Virtually Speaking Sundays – Aug 11 – 6p PT/9p ET
Political & social commentators David Dayen and Stuart Zechman compare notes from their observations, investigations and considerations of the past week: banksters, regulators and homeowners; surveillance and “security.”
Culture of Truth satirizes the Sunday Morning talk shows. Jay Ackroyd moderates. Follow @DDayen @Stuart_Zechman @JayAckroyd @Bobblespeak
Listen live or later: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/
Here’s some encouraging news.
Not like the old days, huh?
You’re really not doing so well, Mr. President:
Van Jones, a former White House special advisor, blasted President Barack Obama on Wednesday for cracking down on whistleblowers.
“I love this president, everybody knows I love this president, but this is ridiculous,” he said on CNN. “First of all, we do have a domestic spying program, and what we need to be able to do is figure out how to balance these things, not pretend like there’s no balancing to be done.”
“But much more important, he said something else that I thought that was really awful,” Jones continued. “He said that if somebody like Snowden wanted to be a whistle-blower, they could have gone ahead.
“Well, hold on a second, sir. That is — you are right now prosecuting more whistleblowers – not only than any American president, that every American president combined! So, you can’t then come out on Leno and yuck it up and say, well, whistleblowers, come on out and we’ll treat you right because you haven’t been doing that.”
Everyone I know refers to this as “Christie’s campaign ad.” So now we know:
According to a report in the Asbury Park Press, a new ad campaign dubbed “Stronger Than The Storm” stars Christie and his family. The ad campaign is costing taxpayers almost $5 million. The price tag comes in $2 million higher than a bid denied by the Governor’s administration from a competing firm. The ads are part of a $25 million dollar state tourism fund given to New Jersey in the Sandy relief bill.
“The contract documents shine new light on the role Christie administration officials had in the new TV commercials, which are controversial because they give Christie more exposure during a gubernatorial election year, and also because they introduce him to voters in other states in advance of a possible 2016 presidential campaign. The top official on the selection committee, appointed by Christie, once received a $49,000 loan from Christie when he was the U.S. attorney for New Jersey.”
The heavy payday for MWW (the firm winning the bid) is $2.2 million higher than what was sought by the competing firm, Sigma Group. Shannon Morris, president and owner of Sigma Group, said she doesn’t have a clear understanding of how her firm lost the bid. Of the four bidders, MWW and Sigma were selected based on technical scoring by state officials for a final round of negotiations. They were also the two lowest-priced bids.
“I don’t know how you can qualify that as the best value for the state,” Morris said of MWW’s $4.7 million contract compared to Sigma’s $2.5 million offer. “You have two equally reputable firms and it’s debatable if one is better than the other. And in a competition like that it should come down to price, especially when you’re dealing with something as sensitive as Sandy recovery funding. To make a decision that spends $2 million more on agencies leaves me scratching my head. I don’t understand it.”
Here comes the interesting part about the two bidding companies. The two bidders had different views on how the campaign should be run. MWW wanted to put Christie in the ads. The other bidder, Sigma Group, did not. MWW won the contract- regardless of their demanding $2.2 million more. Is it possible that the official, who received a $49,000 loan from the Governor, made a bias decision in choosing ads that featured the Governor during his reelection? Seems likely.
This is the email service Edward Snowden has been using. From Lavabit owner Ladar Levison:
My Fellow Users,I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit. After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations. I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what’s going on–the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests.
What’s going to happen now? We’ve already started preparing the paperwork needed to continue to fight for the Constitution in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. A favorable decision would allow me resurrect Lavabit as an American company.
This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would strongly recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States.
Sincerely,
Ladar Levison
Owner and Operator, Lavabit LLCDefending the constitution is expensive! Help us by donating to the Lavabit Legal Defense Fund here.
6p PT/9p ET
Listen live or later: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/
Lynn Stout joins Jay Ackroyd to discuss her book, The Myth of Shareholder Value. The idea that a public corporation has one, and only one objective–to maximize shareholder value is such a widely held idea that it’s deeply implicit in much current business writing. What else is a corporation to do, but to maximize shareholder value?
More at virtuallyspeaking.us
He’s never bought into the mindless American cheerleading:
Former President Jimmy Carter announced support for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden this week, saying that his uncovering of the agency’s massive surveillance programs had proven “beneficial.”
Speaking at a closed-door event in Atlanta covered by German newspaper Der Spiegel, Carter also criticized the NSA’s domestic spying as damaging to the core of the nation’s principles.
“America does not have a functioning democracy at this point in time,” Carter said, according to a translation by Inquisitr.
No American outlets covered Carter’s speech, given at an Atlantic Bridge meeting, which has reportedly led to some skepticism over Der Spiegel’s quotes. But Carter’s stance would be in line with remarks he’s made on Snowden and the issue of civil liberties in the past.
We can add graffiti to the list of crimes that demand on-the-spot executions.
“The officers were forced to use the Taser to avoid a physical incident,’’ the chief said.
He was hit once in the chest and collapsed, Martinez said, at which point officers noticed he was showing signs of distress. He was transported by fire-rescue to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
It’s a known fact that people can die when shot with a Taser in the chest. But since police departments don’t have written policies on the use of Tasers, we don’t have to bother with such problems.
The boys:
http://youtu.be/bQDDfW2pMhk
