“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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Trevor Timm; It’s OK to leak government secrets – as long as it benefits politicians
It is hypocritical that some leaks will land you in jail, while others just lead to a slap on the wrist
When it comes to classified information, some leaks are more equal than others. If you are a whistleblower like Edward Snowden, who tells the press about illegal, immoral or embarrassing government actions, you will face jail time. But it’s often another story for US government officials leaking information for their own political benefit.
Two stories this week perfectly illustrate this hypocrisy and how, despite their unprecedented crackdown on sources and, the Obama administration – like every administration before it – loves to use leaks, if and when it suits them.
Scott Ritter: Espionage, by Any Other Name
Recent reporting by the Wall Street Journal that Israel has spied on U.S. negotiators who are crafting a deal with Iran that would limit that nation’s ability to enrich uranium in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions has raised alarms within the White House. As the Wall Street Journal noted, the issue that rankles the Obama administration the most isn’t the fact that Israel spied on the United States — Israel has long topped the list of “friendly” nations that actively collect intelligence on the American target — but rather that the Israelis have used information so gathered to enable a program of directed political action in Washington, DC designed to undermine the policies of the United States. Israel accomplished this by feeding the “take” back to Republican lawmakers in Congress in order to facilitate legislation intended to derail the ongoing international negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. [..]
Congress has every right — even a duty — to oppose the policies of the Executive Branch where there is legitimate disagreement. This can even extend to articulating strong pro-Israeli positions when it comes to Iran and its nuclear program. But it does not permit the kind of coordination that transpired between Speaker John Boehner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to selectively leak classified U.S. negotiating positions and strategies in an effort to derail the ongoing talks between the United States and Iran. In fact, there is little difference between the role played by John Boehner and his fellow Republicans in Congress in doing the bidding of Israel today and the role played by Alger Hiss and other members of the so-called “Ware Group” working on behalf of the Soviet Union back in the 1940’s. Hiss and his fellow travelers sought to influence U.S. policy on behalf of their masters in Moscow; Boehner and his cohorts seek to do the same on behalf of their masters in Tel Aviv.
“It’s simple math,” is the refrain often uttered by those seeking to explain why cutting, not expanding, Social Security is the choice to make. A variation of that phrase, “arithmetical realities of an aging society,” appeared in Fred Hiatt’s recent opinion piece (“Never-Compromise Wins Again,” Washington Post, 3/23/15). The math is simple, but Mr. Hiatt gets it wrong. [..]
The appropriate measure to assess affordability, one that takes into account productivity, is the percentage of our Gross Domestic Product–the total value of all goods and services–represented by Social Security. Currently, Social Security represents about five percent of GDP. In the future, at its most expensive, it will represent about 6.2 percent. Many other industrialized countries spend a much higher percentage of their GDP on their counterpart programs right now than we will at Social Security’s most expensive. Compared to that 6.2 percent of GDP, for example, Austria today spends 11.9 percent, Germany, 10.7 percent, and Japan, 9.8 percent.
The question of whether Social Security should be expanded, fully funded at its current level of scheduled benefits, or scaled back is not one of math or demographics, but one of values- how we choose to spend our combined wealth. Confusing this question is some other wrong math.
Richard (RJ) Escow: Hillary’s Challengers – and the Anti-Wall Street Wave
Former governor Martin O’Malley and former senator Jim Webb spoke at a firefighters’ union event earlier this month. Both are the subject of renewed press interest as they contemplate entering the presidential race. Sen. Bernie Sanders has been publicly weighing a run. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is being encouraged to enter the race.
All four have criticized Wall Street’s unethical practices and undue political influence. Leading contender Hillary Clinton, by contrast, has not.
Should that worry Democrats? [..]
The Clinton team might prefer to see this challenge go away, but that’s not likely to happen. That means she has a choice: she can offer her own strategy for reining in Wall Street, or run the risk of allowing others to define her position on this issue – in ways that could harm both her prospects and her party’s.
Earl Otari Hutchinson: Stephen A. Smith’s GOP Delusion Is Nothing New
ESPN host Stephen A. Smith has gotten quite a reputation for being a controversial tell-it-like-he-sees-it guy. That’s fine in sports punditry. He’s an ex-jock, and in that world pretty much any inanity will fly. But when Smith pursed his lips and ventured outside sportsdom to quip that blacks should vote GOP at least one election go round he proved once again that sports and entertainment personalities that venture opinions about politics more often than not embarrass themselves. If we want to be more charitable, the best that can be said is that Smith is just the latest in a long line to peddle the delusion that the GOP can change its ways and become an open-arms party for blacks. Those who routinely peddle that are usually a handful of GOP would-be presidential contenders such as Rand Paul, an infinitesimal and politically inconsequential handful of GOP elected officials, and an always dependable core of conservative media and think tank contracted black conservatives.
Before, during and after every national election, they kick into high gear and contend that getting more blacks to jump political ship will be a major seismic jolt to the Democrats and be a start toward breaking the lock that the Democrats have on the black vote. Smith, as with the rest that spout this fantasy, grab a headline or two, and get plenty of airtime on conservative talk radio and TV.
Rene Denfeld: Why we execute people is the big question, not how
“There’s no nice way to kill someone,” a man facing execution once told me, raising heavy eyes.
From my work as a licensed death penalty investigator, I know this too, which is why Utah’s decision to reinstate the firing squad for executions doesn’t trouble me the way it might trouble others.
Attorneys hire me to find out the truth. I’m the one who ferrets out long-lost witnesses, digs into dusty basements to unearth ancient records, and finds the evidence that exonerates, or – more often – explains.
I love my job, because I am the one person who gets to understand why.
Why do people do such terrible things to each other? Why is our country so enthralled with murder that we bookend one death with another?
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