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Uprising’s guest expert Courtney Morris (sitting in for Adele Stan), assistant professor of African American and women’s Studies at Penn State University and a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Rice University, analyzes today’s news headlines:

Edward Snowden testifies to the EU, exposing exactly how the NSA has partnered with their governments to spy on their citizens. Snowden has just sent his written statement to Members of the European Parliament who invited his testimony in an effort to understand the NSA’s relations with their agencies. In his statement, published in its entirety online, Snowden explained how the NSA, through its Foreign Affairs Division, has put pressure on EU government agencies to change their privacy laws and exploit legal loopholes to justify surveillance. Click here for a PC World article about the story.

The nation’s leading conservatives have gathered in Maryland for their annual Conservative Political Action Conference or CPAC. Making headlines at the conference is embattled New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who in his speech yesterday slammed President Obama on his fight against income inequality, and criticized the media, who put him under the microscope for the so-called Bridge Scandal in January. Christie had been ignored by CPAC organizers last year because he had praised Obama’s response to Superstorm Sandy. Click here for a Politico article about the story.

The US Senate, after much debate, gave in to the Pentagon yesterday in a vote that preserved military authority in prosecuting sexual crimes. Even though the bill to strip military commanders of power got 55 yes votes to 45 no votes, 60 votes were needed for the bill, sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, to go forward. The vote came after a year long campaign highlighting the pervasiveness of sexual assault in the military. Proponents of the bill haven’t given up – they vow to force a future vote later this spring. Click here for an Associated Press article about the story.