PBC News & Comment: Supreme Court Snubs Don Siegelman, Again

Supreme Court uses valid principle to strike down part of Florida’s death penalty, ignores the same principle in Siegelman appeal…--Roger Shuler notes that the Court has denied the latest appeal from Siegelman, and speculates that 3 justices, including Scalia, would support the appeal based on comments from 2014 Jones case
--Ken Clair has left San Quentin’s Death Row, after federal appeals court “secretly” resentenced him to life term in highly unusual process
--Washington Post exposes latest hi-tech domestic surveillance system in Fresno, scouring the web and social media for pre-crime data collection, “threat score”
--Apple CEO Tim Cook was reportedly aggressive in demanding “no back doors” in recent Silicon Valley huddle with spooks
--top spook James Clapper, who was at that meeting last week, just found out his phone was hacked
--it’s Leopold week at PBC podcast; yesterday, we posted chat with author Les Leopold about “Runaway Inequality”; today, we post conversation with Vice News reporter Jason Leopold about Clinton’s emails and coverage of San Bernardino shooting
--Clinton campaign deploys Chelsea to attack Sanders with blatant lies about his health care proposals
--in the “Fox News” zone, America was under siege by Iran as Obama delivered State of Union address, 10 US sailors have been released
--Obama’s speech was notable for what he ignored, and was mishmash of legacy setting, group therapy, and embrace of American arrogance and power
--Spencer Ackerman in The Guardian has excellent analysis
--The Guardian also published a powerful op-ed by an American Muslim woman who went to a Trump rally in headscarf, with Koran