If the Only News Is Good News and There Is No News ...?
Tara McKelvey, the woman who wrote one of the most detailed stories on drone targeting (which has subsequently gotten John Rizzo into some trouble), has a CJR piece on the problems of reporting on drones. The whole thing is worth reading, but…
Wells Fargo, Freddie, Bank of America, and UBS at DOJ
As a number of people have noted, Reuters has an important story on a potential conflict of interest at DOJ: Covington and Burling, where Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer worked before coming to DOJ in 2009, wrote key memos leading to the creation…
In Rush to Transcribe Military's Concern on Why We Can't Leave Afghanistan, Did NY Times Fact-check "Classified" Report?
Today's New York Times carries a long article under the headline "Afghanistan's Soldiers Step Up Killings of Allied Forces". The story appears to me to be presented from the angle of military higher-ups who don't want to withdraw from Afghanistan…
Obama's Housing Campaign
Let's connect a few data points.
Last Friday, Jame Dimon demanded that all the players (except the actual homeowners) get locked into a room until some leader solved the housing problem he and his buddies created.
On Sunday, the Administration…
The FBI Feeding Fantasies for Fun and Fear
Jim linked to this long Esquire story on the Waffle House plotters, the four senior citizens arrested last year for a plot to attack government workers and make ricin. It traces the plot from the online regrets of the leader of the plot, Fred…
The OTHER Assault on the Fourth Amendment in the NDAA? Drones at Your Airport?
Steven Aftergood notes that the Army just issued new directives for the use of drones in civilian airspace. The new directives include nothing earth shattering (my favorite part is the enclosure from 2009 explaining what to do when you lose…
Ahsan Procures Adjournment to Feb. 1 in Gilani Contempt Case; Pasha Term to Expire; NATO Routes to Re-open?
In his much-anticipated appearance today before Pakistan's Supreme Court, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was represented by Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan. [I must admit to a bit of bias here. Ahsan became something of a personal hero to me when…
Judy Miller Discovers the Word "Claim"
Judy Miller, first amendment martyr, has finally found an assertion that she distrusts enough to diminish by using the word "claim:"
NYPD’s critics have complained about potential invasions of privacy and disruptions of New Yorkers’ civil…
Inspiring Attorney-Client Crackdowns
Those of us who watch Gitmo legal issues have wondered since late last year why the prison had imposed new clean team processes on communications between lawyers and their clients. We learned the beginnings of an answer today. DOD found a copy…
The False Report of Banned Books In Tucson: The Tempest in the Arizona Teapot
Last Friday afternoon, author Jeff Biggers published an article at Salon entitled Who’s Afraid of “The Tempest”? The cognitive lede, and framing for the article as a whole, is contained in the first sentence:
As part of the state-mandated…
Save the Internet!
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.
We've been remiss in covering the SOPA/PIPA fight. So in honor of today's SOPA/PIPA strike, we will be on strike from 6AM to 6PM today.
In the meantime, here…
Turkish Double Talk
And just because this seems to connect all my posts from today.
Today's Zaman, January 17, 2012:
According to reports by Turkish intelligence agencies, Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operated by Israel that have been observed in Hatay…
Fans, Fertilizer, and False Flags
I'd like to look more closely at the alleged Hezbollah terror plot announced last week in Bangkok.
Thai police said they had broken up a terror plot aimed at tourist sites in Bangkok, after U.S. warnings triggered in part by worsening tensions…
Dick Cheney's Turkey Talk
Rick Perry apparently won the award at last night's GOP Reality Show for most belligerent, ill-considered comment, calling to kick Turkey out of NATO because it had ties to Islamic terrorists.
And while it doesn't have the same utter…
Iraq Learned the Ray Davis Lesson from Pakistan
Before I point out an (IMO) overlooked detail from the NYT story describing how contractors in Iraq are being "harassed," let me first draw attention to what NYT has hidden in paragraph 8:
Private contractors are integral to postwar Iraq’s…
Weaning Ourselves Off War in the Middle East? Or Preparing for Israel's War?
Gary Sick speculates that all the seeming confusion in the Obama Administration's policy on Iran may be an attempt to create political space to shift our policy on Iran. After laying out some Leon Panetta flip-flops in December and the latest…
Gilani to Appear Before Pakistan Supreme Court Jan 19 on Contempt Charges; Early Elections Likely
Pakistan's Supreme Court stopped just short of declaring Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani unfit for office today, and instead found him in contempt of court. He is to appear personally before the court on January 19 to answer the charges. He…
The Home of the Free Got Foreclosed
On Wednesday's Gitmo anniversary, Jonathan Turley had a WaPo column listing 10 reasons why the US was no longer the "land of the free." I thoroughly endorse his list:
Assassination of US citizens
Indefinite detention
Arbitrary justice
Warrantless…
Ubercapitalist Begs for Government Intervention
Fresh off the Friday news dump that its profits stalled in the last quarter (after it had to stop laundering money for Iran and inheriting the lost money of MF Global customers), fresh off the news that JPMorgan Chase might lose $5 billion in…
The False Flag Waves in the Fog
"Absolute nonsense!" Israel has responded to Mark Perry's "False Flag" claim that Mossad agents recruited Jundallah members by posing as CIA officers. They've responded clearly, they claim, because they don't want US-Israeli intelligence cooperation…
