Rappoport takes the premise noted in Corbett’s blackmail report and adds detail, color, the complex dynamics of corporate greed that corrupts individual members of Congress via blackmail as reflected in the TV series, “House of Cards,” — which I watched a few weeks ago, and found myself riveted. Not that I wanted to be. Not that I was surprised. But what better way to absorb the nitty gritty of how the ubiquitous currency of blackmail manages and massages the levers of power?

Snowden, NSA, blackmail, and the boys in the back room