The Shut-Down Question
While I think it's a crucial question to debate going forward, at this point I am agnostic about whether the decision to shut down the entire city of Boston on Friday was the right one or not. Furthermore, thus far the question has been presented…
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev: The Big Issue Is Not Miranda, It's Presentment
Particularly given Lindsey Graham's persistent tweeting yesterday that "the last thing we may want to do is read Boston suspect Miranda Rights," there was a lot of discussion in the moments after Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev…
April Snows Bring May Outrage: Record Flooding Ahead
In contrast to headline news today, the weather seems perfectly harmless — until one looks carefully at these maps.
Though increased soil moisture levels may be a big improvement over this past summer's drought, a serious problem remains:…
Meanwhile, Across the Globe...
In West, TX, the Mayor says the death toll will likely reach 35-40, including 10 first responders.
“We are out there searching the rubble, looking in each and every house. We are trying to locate each and every citizen,” Mayor Tommy Muska…
CAIR-MI Alleges the FBI Engaged in a Cover-Up in Imam Abdullah Luqman's Death
Back in February, I suggested that the killing of Imam Abdullah Luqman by members of FBI's Hostage Rescue Team is what a targeted killing in the US would look like. I was not asserting it was a targeted killing, just that a targeted killing…
No, Arkansas, Medicaid Is Not an "Entitlement." It's a Giant WalMart Subsidy
Arkansas, the home state of WalMart, just passed a law that will require "individuals" (by which it appears to mean biological humans) registering for Medicaid under ObamaCare's expanded coverage to sign a document acknowledging that Medicaid…
John Kerry Finally Meets a Close Election He Wants to Recount
The other day, Hugo Chavez' successor Nicolás Maduro beat opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski by 2% of the vote. In the days since, opposition figures have sown violence, claiming vote fraud.
Yesterday, Secretary of State Kerry…
John Galt Kills Texans in Massive Fertilizer Plant Explosion
Who needs pesky safety regulations or zoning laws when there is money to made running a fertilizer plant? Sadly, the small Texas town of West, which is just north of Waco, is suffering the consequences of unregulated free enterprise today,…
Is the Government Going to Claim Bradley Manning "Harmed" the US by Exposing Drone Details?
Last week's Bradley Manning hearing significantly focused on how much the government could hide about its witnesses. A big part of the discussion pertained to how a Seal Team 6 member would testify to finding WikiLeaks material at Osama bin…
House Judiciary Makes (Partial) Progress on Drones, But Not the Senate
Just as the House Judiciary Committee was about to vote to subpoena OLC's targeted killing memos, DOJ finally agreed to share them with the committee tasked with overseeing OLC.
Just before the hearing, however, DOJ agreed to provide the documents.…
The Downside of Losing Blabby Brennan as Homeland Security Czar
As I've noted in passing, the Boston Marathon will be the first major homeland security episode that John Brennan's replacement, Lisa Monaco, will coordinate at the White House. As NJ describes in this profile, Monaco has worked for years at…
Claire McCaskill: Why Aren't We Calling Sandy Hook Terror?
Janet Napolitano is testifying before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, purportedly on the budget. Not surprisingly, she's getting a ton of questions about the Boston Marathon attack and immigration.
But in a smart series of questions…
Senate Armed Services Committee Enters Fantasyland in Hearing on Afghanistan Withdrawal
Yesterday, while much of the world's attention was focused on emerging details relating to the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday (along with a tiny bit of attention on the Constitution Center's report on torture that Marcy was banned from improving),…
At Gitmo, Captain John Makes Sure Detainees Don't Get "An Overabundance of Things"
Carol Rosenberg, Ryan Reilly, and Charlie Savage have all posted their stories on the government's attempt to make the raid on detainees sound better. (Except as noted, the quotes below come from Rosenberg.)
But the accounts only seem to…
Even Bipartisan Conventional Wisdom Report Says It Was Torture
The Constitution Project has released a major report on the government's torture program. You can download the report here.
The report is important and comprehensive, but not without flaws. It took me a matter of minutes to find a number…
After Over 23 Requests, Congress Draws Closer to Issuing Subpoenas
As I've been tracking, members of Congress have made over 23 requests for the OLC memos authorizing drone and/or targeted killing. Thus far, only the Intelligence Committees and the Senate -- but not the House -- Judiciary Committees have been…
Massive Earthquake Strikes Troubled Balochistan Region
A massive earthquake has struck near the Iran-Pakistan border in the region known in both countries as Balochistan. With Iran subject to massive US sanctions that are already crippling its economy and affecting health care, responding to…
Over 54,000 More Americans Added to Security Clearance Rolls in Last Year
I've long argued that our security clearance employment system is "an arbitrary system of control that does more to foster cowed national security employees than to foster actual national security."
So I'm none too happy to know more than…
If It Was Wrong to Force-Feed Terri Schiavo, Why Is It Right to Force-Feed Gitmo Detainees?
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Back when he was running for President, Barack Obama said his biggest mistake in the Senate was in not voting against the March 2005 unanimous consent motion to intervene in the Terri Schiavo dispute.
And…
The White House Decides Maybe They're Not "Targeted Killings" After All
In the 15 paragraphs that make up the core of John Brennan's so-called transparency on drone killings, he used the word "target" in one or another form 24 times.
... the United States Government conducts targeted strikes against specific al-Qaida…