An overview of possible 2016 Republican contenders and what they've published, while Hillary Clinton struggles with the fact that her correspondence as Secretary of State was not preserved because she used a personal e-mail account.
A horrific investigation of a Chicago "off-the-books interrogation compound" that resembles a CIA black site, including torture and denial of basic constitutional rights.
The Atlantic on what's next in government surveillance:
All of this gives the NSA access to almost everything. In testimony to the European Parliament in 2014, Snowden said, “The result is a European bazaar, where an EU member state like Denmark may give the NSA access to a tapping center on the (unenforceable) condition that NSA doesn’t search it for Danes, and Germany may give the NSA access to another on the condition that it doesn’t search for Germans. Yet the two tapping sites may be two points on the same cable, so the NSA simply captures the communications of the German citizens as they transit Denmark, and the Danish citizens as they transit Germany, all the while considering it entirely in accordance with their agreements.”
The Atlantic: What's Next in Government Surveillance, March 2, 2015openDemocracy on the role of international law in global supply chains:
However, the idea of holding multinational companies liable for the human rights violations occurring in their global supply chains faces challenges in company law. Companies are generally considered as entities separate from their owners. This means that an overseas subsidiary company, which is owned by a multinational company, is a separate entity in law even if it is wholly owned by its multinational parent. In English law, parent companies are not held legally responsible for the illegal acts (torts) of their subsidiaries—only the subsidiaries themselves are liable for their wrongdoing. This approach limits the responsibility of multinational enterprises as they can hide behind their subsidiaries. The increasing use of suppliers further exacerbates this issue, as these companies are not even owned by the Western multinational enterprises.
openDemocracy: Global supply chains: the role of law? A role for law!, March 2, 2015The strategic chasm between the US and Israel on Iran's nuclear aspirations is widening. "In short, Israel would eliminate Iran’s nuclear capability, and the United States would permit a limited one."
Pop Culture:
Leonard Nimoy has died.
Orphan Black will resume on April 18 with its third season - EW has a trailer (personally I prefer watching new seasons completely unspoiled).
Ravishly interviewed Roxane Gay.
Michael Schur on the final episode of Parks and Recreation. "In the course of the show and its saga of hanging on and us all getting to do it together for seven years, there became a lot of parallels between Leslie Knope and the work we were doing to create her." And Alan Sepinwall lovingly reviews the finale here. And the cast sings "Bye Bye Lil Sebastian".
Kim Gordon on her reading habits, or as I like to think of it, one step closer to getting Kim Gordon, Olivier Assayas and William Gibson working together on one project.