We watched the full NBC- Edward Snowden interview, the first time Snowden has been interviewed in person since he left the Moscow airport. It was fascinating. What struck us, which we already thought, is that Snowden is highly intelligent, very articulate and most likely one or two steps ahead of the US government.
Snowden was as candid as he could have been without revealing personal details. Although the entire interview was riveting, Snowden uncorked a couple of chilling insights.
The first is that not only can the government read all your emails, they can watch you writing them. In Snowden’s words, they can get into your thinking process, watching you type, backspace, rethink your words etc. The other very chilling moment was when Brian Williams, the not so intelligent interviewer, pulled out a phone, indicating he was advised not to bring his personal phone to Russia, asking Snowden how much can the government find out about you and your phone.
Snowden said that at any moment the government can turn on your phone, listen to your conversation, take a picture, basically do whatever they want. That’s when Williams revealed that he was checking the Rangers Habs score. Imagine Blanche, the Montreal Canadiens made it onto the Edward Snowden interview.
Watching Snowden was as close to a Watergate moment as one can get. We have not been so intrigued by someone since then and we were not disappointed. Snowden is now stuck in Russia, mostly like for the rest of his life, if they will allow him to stay. The jury will remain out on this, possibly for many years to come.
Do you know who sings the American anthem for the Rangers in New York? We’ll tell you. A dude by the name of John Amirante. Take a good look at him. It could be that he’s wearing the world’s worst rug on his head. Yes Blanche, Mr. National Anthem is wearing a toupee the size of Texas, thick, bushy and slightly pushed off his head. Perhaps someone could gently suggest that he spring for something that looks less like the bristles of a broom. The city of Montreal unnveiled its new bicycle safety plan to the tune of $10 million. Can we talk? We were driving downtown today and hardly anyone was wearing a helmet. One dude was riding right in the middle of a very busy street, weaving in and out, no helmet, no mirror and not really looking behind him. Are these people out of their minds? Guess who wins if a bike collides with a car, never mind a truck? The cyclist just has to get tapped by the car and he’ll go flying, headfirst off his bike.
How about the city pass a law that all cyclists have to wear helmet? It certainly doesn’t cost $10 million. Geniuses.
Michelle Obama is at it again. Well, at least she’s not on vacation. Today she had a piece in the New York times warning that the House of Representatives may pass a bill mandating white potatoes be included in what low income families can buy with their food stamps. White potatoes? Perish the thought. These people should be eating fruits and veggies, never mind white potatoes.
Last time we looked, the United States was a free country. What the heck is she doing mixing into someone else’s kitchen? This woman is obviously very bored or she has a serious case of fomo – fear of missing out – on what other people do with their money.
Are we the only ones who think the Champlain bridge will never get built? Between the fights over the tolls and now the possibility of a light rail instead of the bus lanes, the haggling is out of control.
We can only say this: they better not be using the same people who bought the new trains for our metro system. First they were too wide for the platform and they had to enlarge some stations and now we find out there’s not enough electricity to run the trains. Ooops, we’ll just stick our hand into the taxpayers pocket and use OPM – other people’s money to add more electricity to the system.
We have zero faith in anyone doing anything about that bridge. We also have not much faith in the bridge itself. Houston – we have a problem.
Please note: Shavuot begins Tuesday night June 3 and ends Thursday night June 5. Therefore Blanche will be reporting next week on Monday night and late Thursday night.
Good Shabbos, We’ll talk…