One Way to Make Sending Frank Wisner to "Negotiate" with Mubarak Look Smart
CNN is reporting that Curt Weldon, the ethically and legally challenged former Congressman with ties to Manucher Ghorbanifar, has gone to Libya to try to negotiate with Muammar Qaddafi. In a NYT op-ed, Weldon makes the case for why he's the…
The Charismatic Blonde Women and the Consent Decree
DDay reported on OCC's attempt to preempt a foreclosure settlement on Monday. Today, Yves Smith has a long post giving the consent decrees the banks are trying to roll out in lieu of a real foreclosure settlement the disdain they deserve.
Wow,…
Chasing Humanitarian Organizations Out of Afghanistan
At first, when I read this story describing how Hamid Karzai's government is insisting that a bunch of security contractors pay back taxes before he'll recertify them to work in Afghanistan, I though it was just out of a desire to get rid of…
How Many Other Journalists Does the FBI Consider Informants?
Yesterday, the Center for Public Integrity revealed the contents of a secret FBI memo treating a top ABC journalist--who turned out to be Christopher Isham (currently CBS' DC bureau chief)--as a confidential source for a claim that Iraq's intelligence…
One Year After Collateral Murder Release, DOD's Networks Are Still Glaring Security Problem
As I have posted several times, the response to WikiLeaks has ignored one entity that bears some responsibility for the leaks: DOD's IT.
Back in 2008, someone introduced malware to DOD's computer systems. In response, DOD announced it would…
In July 2001, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Tried to Come to the US
One of the most intriguing details of the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed indictment is this entry:
126. On or about July 23, 2001, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED applied for a U.S.-entry visa, using the name "Abdulrahman A.A. Al-Ghamdi,"…
DOD Considers Illegal Data Mining Part of Capital Crime
I've written two posts on the software that Bradley Manning is alleged to have loaded onto SIPRNet (here, here). Wired has now gotten a little more detail about what the software was: DOD says it was some kind of data mining software, though…
DOJ: Iraq Had No Al Qaeda Affiliates (Working Thread on KSM Indictment)
As Eric Holder said, he had the December 14, 2009 indictment of KSM and the other 9/11 defendants unsealed. Here is the indictment.
Page 3: Note in their description of why al Qaeda targeted the US, they make no mention of Palestinians, even…
Eric Holder: Moving KSM Trial to Gitmo Wrong Decision, But We're Doing It Anyway
There was something I appreciated about the Holder press conference capitulating on trying the 9/11 defendants in civilian trials.
He didn't try to spin it as a good idea.
Not only did he reiterate his judgment that trying KSM in a civilian…
Holder's Press Conference Liveblog
Holder: I stand by decision that best venue for prosecution civilian court.
Had developed plans for dealing with classified evidence.
"Members of Congress have intervened."
Decisions about who, where, to prosecute have always been made…
This Presidential Campaign Brought to You by a Massive Capitulation on Civilian Law
Reports are trickling out that Eric Holder will announce an epic cave this afternoon on his earlier decision to try the 9/11 defendants in civilian courts.
Attorney General Eric Holder today will announce that self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind…
SWIFT and the Asymmetric Control of Data
I've been thinking a lot about SWIFT lately. Partly that's because of the renewed discussion on how some big banks relied on cash from drug cartels to survive as the housing bubble began to pop. Partly that's because of advance publicity for…
How Allowing Money Laundering Keeps Our Bubblicious Finance Afloat
Last June, Bloomberg did a long story on the Deferred Prosecution Agreement that Wachovia negotiated with DOJ. As "punishment" for helping Mexican drug gangs to launder more than $363 billion through casas de cambios for three years, Wachovia…
Putting "Really Mushy" Functions in a Department that Refuses to Be Audited
Noah Shachtman points to NextGov's unsuccessful attempt to define how much DOD plans to spend on cybersecurity next year. DOD or its components have offered three different versions:
DOD's mid-February report it would spend $2.3 billion
Air…
Donald Trump: The Jamaica Jerkoff
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bmaz.
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Seriously, this asshole with a dead ferret on his head thinks he is going to run for President? Of the United States? Um, no. And why supposedly credible news organizations are giving this crapola one fleeting second of credibility…
University of Wisconsin's Response to FOIA Request Emphasizes Importance of Academic Freedom
The University of Wisconsin issued two documents in response to the request for Professor Bill Cronon's emails: a message from the Chancellor, and a letter from the General Counsel to WI's GOP. As the GC letter describes, UW has withheld the…
Darrell Issa Complains that Janet Napolitano Took a Whole Year to Change Michael Chertoff's Inefficient FOIA Process
Darrell Issa has no credibility when it comes to matters of transparency. We've seen Issa's rank hypocrisy in the past. He dismissed concerns about Karl Rove doing business on RNC emails as a political stunt. And he suggested that apparently…
Wingnut Pastor's Koran-Burning Gets UN Staffers Killed
This is horrible.
Protesters angered by the burning of a Koran by a fringe American pastor in Florida mobbed offices of the United Nations in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing ten foreign staff members and beheading two of the victims,…
US Intelligence Operatives in Libya, Before a Finding, Sounds Like JSOC
Mark Hosenball, who yesterday broke the news that Obama had issued a Finding authorizing the CIA to operate covertly in Libya in the last 2-3 weeks, today says "intelligence operatives" were on the ground before Obama signed that Finding.
U.S.…
Out of the Mouths of Babes Real People: Just Keep Jobs Here
The powers that be--those that give a damn about creating jobs at all (Obama's campaign manager doesn't)--have a bunch of tired plans for creating jobs in America: get rid of labor unions, repeal healthcare reform, cut the safety net, create…