The Provocateurs Making Jokes about Selling the Goods for the DeVos Company
The Michigan State Police are confused. They have issued a statement deeming the protests in Lansing Tuesday reasonably peaceful for an event of that size. But when WaPo asked about Steven Crowder's claims to have been assaulted, they say…
Amid Reports of Near Agreement and IAEA, Iran Followup Meeting, Jahn Eats Crow
Despite the best efforts of those who want a military attack on Iran to paint Iran as hiding attempts to develop a nuclear weapon, cooler heads appear to be prevailing as yesterday's talks in Tehran produced reports of a likely agreement and…
Grand Rapids Press: A Pox on All Their Houses, But Not Our Own
The local rag posted an editorial "reflect[ing] the views of The Grand Rapids Press editorial board," blaming almost everyone involved in the so-called "right to work" fight for the ugly way things went down Tuesday.
Right-to-work laws may…
John McCain: Declassify the Torture Report
John McCain just released a very strong statement on the torture report--which is below. Of particular note, he called to declassify the report.
Will McCain's call to declassify it provide the moral weight--and political cover, for the Administration--to…
Zero Dark 30 "Heroine" Outed and Scarred By European Torture Judgment
[SEE CRITICAL UPDATE BELOW]
Although many people have been long familiar with her name and career, there seems to be new buzz about the [possible] identity of the female CIA operative lionized in the bin Laden killing and talk of the town…
Shorter Gen. Nicholson: "Yeah, We Lied Earlier About Afghan Troop Capabilities, But You Can Believe Us This Time"
It would appear that even the Washington Post is beginning to see through the way that the Defense Department continues to make outrageous claims regarding the capabilities of Afghan National Security Forces. An article published last night…
John Brennan: Not only Drone Assassination Czar, But Eliminate American Privacy Czar
The most interesting line of this WSJ article--describing the dissent to the Administration's plan to give the National Counterterrorism Center any government database it wants for five years--is this one.
Mr. Brennan considered the arguments.…
How to Solve a Crime: Report It to the Police
I apparently wasn't clear enough about the alleged assault on Steven Crowder on Tuesday to be understood by the people sent over by the right wing noise machine. So let me try to say it very simply.
If Crowder was assaulted, by all means…
The Libertarians Against Coercion Applauding Dick DeVos' Coercion
I had a pretty revelatory experience last night interacting with a bunch of self-identified libertarians about alleged violence in Lansing yesterday and so-called Right to Work. I asked several of them why they were supporting a bill that should…
Lanny Breuer Covers Up Material Support for Terrorism
I noted last week how prosecutors were claiming they were being extra tough on HSBC for all its money laundering because of the seriousness of the charge they were going to defer: money laundering. Yesterday, with great fanfare, DOJ rolled out…
Delay in Publishing Afghan War "Progress" Report Forces Panetta Into "Clarification" Mode re Safe Havens in Pakistan
By law, the Department of Defense is required to prepare reports on "progress" in the war in Afghanistan twice a year. The first report for 2012 was published (pdf) in April, so one would expect the second report to follow in October. Even though…
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
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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
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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…
