makes me think that Obama's feelings about the NSA leaks might be more troubling than he was willing to let on during his interview."
ReplyDeleteWhat's troubling about his feelings?
I don’t find his feelings troubling at all. Should Barack Obama be happy that Edward Snowden illegally leaked classified documents, and fled to Russia, so Russia could use Edward Snowden as a political pawn to embarrass the U.S.? There are laws to protect whistle-blowers. If Edward Snowden thought something was wrong, he could have released the documents in a way in which he would have been protected by whistle-blower laws. Plus, so far, Edward Snowden hasn’t exposed any crime, or any wrongdoing. All he did was expose a government program. According to whistle-blower laws, Edward Snowden is not a whistle-blower.
But instead, Edward Snowden chose to break the law, and tell the whole world, including our enemies, and then take off. The way in Edward Snowden chose to leak the classified documents, and then flee the country, makes his motives suspect. I find Edward Snowden’s actions, and motives more troubling. Now there are reports that Edward Snowden is going to work for Russia’s own more intrusive spy agency. The fact that Edward Snowden is taking another job spying on people in Russia, and that he hasn’t protested about the way Vladimir Putin treats his own people, tells me that Edward Snowden’s real motive was never about protecting civil liberties.
If it really bothered President Obama, he would have cancelled the G-20 summit, and he could have done something much worse. At first people thought President Obama would try to move the G-20 summit, or simply not attend. Instead, all the president basically did was snub a photo-op with Vladimir Putin. Nothing earth-shattering, here. But, much a deserved personal slap in the face to Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin is so vein, and arrogant it will probably be a blow to his ego. The G-20 summit meeting is much more important, than the one-on-one meeting with Vladimir Putin. The fact that President Obama didn't try to mess with the G-20 summit is evidence that Edward Snowden isn't as important as he thinks he is.
And, why not snub Vladimir Putin for a change? Vladimir Putin, and others snub President Obama, all the time. People snub President Obama all the time, and treat him terribly, and then his critics, and the media laugh their asses off, and call him weak.
Now when the uppity, blackity-black president gets a backbone, and snubs a Russian dictator, people are shocked, and appalled! I would rather have a "weak" president who cancels a photo-op with a vain dictator, than some wing-nut president who probably would have started WW3 over Edward Snowden.
VERY well stated. Thank you.
DeleteGov. Jan Brewer gives Obama warmer welcome
ReplyDeleteA different looking Jan Brewer greets President Obama on a tarmac in Phoenix as the President begins his West Coast tour. MSNBC's Krystal Ball, Ari Melber, and Lawrence O'Donnell talk about what it really meant.
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-last-word/52691089
Obama is a great liar
ReplyDeleteNow that his Ramadan Holidays are over
He will be redouble his efforts
In encouraging Muslim domination of the world
Including the USA
Oh god, I pity the small little world that you live in. I know you're just a troll, but I truly feel sorry that you could be so mired in ignorance and hate and fear. Life could be so much better if you just open your eyes to truth and reality.
DeleteThere is nothing original about Sarah's book. There are a whole bunch of offerings on Amazon titled, "Glad Tidings of Great Joy." Sarah's book uses "and" instead of "of." Big difference. There is a movie titled, "The Heart of Christmas." For all the money that Sarah pays for ghost writers, you would think that they could come up with something a little more original. Sarah is operating just this side of plagiarism.
ReplyDeleteThat explains it. I saw the picture and wondered at the difference from the last time.
ReplyDelete