First They Came for Women Enjoying Sex, Then They Came for Men Jacking Off
I know Democrats are thrilled that Chris Coons, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Delaware, will be running against the kook Christine O'Donnell.
But I'm a little troubled by the treatment of O'Donnell's anti-masturbation stance…
Blackwater Served as Monsanto's Intelligence Arm
Jeremy Scahill has a new piece on Blackwater that is fairly incendiary.
Among other things (I'll have more to say later), he reveals that Blackwater provided Monsanto with security services in 2008-2009.
According to internal Total Intelligence…
Is the Obama DOJ Still Coddling Colombian Terrorists?
ProPublica had an important story a few days ago reporting that the cases of a number of Colombian paramilitaries extradited to the US on drug--not terrorism--charges have been sealed and largely disappeared.
Since 2006, more than a dozen of…
When Political Activism Gets Treated as Potential Terrorism
PA's Department of Homeland Security has employed an entity called the Institute for Terrorism Research and Response to monitor the web traffic of anti-drilling activists in that state. The effort was purportedly started to fulfill national…
As the White House Dithers on Warren, 525,000 Homes Have Been Foreclosed On
TPM captures the current state of play of the rumors that the White House will appoint Elizabeth Warren as interim head of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau:
Reports coming in that President Obama will name Elizabeth Warren as…
Eight Months after Putting Anwar al-Awlaki on Kill List, DOJ Considers Charges
Back in January, Dana Priest first revealed that Anwar al-Awlaki was on a JSOC kill list and was being considered for a CIA kill list. Now, eight months later, DOJ is considering charging him.
The Obama administration is considering filing…
Speaking of that Beacon of Hope in Iraq
Mark Hosenball first reported this back in July, then linked back to that report last week. But given yesterday's post on our what we've accomplished in Iraq, I thought it worth noting that the most inflammatory material in the next big Wikileaks…
What Bush and Ashcroft Meant By "If al-Qaida Is Calling"
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bmazTurns out “If al-qaida is calling” really meant a tragic game show of “Dialing for Detainees” and taking crank calls from batty old landladies. Based on this atrocious “evidence” human beings were detained without due process, beaten and abused. Right here in the “Homeland”. The new definition of “security”.
That Beacon of Hope We've Created in Iraq
As we discuss whether to abandon rule of law in Afghanistan under General Petraeus, we'd do well to consider how the war Petraeus "won" in Iraq turned out:
On a dull December day in 2009, Rabiha al Qassab, a 63-year-old Iraqi refugee living…
"The law enforcement approach ... mucks up our strategic interests."
I've been tracking the debate within the Administration over whether we should tolerate corruption in Afghanistan in the name of sustaining a war against someone--anyone--in Afghanistan or not for some weeks. Underlying the entire debate is…
A Way Towards The Rule of Law – An Answer to Cap’n Jack
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MaryJustice, what do you care about justice. You don’t even care whether you’ve got the right men or not. All you know is you’ve lost something and someone’s got to be punished. The Ox-Bow Incident.
Nine years after September 11 and eight…
Trash Talk: Big Blue v. Golden Domers, Other Football & F1
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bmazOkay, as promised, here is the real Trash Talk for the weekend. college and pro football, tennis and Formula One; what more could you ask for?
With Kagan On SCOTUS, We Are Still Down A Justice
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bmazWith the long anticipated retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, it was important for President Obama to appoint and get confirmed a new justice so there would not only be a full compliment of justices on the court, but to insure the ideological…
Cap'n Jack's Crackerjack Logic!
Here's where Jack Goldsmith's op-ed, purporting to offer a solution to the Gitmo problem, breaks down (see Spencer's take on it here).
Civilian trials for terrorists have also proven difficult. They gathered disfavor when Attorney General…
Erik Prince's Long Form Graymail
Remember that Vanity Fair tell all in which Erik Prince offered new details about Blackwater ops? Though Michael Hayden has suggested Prince made up some of the details, it seemed to be a form of graymail targeted at those who approved Blackwater…
It's Geezer Time! The NFL Season Takes Flight Tonight
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bmazTake out yer false teeth mama, it is time for the hitting to begin again; it's the season opener in the NFL, Saints and Vikings!
Pakistan Promises to Arrest Three "Very Bad Boys" Tied to Times Square Bombing
Last week, the US put the Tehrek-i-Taliban Pakistan on its official terrorist lists and charged its leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, with something that was almost certainly not a crime. Oddly, though, DOJ did not charge Mehsud which actions they…
The Telenovelas Beat the Crappy Reruns
Almost a year ago, Obama offended DC's chattering class for appearing on Univision's Sunday show, Al Punto, but not appearing on Fox News Sunday. But as I noted at the time, Al Punto is actually a more popular show than Fox's Sunday swill.
And,…
Ceci Connolly Cashes In
Who knew the world of journalism had the same kind of revolving door as government does? But apparently, if you build a reporting beat entirely around portraying the views of top corporate representatives as the only views that count, and if…
Our Banana Republic
In 2002, I taught the Argentine film La hora de los hornos (it was a media and narrative class--I wasn't just proselytizing radical leftist ideology). The second most famous scene from the movie starts at 3:14, but it is very disturbing.
I…
