Breaking: Bradley Manning Acquitted

Picked this up just now on Twitter.  I'm cheating by re-printing the initial US News/NBCNews report:

Manning acquitted of aiding enemy but convicted on other charges

By Courtney Kube, Katie Wall and Erin McClam, NBC News

fc. Bradley Manning, the former Army intelligence officer who was branded as both a whistle-blower and a traitor after he sent 700,000 secret government documents to WikiLeaks, was xxxxxx.

The verdict was handed down by Col. Denise Lind, the judge at Manning’s court-martial at Fort Meade, Md.

Manning, 25, has said he was disillusioned by an American foreign policy bent on “killing and capturing people” when he released the documents, including battlefield reports and diplomatic cables, in 2010.

In a closing argument at the court-martial, his lawyer, David Coombs, argued that Manning was “trying to ply his knowledge to hopefully save lives,” was young and naïve and thought he could make a difference.

Military prosecutors said Manning was not a whistle-blower but a traitor. They said Manning knew that enemies of the United States use WikiLeaks as a resource, and they said some of the documents he released wound up in the hands of al Qaeda.

The prosecutors said Manning craved notoriety and put his fellow soldiers at risk.

Manning had already pleaded guilty to 10 charges that carry up to 20 years in prison, plus a dishonorable discharge. But prosecutors pushed ahead with more serious counts, including aiding the enemy.

He has been jailed at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., since April 2011 and was at the military prison in Quantico, Va., for nine months before that.

Among his defenders is Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 leaked what become known as the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times. Those papers showed that the government was systematically misleading the public about U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

This story was originally published on Tue Jul 30, 2013 1:11 PM EDT

What do you think?

That's "Weiner. Spelled W-E-I-N-E-R...like the junk hangin' between my legs. See?"

Huma Abedin
aka Mrs. Anthony Weiner

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS WOMAN?

OH.  RIGHT. SHE'S MARRIED TO --->

The ironic part of the whole sordid mess is the man cannot stop photo texting pictures of his name, "Weiner".  If the people of NYC are stupid enough to elect him(and I hope that is not the case), they get what theyeserve.  

As for his wife, there appears to be abject humiliation in her body language, beginning around 1:12, before she gives her support speech. 

One has to wonder if her ambition exceeds her common sense.   But then, she learned to hold her head high from the best, Hillary Clinton.  

In the words of I don't know who but I like it, 

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

John Boehner: Naked and Gelded

Bob Schieffer is the most astute interviewer in television news today. He's been around a long time. His show, "Face the Nation" is punctuated by his wisdom, experience and keen observations gleaned during fifty years in the business of reporting. This is our Speaker of the House, John Boehner. He's being interviewed by Bob Schieffer and he doesn't want to commit to any plans or ideas that involve immigration, the economy etc. He claims not to know of the President's agenda. He just wants to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act aka "Obamacare". Who's in charge here? Certainly not John Boehner. Boehner's pedantic and dismissive remarks, unwillingness to answer specific questions, annoyance with Schieffer's dogged persistence, are the stuff of an eye opening interview. The interview lasts 16 minutes, the first 7 are must see tee vee.




Aside from Boehner's insufferable attitude, what is most obvious here is his reluctance to commit to any plan of action resulting from his fear of retaining the position of Speaker of the House. He kowtows to the extreme elements in the GOP. He is a man being pulled in many directions by many demanding factions, including the President. He is resentful, he is ineffective, he is, in effect, a gelding.



As always, Schieffer puts things in perspective by reminding us, once upon a time, the country was working to accomplish great things. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57594758/face-the-nation-transcripts-july-21-2013-boehner-and-snyder/

Russell Brand is a Better Interviewer Than Mika Brzezinski

Mika & Joe:  No sexism here!

A few weeks ago, June 17th to be exact, Russell Brand appeared as a guest on "Morning Joe".  I happened to catch it live and watched, in fascination, as he took down every one of the smug talking heads around the table.  I admired his spot-on critique and delighted in his impromptu delivery and comebacks to the quickly baffled group.  He actually had them at a loss for words.   I backed up the show so my husband could see it.

The segment is now a barn burner video in the annals of what is wrong with talk show hosts.

Having watched "Morning Joe" for several years,  there are aspects to it I enjoy, primarily Willy Geist, Mike Barnicle, Chuck Todd and regular guest Jon Meacham.  To put it another way, I enjoy it when Joe and Mika are absent from the round table of positing pols, mea culpa celebs and omniscient talking heads.   Joe Scarborough is tough to take.  He's a blowhard who talks over most guests, even those with whom he's in agreement.  I did soften a bit towards him when he took up the cause for gun control and blasted the NRA, but he is informed.  I just don't often agree with his side.

Mika Brzezinski, on the other hand, is a complete fail in the anchor department.  The daughter of  the highly intellectual and sought after former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, she appears and acts like a bubble head whose most repeated expressions include eye rolling and staring at the audience as if to say "WTF?"

She has a news anchor background and, with her made-for-Fox News looks (obscenely platinum blonde, heavy studio make up, tailored tight dresses and gams always on display) plus a desirable genetic heritage, the MSNBC producers must have thought they hit the jackpot.

They did not.

Don't get me wrong.  I'd display my glorious gams too, but not on my news show and especially not in the publicity shots of me and my co-host in & around NYC "on the job".  This overly sexual representation of her is at odds with a serious interviewer, news person, etc.

Her major obsessions revolve around running (as in marathons) and an abhorrence of fast food and
Twinkies.  She was, at one time, a binge eater.  She was, apparently, also the quiet one at the table in a family of intellectuals.  I can understand her need to compensate now she has her own forum.  What I do not understand is her condescension to all things "pop culture" as she says in the video.  Time and again I have heard her say she's never seen this or that movie despite she's hosting a star of the movie in question.  Same with books, etc.

Russell Brand followed up his experience with an Op-Ed in The Guardian.

Writing in The Guardian that TV hosts are often "perfectly amiable" when you talk to them off-camera, Brand opines that "when the red light goes on they immediately transform into shark-eyed Stepford berks talking in a cadence you encounter nowhere else but TV-land—a meter that implies simultaneously carefree whimsy and stifled hysteria. There is usually a detachment from the content."  E!online

I find her intellectually lazy and wonder about the talented women who aren't, who would willingly fill her shoes and do a terrific job.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Along the same lines,  The Atlantic article about  Jenny McCarthy's crackpot campaign to stop
nationwide vaccinations of children, says the TV show,  The View will hire her as a new host.  What exactly are her credentials other than the Playboy bunny who made her name on Howard Stern's radio how talking dirty with the bad boy, as a sometime assistant host of numerous shows incl Rockin' New Year's Eve, paramour of Jim Carrey's and a woman who knows how to keep her name in the public eye for all the wrong reasons?

 Oh. Right.  The twins.

The always understated Jenny McCarthy

This just in:  According to The Daily Mail, she's been hired.  Ahhh, more mediocrity.

Malala Stands Strong Against the Taliban on Her 16th Birthday

Today, on her 16th birthday and first public appearance since her attempted assassination at the hands of the Taliban, Malala Yousafzai spoke eloquently about her continuing fight for the right to education of women and girls in Pakistan. Wearing a pink sari belonging to slain Pakistani leader, Benazir Bhutto, her words brought emotion and tears to the faces of many attending her speech before the United Nations.


 For in depth information, go here and visit the HuffPost article on Malala and the movement, A World at School,