Breaking! Brennan Extends No Rule Drones for 2 Years
It's hard to take this story -- reporting, Exclusive: No More Drones for CIA -- all that seriously given this assertion:
Brennan has publicly stated that he would like to see the CIA move away from the kinds of paramilitary operations it began…
Agreement Announced on Special Operations Forces in Wardak Province, Explanations Vary Widely
NATO is claiming that there now is an agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai regarding the withdrawal of US Special Operations Forces from Maidan Wardak province in the wake of Karzai's insistence last month that the troops leave immediately.…
Dick Cheney's Biggest Strategic Failure
Dick Cheney's biggest failures are surely moral. The hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed, senselessly. The thousands of Americans killed, senselessly. The hundreds of thousands, perhaps over a million, on both sides, maimed and poisoned and…
Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr's Nanny Factory
When I wrote this post, describing Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr's significant (and serial) tax lien in Maryland, I noted that the lien was very very high for just one nanny (which is the excuse Orr offered for the lien).
Using the numbers…
Iran Reports Talks on Resuming Consular Relations With UK
On Sunday, PressTV quoted Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular, Parliamentary and Iranian Expatriates Affairs Hassan Qashqavi as saying that Iran and the UK are in talks to resume consular relations. Yesterday, Mehr News further reported…
An Angry Mother on Steubenville and Parenting
The Steubenville rape case is so offensive in so many ways I can’t even begin to tackle them all.
• CNN and a number of other news outlets cast the rapists as victims;
• Idiots who “don’t believe in rape” come out of the…
The Last Iraqi WMD Prisoner: The Scientist Who Tried to Reveal on March 2, 2003 He Destroyed the CW/BW
The 10th anniversary of the Iraq War has refocused attention on the Iraqis who warned America before the war that Iraq had no WMD.
Naji Sabri, Saddam's foreign minister, told the CIA's station chief in Paris at the time, Bill Murray, through…
Why Would Jeh Johnson Suggest the Drone and/or Targeted Killing Court Would Be Bipartisan?
I'll have more to say about Jeh Johnson's skeptical speech on a drone and/or targeted killing court later.
But I wanted to point to this detail:
Our government finds itself in a lose-lose proposition: it fails to officially confirm many…
Ben Emmerson: Dupe on Two Continents, or Politically Savvy Diplomat?
If I'm not mistaken, the people accusing UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism, Ben Emmerson, of condoning lies in his recent report on drone strikes in Pakistan had no such reaction when Emmerson endorsed John Brennan…
Were Commercial Flights to Guantanamo Ended to Cut Off Coverage of Hunger Strike?
Carol Rosenberg reported yesterday that the Navy has ruled that commercial flights to Guantanamo can no longer be provided on a regular basis. The timing of this move strikes me as particularly suspect, since these flights are…
According to James Clapper, John Brennan Is a Leaker
To celebrate Sunshine Week last week, the Office of Director of National Intelligence released to Jason Leopold that office's memo on ramped up use of polygraphs to crack down on leaks.
The memo requires that polygraphs incorporate the…
CIA Continues to Cover Up Dick Cheney's War-Mongering
10 years ago today, George Bush gave his final warning to Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or face war. While the first half of Bush's speech cited Saddam's purported refusal to give up his WMD program, the second half of the speech was littered…
Congratulations to Pakistan for Peaceful Transfer of Civilian Power the Military Ignores
McClatchy has an article hailing the Pakistani Parliament's ability to serve out its entire five year term without being overthrown.
Pakistan’s Parliament completed its term Saturday and the coalition government was dissolved, the first time…
The Dictator Taking on Detroit's So-Called Deadbeats Is One Himself
In the weeks before Rick Snyder disenfranchised the city of Detroit, the Detroit News suggested the problem was the city was a bunch of deadbeats.
Nearly half of the owners of Detroit's 305,000 properties failed to pay their tax bills last…
Formula One Trash Talk: The Circus Comes To Oz Town
Hi there Wheel, Empty, and and otherwise gear heads, it is time for Spring Trash Talk. There is a lot under foot, Spring Training in Major League Baseball, free agency season and pending entry draft in the NFL, the somewhat diminished fortunes…
DC Circuit Sends CIA's Glomar Claims Back to the Drawing Board
The DC Circuit just remanded the ACLU's drone targeted killing lawsuit (the one I talked about here) to the District Court.
The decision is based on a theory Merrick Garland used in the hearing (which Wells Bennett analyzed here). Whether…
US Drones Over Persian Gulf Now Have Escorts
The latest incident in the cat and mouse drone games the US and Iran are carrying out has an Iranian jet coming close to a US Predator drone over the Persian Gulf. US reports on the incident all rely on information released by Defense Department…
Pakistan Undercuts America's Drone War
The UN's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism, Ben Emmerson, just released a press release on his trip to Pakistan which is part of his inquiry into the use of drones.
The Pakistanis appear to have used Emmerson's visit…
John Roberts: Second Class Citizen
When we were covering the Prop 8 Trial in San Francisco, Teddy Partridge made a very astute point. As the Prop 8 intervenors questioned a witness who (dubiously) talked about how adoptive families are less successful than biological parents…
Ah, But Are You Like George W. Bush?
I've been in an car dealer service waiting room all morning, so I'm late to the story about Barack Obama telling Jello Jay Rockefeller he's not as bad as Dick Cheney.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) confronted the president over the administration’s…
