Week In The News: Job Numbers, Snowden And NSA, Mideast Peace Talks

46:56

August 02, 2013

A Bradley Manning verdict. Pope Francis on gays. New Middle East peace talks. Our weekly news round table goes behind the headlines.

With a chart listing thwarted acts of terrorism, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., left, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., right, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, question top Obama administration officials on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 31, 2013, about the National Security Agency's (NSA) surveillance programs for the first time since the House narrowly rejected a proposal last week to effectively shut down the NSA's secret collection of hundreds of millions of Americans' phone records. At the witness table, below, are, from left, National Security Agency Deputy Director John C. Inglis, and Deputy Attorney General James Cole, right. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) — With a chart listing thwarted acts of terrorism, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. (left) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. (right) chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, question top Obama administration officials on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 31, 2013, about the National Security Agency's (NSA) surveillance programs. At the witness table, below are NSA Deputy Director John C. Inglis (left) and Deputy Attorney General James Cole (right). (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Edward Snowden is out of the airport in Moscow, and the U.S. is in a major snit with Russia this week, as the amazing reverberations of one high school dropout with NSA clearance roll on.

Lots of economic numbers out — on jobs, housing, GDP. Not bad, but far from great.

On Wall Street, a jury goes against Fabulous Fab of Goldman Sachs, but the big fish still swim free.

On a plane home from Brazil, the pope says “Who am I to judge?” on gays.

We’ve got a Bradley Manning verdict, A-Rod in trouble, Mideast peace talks.

This hour, On Point: Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Diane Brady, editor and content chief for Bloomberg Businessweek. (@dianebrady)

Michael Hirsh, chief correspondent for National Journal. (@michaelphirsh)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst.

From Tom's Reading List

NPR: U.S. Unemployment Sinks To 7.4 Percent In July Jobs Report: "But employers added 162,000 jobs in the month, coming in under economists' expectations."

National Journal: How America's Top Tech Companies Created The Surveillance State: "These moral issues—the balance that the intel community has tried to strike between surveillance needs and privacy concerns—have never been resolved, as illustrated by the intense public debate over whether Snowden is a whistle-blower or a traitor."

Bloomberg: S&P 500 Climbs Above 1,700 On Stimulus Bets, Economy: "Three rounds of bond purchases by the Fed, coupled with improving earnings and economic growth, has helped propel the S&P 500 up more than 150 percent from its bear-market low in 2009."

The Washington Post: Israelis, Palestinians To Launch Talks Aimed At Peace Deal, Independent Palestinian State: "Israeli and Palestinian negotiators shook hands Tuesday to resume long-stalled direct peace talks that Secretary of State John F. Kerry said will seek to give birth to an independent Palestinian state nine months from now."

Video

On Tuesday, July 30, President Obama spoke about job growth and the corporate tax code:

This program aired on August 2, 2013.

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