giving it up for dianne

i have rarely seen a more formidable or angry or focused senator than dianne feinstein over the last two days. and i will say this: a straight-up totalitarian system could never have released that information. but the difference between sheer totalitarianism and something not that - under conditions of universal continual survellance, militarized police power, intelligence services as the basic centers of abusive power, and so on - is just the principled anger of someone like feinstein, who actually does have some power. also it depends, as i argued a few months ago, on such people being clean, on their having no skeletons whatsoever. if feinstein had a drug habit or had engaged in a series of affairs, john brennan would control her without effort.