So, Amazon, Visa, PayPal, Was It Worth Accepting Government Lies?
Mark Hosenball reports that aside from some pockets of short-term damage, the impact of the Wikileaks leak of diplomatic cables has been embarrassing, but not damaging.
Internal U.S. government reviews have determined that a mass leak of diplomatic…
Blindspots and Fear of the Working Class
I think a lot of the discussion about Freddie DeBoer's "the blindspot" (with Steve Hynd as one exception) focuses too closely on the personalities--on whether Jane is mean in print or whether Ezra is too conciliatory--and not on whether our…
The US Prevented BabyDoc from Returning in 2006, Why Not Now?
Five years ago, BabyDoc Duvalier applied for a passport for Haiti, threatening to return in a period leading up to elections. As a series of Wikileaks cables make clear, the US pressed hard--with apparent success--to prevent his return to Haiti.…
Letter from Nigeria Goldman
FROM: Mr. Lloyd Blankfein
200 West Street
New York, New York
202-555-MOTU
TO: CEO
Chump City, ForeignLand
Dear Sir:
I have been requested by the Facebook Company to contact you for assistance in resolving a matter. The Facebook…
Noted "Nut on China," Jeff Immelt, Uses $16B Bailout to Share Technology with China
Remember this? Remember when Bernie Sanders used a chunk of his FiliBernie to note that GE CEO Jeff Immelt, whose company benefited from $16 billion in welfare from the federal government, was a big fan of outsourcing to China?
Gee! When…
Is the Government Confirming They Used MERLIN with Other Countries?
Josh Gerstein notes a curious argument the government makes in its motion to deny bail to alleged leaker Jeffrey Sterling: that leaking is more dangerous than espionage.
The defendant’s unauthorized disclosures, however, may be viewed as…
GMAC Still Can't Process Mortgages Properly
You'd think after it had become the poster child for robo-signing foreclosure fraud, at a time when it was facing a class action suit arising out of that fraud, and at a time when all servicers had been anxiously awaiting the result of the US…
Dear Judge Hellerstein: Ask About the OLC Torture Documents, Too
On Friday, Judge Alvin Hellerstein had a hearing to figure out how to end the contempt suit the ACLU brought against the CIA for destroying the torture tapes. The ACLU asked that he hold the CIA in contempt. Hellerstein said that wouldn't serve…
Sister Sara, RIP
As bmaz noted, we have learned that long time commenter and my blogmate at Next Hurrah, "Sister Sara," passed away last year. If you're familiar with her comments and posts, you'll remember that she was incredibly knowledgeable with long experience…
Jack Blum's Client Goes to Wikileaks
A man about to go on trial in Switzerland for breaking that country's secrecy laws has promised to give details of 2,000 individuals and corporations who are hiding their money in offshore accounts to Wikileaks tomorrow.
The offshore bank account…
Divisional Playoff Trash Talk
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bmazThe most exciting weekend of the pro football calendar, divisional playoff weekend is here!
Or Maybe Your Profit Levels and Bonuses Are Simply Obscene?
Jamie Dimon says they're going to have to chase 5% of their customers away in response to limits Dodd-Frank put on the usurious rates banks charge merchants for each debit card transaction.
Federal limits on debit card processing fees will…
Air National Guard Will Deploy Drones to Spy on Black Bears in Adirondack Park
As part of what they bill as a "military training program," the Air Force National Guard will deploy a bunch of MQ-9 Reaper drones over the Adirondacks park in Northern NY. (h/t Tim Shorrock)
The Air Force Air National Guard will fly remotely…
American Democracy, Tunisia, and Wikileaks
Update: BBC and al-Jazeera report that Ben Ali has left the country and security forces have arrested family members at the airport.
The simultaneous (and related) unfolding of the uprising in Tunisia and the latest Wikileaks events reveals…
Hiding our Cyberwar from Congress
The AP noticed something troubling in Michael Vickers' response to the Senate Armed Services Committee questions on his nomination to be Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence: the government did not include descriptions of its cyberwar…
WikiLeaks Media Files: Are They Definitely Fox?
As a number of people are reporting, Julian Assange told John Pilger Wednesday that WikiLeaks has files on some media companies. Thanks to a PDF link made available by The Nation (see 12:05 update), here's the exact quote from the New Statesman…
A New Judge For the Giffords Case and An Early Problem For Him
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bmazA new judge, from outside of Arizona, has been appointed to handle the Federal Criminal case against Jared Loughner, and he will have a substantial issue of jurisdiction on his hands when he first takes the bench on it.
David Kris Resigns from DOJ
The U.S. Department of Justice just announced that Assistant Attorney General David Kris just resigned, effective March 4.
“David Kris led the National Security Division (NSD) with great distinction through a period when the department confronted…
Wikileaks Redactions: It's Not Just the Chinese that Bribe for Oil
Given the past history of how newspapers have redacted (or not) Wikileaks dumps, I was very interested in an article that reveals what the Guardian (or one of its media partners) redacted in a cable on Kazakh corruption. The Guardian summarizes…
Third Way "Solution" to Foreclosure Fraud? Limits on Rule of Law
The Third Way has just released a response to the US Bank v. Ibanez decision that purports to offer a solution to the foreclosure problem.
I'm sure others will point out other problems with this document: its embrace of the "strategic default"…