By Steve Rhodes
“The National Security Agency appears to have spent a lot of time trying to agree on a set of talking points agency officials could use to respond to revelations that originated with Edward Snowden about the lawfulness of the agency’s classified surveillance programs,” Jason Leopold reports for the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
“Indeed, last October, I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking all draft talking points – from June 1, 2013 through the present – prepared by the NSA after The Guardian and Washington Post broke news about the agency’s controversial programs.
“On Tuesday, I received a letter from the NSA stating that it had located 156-pages of responsive records. But the NSA classified all of the records as ‘top secret’ under a FOIA exemption established by presidential executive order and determined that ‘their disclosure reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave danger to the national security.'”
So now even talking points are classified. The State of the Union is Soviet.
*
Seemingly relevant:
In 2006, Alberto Gonzales said NYT reporters committed crimes for NSA reporting http://t.co/nl5s8GCxjk – Now Clapper: http://t.co/P8wmyb6YBF
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 30, 2014
–
Rauneromics
Bruce Rauner Tosses Another $1 Million Of Own Money Into Campaign Fund.
It takes a lot of money to win a campaign based on cutting spending.
Madigan Mike
Declaring that he’s “ready to be part of a solution in the city council,” Ald. Mike Zalewski announced his re-election bid on Wednesday with Michael Madigan at his side.
If Michael Madigan is part of the solution, I don’t want to solve the problem.
*
Speak of the devil:
Speaker Madigan files corporate tax-cut bill. HB 4479 would cut corp tax from 7% to 3.5% on biz profits. Details soon on Early & Often blog.
— Dave McKinney (@davemckinney123) January 30, 2014
–
Train In Vain
Metra Board Expected To Interview CEO Candidates.
Experience bungling a major agency preferred.
Onion Or Sun-Times
The South Side Is Finally Getting Its Ultra-High-Speed Wi-Fi – At Least Two Blocks Of It.
And that’s just because the Apostolic Church of God signed up for U-verse.
*
The network will be named after Arthur Brazier. The password is “cloutavenue123.”
Moto Dodo
Google Selling Motorola Phone Business To Lenovo For $2.9B.
Moogle to become Molotov.
*
This phone business will self-destruct in 15 seconds . . .
Altered States
The State of the Union is surveilled.
The State of the State is corrupt.
*
Also: impovershed.
Worst Day Ever?
January 30
1933: Hitler named Chancellor
1948: Gandhi assassinated
1968: Tet Offensive begins
1972: Bloody Sunday
– Tim Willette
Field Note
Something I learned at the Field Museum yesterday: Africa is so big you could fit the United States and China inside it and still have plenty of room to spare. I did not know that.
Chicago (The Band’s) Big Week
From the Grammy’s to the CSO to downstate Bloomington for tornado relief.
BeachBook
* My Dash Cam Caught A Chicago Taxi Fleeing A Pedestrian After An Apparent Accident.
* Chicago Cubs Picked As Worst Team In Baseball.
* A Way For You To Reform Illinois.
–
The Beachwood Tip Line: Autocomplete.
Posted on January 30, 2014