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PBC News & Comment: Bradley Manning Trial, Gaza War

Catching up on Bradley Manning pretrial events and fallout from Israel’s assault on Gaza, response to UN vote on Palestinians
After two weeks off the grid, your humble host is catching up on the Manning court martial. The military judge has agreed to a form of plea bargaining that should reduce the number of charges, and the pretrial testimony of Quantico officials detailed the extra-barbaric treatment Manning endured.

–Israel draws international rebukes (but not from US) for announcing 3,000 new illegal settlements, and cuts off cash flow to West Bank in retaliation for UN vote accepting Palestine as observer nation

–Egyptian courts are on strike to protest dictator-like power grab by Morsi

–Senate approves Feinstein amendment aimed to clarifying NDAA detention law, critics say it makes things worse. Here is a critique from Blake Fillippi

–the president signed a new whistleblower protection law after 13 years of wrangling. It does help some whistleblowers, but not in national security–here is Jessalyn Radack’s commentary

NY Times confirms key parts of Jason Leopold’s reporting on the alleged Gitmo suicide of Adnan Latif

–Vermont Sen. Leahy gets committee approval of email privacy law, but FISA renewal will most likely trump it

–Fiscal Cliff Notes: expect plenty of back-and-forth in the next few weeks, but Dems will likely approve cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, but no major cuts in defense and intelligence

–global warming accelerates in speed and heat, China’s carbon output increased 10% in 2011

–Apple blocks distribution of app to monitor US drones

–Obama campaign workers talk about the barrage of annoying emails they sent, with subject lines like “Hey”