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Google Faces Fresh U.S. Scrutiny Over Market Power

Sam Gustin — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:29:39 +0000

The Shadow War Behind Syria’s Rebellion: Foreign Backers Jockey for Influence in Turkey

Rania Abouzeid/ Istanbul — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:27:04 +0000

Morning Must Reads: May 24

Alex Rogers — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:39:45 +0000

Can Obama win the War on Terror? IRS official Lois Lerner placed on administrative leave amid scandal. Congressional Republicans are skeptical the IRS’s treatment of conservative groups warrants a special prosecutor, fearing that step could limit their own investigation into the agency. Charles Krauthammer: “There’s a fly in my soup” Bank lobbyists are aiding lawmakers in preparing legislation that softens regulations of the financial industry. Boy Scouts vote to allow gay youth, 61% to 39%. While the Senate “Gang” produced an immigration bill, the House will have one of its own. Asia goes on a debt binge as much of the world sobers up. Obama hits the Jersey Shore with Gov. Chris Christie Tuesday. TIME Exclusive: Obama’s 1979 prom photos.

Can Obama End the War on Terror?

Michael Crowley — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:45:53 +0000

In his broad address on drone strikes, al Qaeda terrorists, and the prison at Guantanamo Bay Thursday, Barack Obama wrestled with some of the hardest moral questions that have defined national security policy since September 11: Who is the enemy? Who can we kill, and where, and how? What to do with suspected terrorists we hold in captivity? And when, if ever, will this war as we know it end? Along the way, Obama issued a strong defense of his reliance on drones to kill suspected terrorists in places where other military means are infeasible or risk more civilian deaths. He announced higher standards for drone strikes, limiting them to situations where the confidence about a target’s location is extremely high and the possibility of civilian casualties is virtually nil. He reiterated his belief that the Guantanamo prison is a stain on America’s honor and image around the world and should be closed, and vowed new action to make that long-delayed goal a reality. (VIDEO: Obama Press Conference April 30, 2013) But while Obama has an obviously sincere desire to bring the war against al Qaeda to a close and close the books on Guantanamo, however, he also lacks the power to make these things happen on his own. The future of the terror war that Obama inherited from George W. Bush and Dick Cheney depends on some very open questions: Will Republicans Play Along? The initial GOP response to Obama’s speech was skeptical. “The theme of the speech was that this war is winding down… [but] the enemy is morphing and spreading, there are more theaters of conflict today than in several years,” said GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. “The President’s speech today will be viewed by terrorists as a victory,” declared Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. Some of Obama’s plans require no Republican sign-off—he can change the rules governing drone strikes, for instance, by presidential directive. And he can transfer the dozens of Yemeni detainees at the camp who have been cleared for release back to their home

Obama Sees Narrower Terror Threat, Defends Drones

AP / Julie Pace and Lara Jakes — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:29:16 +0000

(WASHINGTON) — President Barack Obama sought Thursday to advance the U.S. beyond the unrelenting war effort of the past dozen years, defining a narrower terror threat from smaller networks and homegrown extremists rather than the grandiose plots of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida. In a lengthy address at the National Defense University, Obama defended his controversial drone-strikes program as a linchpin of the U.S. response to the evolving dangers. He also argued that changing threats require changes to the nation’s counterterrorism policies. Obama implored Congress to close the much-maligned Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba and pledged to allow greater oversight of the drone program. But he plans to keep the most lethal efforts with the unmanned aircraft under the control of the CIA. He offered his most vigorous public defense yet of drone strikes as legal, effective and necessary as terror threats progress. “Neither I, nor any president, can promise the total defeat of terror,” Obama told his audience of students, national security and human rights experts and counterterror officials. “What we can do — what we must do — is dismantle networks that pose a direct danger, and make it less likely for new groups to gain a foothold, all while maintaining the freedoms and ideals that we defend.” (MORE: What Happens When Drones Return to America) Obama’s address came amid increased pressure from Congress on both the drone program and the status of the Guantanamo prison. A rare coalition of bipartisan lawmakers has pressed for more openness and more oversight of the highly secretive targeted strikes, while liberal lawmakers have pointed to a hunger strike at Guantanamo in pressing Obama to renew his stalled efforts to close the detention center. The president cast the drone program as crucial in a counterterror effort that will rely less on the widespread deployment of U.S. troops as the war in Afghanistan winds down. But he acknowledged the targeted strikes are no “cure-all” and said he is deeply troubled by the civilians unintentionally killed. “For me, and those in my chain of command,

Obama Heckled During Counterterrorism Speech

Associated Press — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:21:23 +0000

(WASHINGTON) — President Barack Obama was interrupted three times by a woman who shouted about drones and detainees in Cuba as he delivered a speech on national security. The woman was identified as Medea Benjamin from the anti-war group Code Pink. Benjamin yelled from behind a bank of cameras before security removed her from the hall at National Defense University in Washington. Obama said at one point he was willing to “cut the young lady some slack” because the issues he was addressing are worth being passionate about. Benjamin shouted, quote, “86 were cleared already. Release them today!” That appears to be a reference to detainees who remain in Cuba despite being cleared for transfer from the facility.

‘Loser’ No More: Tesla Repays $465 Million U.S. Loan

Sam Gustin — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:42:08 +0000

Peeping Sergeant 1st Class (First Class, Indeed)

Mark Thompson — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:21:51 +0000

Boy Scouts Vote to Allow Gay Youth

Elizabeth Dias — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:25:10 +0000

You can now be gay and a Boy Scout. The Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday afternoon to allow openly gay youth into their ranks, overturning a ban that had stood for more than 100 years. The group’s 1400-member National Council was closely divided, with 61% voting in favor of accepting gay youth and 39% voting against repeal of the ban. The decision marks a dramatic change for the venerable organization. Since it was written, the Scout oath has been a mirror of American values. “On my honor I will do my best  to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law,” it reads, “ to help other people at all times;  to keep myself physically strong,  mentally awake, and morally straight.” The Boy Scouts’ decision today means the organization no longer considers “morally straight” and “sexually straight” to be the same thing. That is a distinction that scouting families and outside groups have fought over for months. The issue drew fierce lobbying and took on the flavor of a national political campaign. Scouts for Equality employed Obama campaign data-crunching tactics to mobilize on behalf of the ban’s repeal. The Family Research Council, a social-conservative group opposed to gay marriage, organized a task force to keep it in place. Corporations like Intel and Merck put their BSA funding on hold. “Call Me Maybe” Carly Rae Jepson refused to sing for a Boy Scout concert in March. And on both sides, people prayed that the organization’s decision would reflect their moral beliefs. The repeal had support from core BSA leadership. “The BSA’s executive committee unanimously presented this resolution because it stays true to Scouting’s mission and remains focused on kids,” BSA president Wayne Perry wrote in USA Today on Wednesday. “No matter what your opinion is on this issue, America needs Scouting, and our policies must be based on what is in the best interest of our nation’s children.” Scouts for Equality started fighting to overturn the ban last year. Founder Zach Wahls, a 21-year-old Eagle Scout

Moore Picks Up the Pieces With the Help of FEMA and Friendly Neighbors

Zeke Miller/ Moore, Okla. — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:53:05 +0000

Morning Must Reads: May 23

Alex Rogers — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:47:43 +0000

Attorney General Eric Holder admits that the US had killed four American citizens in drone strikes outside the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama will hold his first major counterterroism speech of his second term today. He will announce that his administration is set to restart transfers of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Michael Crowley will cover the speech for TIME later today. Japan’s stocks tank. Seven months after Hurricane Sandy, the New Jersey shore’s boardwalk is open. Rep. Darrell Issa said that the official at the center of the uproar over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups, Lois Lerner, effectively has waived her Fifth Amendment right, strongly suggesting the staffer could be hauled back before the House. A Chechen man linked to one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects was fatally shot early Wednesday in an unusual encounter with the FBI and other law enforcement officers. Soldier brutally murdered in London. The issue of just how far the Obama Administration is willing to go to pursue leakers gets murkier and murkier. The House may hold hearings into the Department of Justice’s spying campaign against multiple news organizations. Sen Ted Cruz has changed on immigration from his time as a George W. Bush adviser. Luxembourg pushes to shed image of tax haven.

TIME Exclusive: President Obama’s 1979 Prom Photos

Adam Sorensen — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:45:17 +0000

This article appears in this week’s magazine underneath the title, “Obama’s Grand Old Party.” To subscribe to TIME, click here. Tucked away in someone else’s shoe box of adolescent artifacts, there might be a picture of you in garish clothes and with an outdated ‘do, your arm around a high school squeeze. The President of the United States is no different. These previously unpublished photos, obtained exclusively by TIME from Obama’s schoolmate Kelli Allman (née McCormack), show a 17-year-old Barack Obama on the night of his senior prom. Barry spent his days at the Punahou School in Hawaii studying, shooting hoops and goofing off with his friends. Greg Orme, a fellow varsity basketball player, was Obama’s constant companion. “They were like brothers,” says Allman. On prom night, the pair double-dated. Obama and his date Megan Hughes, a student at the Hawaii School for Girls at La Pietra, joined Orme at Allman’s house, where the two couples sipped champagne before going to the dance and then an after-party. “It was a really fun, happy time. We were all cracking up, and everyone was smiling,” says Allman. “It was pretty typical from there out as far as what happens at prom: the dinner and the dancing and the photos.” Millions of American teenagers will go to proms this year. Their photos are more likely to be stored on Facebook than in a shoe box. But it’s fun to imagine that in one of those pictures, there’s a girl in a pastel dress or a lanky guy in a white sport coat who will end up becoming the leader of the free world. Left: Kelli Allman‘s OAHUAN 1979 Yearbook. Right: Obama wrote the above note in Allman’s yearbook at the end of his senior year in 1979. From left: Greg Orme, Kelli Allman, Barack Obama and Megan Hughes at Allman’s parents’ house in Honolulu. PHOTOS: Obama’s College Years Comments have been disabled on this story.

Obama to Address Drones, Gitmo in Security Speech

AP / Lara Jakes and Lolita C. Baldor — Thu, 23 May 2013 08:40:43 +0000

(WASHINGTON) — President Barack Obama on Thursday is expected to address some of the thornier aspects of national security policy, including drone strikes, the prison at Guantanamo Bay and the dire threats Americans continue to face — even from fellow citizens. On the eve of a speech Thursday at the National Defense University, the Obama administration revealed for the first time that a fourth American citizen had been killed in secretive drone strikes abroad. The killings of three other Americans in counterterror operations since 2009 were known before a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy acknowledged the four deaths. Obama’s speech is expected to reaffirm his national security priorities — from homegrown terrorists to killer drones to the enemy combatants held at the military-run detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — but make no new sweeping policy announcements. The White House has offered few clues on how the president will address questions that have dogged his administration for years and, critics say, given foreign allies mixed signals about U.S. intentions in some of the world’s most volatile areas. Obama will try to refocus an increasingly apathetic public on security issues as his administration grapples with a series of unrelated controversies stemming from the attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups and government monitoring of reporters. His message will also be carefully analyzed by an international audience that has had to adapt to what counterterror expert Peter Singer described as the administration’s disjointed and often short-sighted security policies. (PHOTOS: Everyday Drones: Photographs by Gregg Segal) “He is really wresting with a broader task, which is laying out an overdue case for regularizing our counterterrorism strategy itself,” said Singer, director of the Brookings Institution’s 21st Century Security and Intelligence Center in Washington. “It’s both a task in terms of being a communicator, and a task in term of being a decider.” The White House said Obama’s speech coincides with the signing of new “presidential policy guidance” on when

House Passes Bill to Speed Keystone Pipeline Approval

AP / Matthew Daily — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:11:48 +0000

(WASHINGTON) — House Republicans pushed through a bill Wednesday to bypass the president to speed approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas. Democrats criticized the legislation as a blatant attempt to allow a foreign company to avoid environmental review. The bill was approved, 241-175, largely along party lines. Republicans said the measure was needed to ensure that the long-delayed pipeline, first proposed in 2008, is built. “This is the most studied pipeline in the history of mankind,” said Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., the bill’s sponsor. “When is enough enough?” added Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif. “Five years? Six years? Ten years?” But Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., called the bill a “reckless attempt to avoid environmental review.” The bill would deem the project approved without a presidential permit, as required under current law, and with no further environmental review. The legislation also would limit legal challenges to the project. The White House says President Barack Obama opposes the bill because it would “circumvent longstanding and proven processes” by removing the requirement for a presidential permit. (VIDEO: TIME Explains: The Keystone Pipeline) The $7 billion pipeline, proposed by Calgary-based TransCanada, would carry oil extracted from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. The 1,700-mile pipeline would travel though Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma on its way to refineries in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas. Supporters say the pipeline would create thousands of jobs, help lower fuel prices and bolster North American energy resources. Opponents call the project a “carbon bomb” that would carry “dirty oil” that could trigger global warming. They also worry about a spill. Converting tar sands into oil can uses as much as 15 percent more energy than conventional oil production. Obama has twice thwarted the pipeline project amid concerns about a proposed route through environmentally sensitive land in Nebraska, even as the White House approved a southern portion of the project from Oklahoma to Texas. The bill approved by the House would apply to an 875-mile portion of

Eric Garcetti Survives Nasty Race for L.A. Mayor

Michael Scherer — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:39:54 +0000

This article appears in this week’s magazine. Labor unions spent millions. The two candidates dragged each other down in a vicious negative campaign. And comedian Will Ferrell promised free waffles for everyone. Yet in the end, the mayoral election in Los Angeles turned out to be a Southland snoozer, with fewer than 1 in 5 registered Angelenos even bothering to vote. Their low turnout choice: 42 year-old Eric Garcetti. In his victory speech, the piano-playing former city-council president promised to take the city back to the future. “Los Angeles is ready to put the recession in the rearview mirror,” he said, “and become the city of opportunity that I grew up in once again.” But Garcetti’s victory, which followed the most expensive campaign in Los Angeles history, will go down as one defined by the hardscrabble politics of the past. In addition to the roughly $15 million raised by both candidates, outside groups largely funded by local labor unions kicked in almost $10 million, mostly for negative ads, which dominated the debate. In the end, only 19% of the city’s 1.8 million registered voters cast ballots. A Rhodes scholar, Garcetti is the son of a former L.A. district attorney and has a mixed heritage reflective of the city he will lead. His father’s family, of Italian descent, emigrated from Mexico after the 1910 revolution, and his mother traces her roots to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. During the campaign, he joked in Spanish that he was “mestizo doble,” or double mixed, and boasted of his other credentials, including his service as a naval reserve officer. He ran against Wendy Greuel, the city controller, who once worked for the Hollywood studio DreamWords SKG. Both candidates were liberal Democrats, agreeing on most big issues, so the campaign often devolved into sniping over character and local labor issues. Greuel was forced to distance herself from nearly $8 million in outside support for her campaign, mostly from labor, including the union that represents employees of the department of water and power and police and

Holder: Obama’s New Drone-Strike ‘Playbook’ Has Arrived

Michael Crowley — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:46:02 +0000

The big story this afternoon is the formal admission by the Obama Administration, via a letter to Congress from Attorney General Eric Holder, that it has killed four American citizens in drone strikes. That’s an interesting sign of the pressure Obama is under to be more transparent about his targeted killing operations in the fight against al-Qaeda. But the information itself is not surprising: it has long been known that Obama approved the killing of the al-Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, and that other Americans (including al-Awlaki’s teenage son) have been killed inadvertently — although one of the deaths, Jude Kenan Mohammad, had not previously been reported. Perhaps more significant, however, is something Holder’s letter mentions only briefly in its second-to-last paragraph: the Attorney General writes that Obama has approved a policy document that “institutionalizes the Administration’s exacting standards and processes for reviewing and approving operations to capture or use lethal force against terrorist targets.” This appears to be the “disposition matrix” that Obama officials, led by former counterterrorism adviser (and now CIA director) John Brennan, spent much of last year assembling. Casually referred to as the drone “playbook,” the document reportedly aspired to clear up questions like who should pull the trigger on drone strikes — some are conducted by the Pentagon, some by the CIA — and just what legal authorities and restrictions apply to them. It may codify a reported shift of some drone activity from the CIA to the Defense Department. So while the deaths of Americans by drone — including the targeting of al-Awlaki — aren’t really news, the implementation of a formal new policy guiding Obama’s targeted killing against suspected al-Qaeda terrorists is a big deal. But the veil of secrecy is not being lifted entirely. Holder writes that the new policy document will remain classified, although “relevant congressional committees” will be briefed on its contents. We may hear more about it, in broad unclassified terms, when President Obama gives a big speech on his counterterrorism policies.

Four Americans Killed Since 2009 in Drone Strikes

Associated Press — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:56:37 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder says four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009. The attorney general said that in conducting U.S. counterterrorism operations against al-Qaida and its associated forces, the government has targeted and killed one American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, Holder says the U.S. is also aware of three other American citizens who have been killed in such counterterrorism operations over the same time period.

Attorney General: 4 Americans Killed Since 2009 in Drone Strikes

Associated Press — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:48:29 +0000

(WASHINGTON) — Attorney General Eric Holder says four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009. The attorney general said that in conducting U.S. counterterrorism operations against al-Qaida and its associated forces, the government has targeted and killed one American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, Holder says the U.S. is also aware of three other American citizens who have been killed in such counterterrorism operations over the same time period. MORE: Bridge Amid Troubled Water

Jay Newton-Small on the Oklahoma Tragedy

TIME Staff — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:10:27 +0000

On Morning Joe, TIME’s Jay Newton-Small reports from Oklahoma on the tornado tragedy. She discusses the 16 minutes parents had to get their children to safety, from when sirens first alerted Moore residents to when the tornado touched down.

TIME Remembers Harvey Milk

TIME Staff — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:54:09 +0000

To commemorate Harvey Milk Day, TIME republishes a snippet of its coverage on the remembrance of his death. Milk was one of the first openly gay politicians in the United States. This article was originally published in the December 11, 1978 issue. Another Day of Death A former San Francisco official kills the mayor and a supervisor The gathering constellation of torchlights nickered first at the corner of 18th and Castro streets, in the center of the homosexual community that makes up about one-eighth of San Francisco’s population. Held high by marchers stepping to the slow cadence of three drums, the bobbing lights moved down Market Street, their brilliance growing as the grieving crowd multiplied. By the time they reached the steps of the bronze-domed city hall, the crowd of youthful homosexuals, male and female, had been joined by many more conventional citizens, and an army of some 30,000 mourners expressed the sorrow of the shaken city. At the flower-strewn steps, the mood of the civil rights rebellion of the 1960s was evoked as the crystalline voice of Folk Singer Joan Baez led the assembled marchers in the familiar songs: Kumbaya, Amazing Grace and Oh, Freedom. More candles were lit, more wreaths dropped on the steps, and an undercurrent of bitterness broke through the sadness. “Are you happy, Anita?” asked one crudely lettered sign in cruel reference to homosexuality’s hated foe, Anita Bryant. Once stately and even staid, a very citadel of culture in California, San Francisco has been scarred repeatedly in recent years by outbreaks of violence and turmoil (see following story). It was horrified two weeks ago when it awoke to the realization that it had nourished the Peoples Temple, an ostensibly humanitarian and religious cult whose leader, Jim Jones, had ordered the assassination of California Congressman Leo Ryan and then led 911 followers to their deaths in a frenzy of mass suicide and murder in remote Guyana. But San Francisco’s shock was more centrally focused last week from the moment when a tearful Dianne Feinstein, president of the board of