In 2004, the White House Considered FISA's Exclusivity Provision to Be Top Secret
As I have noted before, there are a number of paragraphs in the May 6, 2004 Goldsmith memo authorizing warrantless wiretapping that appear to be badly overclassified. Not only were many of the same paragraphs printed, almost verbatim, in unclassified…
The Abu Zubaydah Standard in Obama's Miranda Memo
Here are the claims the Bybee Two memo premised its authorization to torture Abu Zubaydah on:
As we understand it, Zubaydah is one of the highest ranking members of the al Qaeda terrorist organization,
[snip]
Our advice is based upon…
BREAKING!! White Terrorists to Be Treated Like Brown Terrorists!!
All the discussion about the wisdom or legality of Eric Holder's unilateral change to Miranda procedure for "operational terrorists" (Evan Perez story, Charlie Savage story, bmaz post) seems to be missing a stunning detail.
The memo laying…
USAMRID Lost Vials in 2003 AND 2009
Back in 2009, I noted that a report that USAMRID had lost track of its vials of anthrax sort of undermined the entire FBI case against Bruce Ivins.
One key to the FBI case against Ivins, after all, is that he had complete control over the…
Real Reason For US Deficit: GE Greed-$14.2B Profit, $0 Tax
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bmazFor all the caterwauling from the right, and stupifyingly from the Obama Administration and Blue Dog left as well, the real reason the United States has the sizable deficit issues it does is due in large part to the fact corporations like GE make billions in profit and pay no taxes.
The White Paper and the Classified Opinion
As has often been noted, the White Paper the Bush Administration released on January 19, 2006 largely repeats the analysis Jack Goldsmith did in his May 6, 2004 OLC opinion on the warrantless wiretap program. So I decided to compare the two…
Richard Clarke: The Chamber Broke the Law
I'm really deep in the weeds on the Jack Goldsmith memo right now (I should have a weedy post up later).
But in case you're bored w/bmaz's rant about the assault on Miranda rights, I thought I'd point to this TP post describing Richard Clarke…
DOJ's New Miranda Policy Betrays Constitution & Power of Judiciary
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bmazThe Obama Administration has sought to improperly alter Constitutional Miranda rights by administrative decree.
FBI's Shrinks-4-Hire: Stalkers Are Likely Bioterrorists
The FBI has linked to a redacted executive summary of the report some shrink contractors did on Bruce Ivins. While it is just the executive summary and even that is partly redacted, the report basically paints Bruce Ivins was a stalker which…
GM Squanders What Tax Payers Gave It
Let me say at the outset that the GM bailout was far, far better handled than the bankster bailouts. And as a Michigan resident whose family still has ties to the auto business, I am tremendously grateful for that bailout.
That said, this…
AT&T Confident Its Partner in Crime Will Let It Take Over T-Mobile
Here's the last paragraph of a Politico article describing the considerable extent of AT&T's paid influence in DC.
AT&T said Monday that it is “confident” it can secure federal approval as it presents its case for T-Mobile,…
8 Years Ago Today, KSM Was Probably Being Waterboarded for the 179th Time
I don't really know precisely what days in March 2003 the CIA's contractors waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed a total of 183 times.
But I thought about the rough timing when Dafna Linzer tweeted about this Steven Aftergood post, noting…
New Standard for Justice: Innocent Until a Secret Shrink Study Proves You Guilty after Your Death
Our country apparently has a new standard for justice: innocent until a secret study--headed by a guy who may have had some responsibility for screwing up an earlier investigation and conducted entirely after your death--finds you were psychologically…
Will the US Share Intelligence with Israel's New Left Wing Intelligence Initiative?
Ha'aretz reports that Israel's Military Intelligence set up a group several months ago dedicated to collecting intelligence on non-Israeli leftist organizations that criticize Israel.
Military Intelligence is collecting information about left-wing…
How to Ensure You'll Always Have War Powers to Fight Eastasia
As we've known for years, the May 6, 2004 OLC opinion authorizing the warrantless wiretap program shifted the claimed basis for the program from inherent Article II power to a claim the Afghanistan AUMF trumped FISA.
But one problem with…
Dick, the Miniseries
Congratulations to Barton Gellman, whose book on Cheney's abuse of the Constitution, Angler, will serve as the basis for an HBO miniseries.
HBO has optioned the book Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Barton…
The March--and April or May--2004 Changes to the Illegal Wiretap Program
Apologies in advance. I'm going to be in the weeds reading the May 6, 2004 Goldsmith opinion for a little bit.
In this post, I want to point to some details of timing that, I think, suggest that the changes DOJ made to Cheney's illegal wiretap…
Apparently, "Blood Money" Now Includes "Green Cards"
Last we heard about the families of Raymond Davis' victims, they were held in custody until they agreed to accept the blood money Pakistan offered on our behalf.
Things are looking up for the family members, though. Eighteen of them have…
Another Secret OLC Opinion: This One on Information Sharing
As MadDog and I were discussing on this thread, the May 6, 2004 Jack Goldsmith opinion on the warrantless wiretap program references an OLC opinion that appears not to have been publicly released or, even in the course of FOIA, disclosed.
Thus,…
Working Thread on Illegal Wiretap Memo
As I noted in this post, DOJ has released two of the memos used to authorize the illegal wiretap program. I made some brief comments on the November 2, 2001 John Yoo memo here. This will be a working thread on the May 6, 2004 Jack Goldsmith…