ED KRAYEWSKI: Angela Merkel’s comparison of NSA to Stasi is unfair — to the Stasi. “Merkel may have been born and raised in East Germany, but former Stasi officials themselves say it would’ve been a dream come true to collect the amount of data on citizens that the NSA does. Where the information collected by the Stasi would fill an estimated 48,000 filing cabinets, were the information the NSA Collects printed out it would take an estimated 42 trillion filing cabinets to store. . . . President Obama may make a lot of media appearances, but he manages to avoid being confronted by uncomfortable truths, largely by manipulating a friendly press and cultivating friendly opinion-makers. Have you seen the president take a tough question on the revelations about the NSA’s spying activities? Apparently he was outraged as you were when he read it in the papers. Nevertheless, Obama has been getting an earful on the NSA in private.”

Some wonder if the NSA gave him tips on Mitt Romney’s campaign. We don’t know, but in a world full of spies and lies, it’s natural to have such doubts. President Asterisk, indeed.