President Obama will deliver his highly anticipated speech on reforms to the National Security Agency on Jan. 17, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Friday.
Carney did not elaborate on what the president will say when he outlines his vision for changes to the NSA’s vast surveillance activities. The address comes in the wake of disclosures from documents stolen by former government contractor Edward Snowden.
Obama and his aides have been focused behind the scenes this week on finishing a review of the spy programs and preparing for the president’s address to the nation. Privacy and civil liberties activists, along with top executives of technology company, are calling on the president to adopt sweeping reforms to curb the NSA’s collection of phone call metadata and personal information of online users.
These reforms are based on the 46 recommendations of the review group that was appointed by the President back in 2013. How many of the recommendations he will implement is still an open question.
I have said it before, but it bears repeating, the President HAS to do something significant on this issue or risk having his Presidency defined as an administration that had no respect for the privacy of the citizens of this country.
I think that it actually an unfair assertion, however there is no doubt that it has become a popular meme among a segment of the liberal demographic.
If President Obama wants to redefine his legacy he needs to do something that earns back at least some of that confidence in his respect for our rights.
"If President Obama wants to redefine his legacy he needs to do something that earns back at least some of that confidence in his respect for our rights."
ReplyDeleteAward Ed Snowden the Medal of Freedom. For starters.
That is really pathetic to suggest that Snowden, the traitor, thief and all around slimebucket should be rewarded for his actions. He should hang by his balls.
Deletehrh=Having Real Hallucinations.
DeleteThanks hrh. Glad to see someone still understands the most basic concepts of liberty.
DeleteSnowden is already being taken care of by his paymaster and Sugar Vladdy.
Delete>>If President Obama wants to redefine his legacy he needs to do something that earns back at least some of that confidence in his respect for our rights.
ReplyDeleteWTF Gryphen? President Obama doesn't have to do ANYTHING to 'redefine' his legacy. Why would you even suggest that? He has done amazing things that will define his legacy, no matter what the right wing (and you, it seems) think. He didn't do anything wrong, so why would you even suggest that? There is nothing amiss with his legacy, except in the minds of people that aren't looking deeply at the stunning accomplishments he has. WHY would you post this kind of Fox Noise innuendo?
I have ABSOLUTE confidence in our president and his respect for our rights, why don't you? Why are you suspicious like this and jumping on the right wing bandwagon when it's Bushie and company that ran over all of our rights, NOT Barack Obama.
And I suppose you think Eddie is a hero or something cockamamie like that?
Geeze, Gryphen, what are you drinking these days? I live in a world of 'liberals' and NO ONE is talking like this. WHO are you reading/listening to Firedog Lake? Glenn Greenwald? WHO?
I've never felt safer, more respected, more secure or more listened to by a president in my life and I'm in my 70's! Where are you getting this point of view? And why are you promoting it without any sort of backup?
I am glad that you have confidence in this President, so do I.
DeleteHowever the impact on his credibility due to the Snowden revelations, among younger Americans especially, is quite real. And it WILL have repercussions moving forward.
If Obama did not recognize that he would not have bothered to empower that review group to do this assessment.
"I've never felt safer, more respected, more secure or more listened to by a president in my life"
DeleteDITTO times 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
President Obama did NOT put that group together because he was worried about his legacy. That's not how he thinks at all. He put that group together because he wants to get to the bottom of what's been going on and correct it's direction. That is why he is such a top notch leader and president, because he ACTS to correct things that are out of balance. Not because he has an eye on his legacy. He's a much bigger man than that, and has shown that repeatedly throughout his life.
DeleteHe's just not that petty, Gryphen. He doesn't do things so he looks good, he does things because they're the right thing to do.
You want legacy? THIS is legacy!
DeleteIran, 6 World Powers Agree To Nuclear Deal Terms
...In a statement, U.S. President Barack Obama said the deal "will advance our goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."
"I have no illusions about how hard it will be to achieve this objective, but for the sake of our national security and the peace and security of the world, now is the time to give diplomacy a chance to succeed," Obama said.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/iran-world-powers-agree-nuclear-deal
This man is earning his Peace Prize over and over again. His legacy will be more far reaching and globally impactful than any president before him. He takes on BIG important and crucial things that no other leader has touched, often in decades, and he gets them done. Because that's just who he is.
Well stated! From what I've seen of this President everything you've said here rings very true indeed.
DeleteGryphen (at 1:31 pm), the "young Americans" who are so supportive of Snowden and his treasonous acts have no idea of how outrageous his actions were. They have no concept of intellectual property ownership let alone state secrets! Try to explain to anyone under the age of 30 that musicians have a right to be paid for their work; that a piece of music or a film once created belongs to its creators and that they should be paid for it! You can imagine how little they understand about "government secrets. Snowden signed away his right to tell the world what he was finding out when he took a job that gave him access to government secrets. It should have distressed those "young Americans" that he immediately fled to Hong Kong (China) and then to Russia as much as it distressed the rest of us. And remember his connections throughout all of this with Glenn Greenwald and his connections with the Cato Institute (and the Koch Brothers). Snowden should not be a hero to anyone.
DeleteBeaglemom
I predict that President Obama will not announce any significant changes to the way the NSA operates. He will simply announce that his staff will be keeping closer tabs on the NSA and keep him informed that they are not doing anything to break existing law. Which has already been tailored to give them virtual cart blanche to snoop on us.
ReplyDeleteIOW, don't look to President Obama to upset the NSA's applecart. He absolutely won't.
Jan. 17. Friday. That's the dead news day. The day you announce stuff you want to die by Monday. The day you announce things you hope no one will notice.
ReplyDelete>>I have said it before, but it bears repeating, the President HAS to do something significant on this issue or risk having his Presidency defined as an administration that had no respect for the privacy of the citizens of this country.
ReplyDeleteare you fucking kidding gryphen? what a joke. what sort of projection is that on your part? define his legacy? do you actually think that pissant Snowden's shenanigans would upend the president's legacy? for god's sake, please. barack obama will have one of the strongest presidential legacies in all of presidential history for more reasons that I can begin to list here. what a massive, sweeping, relatively ignorant statement you have made. he doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. he has conducted himself in an honorable and integral way and born horrendous attacks on his character for doing so.
president obama does what is in the best interest of the country, and he has done so since he got involved in politics. for you to suggest otherwise lets me know that you have not done your homework at all. you're starting to sound like those bozos on the left that do all they can to sabotage our president and his focus on what is good for this country.
president obama is not threatening anyone's rights, nor has he threatened anyone's rights. intelligence gathering, surveillance, 'spying' has been in place from before president obama was born. 9/11 just souped it all up. the patriot act was written well before 9/11 and conveniently implemented then.
have more faith in your president. his legacy is already established as a champion of the people.
--his legacy is already established as a champion of the people.
DeleteYes, yes it is.
Diplomacy: It Works
Deletehttp://theobamadiary.com/2014/01/12/diplomacy-it-works/
President Obama has NOTHING to do with this:
ReplyDeleteBut there are equally troubling and equally opaque systems run by advertising, marketing, and data-mining firms that are far less known. Using techniques ranging from supermarket loyalty cards to targeted advertising on Facebook, private companies systematically collect very personal information, from who you are, to what you do, to what you buy. Data about your online and offline behavior are combined, analyzed, and sold to marketers, corporations, governments, and even criminals. The scope of this collection, aggregation, and brokering of information is similar to, if not larger than, that of the NSA, yet it is almost entirely unregulated and many of the activities of data-mining and digital marketing firms are not publicly known at all.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/jan/09/how-your-data-are-being-deeply-mined/?insrc=hpss
After 30 years working for a major retailer, this is so true. Data mining of customers shopping habits has been going on for much longer than 30 years. Ever notice how you buy one baby present for someone else's child and you start to receive mailers for baby products in your mailbox for the next 6 months? That is part of the reason Target's most recent data breach is so frightening. I'm sure they have a huge database of their customers' shopping habits. And that database contains customers email addresses, mail addresses, and phone numbers so they can send ads for the types of things the customers tend to buy.
DeleteAnd did you know THIS?
DeleteThe recent news is that automakers have been collecting and keeping information about where you have been. According to a US government watchdog, the owners of the cars can’t demand that the data about where they have been be destroyed.
According to the Government Accountability Office, they found that major carmakers have differing policies about how much information they can collect and how long they can keep it. Media reports confirm that the carmakers collect location data to provide drivers with real-time traffic situation, to help find the nearest gas station, or to provide emergency roadside assistance.
So, Toyota, Honda and Nissan found themselves at the centre of the investigation, as well as navigation system creators Garmin and TomTom and developers of Google Maps and Telenav. Apparently, automakers had taken steps to protect privacy and were never selling personal information of owners, but it didn’t change the fact that drivers aren’t aware of all risks.
Some experts say that more work needed to be done to ensure privacy protections for in-car navigation systems and mapping applications. Perhaps, the location privacy legislation will be reintroduced later in 2014.
With cars getting smarter, there is more than just navigation systems providing interesting information. Event data recorders, known worldwide as "black boxes," store information in the event of crashes. Such transponders as EZ-PASS transmit location and can even be used by law enforcement and for research. Moreover, some car owners agree to monitoring of driving habits in order to qualify for lower insurance rates or to keep tabs on young drivers.
A contractor working with these three companies told the Government Accountability Office that when a consumer requests services, such data as location, VIN and other information may be kept for up to 7 years.
We watched ads on television this weekend (ice skating; we rarely watch network tv) for the Discover card and learned that you receive your credit score with your on-line statement. I think that's outrageous but it's the US and it's a corporation!
DeleteBeaglemom
Conservative Checklist For Covering The Chris Christie Bridge Scandal.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YgKZr8mUEk
NJ Mayors: Was Christie Getting Revenge on Me, Too?
Delete...Mayors in New Jersey say they're starting to consider foul play by the Christie administration in light of the George Washington Bridge lane closure controversy.
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer says she had a face to face visit with Gov. Christie in the Spring, when he asked her to endorse him for re-election.
She told him she would be remaining neutral.
“He was quite disappointed, but I wouldn't say that he was angry. He was disappointed and said he would keep asking,” Zimmer said. "And I said, 'We can keep the conversation going but I don't expect to be changing my position.’ And I didn't.”
She had applied for a Hazard Mitigation Grant to protect Hoboken from flooding. During Sandy, 80 percent of the city was under water.
Zimmer says she asked the state for $100 million in grants. She got $300,000 — a fraction of 1 percent.
“It's a lot less and I was extremely disappointed,” Zimmer said. “And at the time I was angry because I felt like the focus was on the shore.”
Now, she says she can't help but wonder if her decision not to endorse Christie played a role....
http://www.wnyc.org/story/nj-mayors-was-christie-getting-revenge-me-too/
Documents show Christie's inner circle well informed about traffic jams
Deletehttp://www.cbsnews.com/news/documents-show-christies-inner-circle-well-informed-about-traffic-jams/
What I love about our president is that no matter what bullshit is being thrown at him, he just keeps doing his job. That will be his legacy!
ReplyDeleteYes, Lynne, that and so many other good and positive things that he has done for this country, for me personally with Obamacare.
DeletePerfect pitch Lynne - I agree 100%
DeleteI hope you're not fully dependent on Social Security for your retirement. Lynne - as I am. Because in case you didn't know it, President Obama included in his last budget changing the way SS payments are calculated. He favors what's known as Chained CPI, meaning SS payments would reflect the cost of living index. The way this would work is that as your income shrinks and you buy less, you would get less money from Social Security - giving you even LESS income. Therefore, the longer you live, the less money you have to live on. IOW, President Obama favors screwing over poor old people. Some Democratic Senators who are up for reelection this year are pleading with him to stop calling for Chained CPI, because they know it will hurt their reelection campaIgns. Republicans of course are big supporters of Chained CPI, but they won't hesitate to use it against the Democrats if Obama supports it.
DeleteFor the president to even consider Chained CPI, which will hurt the people who can least afford it, is unconscionable. And un-Democratic in the extreme. NO Democrat should EVER call for reducing rather than expanding Social Security. The fact that President Obama does, and that so few Democrats even seem to realize it or understand the implications of it, to me is a sad sign of how little attention they pay to what Obama actually does/supports. And if it happens to be, as it so often is, the same position the Bush administration took, they resort to the "The President knows best" defense -- i.e. the same defense they trashed Republicans for using when Bush was president.
Gates Says Biden, Clinton Would Make Good Presidents
ReplyDeleteFormer Defense Secretary Bob Gates, who wrote critically about Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on Sunday said both would make good presidents.
"Actually, yeah I think she would," Gates said in an interview with "CBS Sunday Morning" when asked if Hillary Clinton would make a good commander-in-chief.
When asked about Biden, Gates also said he would also do well in the role.
"I suppose to be even-handed I would have to say I suppose he would," he said.
Gates, who in his book said Biden was "wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades," conceded that he sometimes agreed with the Vice President. And Gates had additional praise for Clinton.
"The thing that I like best about Secretary Clinton, other than the fact that she has a great sense of humor, was she's very tough-minded," he said.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gates-clinton-biden-good-presidents
Follow the $$$
ReplyDeleteIs a Billion Dollar Development Project at the Heart of Bridgegate?
...At the top of the photo you see the on-ramp to the GWB. And those two big empty parcels of land… what’s going on there?
Let me tell you.
If you’ve seen Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich mention a “billion dollar redevelopment” going on in his town during his media appearances, you might think that he’s just bragging about some political accomplishment. Something he cares about, but that you don’t need to worry about. Yet those two pieces of land are where that billion dollar project, a commercial, residential and business complex called “Hudson Lights,” is being built.
Now consider the project’s proximity to the bridge. When we think about transportation infrastructure, we usually think only about the ‘thing’ being built: the bridge, tunnel, rail line, road, etc. But those projects have value because they connect things. They’re built because they allow people and goods to move, and they can dramatically increase the utility and value of the properties they connect. The Erie Canal did this in the early republic. Then the railroad. Then the subway, the highway, the airport.
The Hudson Lights project is a billion dollar project because it offers unparalleled access to the George Washington Bridge. But take away that access and it’s no longer a billion dollar project.
Mark Sokolich knew this back in September when the toll lanes from Fort Lee had been cut from three down to one. He asked Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni on September 12: “what do I do when our billion dollar development is put on line at the end of next year?”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/is-a-billion-dollar-development-project-at-the-heart-of-bridgegate
Steve Kornacki Floats New Theory About Chris Christie's Bridge Scandal
ReplyDeleteMSNBC host Steve Kornacki floated a new theory as to why New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's staff and appointees engineered the closure of two lanes leading into the George Washington Bridge last year.
"It wasn't just the everyday lives of commuters and residents that were altered or in some cases jeopardized by what happened in Fort Lee," Kornacki explained. "Something else was affected and possibly jeopardized, something of enormous economic and political significance."
Kornacki explained that there is currently a billion dollar development project in Fort Lee, right next to where the lane closures occurred. The project is a keystone of Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich's tenure.
As Kornacki explains, the closure of two of the three access lanes may have been part of a larger effort to shut them down for good, which could have significantly diminished potential investors' interest in the project. Close the lanes, and the entire project could be derailed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/12/steve-kornacki-chris-christie-bridge-scandal_n_4585830.html
Forget 2016 Christie Will Be Facing Impeachment If He Knew About Bridge Closures
This is why Republicans are so desperate to make the Christie scandal go away. Their potential leading candidate for 2016 is one document or testified statement away from being finished as a national politician and as the governor of New Jersey. It would almost be better for Republicans if the smoking gun was found now. They would have plenty time to move on if it comes out now.
If Christie is the Republican nominee, and the media gets a hold of evidence that implicates him in 2016, the GOP will be stuck with a nominee that will be dead in the water. Of course, that is assuming that Christie will win the nomination, and that he wouldn’t get blown out against Hillary Clinton. Neither of these things is a given right now.
Chris Christie’s explanation for Bridgegate defies logic, common sense, and everything that is known about the man and his administration. Chris Christie is both damaged goods, and a political ticking time bomb. If Republicans nominate him, they shouldn’t surprised when it all blows up in their faces.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/01/12/forget-2016-christie-facing-impeachment-knew-bridge-closures.html
How about making this statement about every other President that has ever existed. Funny that the black guy is the one to
ReplyDeletehave to "redefine his legacy he needs to do something that earns back at least some of that confidence in his respect for our rights. "
Only thing different here - a traitor and a news pundit decided to steal and distribute data held by the NSA
Doesn't matter what the president says - the GOP will blame him for everything in society they do not like. The GOP is the party of secret recordings.
I am much more concerned about the private companies - be they google, banks or credit agencies that know every last detail of the life I lead - than anything any government agency may know
This President has more respect for every person in his country than any other President since whenever. He includes 100% of the people in his respect - haven't seen that before.
You seem to have been drinking the cool-aid Griff
--This President has more respect for every person in his country than any other President since whenever. He includes 100% of the people in his respect - haven't seen that before.
DeleteYes, I agree completely. To suggest otherwise is LUDICROUS! I've watched and listened to presidents since the 50's and there is NO ONE who comes even close to President Obama's integrity and honor. No one.
>>Funny that the black guy is the one to
Deletehave to "redefine his legacy he needs to do something that earns back at least some of that confidence in his respect for our rights. "
Only thing different here - a traitor and a news pundit decided to steal and distribute data held by the NSA
Exactly, he always seems to have to 'prove' himself. Why is that? Why is it that he is continually being held to a standard that NO OTHER PRESIDENT in history has been held to. Griffin is feeding the beltway media with this post.
Repeal Obamacare
ReplyDeleteImpeach Obama
Make a new national holiday
Anon @ 2:41,,, as you are already in the "anon closet", why don't you go ahead an do what's physically impossible?
ReplyDeleteWhile he's at it, can he revoke Douchebag Rodman's citizenship? His "vacation" choices in North Korea bug the shit out of me.
ReplyDeleteI have every confidence President Obama's legacy won't be effected either way. He's accomplished so very much, whatever changes he does to NSA won't help nor harm his legacy.
President Obama certainly does not have to "do anything" more to earn my respect. I have had every confidence in him since he was elected in 2008.
ReplyDeleteThe Patriot Act and all of its subsequent excesses were foisted on us by George W. Bush and his pals. I'm very glad that President Obama is planning on modifications to the NSA's snooping. But I don't think that the uber-progressive contingent in this country will give any credit to President Obama for doing so. They don Democratic "clothing" only for decorative purposes; remember the support given to Ralph Nader that gave us George W. Bush and the Patriot Act in the first place. I also think that these modifications or changes would have been made without Snowden's treasonous acts. The difference is that no one would have known anything about them.