Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings, Day 3, Part V
Feingold: Caperton v. Massey.
Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings, Day 3, Part IV
Sotomayor back, Leahy reading a letter of some sort. There was some confusion bc Leahy's mike didn't work. Franken let Leahy use his. I think it was Sessions who joked it was the fastest rise of a Senator ever, suggesting Franken was taking over as Chair.
The "Other Intelligence Activities"
We've know what the "Other Intelligence Activities" referenced in the IG Report were for years. What the IG Report confirms, however, is that these aspects of the program were the ones that disturbed Comey and Goldsmith.
Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings, Day 3, Part III
We'll have four Dems in a row: Klobuchar, Kaufman, Specter, and Senator Al Franken (!).
Bacon, Boobs & A Blowjob: All Star Trash Talk
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bmazWhat the hell, somebody had to write a post with this title, why not me? And fear not fearless readers, I intend to deliver on all elements promised.
Feingold Asks Sotomayor about Executive Power
I'm worried about the way that Sotomayor answered a question on "unreasonable search and seizure." But I'm heartened by her answer to a Korematsu question.
Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings, Day 2, Part III
Picking up from Christy's earlier posts (Part I and Part II).
The US Government Owns Abu-Zubaida's Thoughts
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bmazI just found an interesting article by Walter Pincus tucked away in the lower half of the website. It contains no new or breaking news, but is an interesting description of just how far the government has run amok in their over-classification and demand to control information flow to the American people and the world.
Ceci Connolly's Pay2Play Puff Piece
It probably wasn't a good idea for Ceci Connolly to write a puff piece relying heavily on her Pay2Play invites.
Yoo Lawyers Up for a Shot at the 9th
John Yoo appeals Padilla's lawsuit against him.
Joe Lockhart Wanted to Say Blow Job
I was on a panel in 2007 with Joe Lockhart and Todd Purdam to talk about political news. We talked a lot about how the press' insistence on covering the Lewinsky scandal--when the bulk of the country was pretty happy with the President regardless of who had given him a blow job--led to the crisis of legitimacy that let blogs arise.
Hellerstein: Accelerate the Production of the IG Report
The ACLU just submitted a letter in the CIA IG case--pointing out that Judge Hellerstein had given the government until August 31 to produce the rest of the documents in the FOIA request with the implicit assumption that it produce the IG Report by June 19 June 26 July 1.
The key part of the letter, however, is the note Judge Hellerstein wrote by hand on the ACLU letter, saying:
The Court will
Marcy On MSNBC To Explain Secret Program Background
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bmazATTENTION all Wheelhouse and FDL members, Ms. Marcy Wheeler will be on MSNBC TeeVee with David Shuster during the 3:00-4:00 pm Eastern time hour. She is at the studio now and will be helping to explain details behind the much discussed "secret program". For more background, see these recent posts here and, to a lesser extent, here.Watch along with us and comment away!
Liz "BabyDick" Cheney Returns
Liz BabyDick Cheney's efforts to protect her Daddy are getting more and more desperate.
Obama on the Afghan Massacre
The Obama Administration stance on an investigation of the Rashid Dostum massacre and cover-up seems to have as much to do with who is speaking as whether such an investigation will happen in the first place.
The Assassination Squads: Two Points
Siobhan Gorman reports that the big secret Panetta revealed to Congress is an assassination squad. But there's got to be more to it than that.
On The Eve Of Sotomayor: Ricci Is Irrelevant
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bmazTomorrow, Monday morning July 13, 2009, Judge Sonia Sotomayor begins the hearing portion of her confirmation process. So far, there has been the expected (sadly) partisan yammering on her nomination. Then, on Friday, there suddenly emerged something that might seem to take hold as the focus of the obligatory partisan sniping.
The Scope of the (Hypothetical) Torture Investigation
There's some debate about whether a potential torture investigation would get beyond the low level torturers. First of all, those aren't really low-level CIA people--they're James Mitchell and friends. More importantly, if you go after Mitchell, you almost certainly will get to the lawyers who approved what he did.
When and To What Degree Was John Ashcroft Read Into the Illegal Surveillance Program?
We have long known that John Ashcroft was not properly read into the illegal domestic surveillance program Senator Whitehouse suggested as much when Attorney General Gonzales testified in July 2007. And both Gonzales and Robert Mueller revealed that John Ashcroft--from his ICU bed--complained that his advisors had not been able to get read into the program and as a result he was ill-informed about the program.
But the IG Report raises new