One Cowardly Nerd
It's done. Governor Snyder signed the bill in the secrecy of his office or a closet or wherever else he goes to deal with the shame of turning his state into Indiana or Mississippi or Bangladesh because he wasn't tough enough to stand up to…
Breitbart Folks Appear to Fake Violence in Lansing
[youtube]GtbWbw66KrI[/youtube]
When I saw this video--claiming that a "violent mob" destroyed the tent the Koch brothers had paid for in front of the Michigan Capitol--I knew right away it was likely a false flag. After all, Stranahan, James…
2012 Afghan Fighting Season Data Are In: Daniel Davis Was Right on Surge Failure
As the "fighting season" for the tenth full year of US forces being in Afghanistan comes to a close, the Defense Department has released its most recent report (pdf, required every Friedman Unit by law) on "progress" in the war. Although the…
It's Not about Workers, It's about CEOs
Many of the editorials about the anti-union attack in MI have supported the unions or--even from conservative papers--criticized the way the Republicans crammed it through. This is one of the few in favor.
Predictably, this one, from Daniel…
US Intelligence Community: Still Not Getting It on Climate Change
I'm going to have more to say about the Global Trends 2030 document in a few days. But for the moment I want to just point to what it says about climate change.
It considers climate change both a significant factor in one of its mega trends--"food,…
How Treasury Justified a $13 Million Smaller SCB Settlement than NYS
Back in August, Standard Chartered Bank settled with New York's Superintendent of Financial Services for laundering Iran and other sanctioned countries' money; that settlement was for $340 million.
Today, Treasury announced its settlement…
Levin Brothers: Rick Snyder Doesn't Understand How Unions Work
[youtube]Nny-q2pcuQ0[/youtube]
Michigan's Democratic Senators and Congressmen met with Governor Snyder this morning to urge him either to veto the so-called Right to Work bill, defer its passage until next term, or take the appropriations…
Iran Claims to Have Decoded All Data From Captured ScanEagle and RQ-170 Drones: What Did They Learn?
Iran has published reports in which it claims to have decoded all data carried by the recently captured ScanEagle drone and the RQ-170 Sentinel drone captured last year. As proof of this decoding, Iran provided descriptions of the missions flown…
Assume Obama Drone Rules Dead
There's been a series of moves and trial balloons among Obama's national security lawyers that lead me to assume that any effort to apply some regularity and the patina of legality to the drone program is dead.
First, after some reporting…
MI Right to Ram Round-up
The reviews on MI GOP's anti-union power-grab on Thursday are still coming in. And they're mostly blisteringly critical, especially of the way the GOP rammed this through the legislature.
At MLive, Susan Demas argues it undermines the entire…
Heisman Trash Talk
Late start on the trash today. Not that it matters I guess since there is no longer any football on Saturday, save for the Army/Navy game (Go Midhipmen!) and some FCS Division One game between Georgia Southern and Old Dominion. But there is…
Warrick Selectively Edits Amano Remarks to CFR
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfr8NQXmYKM[/youtube]
Yukiya Amano, Director General of the IAEA, appeared on the record yesterday at the Council on Foreign Relations. He presented a very brief statement and then the bulk of his…
Republican "Freedom:" Pepper Spray, Locked Doors, and Legalistic Gaming
Yesterday, both MI's House and Senate passed so-called "right to work" bills.
The measure will be unpopular enough in this state--particularly if Democrats and unions successfully communicate to all workers the law will mean a cut in pay…
The ameriMac
Presumably because of Apple's rocky PR and financial results of late, Tim Cook gave two purportedly "Exclusive!" interviews, to NBC News and Businessweek. The big takeaway from both "Exclusives!" was the same, however: that Apple will move some…
Rick Snyder Wants Michigan to be Indiana
In a press conference, Rick Snyder just urged the MI legislature to pass a right to work bill (after having said it was not appropriate for MI in the past).
There were a number of funny aspects about the press conference, particularly the…
New Global Terrorism Index Demonstrates US War on Terror Is Abject Failure
Australia's Institute for Economics and Peace released a study (pdf) today in which they have tabulated terrorist attacks over the past ten years. They have developed a Global Terrorism Index which, on a country by country basis, quantifies…
The New Measure of DOJ Seriousness: The Charges It Defers
In an article on the upcoming HSBC settlement, Reuters seems impressed with the fine the bank may pay for the assistance it gave to drug gangs and terrorists and other crooks by laundering their money: $1.8 billion. It goes on to talk about…
"Liberal" 9th Circuit Deals Death Blow To Al-Haramain Illegal Wiretapping Accountability Case
There is only one substantive case left in litigation with the ability to bring tangible accountability for the illegal and unconstitutional acts of the Bush/Cheney Administration's warrantless wiretapping and surveillance program. That case…
Tom Coburn Takes on the Zombie Apocalypse
I tell you, if Tom Coburn just stuck to shutting down the most egregious Homeland Security fearmongering boondoggle abuses rather than shutting down government itself, I might grow to love the man.
His latest effort (for which some of his…
Walmart Takes Advantage of Health "Reform" It Championed
On September 9 and 11, 2009, I noted a dangerous aspect of the Senate health insurance reform plan (which I called MaxTax, after Max Baucus) that would ultimately become ObamaCare: it would give Walmart and all other low-wage employers an incentive…