basicallypantsless asks: in response to your post on the double standard of intelligence sharing: we knew they were terrorists. they BOMBED a city. not everyone in this country is a terrorist, however, and should be treated as such. innocent until proven guilty. sorry i am using this method of commenting. i'm new haha
» SFB says: Not disagreeing—just pointing out what John McCain said about intelligence sharing, because he’s one of the guys deciding this thing for the rest of us. — Ernie @ SFB
We have a real double standard. A few weeks ago we were all complaining that we didn’t have enough information about those kids in Boston and we needed broader intelligence sharing. Now we say we want to clamp down on how the information moves.Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) • Speaking after an off-record briefing, attended by roughly half of the Senate’s members, about the NSA’s surveillance programs. Despite McCain’s skeptical take on the matter, momentum seems to be growing in favor of more limitations on information-sharing, with one key defender of the NSA programs, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), claiming that legislation was on its way. “We will certainly have legislation which will limit or prevent contractors from handling highly classified and technical data, and we will do some other things,” she said.
163 people killed in Syria today, according to a local activist committee. The fact that one of them was a Michigan woman has turned heads at the State Department; according to both AP and John McCain, the regime has recently gained the upper hand in the two-year-old conflict, which has claimed roughly 80,000 lives so far. source
Sen. John McCain Makes Surprise Memorial Day Trip To Syria
More of John McCain on the ground in Syria.
Sen. John McCain Monday became the highest-ranking U.S. official to enter Syria since the bloody civil war there began more than two years ago, The Daily Beast has learned.
McCain, one of the fiercest critics of the Obama administration’s Syria policy, made the unannounced visit across the Turkey-Syria border with Gen. Salem Idris, the leader of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army. He stayed in the country for several hours before returning to Turkey. Both in Syria and Turkey, McCain and Idris met with assembled leaders of Free Syrian Army units that traveled from around the country to see the U.S. senator.
According to the Daily Beast’s sources, rebel leaders told the Arizona Republican that they are beginning to run low on ammunition, and lack the firepower to continue repelling major offensives by the Assad regime and its various supporters from Hezbollah and neighboring/allied countries. Expect Sen. McCain to make a renewed push for increased U.S. support of the Syrian opposition upon his return to the U.S. Senate.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was facing a Congressional panel today with tough questions about the way the company has organized itself in an effort to lower its tax burden. But at the end of the questioning, John McCain had something else on his mind. That, friends, is what we call a softball.
70+ votes for immigration reform in the Senate? That sounds rather crazy, but John McCain thinks “it’s doable.” There’s a feeling amongst some of the senators working on the legislation that if the bill gains majority support from both parties in the Senate, the House won’t have any choice but to put it to a vote. We are skeptical that either of those things will happen, let alone both. source
They think the whole world is a battlefield, including America, and that the laws of war should apply…that’s not my understanding of the way America works. I don’t think the laws of war apply to America, I think the Bill of Rights do and I think it’s a disservice to our soldiers that our senators up there arguing that the Bill of Rights aren’t important.Sen. Rand Paul • Responding to criticism leveled against him by fellow Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain on Thursday, less than a day after his impressive attempt to block the confirmation of John Brennan as head of the CIA. Both Graham and McCain attacked Paul on the floor of the Senate Thursday, saying the Kentucky Republican’s comments during his 13-hour filibuster were both untrue and disappointing. source
The former presidential candidate John McCain is one of three US senators who have criticised the depiction of torture in Zero Dark Thirty,Kathryn Bigelow’s fact-based drama about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The film suggests that waterboarding and coercive interrogation tactics were instrumental in gathering information ahead of the successful raid on Bin Laden’s compound in May 2011.
McCain, a Republican senator for the state of Arizona, joined two Democrats – Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin – to write a public letter to Michael Lynton, the chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures, which backed the picture. They claim that Zero Dark Thirty is “grossly inaccurate and misleading in its suggestion that torture resulted in information that led to the capture”.
We haven’t had a chance to see the movie yet, but its already been met with a fair amount of controversy thanks to the aforementioned “enhanced interrogation” depiction. Have you had a chance to see the movie yet? What did you think of Zero Dark Thirty?
I can’t add much to what’s already been (and will be) ...
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Over the last 90 days, the Digg...
#FMMDI (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza)
Thanks. I guess my thoughts are as follows:
1. I think...
Two Months Ago I set out to interview the principal cast...
This guy’s name is Gen. Keith...
I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge…I care a lot more about it than I do Grover Norquist.Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, breaking ranks with the militant anti-tax wing of his party. 41 senators have signed Norquist’s pledge—which is essentially a promise to never, ever vote for any revenue or tax increase—but while the document used to be Republican orthodoxy, its influence is showing signs of crumbling. Chambliss’ colleagues Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and Tom Coburn have all recently called for Republicans to abandon the pledge, as has former governor Jeb Bush. While Norquist is a very powerful figure in DC, he isn’t an elected official. He derives power solely from Republicans’ decision to grant him power, and if their subservience to his demands goes away, so does the bulk of his political influence. source
One of you, Senator McCain, has gone so far as to make the outrageous claim that this event was “worse than Watergate”—despite the fact that there is no evidence that any crime was committed, no evidence of any cover-up, and no evidence that the administration has characterized the incident in any way that has not been consistent with the Intelligence Community’s contemporaneous assessments.Harry Reid, rejecting McCain’s request to form a Senate committee to investigate the attack on Benghazi last September. McCain had made the request in part because, per internal Senate rules, he’s term-limited out of his seat as ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the formation of a new committee would allow him another perch from which to delve into the Benghazi matter. Reid derided McCain’s request as an attempt to use the Senate as “a venue for baseless partisan attacks,” and excoriated the senator for skipping a classified briefing on the incident in order to hold a press conference. source
It was like pulling teeth to get information yesterday…a lot of senators were frustrated. And you pick up major newspapers in the country and you find details not shared with you.Senator Lindsey Graham • Voicing frustration within the Senate GOP caucus that the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal received more detailed briefing on the Libya attacks than did congress. Senator Bob Corker called it “the most useless, worthless briefing I have attended in a long time,” and John McCain accused the Obama administration of holding the Senate in “disdain.” The closed-door briefing in question presumably also included Senate Democrats, but none have made hay about it in the way Senate GOPers have.
“That one, I don’t think was well handled,” said former vice president Dick Cheney about John McCain’s VP pick four years ago. He doesn’t think Sarah Palin passed the test of being “capable of being president of the United States.” He doesn’t think Palin fit that standard, and he doesn’t want Romney to make the same mistake. source
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