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June 2013

While the public shifts its attention to more recent scandals, such as that of the flap regarding the NSA, the scandals of days gone by like the IRS and Benghazi still haven't been resolved. USA Today reports this afternoon that an IRS official says the agency...

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A Hong Kong media outlet has revealed today that NSA leaker Edward Snowden sought the position as an NSA contractor at Booz Allen Hamilton specifically to gather evidence on NSA surveillance. From the South China Morning Post: Edward Snowden secured a job with a US government contractor...

[Note -- More decisions will be released Tuesday -- check back here at 10 a.m.] Full opinion embedded at bottom of post Via ScotusBlog live blog: 10:14 Amy Howe: The opoinion by Kennedy. The Fifth Circuit is vacated and remanded. 10:15 Amy Howe: The holding is because the Fifth...

Today we will again be covering the Zimmerman Trial live, all day. Continuing commentary will be posted in the Twitter feed of selected contributors below the first video feed, and breaking news will be added at the bottom of this post. Also, at day's end...

That's what today's vote on the Corker amended immigration bill is about. The Senate bill cannot pass the House, there's been no public debate and consensus within the Republican Party on the key issues of legalization and citizenship for law-breakers, and most if not all of...

Longtime readers know that Boney M and I go way back. For some reason I couldn't get this song out of my head last night. The words are from Psalms 137:1: By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. https://youtu.be/ta42xU2UXLA Which continues: If...

Tomorrow will be a busy law day. 1.  Zimmerman Trial Opening Statement and Prosecution case-- 9 a.m. We'll have our live coverage, including video embed and live Twitter stream, as well as commentary during the day and in an end-of-day wrap up from Andrew Branca.  If you...

In-depth profiles of the 6 jurors and 4 alternates, how they answered questions during voir dire, and what we know about them....

We covered the continuing protests in Turkey yesterday, Protests in Turkey reignite after relatively quiet week. Not so sure I want to visit right now. I hear that dinner in Istanbul may give you gas: https://twitter.com/YigalSchleifer/status/348567191702106112 https://twitter.com/YigalSchleifer/status/348567933267607552 At least it's better than Ankara, where you'll get hosed: https://twitter.com/Nivrep_Te/statuses/348540917218680834...

Via NBC, Lindsey Graham is about to declare victory:
On Monday the Senate is scheduled to vote on a 1,200-page amendment offered by Sen. Bob Corker, R- Tenn., and Sen. John Hoeven, R- N.D., which has an initial cost of $46.3 billion – money to be used hire 20,000 Border Patrol agents and to deploy them along the Mexican border, as well as building add border fencing and setting up an electronic visa entry/exit system at all air and sea ports of entry where U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers are currently deployed. “The bill will pass,” Graham said on Fox News Sunday. “I think we are on the verge of getting 70 votes. That is my goal. It's always been my goal. We are very, very close to 70 votes. The Hoeven-Corker Amendment I think gets us over the top.”

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But don't think this will gain any love for Republicans: https://twitter.com/allahpundit/status/348814113075511296 Via The Hill:
A senior Democratic senator predicted Sunday there could be massive demonstrations in Washington if House Republicans try to block a bill to grant legal status to millions of immigrants. Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the lead Democratic sponsor of the Senate immigration reform bill, said House Republicans would likely spark massive civil rights rallies if they try to quash measures to create a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country. This has the potential of becoming the next major civil rights movement. I could envision in the late summer or early fall if Boehner tries to bottle the bill up or put something in without a path to citizenship — if there’s no path to citizenship, there’s not a bill — but if he tries to bottle it up or do things like that, I could see a million people on the Mall in Washington,” Schumer said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Glenn Greenwald appeared on Meet The Press this morning. The interview is garnering headlines, mostly for David Gregory's suggestion that Greenwald is not a real journalist and question as to why Greenwald should not be prosecuted. Not being prosecuted, of course, is something David Gregory knows a...

UPDATE 6/23 1:00pm EST: Snowden has requested asylum in Ecuador, per Ecuador's Foreign Affairs Minister. https://twitter.com/RicardoPatinoEC/status/348841761684197378 ***** A statement from Hong Kong's government confirms that NSA leaker Edward Snowden has left the country.  A local news outlet reports that Snowden is bound for Cuba and Venezuela by way of Moscow, while Wikileaks is claiming that it has "assisted Mr. Snowden's political asylum." (added -- live feed from Russia Today -- Update -- which confirms Snowden has landed in Moscow) [feed removed] The HKSAR government issued the following statement today:
Mr Edward Snowden left Hong Kong today (June 23) on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel. The US Government earlier on made a request to the HKSAR Government for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest against Mr Snowden. Since the documents provided by the US Government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR Government has requested the US Government to provide additional information so that the Department of Justice could consider whether the US Government's request can meet the relevant legal conditions. As the HKSAR Government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong. The HKSAR Government has already informed the US Government of Mr Snowden's departure. Meanwhile, the HKSAR Government has formally written to the US Government requesting clarification on earlier reports about the hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by US government agencies. The HKSAR Government will continue to follow up on the matter so as to protect the legal rights of the people of Hong Kong.
It is notable that the Hong Kong government’s statement makes direct reference to Snowden’s accusations against the US of hacking Hong Kong targets. The South China Morning Post has provided more details on Snowden’s flight itinerary, indicating that he is expected to then fly from Moscow to Cuba, and then to Venezuela.
The 30-year-old left from Chep Lap Kok airport on a flight scheduled for 10.55am. He boarded Aeroflot Flight SU213, which is due to land at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport at 5.15pm local time (8.15pm Hong Kong time). Russian news agencies Interfax and Itar-Tass reported Snowden is booked on a flight from Moscow to Cuba on Monday. Itar-Tass said Snowden would fly from Havana to Caracas, Venezuela. “A passenger under that name will arrive in Moscow from Hong Kong today on flight SU213, and tomorrow, on June 24, he will fly to Havana on flight SU150,” the state news agency ITAR-Tass quoted a source at the airline as saying. “Also tomorrow, he will go to Caracas from Havana on a local flight.”
Wikileaks is claiming that it has assisted Snowden in securing political asylum, and has issued a statement indicating that Snowden requested its assistance to “secure his safety.”  It also said that Snowden is currently “being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks.” https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/348724514135347200 https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/348732325909102593 https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/348773063816519681

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Comment worth considering from Adios Taxifornia: bannor | June 21, 2013 at 7:54 am The problem with a lot of people that flee California is they continue to vote for the same type of people and idea that wrecked that state. Ask Colorado. From the Tip Line: janitor | June...

The race issue in the George Zimmerman shooting of Trayvon Martin has been pushed early and often. We've covered the false accusations that Zimmerman called Trayvon Martin a "coon" on the initial 911 call, and that Zimmerman suggested that Martin was suspicious because black (that was an...

The protests in Turkey continue, with police upping the use of force to break up even peaceful demonstrations. Via Reuters:
Turkish riot police fired water cannon to disperse thousands of anti-government demonstrators in central Istanbul on Saturday, as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan castigated those behind protests he said had played into the hands of Turkey's enemies. The latest unrest in Taksim Square punctured six days of relative calm in Turkey's biggest city, although it was a long way from matching the ferocity of previous clashes there and in other cities that began more than three weeks ago. Demonstrators threw carnations at a phalanx of officers carrying shields who slowly advanced towards them, flanked by water cannon, to clear the square. "Police, don't betray your people!" activists shouted after they had been scattered into streets leading to Taksim. Witnesses said police later used teargas to disperse pockets of protesters on a main shopping street nearby. Hours earlier, Erdogan had told thousands of supporters in the Black Sea city of Samsun that the unrest had played into the hands of Turkey's enemies.
This comes on top of a crackdown on social media and intimidation of the media which appeared to have crushed the protests. The "standing man" silent protests became a symbol of passive resistence. https://twitter.com/Nivrep_Te/status/348540917218680834 https://twitter.com/arzugeybulla/status/348540565236879360 https://twitter.com/Sedat2aral/status/348535744442298369