National: President Obama in a press conference yesterday said he will work to reassure Americans about the government’s use of electronic surveillance. “It’s not enough for me, as president, to have confidence in these programs. The American people need to have confidence in them as well.” NSA leaker Edward Snowden set off a national debate when he revealed massive government surveillance of telephone and electronic communications. The President said, “Given the history of abuse by governments it’s right to ask questions about surveillance,” but he did not suggest that he would curtail it. Taking questions from reporters, the President denounced Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare. “The one unifying principle in the Republican Party at the moment is making sure that 30 million people don’t have health care.”

World: The State Department says tomorrow it will reopen 18 of the 21 embassies in the Middle East and Africa as a terror threat seems to have passed. The offices in Yemen and Lahore, Pakistan will remain closed.

Weed: CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta has caused a stir with an opinion piece on the network’s website saying he’s changed his mind about medical marijuana and he now believes it has real medicinal use. Gupta wrote that the Drug Enforcement Administration has no scientific proof that justifies banning medical use of marijuana. “We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that,” Gupta said.

Miracle Cure: San Diego Mayor Bob Filner has bailed out of in-patient therapy for sexual harassment after just five days. He was supposed to stay two weeks but claims he finished the program ahead of schedule. His lawyers say, “Mayor Filner is planning to continue therapy sessions on an outpatient basis.” Fourteen women have accused Filner of grabbing and groping them while making salacious propositions.

Hillary, The Serial: The Republican party is angry with NBC and CNN for plans to produce programs about Hillary Clinton, who is considered a likely candidate for president. NBC plans a mini-series and CNN says it will do a documentary. The chairman of the Republican National Committee said he will not allow a presidential debate to be produced on either network if they go ahead with their plans.

Deep Hole: The NY Times reports that the Japanese deficit has reached 1 quadrillion yen. That’s a “1” with 15 zeroes after it. Of course, translated to Japanese currency, the US debt is 1.5 quadrillion yen.

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