Treasury's Quaint Notion of "Voluntarily"
As DDay noted earlier, Treasury will ignore that Standard Chartered signed a settlement confirming that it had hidden $250 billion worth of transfers by gaming its documentation so that it can sign a softball unified settlement with everyone…
DOJ Files Appeal: Further Thoughts On Hedges and The Lawfare/Wittes Analysis
Last night (well for me, early morning by the blog clock) I did a post on the decision in the SDNY case of Hedges et. al v. Obama. It was, save for some extended quotations, a relatively short post that touched perhaps too much on the positive…
Mitt Criticizes Pockets of Prosperity from Bank Accounts of Looting
One of Mitt's advisors--hiding his own identity, but not his affiliation with the campaign of a man who has a car elevator--just said this:
The adviser, granted anonymity to criticize a press corps the campaign still relies on every day, went…
What "Desert Warriors" Attacked Us in Libya?
There's a weird bifurcation in the coverage of yesterday's Libya tragedy.
The Islamist plot in Benghazi
One strand of coverage revised the initial claims that the mob that burned the consulate in Libya were responding solely to an anti-Mohammed…
When Job-Killing Regulations Are Removed, Jobs Become Killers
The city of Karachi is shut down today:
Public transport was suspended and schools and colleges closed. Factories and markets also shut while attendance at offices was thin.
This city of 18 million is in mourning for the deaths of 258 people…
Chris Hedges et. al Win Another Round On the NDAA
You may remember back in mid May Chris Hedges, Dan Ellsberg, Jennifer Bolen, Noam Chomsky, Alexa O'Brien, Kai Wargalla, Birgetta Jonsdottir and the US Day of Rage won a surprising, nee stunning, ruling from Judge Katherine Forrest in the Southern…
The Benefit of Teachers Unions
[YouTube]IMUboOIQT48[/YouTube]
Matt Yglesias has solved the riddle of why so many purportedly liberal wonks hate teachers unions, even while they claim to support unions generally.
The most salient difference, completely absent from his…
Did Fox News Really Interview Dr. Shakeel Afridi From Peshawar Central Jail?
In a remarkable development, Fox News published a story Monday based on an interview Dominic Di-Natale says he conducted with Dr. Shakeel Afridi, the doctor who aided the CIA's search for Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. As I had described back…
US Ambassador Christopher Stevens Dies in Attack on Benghazi Consulate
The US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, was killed earlier today in an attack on the Consulate in Benghazi.
An armed mob attacked and set fire to the building in a protest against an amateur film deemed offensive to Islam's Prophet…
Bittersweet Justice for Bradley Birkenfeld
Today, the IRS awarded whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld $104 million to reward him for having exposed UBS' methods of helping US tax cheats hide their loot, tax free, in Switzerland.
It's a bittersweet award, I'm sure. As Birkenfeld's lawyer,…
Janice Rogers Brown and Our Failed Justice System Killed Adnan Farhan abd al Latif
Since the Pentagon announced a detainee died yesterday, I've been praying it wouldn't be Adnan Farhan abd al Latif, even as details suggesting it was--that the detainee who had died had been a hunger striker, that he had never been charged--piled…
AP's George Jahn, ISI's David Albright Re-run Allegations of Iranian Bomb Calculations
Breathlessly calling today's story an "AP Exclusive", George Jahn sticks to his usual routine of depending on "diplomats" to leak information on Iran and then using David Albright to cast the information in a way calculated to make it look…
Mark Thiessen: More Important to HEAR--Not Read--Daily Brief Than Actually Respond to It
Yesterday, Mark Thieseen made a what amounts to a complaint that, half the time, President Obama reads his daily brief rather than receives it from a briefer directly. Here's Obama's response.
I figured, as Thiessen's bleatings often are,…
Remember When Obama Thought the FISA Amendments Act Was Imperfect?
Four years ago, when Obama caved and supported the FISA Amendments Act, he said in part,
I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to those of you who opposemy decision to support the FISA compromise.
This was not an easy call for…
What If Rahm Were Evaluated Like a Teacher?
As you may have heard, the Chicago Teacher's Union went out on strike last night.
The traditional news has spun this to largely be about wages.
Late Sunday, Mr. Emanuel told reporters that school district officials had presented a strong…
Handoff of Detention Facility in Parwan Marred: Afghan Government Places Higher Value on Rule of Law Than US
Following on the heels of the initial agreement that was virtually meaningless from the start, because the US still retained veto power of many of Afghanistan's moves, the US today allowed Afghanistan to hold a "splendid" ceremony marking the…
Obama, Stuck in the 9/11 Era as Much as Mitt Is Stuck in the Cold War Era
Working on another post, I went back and read all three Obama DNC speeches. (2004; 2008; 2012) Aside from the biographical details, several things remained constant through all three: the Hope theme (though it has evolved in interesting ways,…
The Elites Cling to Their Jobs
After the job numbers on Friday showed that we continue to tread water on job creation, Chris Hayes tweeted,
Dirty secret about the jobs crisis: A lot of the policy elite in both parties don't think there's much to be done.
I asked him whether…
NFL Hard Knocks, Head Injuries and The Monza Rebuttal
Here we are at the real, official, start of the football season in earnest. Yes there were a full slate of college games last weekend, but only a couple of decent ones. and, yes, the NFL officially kicked off wednesday with the Cowboys somewhat…
Vilma Vanquishes Goodell & NFL; Saints Players Reinstated
There is some early Trash from the National Football League breaking within the last hour. The four New Orleans Saints players suspended in "Bounty Gate", led by Jonathan Vilma and Scott Fujita, dissatisfied withe the league ruling handed down…
