Who Turned over the Google Group Conversations Involving Aaron Swartz?
The legal documents on the investigation into Aaron Swartz show three signs of witnesses cooperating with the prosecution.
Most of the public attention has focused on this detail, which in September 2011 publicly indicated Quinn Norton had…
Quinn Norton's Testimony
The docket of Aaron Swartz' prosecution made it clear that Quinn Norton, Swartz' ex-girlfriend, testified with immunity. It also made it clear that someone -- or some people -- handed over communications, including LISTSERVs, to DOJ. [See update]
In…
Nasr Pierces Obama's Diplomacy Mirage
Foreign Policy has published an excerpt from Vali Nasr's book The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat, in which Nasr relates his experiences as a key deputy to Richard Holbrooke, who served as Barack Obama's special envoy…
Outsourcing Drug War Disappearances to Mexico
The other day I asked whether the US was complicit in any of the hundreds of official disappearances and tens of thousands of other disappearances propagated in Mexico's drug war.
Friday, Spiegel published an interesting profile of a former…
Yes, the Government Does Believe the Military Can Use Military Force in the US
I made an error.
In this post, I suggested that debates about whether the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force constituted an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act ignore that for 7 years -- from the time John Yoo wrote a memo on whether…
Once Again, Lying to Courts to Protect Banks Goes Unpunished
This story -- about how Occupy Wall Street protestor Michael Premo beat an assaulting an officer charge when his lawyers found video evidence to disprove the NYPD's claims -- might make you believe in justice.
Except for this. Premo's lawyers…
Will Climate Change become National Security Issue before It's Too Late?
A significant list of serious national security figures (along with some not so serious people like Joe Lieberman, James Woolsey, and Frank Wisner) have released a letter calling for immediate focus on climate change.
The letter is not perfect.…
Count Von Count Counts 20 Times the Administration Has Blown Off Targeted Killing Memo Requests
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 -20
With Bob Goodlatte's -- and several other members of the House Judiciary Committee -- renewed requests on Wednesday for the Office of Legal Counsel…
Shorter Rick Snyder: Black People Can Be Customers, Not Citizens
As Rick Snyder was announcing the takeover of Detroit's government, paving the way for an Emergency Manager for the city, his staff tweeted out this:
"Citizens of #Detroit are the customers of the city, not just the citizens. We need to figure…
The Traditional Press' Blind Spot in Aiding the Enemy
This post by Kevin Gosztola lays out many of the implications of the news -- revealed in Bradley Manning's statement to the court yesterday -- that he tried to publish the Iraq and Afghan cables with WaPo, NYT, and Politico before he turned…
Further Reflections on the Obama Amicus Brief in Prop 8
After the flurry of fast analysis on the fly, getting a post up for discussion and the crucible of discussion here and on Twitter - and a bit of sleep - I have some further thoughts on the amicus brief filed late yesterday by the Obama Administration…
Lanny Breuer Enters the Free Agent Market
Sheesh. Lanny Breuer sure seems to need -- and be able to demand -- frequent fellations from the press.
The latest version comes from an excerpted interview with the NYT. Much of it covers familiar ground, with Lanny asserting that, really,…
Zoe Lofgren Didn't Vote to Let Presidents Wage Unlimited War, But John Yoo Did
As a series of Presidents continue to claim the September 18, 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force authorizes fairly unlimited power on an unlimited battlefield, I keep coming back to this Tom Daschle op-ed, in which he described how Congress…
The Obama DOJ Files a Timid Brief in Perry/Prop 8!
The news was broken, right around 2:00 pm EST by NBC's Pete Williams, that the Obama Administration would indeed file a brief in support of marriage equality in Hollingsworth v. Perry. Here was the original tweet by NBC's Williams:
Obama…
Secret Service Claims It's Still Investigating Now-Deceased Aaron Swartz
After Aaron Swartz died, Jason Leopold FOIAed Secret Service, since that's the agency that was investigating Swartz when he died.
Curiously, contrary to the FBI -- which at least claims to have treated Swartz as they would any other deceased…
ACLU, Obama's White Whale
NPR's Carrie Johnson, ACLU's Jameel Jaffer, and I discussed yesterday whether the Administration decided to blow off the House Judiciary Committee panel on targeted killing because appearing and answering questions might compromise their uncompromising…
The Targeted Killing Memos Shared with NYT, But Not Senate Intelligence Committee
According to the National Journal, one of the memos the Administration refuses to share with the intelligence committees authorizes the use of force in Algeria and, perhaps also in the same memo, with Mali.
Despite President Obama’s pledge…
Does This Explain Why Minh Quang Pham Is Languishing Away?
TBIJ has a troubling report (see also this Independent story) on a number of British citizens who have been stripped of their citizenship so they can be targeted by drones or rendered here to the US. I described the fate of one of them -- Mahdi…
Obama Administration Stokes Embers of GOP Interest in Oversight by Blowing Off Targeted Killing Hearing
Boy, what fucking idiots run DOJ (and, presumably, the Obama Administration generally).
As I noted when I first remarked on Bob Goodlatte, the new Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, showing some interest in the targeted killing memo,…
The Blowback Inherent to Network Analysis Kill Lists
As I noted Gregory McNeal has a fascinating series of posts at Lawfare on how the government develops kill lists (this post even has a mock-up of a Kill List baseball card). But I find this post, which describes how the Kill List makers use…