Are Iran's Bags of Euros for Daudzai Bigger than CIA's Bags of Dollars for Karzai's Brother?
The outage of the day is the report that Hamid Karzai's chief of staff, Umar Daudzai, receives a steady stream of bags of Euros from Iran.
One evening last August, as President Hamid Karzai wrapped up an official visit to Iran, his personal…
Should Elena Kagan Really Be Getting Shooting Lessons from the Koch-Addled Hunting Buddy of the Guy Who Shoots People in the Face?
I admit I'm no big fan of Elena Kagan. But tell me whether I'm justified in worrying about this?
Data point 1: On at least one occasion, Antonin Scalia participated in the Koch brothers' secret sessions plotting to advance the Koch agenda.
Data…
Eric Holder's Defense of Ashcroft to Defend the Material Witness Statute
The NYT has a worthwhile editorial lambasting the Obama DOJ's pursuit of SCOTUS review in Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, which will probably result in expanded immunity for government officials that abuse the law so as to abuse the rights of Americans.…
How Does Frago 242 Relate to Our Collaboration with the Wolf Brigade?
The biggest headline from Friday's Wikileaks dump (everywhere but the NYT, anyway) is that the "US ignored torture." But the way in which an official policy ignoring torture was followed by collaboration with one of Iraq's torture squads raises…
Omar Khadr Pleads Guilty
As you may have heard on Twitter, Omar Khadr has plead guilty to all charges against him.
Omar Khadr, the only Canadian, only child soldier and only Guantanamo Bay detainee charged with battlefield homicide in the killing a U.S. soldier,…
America Is a Beautiful Place, Unaccountable Elite Edition
It says something about our country that the person who wrote this op-ed could, in a few short years, go on to serve as the primary economic advisor to the President. (h/t scribe)
And this study shows that measured this way, the mortgage market…
Fannie and Freddie Near a Deal with Title Industry
As I noted in my last post on the move, led by Fidelity National, to require banks to warrant against "incompetent or erroneous affidavit testimony or documentation,” the move was largely about getting Fannie and Freddie on board and with…
Trash Talk: It Is All About Dallas
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bmazYankees get bounced, Rangers on the way to their first World Series and Brett Favre is going back to Lambeau. Oh, and the first ever Korean Grand Prix is being run and the new track looks good.
If DOD's Got a Problem with Wikileaked Names, They've Got a Problem w/NYT
Before the Wikileaks document dump this afternoon, DOD and Murdoch were out with claims that the impending dump would put 300 Iraqis at significant risk of reprisal. As Wikileaks noted via Twitter, the article falsely claimed that Wikileaks…
Fourteen Other Incidences of Blackwater Firing on Iraqi Civilians
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism says there are 14 incidences recorded in today's Wikileaks dump alleging that Blackwater fired on Iraqi citizens (their site appears to be overloaded, so be persistent).
Two years before Nisour Square,…
David Petraeus' Escalation(s)
Le Monde did this graphic of the what kind of deaths the Wikileaks document dump records happening when (blue are American soldiers killed--darker--or injured; green are civilians killed or injured).
In an article on another revelation in…
In June 2004, DOD Issued Instructions to Ignore Iraqi-on-Iraqi Torture
Al Jazeera has this video and the Guardian a story on Frago 242, which both outlets say is one of the most alarming revelation in Wikileaks' new document dump. From the Guardian:
This is the impact of Frago 242. A frago is a "fragmentary…
When Did Clarence Thomas Go to the Koch Conspiracy Fest? And Did He Bring Ginni?
As you've no doubt heard, the right wing conspiracy does exist. As the NYT reported the other day, the Koch brothers host semi-annual secret get-togethers to strategize with other rich conservatives and media people about how to advance their…
James Clapper Continues to Express Willingness to Allow GAO to Review Intelligence
I have been pretty critical of Obama's appointment of James Clapper to be Director of National Intelligence. And while I still have my concerns about Clapper's close ties to the Intelligence Industrial Complex, I am heartened by Steven Aftergood's…
Juan Williams' Irrational Fear of Non-Terrorists
I'm happy to see Juan Williams and his crappy analysis gone from NPR. But the whole ruckus over Juan Williams' firing from NPR over his admission that he does a double take when he sees people dressed in obviously Muslim garb is missing…
"The Federal Government Is Moving Comprehensively and Quickly"
Something has been nagging me about this HuffPo description of HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan's briefing on the foreclosure crisis the other day. It's the revelation that, in a review started in May, the government had found that foreclosure servicers…
Unconstitutional Surveillance & United States v. United States District Court: Who the Winner is may be a Secret – Part 3
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Mary[Part 1 & Part 2 have been the conventional parts of the Keith case analysis. Now we are going to get into areas that involve less what has happened, and more what is happening and opinion as to how what has happened might have an impact,…
Fidelity National's Role in the Cover-Up
I've got a slightly different take than DDay on the news that Fidelity just established a policy requiring lenders to warrant all foreclosure sales going forward.
Fidelity National Financial Inc., the largest U.S. title insurer by market share,…
Obama Admin: Look Forward! Even in the Face of Obvious Corporate Fraud!
I'm not surprised by this--but I simply don't understand how the Obama Administration can claim they haven't found anything fundamentally flawed (though that could be HuffPo's formulation) when thousands of people have been thrown out of their…
CIA and DOJ's Different Ideas of Accountability on Khost
I wanted to return to yesterday's report on the investigation in the Khost bombing. As I noted, the CIA had advance warning that Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi might be a double agent. The report also found a number of other operational problems…