Standard Chartered Bank Admits Promontory's Estimates of Its Iran Business Were Wrong
Standard Chartered just settled with NY's Superintendent of Financial Services. The settlement--for $340 250 million and a monitor of SFS' choosing--is less than some reports said the settlement might have been.
But here's the detail I'm…
Changing Voters to New Precincts With Poor Notification: New Vote Suppression Tactic in Florida?
Today is primary day in Florida. It is being held on the earliest date in the past 40 years since Florida is hosting the Republican National Convention later this month. While there has been much attention paid to Rick Scott's infamous…
Good Thing the Democrats Forced That Vote on the Ryan Plan
Most of what I have to say about Mitt Romney's pick of Paul Ryan I said on Virtually Speaking Sunday. I think the Ryan pick will hurt Mitt, and I think it opens up an opportunity for progressives to even box Obama in.
But I am enjoying the…
National Sickness: No Debate Allowed on Civilians Owning Weapons of War
Three fatal mass shootings within three weeks should be providing an opportunity for a national conversation on civilians having easy access to semiautomatic weapons and high capacity clips that are designed for use in war. Two of the killers…
A Two-President, Three-Term Policy Coup
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This YouTube has been getting some belated attention. In it, Wes Clark reveals he heard, on roughly September 21, 2001, that Bush had a plan to take out 7 countries in 5 years. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia,…
On the Press Release Sanctions against Hezbollah
I have never doubted that Hezbollah and/or Iran could be behind the attack in Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria. Certainly, it is one of the few attacks blamed on one or the other in the last year that exhibited the competence we expect from…
Another Breach of Contractor-Protected Critical Infrastructure
In my never-ending campaign to document all the ways the private sector is a bigger risk to our critical infrastructure than terrorists, hackers, political activists, or average citizens, take a look at the job Raytheon's $100 million security…
Afghanistan War: Now With Even More Suckitude
Just because I happened to read one post and point out a small error before going on a beach walk, Marcy had a hard time believing I really did go on vacation last week. While I was gone, one of the topics I usually track carefully went completely…
DOJ Attributes Its Inadequate Response to Targeted Killing FOIA on the Deputy and Attorney General's Staff
Back in June, I showed several departments in the government had done inadequate searches for documents responsive to the NYT and, especially, ACLU FOIAs on targeted killing.
DOJ did not perform a reasonable search for documents responsive…
Racial Profiling Is Wrong, Sometimes
The NYT has a long article revealing that TSA officers in Boston were profiling people of color as part of its behavior detection program.
In interviews and internal complaints, officers from the Transportation Security Administration’s “behavior…
Latest StuxNet Incarnation Resembles Alleged Project of Murdered GCHQ Officer
Kaspersky Labs has found a new incarnation of StuxNet malware, which they've called Gauss. As Wired summarizes, the malware is focused geographically on Lebanon and has targeted banks.
A newly uncovered espionage tool, apparently designed by…
Dick Durbin: The Targeted Killing Memo Is Like the Torture and Illegal Wiretap Memos
It took transcribing the debate in the July 19 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for me to realize it, but Democrats are running very serious interference to keep the Anwar al-Awlaki targeted killing memo secret. Not only did Dianne Feinstein…
Cornyn Called Targeted Killing a "Program," Too
I noted yesterday that the government, in its cynical attempt to play dumb about what the ACLU and NYT were FOIAing in their Anwar al-Awlaki memo lawsuits, had exhibited the same problems with basic definitions as Clinton had over the definition…
I'm Confused. Are THESE Leaks Permissible, or Not?
As you read this Reuters story, remember that the House voted to mandate investigations into leaks that undermined Israel's case for war against Iran and that the biggest new news in David Sanger's reporting on StuxNet is that Joe Biden and…
The Goldman Sachs Department of Justice™ Would Like to Apologize to Mr. Blankfein for the Inconvenience
By now you've heard that Goldman Sachs will not be prosecuted for lying to its customers and having its CEO lie to Congress.
“The department and investigative agencies ultimately concluded that the burden of proof to bring a criminal case…
John Brennan's Incredible Claims
I'm working on a longer post on John Brennan's Yemen speech yesterday. But I wanted to point to both Gregory Johnsen and Yemen Peace Project's responses to his speech. Johnsen calls Brennan's claim we spend over 50% of our Yemen funds on develop…
How Drone Strikes against American Citizens Are Like Clinton's Blowjob
The government has submitted its response in the ACLU/NYT suits for the authorization it used to kill three American citizens. I'm working on a more thorough response, but for the moment, I want to point to one detail that would be funny if…
Making Orders of Magnitude of Fraud Disappear
Yesterday, I wrote a post based on this Reuters story about how banks negotiated settlements that hid the greater part of their crimes (in this case, Standard Chartered Bank's tampering with SWIFT to hide transactions for Iran). The key point…
John Brennan Channels Scott McClellan Dodging Leak Questions
When Margaret Warner asked John Brennan about the leak witch hunt today, he said, in part,
First of all, there are investigations underway, so we have to be mindful of that and respectful of that investigative process.
Secondly, the…
John Brennan Vows to Combat the "Bad Guys" Attacking Our Critical Infrastructure
John Brennan just gave a speech, purportedly about our policy in Yemen. But it ended up being largely about infrastructure, That's partly because his speech focused on how, rather than spending 75% of our Yemen funds on bombs, we're now spending…
