Is it a surprise that the government can know every phone call any of us makes, or read any email? If you watch those police/federal agent crime shows on TV, you wouldn't be shocked by the revelations. After all, on a moment's notice, these peeps seem to be able to call up all emails and phone calls made by anyone at any time and then locate them, just like that.
My pal Jeff Toobin, no staunch conservative by a long shot, makes the argument today in his New Yorker blog that Snowden's conversion from NSA staffer to conscientious objector seems iffy, and that the government can't operate, for better or worse, if double super secret information is leaked by anyone who suddenly has a change of heart after years of being a participant.
But certainly the country has a history of people who have done just that, and it's paid off handsomely for the concept of democracy and freedom. Can you say Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers?
So what do you think? We'd like to know. And we'll have the latest on the leaks – and the activities of the federal government since the passage of the Patriot Act – tonight at 11.
Also at 11, we're looking at another day-and-night rain experience. Sheesh! Enough already. Meteorologist Lee Goldberg is tracking the rain that just seems not to end. And another storm is on the way for Thursday night!.
We're also in Newtown, Connecticut, where the schools were on "modified lockdown" this afternoon after some kind of threat was phoned into an elementary school. Just what parents and kids in this school district do not need.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa and me, tonight at 11.
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