Washington Post Tries to Ram Petraeus Down Our Throats Again
No. In the name of God, Thor, Zeuss, Cthulhu and the Flying Spaghetti Monster, no. There are few people who personify the vapid, amoral fetid swamp of Washington politics and defense policy more than David Petraeus. Taking a huge part of the…
Obama on Drones: Silence
Karen DeYoung wonders something I have been wondering.
The Obama administration is still struggling with how to make good on the president’s promise to ensure that its counterterrorism programs, including drone strikes, are “even more transparent…
Once Again, Congress Reads Stuff It Should Have Received from the Administration in NYT
Remember the excuse an anonymous Administration source Senator gave to explain why the Administration was not sharing some of the OLC memos on drone killing with the intelligence committees that by law oversee them?
Because the agreements…
Final Four Championship Trash Talk
BIG CHAMPIONSHIP GAME UPDATE!
Well, I was two for two in my predictions for the semi-final games Saturday. Considering the poor quality of my prognostications lately, that is smokin hot. So, I am back for more! The scouting really has not…
Daniel McGowan to Return to Halfway House
Yesterday, I described what happened to Daniel McGowan, the environmental activist who posted on HuffPo about his treatment in a Communication Management Unit; shortly after that post, the Marshalls detained him at his halfway house.
HuffPo…
Shanghai Culls Poultry as H7N9 Spreads, But Relevant US Research Remains Suspended Due to Security Theater
Yesterday saw a number of developments in the ongoing story of the emerging H7N9 virus in the Shanghai region of China, as the virus was identified in pigeons being sold at a meat market and the culling of all poultry at that market was…
When the Preet Promotion Industry Speaks, the Nation Gets Nervous
In an article with the URL "when-preet-bharara-speaks-the-shady-get-nervous," the WaPo repeats a now familiar formula for stories boosting US Attorney Preet Bharara's fortune: lots of quotes from political powerful allies...
“If [Bharara]…
The Price One Pays to Post at HuffPo
For a while, there was a big debate on the left on whether it was okay to post, for free, at HuffPo or not. Many argued that someone choosing to post at HuffPo without pay was being exploited, or exploiting others, by working for free.
Except…
VirginLeak
A number of journalistic outlets are cooperating in a project to describe the contents of 200 gigabytes of financial information from private incorporation agencies in the British Virgin Islands. The International Consortium of Investigative…
Fast Food Workers: Reclaiming MLK's Legacy by Striking
I had realized NYC's fast food workers were striking today, in what may end up being the biggest fast food worker strike. And I always mark the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's assassination, since the tragedy came just a week after I…
H7N9: A New Influenza Virus Emerges
This post is in two parts. The first part deals with the news that a new flu virus has emerged. The second part, which comes below the fold, provides a bit of biological and public health information to help put the news into perspective.
According…
Where Were These Dems Asking about CIA-on-the-Hudson During Brennan's Confirmation?
I have always been a huge fan of what Thomas Perez has done in DOJ's Civil Rights Division. But this sentence, from Adam Serwer's query on what happened to DOJ's review of the CIA-on-the-Hudson, ought to give pause.
Since taking office, the…
Nation Building with Special Forces
Nada Bakos tees up Jackson Diehl's failed Iraq justification to fail again in Syria post and points out something very basic. Military intervention does not equate with nation-building.
It would be a plausible argument if Diehl had not clearly…
Mexican Cartels: The Counter-Globalized Network?
Monday AP published a fascinating article reporting that Mexican drug cartels are altering an earlier organizational approach -- which outsourced the distribution of drugs to and within the US to others, thereby insulating the core members.…
Yet Another Taliban Attack Using Afghan National Army Uniforms
At the height of the green on blue killing outbreak, one aspect that stood out was that the attackers often had access to Afghan military and police uniforms whether they were actual members of these groups or not. As the Taliban shift their…
Sequester: A Two-Year Competitive Advantage for the Military-Industrial Complex
Remember how, before the election, Lockheed threatened to send out layoff notices to all its employees just before the election because sequestration might force it to layoff 10,000 employees?
Here's the actual state of affairs for defense…
Pulling Weeds for Think Tank Employees: My Response to Wittes' Response
Ben Wittes, an employee of the Brookings think tank, had this to say about my post showing how disingenuous his buddy Jonathan Fredman's defense of his statements at Gitmo in 2002 is.
Responding to her in detail is difficult, because her account…
Military's Information Operation Against Gitmo Hunger Strike Breaks Down
It has been clear from the start of the current hunger strike at Guantanamo that the military is carrying out its own information operation against a strike that it views as an information operation carried out by the prisoners. Back on March…
Prosecuting Our Own Conspiracies
My first reaction when I heard about the case of Eric Harroun -- the Army veteran arrested last week on one count of conspiring to use a WMD (in the form of a rocket propelled grenade) -- was that we were going to need bigger jails, because…
Ben Wittes Relies on Obviously False Document to Claim Other Document False
For those coming from Wittes' so-called response to my post, here's my response to that response, which shows that Wittes effectively cedes the point that Fredman's memo is dishonest.
In a post subtitled "Just Shut Up About Jonathan Fredman"…