Witness Says Manning's Guantanamo Leaks Were Harmless, Judge Admits FISA Court Is Flawed, GOP Wants To Slash IRS Funding: P.M. Links

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  Testifying for the defense, a former Guantánamo Bay prosecutor told the court that secret detainee assessments that Bradley Manning gave to WikiLeaks did not threaten national security.

• The lack of an adversarial process is a serious flaw in the FISA court, admits James Robertson, a former judge for that body. Be he still insists that it's not a rubber stamp. Of course not; even rubber stamps don't say "yes" with such consistency.
• Edward Snowden accepted Venezuela's offer of asylum, claims a Russian lawmaker. I might have gone with Nicaragua, just for the beaches.
• Slashing the IRS budget by $3 billion would be a nice way to start reining-in the out-of-control tax agency, say House Republicans.
• The Emergency Alert System turns out to be very vulnerable to hacking. Which raises all sorts of cool possibilities.
• Delaying Obamacare mandates for businesses was nice, but how about dropping them for everybody else, GOP leaders urge the White House.
• In the ongoing trial of George Zimmerman, a forensics expert testified that Trayvon Martin was on top when Zimmerman fired his gun.
• Mexico's obesity rate has now surpassed that of the United States. It's the guacamole. I can't resist it, either.

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