Executive Nominations, Judicial Emergencies and Change in WH Counsel's Office
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bmazThere are hundreds of top posts in the government, including nearly a hundred federal judicial positions, vacant and the Obama Administration's record on making nominations and getting confirmations is lacking.
Why Is Michael Hayden's Desperation on Illegal Interrogation More Urgent than on Illegal Wiretapping?
Even though he admits yet again that torture didn't get Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Furaj al-Libi to reveal the name of Osama bin Laden's courier, Michael Hayden has launched yet another round of sophism to defend the case that torture led…
Can't We Call this "Counter-Terrorism Preparedness"?
Jared Bernstein (whose blog I still recommend) has responded to his 2-day PEPCO power outage by posting the crummy infrastructure report card the US got in 2009:
Check out the 2009 Report Card from the American Society of Civil Engineers:Aviation…
Chiquita: The Guns and Drugs and Union Killing CNN Didn't Mention
CNN has a report today on some of the many lawsuits victims of right and left wing violence have taken against Chiquita.
Family members of thousands of Colombians who were killed or who disappeared are suing Chiquita Brands International,…
As with Voting, in Marketing, Real People Don't Count Anymore
For some time, it has become increasingly clear that our politicians can pursue policies that benefit just their rich donors--austerity, killing Medicare, bailing out banksters at the expense of homeowners--while ignoring their purported constituents.
So…
The Cyberwar Campaign against Jihadi Literature and WikiLeaks
Ellen Nakashima has a piece following up on the WSJ story previewing DOD's cyberwar (which I posted on here). Before you read it, though, I wanted to suggest another reason we may be seeing this policy early (in addition to the hacking of all…
In Thomas Drake Case, Protected Doesn't Mean Protected
Earlier today, we learned that (thanks to Antonin Scalia) the word "suspicion" no longer means what it used to mean.
Now we learn that "protected" doesn't mean what it used to mean.
As Josh Gerstein reports, the judge in the Thomas Drake…
US Charges KSM, 9/11 Plotters, Again
DOD has announced that prosecutors have recommended charges against KSM and the other alleged 9/11 plotters.
The Department of Defense announced today the office of military commissions prosecutors have sworn charges against five individuals…
Scalia Invents a New Meaning for "Suspicion" while Letting Ashcroft Off the Hook
SCOTUS has just ruled unanimously that John Ashcroft can't be sued by Abdullah al-Kidd for using a material witness warrant to incarcerate him. The 8 justices (Elena Kagan recused herself) all agree there was no law explicitly prohibiting this…
Retaliating against State-Sponsored Cyber War
On the first news day after the holiday weekend reporting on Lockheed Martin, WSJ reports that the US is moving towards making cyberattacks an act of war.
The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute…
About the Lockheed Martin Hack
As first started leaking last week, Lockheed Martin seems to have been hacked.
Last weekend was bad for a very large U. S. defense contractor that uses SecureID tokens from RSA to provide two-factor authentication for remote VPN access to…
Who Is Rehashing the Shrinks-4-Hire Report on Bruce Ivins?
Slightly over a week after McClatchy focused new attention on evidence that Bruce Ivins may not have been able to produce the anthrax used in the 2001 attacks, and just days after Jerrold Nadler called attention to the FBI's obfuscations about…
Where I Walk My Dog
I actually wasn't going to post this video. I haven't lived in Grand Rapids all that long (so it's really not my place to criticize this video), but the video misses some of the real funkiness of the art and buildings even in the streets…
DiFi's Secret Law
Steven Aftergood linked to this colloquy on the PATRIOT Act which reveals a lot about Ron Wyden and Mark Udall's efforts to force the government to admit how it's suveilling Americans. The colloquy basically puts not just the agreement,…
The Army's "Sticky Note" SIPRNet Security
No wonder the US Army was allegedly bested in the WikiLeaks leak by a Lady Gaga CD.
In addition to all the other gaping security problems with the classified network, there were apparently widely accessible SIPRNet computers with passwords…
Happy Memorial Day! Remember Your Government Will Be Tracking with Whom You Celebrate this Weekend
As I've said repeatedly in discussions of the secret interpretations of the PATRIOT Act provisions that Ron Wyden and Mark Udall complained about, those interpretations probably claim the government can collect mass information on geolocation.
Julian…
"Robo-signing" the PATRIOT Act
Chuck Todd tweeted last night:
WH announced that POTUS ordered the Patriot Act renewal to be signed by the "autopen"; so, yes, it was robosigned
Reason given for robosigning via autopen: Patriot Act expires midnight tonight, so as to…
The PATRIOT Act Vote: One Quarter of the Way to a Fourth Amendment
The final vote in the Senate opposing yet another sunset of the PATRIOT act was 72-23-5, meaning we're almost a quarter of the way to regaining some semblance of a Fourth Amendment.
Heh.
Those voting against the forever PATRIOT?
Akaka…
Clapper: We Need to Pass PATRIOT to Make Sure Apple Continues to Track Your Location
I'm very sympathetic to what Glenn and bmaz and Spencer and Julian have to say about the stupid fear-mongering around today's PATRIOT extension. Julian's explanation of how the grandfather clause would work is particularly important:
. A lapse…
The Un-Patriot Acts of Harry Reid
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bmazWhen the government, through its executive and compliant Congress, wants to cut surveillance and privacy corners out of laziness and control greed, and otherwise crush the soul of the Constitution and the 4th Amendment, demagoguery and fake exigencies are the order of the day. And so they are again. Oh, and of course they want to get out of town on their vacation. And that is what has happened today.