The Uncounted Wiretaps
McJoan has an important post on BushCo’s coordination with the telecoms to push Congress into passing an immunity bill. There’s a Guinness with my name on it in the pub downstairs, so I’ll just tell you go read McJoan (and, of course, bmaz’ earlier post from today). But I wanted to make one point about this paragraph from the Isikoff article she links:
The debate over a new surveillance authorization is likely to be complicated by figures showing sharp increases in the government’s electronic eavesdropping on U.S. citizens. One report filed with the office of the administrator of the U.S. Courts shows that standard wiretaps approved by federal and state courts jumped 20 percent last year, from 1,839 in 2006 to 2,208 in 2007. Later this week another report is expected to also show increases in secret wiretaps and break-ins approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in terror and espionage cases. But even these secret wiretaps and break-ins—estimated to be about 2,300—tell only part of the story. They don’t include other secret methods the government uses to collect personal information on U.S. citizens.
Newsweek cites a big bump in numbers for 2007–a bump which, Hosenball and Isikoff claim–reflect a real increase in actual surveillance.
But we don’t know that.
After all, for 11 and a half months of 2007, the formerly illegal, uncounted warrantless wiretapping was put under review by the FISA Court. So we should expect the numbers to go up significantly, because they will reflect the Administration counting wiretaps that, because they had previously escaped all review, had previously not been counted. We may or may not be seeing an increase in wiretaps. Rather, we may simply be seeing an increase in the number of wiretaps that get counted.
One more point, and then it’s beer thirty.
Remember that part of the hysterics the Administration used to push through PAA in August was to claim that they had lost the ability to wiretap. McConnell told Congress they had lost significant capabilities because FISC was actually reviewing these wiretaps.
If that’s true, then why are the numbers so high?
hey emptywheel—my main question-brought forward from bmaz’ post, and rephrased for this one-if this immunity is to cover president bush and co., then why is jay rockefeller pushing it? if telcos aren’t pushing it then what is his reason?
what committee this is in right now? anyone know?
thanks
OT – DC Madam suicide. Fucking tragic.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi…..suicid.php
Ms. Palfrey may have committed suicide. But there could only be one or two hundred of the powerful in Washington who would be delighted to see her unable to testify about their sexual habits and other secrets.
It may well be a suicide; may not be a suicide. No clue; but it sure as hell ought to be investigated as an open homicide, and investigated meticulously, prior to making that conclusion. I am rather uncomfortable with the rush to judgment of a suicide (and I don’t care that there was a note; murders made to look like suicides very often have a note). Not saying it isn’t a suicide, just saying it is a hinky enough of a set of circumstances to investigate fully.
Hey, did you see that Micah Owings hit a pinch hit two run home run last night to tie the game late and lead the Dbacks to victory? We now call him “Babe” Owings.
Agreed, but since she just got convicted of a sex crime, it will come to nothing. As PDaly said – it’s Florida.
I didn’t see the Owings thing – that’s amazing. The Padres may make it back to .500, but there’s no way they are catching the DBacks. As if getting Haren wasn’t enough, apparently there’s some new phenom you guys are about to unleash on us – some kid named Scherzer?
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/…..id=3376069
Thanks for that info on Pedroia. Didn’t know he played at ASU…
Explains why he is for John McCain…
Any bets for the June 23, 24, 25, D’Backs series at the Fens?
If it wasn’t suicide, it was a professional hit by someone with a lot of secrets to keep. If Ms. Palfrey was convicted but not sentenced, one would imagine sentencing was held up pending completion of her “helping police with their inquiries”.
If dozens of DOJ staff and millions in taxpayer funds were devoted to getting a lone Democratic governor, how many more staff and how much more money are we devoting right now to “getting” the dozens of people in Ms. Palfrey’s Rolodex: CongressCritters, agency heads, top staffers, diplomats, CEO’s, lobbyists and their clients, etc., etc., all of whom would have violated the same or similar laws as Gov. Spitzer, with equal threats of corruption in government.
Jail time would only have been imminent if the feds weren’t investigating, or if they wanted to bury the scandals a thorough investigation might reveal in an election year. Jack Abramoff wasn’t unique, except in getting caught and being prosecuted, but Bush’s DOJ has replaced the USA’s that made that mistake.
Ms. Palfrey’s Rolodex contained thousands of names. In Washington, that probably means that scores of them were worth detailed follow-ups and investigation for possible public corruption. Spitzer was just a raisin in the pudding; he wasn’t alone or unique, except that he was a Democrat who’d made a lot of enemies on Wall Street.
The guy that hit the home run against the ’stros? We called him a few things also.
DOJ is about fucking up lives period. This administratin is about fucking up as many lives as possible period. Hooker Vitter will have to find new hookers,but there are plenty in the D.C. area.
DOJ has an eggregiously poor record in their terrorism convictions, mainly because most of the people they indicted were not terrorists, and they have a talent for decimating civil rights and preserving terrorism. It’s the old story of finding someone to blame rather than correcting situations or behavior.
Rockefeller’s motivations are dumbfounding. Given his family’s wealth, he doesn’t need the money. He appears to have a safe seat, so he doesn’t need to pose for an electoral base. As a longtime Senator, he will have buried political skeletons that he’d like to keep buried. As Rockefeller, he has 125 years worth of family skeletons he might like to keep buried, “for the family’s honor”.
He may also be carrying water for an administration he agrees with or to which bigger players in his party have sold their political souls.
Whatever his motivations, Sen. Rockefeller’s priorities are not preserving the rule of law or open government, or promoting his party’s interests and electoral prospects. They don’t appear to be in order to keep us safe. They appear designed to keep safe a private clique, the very model of the enemy of representative, democratic government. As with Mr. Lieberman, why is this man still called a Democrat?
I wonder if his Uncle David has anything to do with his stance on this subject? Jello Jay’s stance may look odd to Democrats, but from the perspective of the Rockefeller family of the 20th century, it makes more sense.
Bob in HI
I believe Jello Jay is simply, inside his core being, an atavistic dick sucking deep from his robber baron family roots. He actually believes he and his “peers” as special and should be protected and held above and beyond the law of the “little people”.
One way or another, Jay must go. He must be primaried at the next opportunity. He is a monster.
The news notwithstanding, if I were in Scotland and it was half seven at night, I’d vote for the Guinness and the single malt.
the Guinness and the single malt.
Hear, Hear!!
Maybe Jello Jay has zombie juice in his being.
He keeps coming back after suffering a defeat.
Since the DC Madame died before entering jail, will her conviction9s) be erased from the books? Does this make it easier for other players to now say No to prosecutors offering deals if they cooperate?
Florida, again. Why am I not surprised?
No she was never sentenced, so there is no formal conviction (remember Ken Lay had this issue although slightly different because of appeal status). The only way it really affects others would be to the extent she would, either voluntarily or involuntarily, testify or otherwise give evidence against the.
Heh, Cookies was fired because she was a mavericky maverick!
OT also posted this at the lake-alex jones (yes, i listen to about anything, i move the dial around) just played an interview with debra palfrey, dc madam–that she had no plans for suicide, quite the opposite…hope she left notes in a safety deposit box. bet she did. think it’s been emptied yet?
i don’t usually chime in on the gossip stuff, cuz it’s gossip, but after hearing this interview there is NO WAY this woman killed herself….no way.
i’ve heard other interviews with her, and she was sittin’ on dynamite and knew it. and so did ’they’.
/g gossip tag now closed.
i want to add, this lady was no dummy and no ’cupcake’, keep that in mind. /g
ok, on the road again…….nope, waiting on AAA to jump my car, left the inside light on again……
darn. ” i hate it when i do that”
signing off.
I wonder if Ms. Palfrey’s “suicide” was anything like Marilyn Monroe’s?
I suspect foul play.
Bob in HI
thanks, bmaz.
“the enemies are inside the gates” Secret wiretaps in terror espionage cases
Juxtapose that with this chart showing how, since 2000, the telcoms have been REDUCING their contributions to congress.
I can’t think of any GOOD reason why the telcoms would reduce their monetary influence in congress.
Conjecture:
1) one doesn’t pay the people one is blackmailing (for illegal actions like warrantless wiretapping or personal shinanigans).
2) The government pays for wiretapping – and the telcoms cut them off if the government doesn’t pay. Presumably the government pays for illegal wiretapping – as a quid pro quo for keeping quiet about the warrantless wiretapping, the telcoms don’t have to pay for whatever they want via contributions, the telcoms get what they want (reconsolidation of the baby Bells for example) which I believe is a form of bribery.
I guess that was off topic. Why did the FISA numbers bump in 2007? IMO they bumped because of the 2006 election, and the fear of the Democratic investigations. I won’t be surprised if the numbers fall for this year.
Well, that has long been my take.
I don’t repeat gossip, so listen closely.
OT and from HuffPost:
Dan Moldea – there’s a name for ya…
OT – the 16-year-old Texas polygamist girl has still not been found. FOX news has said that there was a female who was stalking/calling/getting close to a woman who had escaped the compound years ago (one of the feamle escapees who is talking a lot on tv), and that some people think that that stalker made the calls. Fox called the calls a “hoax.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351969,00.html
So last night Nancy Grace was interviewing an on-the-scene reporter in Texas. A caller asked “Have they found the girl?”
Nancy defers to the reporter, “Have they found this girl, this girl they’re calling Sarah, who made the calls? If not, what affect does that have on the case?”
Reporter: “No they have not found her. And I asked about that and they said that it is like a firetruck. When a firetruck leaves the station to go to a fire, if the fire turns out to be false but they passed by a fire on the way; they’ll go ahead and put that fire out, too.”
*******************
Perhaps the average duration of a cult compund in the US is seven years and this is completely normal. But the timing and the Texas part makes a person wonder if this raid was a media distraction. All I want to know is – did Rove’s infuence at DOJ have anything to do with the timing of this raid?
If it did, the Right would be screaming foul just as loudly as the Left. It would be a case of politization that the Right could grasp – leaving over 400 children at risk until such time that is became politically expediant to divert the MSM, plus gun-toters (good people) don’t like raids without just cause.
I’ve got two words for ya: Authoritarian Followers.
“The Right” doesn’t scream foul about anything until their handlers tell them to.
I like the firetruck analogy a lot. So much so, that I now picture several firetrucks happening across several fires (while on their ways to several false alarms). Maybe this is happening spread out across the county; more likely it is happening in a cluster.
In fact, the entire case, to me, now seems to be one big clusterfiretruck.
I thought it sounded odd, too. Firetrucks?? WTF? But is the analogy correct?
I assume that if, for instance, the police are called out on a domestic violence call, and they get to the scene and find a meth lab, that they don’t have to leave the premises to go get a warrant for the meth.
But I don’t know. At what point do the authorities have to establish that they aren’t just out bothering people on a whim?
What if officer 2 gives officer 1’s ex-girlfriend a ticket in retaliation for breaking up with officer 1? She is hosed?
If all that is required is a whim, then why did the compound exist from 2001 to 2008?
I would love for it to be legit, but keep in mind the raid took place on Thursday-Friday before Gen Petraues testified on Monday that Iraq was not the front on the war on terror. BushCo knew what he would be asked and how he would respond (I assume they were briefed beforehand).
I know we’re just dancing around, so how about a questions for the lawyers? The real analogy is to various fruits of poisoned trees. The difference is, in this case, they haven’t filed any charges against anybody. So there’s nothing to be tossed out of court (yet). But I still have to wonder: what they found after raiding the ranch has been used to justify taking children from their parents and generally splitting up families. Can the emerging “fact” that they had no real justification for going in be used to undo what they’ve done?
Put another way: if I have a gut feeling that my neighbors are up to no good but have nothing to give the cops so they can get a warrant, can I just call Child Protective Services and file a false claim of abuse? Then hope the cops see what I only suspect while they’re in there getting the kids?
And, if so, can I take in one more step and do this when I’m the cop?
Bear in mind that the authorites are saying that 31 of 53 girls aged 14 to 17 are pregnant or have already had children.
The age of consent in TX was raised to 16 after the FLDS moved in. It’s probably safe to assume that all of those 53 were under the age of consent when they were ‘married’ to the patriarchs.
I wouldn’t want to be found, if I’d called the authorities in this case. Although several of the women did say that there was such a girl ….
I do not rely on these statistics. 2k wiretaps seems diminutive. I thought Fisa itself had seen an escalation of 5x in hearings over the past 6 years. Then there were the rodeo days of nslLetters, IG’d and the practice trimmed somewhat. Also there is the international aspect. It puzzles me why congress would authorize US technology to wiretap everyone outside territorial US; looks like a rogue eavesdrop to view that kind of US congress policy from abroad; maybe the firstworld countries have formal or informal treaties with the US not to wiretap. Once a person has used voice recognition and speech recognition modern software platforms, or even managed to call the local electric co and pay one’s bill by conversing with a somewhat obtuse automated attendant computer that has speech recognition, it becomes kind of a given, at least to this former IT mgr, that if you put your voice on electronics it is filtered. The siloing of metadata and actual full messages for later algorithm search is another pleateau, and some folks discuss exemptions from those kinds of machine searches. Then there are congressional hearings recently on how far away your unencrypted embedded drivers license rfid chip should be capable of broadcasting your identity, as in that report. Maybe there can be a silicon fab technology that will alter one’s rfid-based personality signal after a stout or two; now that would be some 4th amendment progress.
I’ll drink to that!
KO made the Telcoms Worst Persons In the World for precisely the disingenuous aka lyting posturing on the part of Bush and Cheney to cover their asses that Bmaz fingered (in the previous post) and EW/Bmaz have never failed to emphasize.
O/T, except … Well. Happy May Day, you guys:
Well done.
Also OT yet seemingly in a similar vein, the Hawaiian Kingdom Government, which includes descendants of the monarchy, spent yesterday and today on the grounds of Iolani Palace, Honolulu. They say their time is returning and that they will resume conducting the business of their government in the palace, which was the last official residence of King David Kalakaua and his sister Queen Lili’uokalani after him, the last alii to reign. From the (amazingly bitter old school “America, Love It Or Leave It!”) comments thread at the Honolulu Advertiser I learned, among other things, that their offices are across the street from the palace, and there they have for several years been preparing briefs for the World Court, arguing that the US overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was illegal, and seeking significant remedies at law.
The U.S. Government (under Pres. Clinton) issued a formal apology stating that the overthrow was, in fact, illegal. Ah, yes, here it is.
But, as VEEP Cheney would say, “So?”
Bob in HI
Yes, it seems pretty clear the plan, or at least part of the plan, is to use that as evidence. O ye wise brethren of the bar: Any guesses how the case is likely to fare at the World Court? Assuming the rules and precedents are at all like US law, and given this admission of illegality by the defendant, couldn’t the plaintiffs just go for summary judgement on the facts? Of course I would assume that even if they win there, the penalty phase would be awful damn long and complicated. I mean, how do you meaningfully un-ring the bell of erasing a country?
Jeebus, are you kidding? Heh heh, that is a clusterfuck that makes Marcy’s little Michigan clusterfuck look microscopic in comparison. For starters, resolutions are, of course, non-binding. As far as legal evidence though, it could certainly be argues as an admission against interest; which might could get it in as evidence, although likely not definitive proof. World Court would not have jurisdiction over American land that the United States would ever recognize. Interesting exercise; ain’t going anywhere though. I think the natives maxed out when they got the resolution; that is as far as they are going to get.
The First Nations (all of Canada’s indigenous peoples except the Inuit and the Métis) have not tried the World Court route for their land and other claims so far as I know, but they do occasionally go to London to petition the Crown (and queen listens — most [all?] of their treaties were signed with her great-grandma, and she seems to like them) and they work away at the UN, where Canada, like the U.S. and New Zealand, has refused to sign the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples passed last fall. (Australia voted against at the time too but has since got a nice new government and changed its vote.)
Ishmael or Petrocelli or others may know more, but I don’t think the international initiatives have yet been anything but public-relations successes (and they are that to a degree). They do embarrass the government in some quarters and they do raise consciousness, but the land-claims negotiations between the government and individual bands or nations have dragged on for at least a couple of generations, with intermittent successes in the courts. It doesn’t need to be this bad: the First Nations and Inuit and Métis want nation-to-nation negotiations, which could be reasonable, but successive governments play cynical games and leave things to the tender mercies of the provinces, which leads to endless confrontations, sometimes violent — there’s one on here right now.
It’s an outrageous history, although there has been some movement … over the last half-century. And you will know pretty much how socially devastated our cynicism has left native peoples. I hope that people are ashamed of us a century from now (if we’re still here). Or I hope that they are scornful of us.
Correction: Elizabeth is Victoria’s great-great-granddaughter.
Completely OT: Does anybody have an image of George Tenet’s handwriting?
Yes, but in which pdf; may have time after work to search; I recall being surprised a document with his signature was published, as I recall the script was modestly rotund and looke sufficiently broad to be a flair felt pen. My runtime version of acrobat does not do handwriting searches. Aldus, take note.
Excellent. When you get a chance, could you compare it to the writing in the fourth photo in this photo gallery link?
In case anyone is wondering, the Houston cops shot and killed a guy who claimed to be ex-CIA. The CIA denies the guy was ever an officer. The photo is supposed to be of a personally addressed copy of Tenet’s book.
WO, this might help. It is a little lame but similar to what you describe.
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/5038952
Oooh WO – You can click on the thumbnail and get a great gander at his signature!
Thanks. Check out my link and tell me if you think it’s legit. It’s close.
Man, that is beyond me. It is close. I have used handwriting experts many times on cases; never understood how they did their craft (wasn’t really important as long as they had the opinion I needed). My signature and handwriting is all over the road and beyond schizophrenic. I can’t even keep track of my own signature, much less figure out other people’s.
The whole story is bizarre. The guy commits suicide by cop. He’s been the head of the local retired spooks club. He sounds like a con man. On the internet, there are connections between him and an obvious fraud (Alan Premel) who, I just discovered, lives right around the corner from me.
But if that Tenet signature is a fake, it’s a good one.
Hey Bmaz… has the Pig been found yet?
PS – sorry if I detonated your thread.
Pig Found
My thoughts about it cavorting around freely in pig heaven are dashed…
Let’s hope that the fact that pigs again no longer fly doesn’t usher back retroactive immunity.
Sweet! They get the reward too!
Exactly my thoughts, except for the baseball part.
For those interested in the question of whether Alstoetter supports a criminal prosecution of that coward John Yoo, there is a post on the subject on Balkinization.
I have been reading Alstoetter myself for that very purpose, and recognize the points the author makes. I think the decision is pretty good on a number of relevant issues.
Just read your link. I have had no exposure to Alstoetter since law school, but that article is pretty consistent with what I recall; i.e. that it is the concept and process of Nuremberg that endures, not the specific decisions. I do think that a case could be argued for aiding and abetting/facilitation and/or conspiracy against Yoo and Haynes. I’ll be honest though, I don’t think it can meet a reasonable doubt standard. So I don’t think there will be criminal charges from what I see as the evidentiary base so far; although that could change I suppose.
Well, as you say, the strength of Alstoetter, and the Nuremberg trials in general, is their concept and process. To distinguish them from mere victors trials, it was important for the tribunals to justify their decisions by reference to international law. They represent the formal ratification of application of international law in important cases. One of those crimes was described as follows:
Id. at 984 That’s the kind of language that ought to keep Yoo up at night.
The thing that change it will be evidence that the legal opinions were crafted specifically to immunize people for prior illegal acts that were carired out on orders from the White House.
It happened with the wiretapping opinion, the rendition for torture opinion, and both torture opinions.
And I believe we have a winner. Because that would be implication of criminal enterprise. The real limiting factor is a DOJ willing to expend resources and reputation to press the case. I’ll say this much, it is no joke; if I were Yoo I sure as hell would not be traveling outside of the country.
OT- I have been wondering who Mary Beth Long at DOD is; she’s held several jobs and was sworn in Dec. 21.2007 in charge of policy for international security affairs.
“No. 0033-08 IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 14, 2008 Mary Beth Long Sworn in as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
Mary Beth Long was sworn in as the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs Dec. 21, 2007, during a ceremony at the Pentagon. Long was nominated by President Bush to be the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs on Nov. 8, 2007. She is the first woman to be sworn into an assistant secretary position in the policy organization….. ” http://www.globalsecurity.org/…..-dod01.htm
Then I listened to this hour lecture she gave a year earlier to a college class. http://www.mediasite.com/presentation.aspx?p=19892
Policy, would seem to be her least strong ability. If you’re interested in surveillance and the technology of the internets, you’ll love this…(Where does George find these people?)
In the wastelands.
Not kidding, just ignorant. (Insert oblivious smiley here.)
Not to mention probably just a little too suspicious:
Ms. Palfrey’s death is one to watch. She and a proper investigation of her death (along with her secrets) have already been buried in the US media as a “suicide”: “The FBI will join local law enforcement officers in investigating the suicide, Florida police said.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/02/usa
The Guardian was professional enough to lead with an accurate headline:
unlike the US media, which murdered its usual practice of referring to such deaths as an “apparent” or “probable” suicide. Until after an investigation, autopsy and verdict in a coroner’s court, all we have is a suspicious death. So why the immediate rush to judgment? To solve the mystery before it begins and make Ms. Palfrey and her story go away before the evening news? Why the FBI “involvement”? A suspicious death of the former rich and famous is a routine occurrence in Florida’s (or California’s) nursing homes, beach houses, clubs, boats and back alleys, all of which the FBI ignores.
Rest assured that had this been Rush Limbaugh, found dead amid a bucket of syringes, lines of coke and empty bottles of fraudulently obtained prescriptions, the headline would have read, “Rush Dies of Broken Heart”.
A competent, thorough autopsy would go a long way toward facilitating that investigation. Who will oversee the autopsy, FBI or local? Some reports on Palfrey’s death indicated “no apparent signs of drug or alcohol,” so will extensive tox tests be done, for example? FBI involvement is certainly interesting- what’s the reason for & nature of their involvement?
So convenient that people in power in DC wished Palfrey would just shut up & go away, then suddenly hey presto, she has.
Marie Pinallas County Florida will conduct the autopsy. I don’t know if FBI forensics will be involved, what the protocol is, or if Florida has any state laws governing forensic investigations. I suspect though, having participated in 200 autopsies when I rotated on pathology during residency and hated most every minute except for the case where I found Claymidia as the cause of the ruptured aortic valve by insisting they do EM on the valve and published it, that whoever does it the forensics is only as good as
1) The person who does it
2) The modalities and the tests they do at their discretion
It’s like most other things forensic. BTW as you probably know, the rapid contemporary resolutions you see on CSI whatever are much easier and more pat and perfect than what is done on the street in real life although they have forensic path input.
I’m not a pathologist, so I don’t know what the protocol would be in Panellis County.
Were there a lot of people who wanted Palfry and probably the Associate Prof. of Sociology at Univ of Maryland Brandy Britton dead? You betcha there were.
Your government resources at work while pissing away $10 billion in Pakistan and having as much control over Taliban terrorists in Pakistan as the cops have over the heroes who beat up people and throw them in trunks in the newly released Grand Theft Auto IV by Rock Star Games.
What a great country that has lines around the block waiting to use their grocery money to buy the game released a couple days ago.
Thanks for the autopsy info.
I can’t stand any of the CSI shows- always found it pretty amusing that the original show was set in Vegas- @ the time CSI series began the lab there had a rep as one of the worst in the U.S., not so much personnel-wise but definitely equipment-wise.
To reply to yr. #73- Yeah, it’s curious she didn’t try to leave, or was planning to. Supposed to have been a fairly smart woman. If she didn’t stash client info several yet undiscovered places for safe keeping I’d be surprised, too.
She had been to prison before in another case and dreaded it, and was likely very depressed but that does not of course R/O murder.
I’m surprised if she had stashed the money she had made doing this business for more than ten years, she didn’t flee the country and hide. There was nothing stopping her from doing that.
Correction: She was broke. IRS froze her assets.
911 Tapes Released in D.C. Madam’s Death
I’m guessing Vitter and her clients former Rumsfield collegue Harmen Ullman and Senator Vitter and Mrs. Vitter will not be attending her funeral.
Palfry was offered a plea bargain of 4 months and she rejected it.
Actually EOH, and my first thought was that it could of course not be a suicide (Shades of CSI Miami, or Law and Order). This is the second so-called suicide in this case. In January University of Maryland Assistant Professor Brandy Britton who also worked for this service killed herself.
Your friendly DOJ always waiting to help enhance women’s lives brought this:
This is the first time DOJ has applied RICO to a prostitution investigation, and prostitution prosecutions for DOJ are very rare unless there is predatory behavior or trafficking/slavery involved.
Arguably, trafficking might apply to virtually every prostitution ring. I suspect only the most high-end businesses, the kind Spitzer frequented, might avoid that. Presumably, that’s because they generate so much money for so few people that money seems a plausible incentive to stay in the business rather than survival, paying for a habit, or avoiding a beating from a pimp.
Sadly, the “anti-prostitution” meme sells well with the Base. But they would never inquire into or acknowledge how viciously selective this administration is in whom it decides to prosecute for sin, and how much it blindly forgives among its supporters.
The Palfrey prosecution seems like a one-off. She and her people were more vulnerable than those behind the Emperor’s Club. Intimidating, crushing, her was a warning to her people and competitors – keep doing your work, DC is too full of testosterone for you not to, but keep quiet.
Yes, I’ve often wondered whatever happened to hookergate.
I think if I had to summarize in one sentence what has struck me over the years watching DOJ is that they are much more selective and political about their prosecutions of either large entities or their hesitancy to prosecute prominent afluent people with means while pouncing on nobodies right and left who are first time crack sellers (they often prosecute companies for fines where no one goes to jail and that happens every day, and has been taken to a new level in the Bush DOJ by their use of DFAs to divert millions to people like John Ashcroft, a recent criminal activity of New Jersey US Attorney Christopher J. Chistie a handpicked Rove Bushie).
In Justice Shift, Corporate Deals Replace Trials
Ashcroft to Testify
52 Million Dollar Payday for Christie’s Old Boss
Fines, Fear and Corporate Criminals
I’ve had several conversations with Court of Appeals judges who bemoan the paradigm shift the federal drug laws have brought in the number of appeals their Circuit has had to process, and the fact that it dilutes the quality of their opinions and the number of cases that actually will go to oral argument or receive more than a 3 sentence per curiam affirmation. I’ve had the exact same conversation with a state Supreme Court Justice.
The bipartisan “war on drugs” seems more like war on the poor and the middling purveyors who supply them. One doesn’t often hear about the top dogs going to prison. Likewise with the way “minimum” and “mandatory” sentencing has worked.
We breed prisons as much as prisoners. We outsource their management and enrich their managers. Our politicians empower that and tell us they’re making us safer. Just as Mr. Bush outsources our privacy, our military, our tax collecting, and our public debt. He outsources his job to his deputy and calls that leadership. He confuses opportunism with leadership.
Easy, simple answer as to why US media has already headlined Palfrey’s death as ’suicide’, despite its suspicious timing: perhaps some media were ‘clients’. Who would prefer nothing more be written, stated, or known about Ms Palfrey.
Seems the simplest, most likely explanation.
Hope you’re having a wonderful trip, ew.
OT- I was just in NC for several days & chatted up a lot of folks about the NCGOP gubernatorial attack ad. Almost no one had seen it running locally, but ALL had seen it covered on the 24/7 news channels.
And we all can draw the obvious conclusions…
This has probably already been linked somewhere here & I missed it backreading.
Addington Agrees to Testify on Interrogations if Subpoenaed
Lest I seem too charitable about the Guardian UK’s headline writers, this one about the Obama campaign illustrates a competing tendency:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…..ctions2008
The headline purports to describe only the campaign in Indiana, not nationally, so it’s misleading. And I especially dislike it when they change headlines in the actual story:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/america
That’s a mild change. But the stories themselves are usually better than the MSM’s and their headlines and stories still match, which is increasingly less true, I think, in the MSM.
Misterkev, who holds the Catfish Throne of Muddy Wisdom down on South Main in the River City sent me these prospective headlines to contemplate the other day. I think he’s picked up the pattern.
Palfrey’s death, no matter whether by her own hand or through foul play, is symptomatic of the Kafka-esque theater of Justice getting played out before Our very eyes.
Look at it from her point of view – and consider that she was never a Strong Person at any point in this whole Scandal – you can see it in many of her pictures – she was Massively Depressed.
As far as Palfrey knew, it was a Cynical World.
She provided Taboo Services to Our Country’s Law Makers, Jurists, Military Brass, and other Moral Hypocrites. It was “Do as I say, Not as I do,” in action at the highest levels.
How was Palfrey to orient herself to Right and Wrong, when she Was Kept in a Moral Dungeon by the Powerful?
When it’s a black world, and there seems to be no hope, escape may not be rationally pursued.
And, after seven years of Bushco Hypocrisy, we should all recognize that there might be a little bit of Palfrey in All of US, too – We need Strong Leaders now.
She saw the Horror of Lawlessness up close…and then ‘the Law’ was used to throw Her in Prison…and, all the while, her Clients silently watched it happen.
O/T
Asian Times has some interesting write-ups on Iran:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/M…..3Ak04.html
and here:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/M…..3Ak03.html
OT- For those interested in the ‘other’ Scott Horton, here he is giving a lecture at UT, Austin
http://thestressblog.com/2008/…..e-version/
I keep thinking (fantasizing, actually) of going into business making cell phones with builtin, automatic encryption that would prevent the phone companies AND the Feds from listening in. The operating system on the phone would be a small, linux-based system that uses zfone for encryption. So long as you communicate with another user of the same type phone (or even with internet softphones that incorporate zfone) you get automatic strong encryption end-to-end. No backdoor, no key that the feds can try to brute force out of me (and/or my company).
And all the illegal spying on phone calls by AT&T and their NSA buddies wouldn’t amount to jack squat since the NSA wouldn’t be able to crack the encryption in any reasonable amount of time anyway (and once cracked, it only works for THAT particular call because the key is always changing).
Fuck them all.
Of course it’s not just the phone conversations. They are intercepting computer activity as well. Mueller never saw a law he wouldn’t break to invade your privacy.
Which is why I use tor or mixminion when I wish to keep my online habits or emails out of gestapo hands.
All 3 are good links. Thanks.
5/2/08 Glenn Greenwald What backroom conniving are Steny Hoyer and the Chris Carney Blue Dogs up to on FISA?
emptywheel:
I don’t know if you’re a betting woman, but, nomen omen, here’s a horse for the Kentucky Derby you might consider in light of your touting of “Beamish”: “Denis of Cork”. He has a good shot of being in the money off the pace and might be worth a play if you can get 20-1 or longer on him.
That the allure of intoxication is indefatigable aside, the movement in paradigm shift of “justice” as the result of the “drug wars” is directly proportional to the depletion of the possibility of the pursuit of happiness in the society as measured by the distribution of assets. Initially providence smiled on the United States as a people met a continent. How quickly the opportunity has been consumed.
You know, that is exactly right. The drug war, and before that the red menace scare, perfectly laid the ground work for the big brother security state being implemented today. The “slippery slope” that so many complained of over the years turned out to have been very prophetic.
Like drugs, entertainment represents escape, and the more immersive the entertainment, the greater the escape. I think that explains the Grand Theft Auto IV lines-around-the-block phenomenon pretty well. I leave it to our resident personal psychology experts to work out the mental mechanisms — not to mention the ironies — that flow from the fact that the GTA4 world is a highly realistic dystopian, violent, wartime, prostitution-and-drug-crime-rich one.
Mixminion is kindof a tough tool to make use of, and to me, the main mixminion website instructions weren’t all that helpful.
I use linux (Mandriva distro) and my tor manager is Tork which makes it easy. It includes an option to install mixminion and then provides a simple button to hit when you want to send a mixminion message. Encrypt the message via PGP or gnupg (on linux) and send it via mixminion and you have an email that is very hard to trace the origin of (particularly if the tor path you wind is appropriately broad – like passing through Europe and other continents before it goes to your recipient) AND is strongly encrypted. Of course, the recipient address can be had rather easily.
Tork also provides simple buttons for starting up an anonymized chat session, anonimized ssh, ftp, etc, sessions as well, starting up an anonimized mozilla (and/or add tor button mozilla extension and anonymize on the fly – but wipe your history and cookies to be sure).
I appreciate the tips. I always like to hear what Linux someone is using. I have been Windoz hobbying and Beta testing for a long time, but the more I use my friends’ Macs the more I like them–they perform just great, are fast and don’t have a lot of the windoz time wasting as to wizards and drill downs.
Off topic to encryption but funny to me:
Up until recently the feds, (places like DOJ, Homeland Security, CIA, were so dumb they put their backup servers on top literally of their regular servers) instead of off site.
A couple years ago in Ohio at an Ohio Nuclear Reactor site one of the “brain surgeons” at the top there took his laptop home to play games with his grandson, taking it outside their firewalls and doing nothing to compensate. He was hacked in 31 minutes, and had direct control of the reactors whch were fortnately off line.
OT alert! ***
bmaz, At TMP, a clip of Whitehouse talking about the firing of an EPA official in the Midwest, who tried to make Dow Chemical clean up dioxin. Firing reported in Chicago Tribune today: http://www.chicagotribune.com/…..5733.story
Highlighted at TPM, with a clip of Whitehouse on the Senate floor today:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi….._firin.php
When it comes to chemical pollutants, there are no ‘Democrats’ or ‘Republicans’. Pollutants are non-partisan. Boxer to hold hearings next Wed via Sen. Comm on Environment.
Sara and kylnn have both alluded to this (or related problems) in past threads. Perhaps they have more info. Sorry about the OT, but this is a ‘head’s up.’
Fantastic speech from Whitehouse, just such a classic.
And embedded in all Sheldon Whitehouse’s fantastic speeches, he caved his ass big time by siding with Jello the Jay (Jello Whitehouse) in pushing for the SSIC’s retroactive immunity and egregious bill. He’s never explained this substantively in any speech, and as a former US Attorney in Rhode Island he should know much better.
Dunno the answer and certainly can’t speak for Whitehouse. However, I’ve been in situations where Roberts Rules were the OS and more than once I’ve voted with scumbuckets — the **only** way to bring an item back for reconsideration as a general rule is to be in the MAJORITY of those voting.
In other words, if you know something (that’s appalling) is going to pass, you hold your nose and vote ‘Yeah’, so that you are later in a position to ‘bring it back for reconsideration’ once you’ve rounded up new allies and brought new info into the conversation.
Let’s hope that is Whitehouse’s motive; it’s mere speculation on my end, but it’s logical and happens all the time in many legislative councils, commissions, and legislative arenas. (However, it’s only done if you take time to pay attention to the rules so you can figure out this ‘workaround’; some people never seem to figure it out, but it’s not complicated.)
Is Marty around and able to comment?:
A founder of the Venezuelean voting machine company that is (or used to be) the parent of the US voting machine company Sequoia — whose machines are having documented problems counting properly — died yesterday in an unusual small plane crash in Caracas together with a pilot who’d had drug trafficking convictions in both the US and Venezuela.