British Embassy in Tehran Stormed by Protesting Students
While gathering materials for yesterday's post on the reports of an explosion near the uranium processing facility near Isfahan in Iran, I almost mentioned this story on the Mehr News website, where we got confirmation that Iran was reducing…
Bachmann Was Almost Right: The ACLU Is in Cahoots with the CIA
As I have puzzled over the civil liberties and human rights communities' stance on the NDAA Detainee Provisions, I've come to the unfortunate conclusion that Michelle Bachmann was not far off when she claimed, "Barack Obama ... has essentially…
Mark Udall's Unsatisfactory Solution to the Detainee Provisions
As I have repeatedly described, I have very mixed feelings about the debate over Detainee Provisions set to pass the Senate tonight or tomorrow. I view it as a fight between advocates of martial law and advocates of relatively unchecked Presidential…
Jed Rakoff to SEC: Do you think I'm a tool?
Judge Jed Rakoff has rejected the SEC's proposed wrist slap of Citibank for selling mortgage-backed securities it knew to be of poor qualify.
Effectively, what he did was join this complaint with SEC's complaint--filed at the same time as…
Explosion Reported Near Iranian Uranium Processing Facility
According to Haaertz, the Iranian Fars News Agency is reporting (although I don't see a story yet at their website or at Mehr News) an explosion in Isfahan, where an Iranian uranium processing facility is located:
A explosion rocked the…
Fallout From NATO Attack on Pakistani Border Posts Continues: Afghanistan At Center of Conflict
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXKtehgB-Cw[/youtube]
While a great deal of the attention on the effects of Saturday's NATO attack on two (or three) Pakistani border posts that killed at least 24 Pakistani soldiers centers on US-Pakistan…
Geithner's Duplicitous Efforts to Reinforce the Oligarchy
Bloomberg's blockbuster story--showing that the Fed was dumping $7.77 trillion into the same banks that Treasury was claiming were solvent to qualify them for TARP--shows a number of different things. It focuses on the $13 billion in profits…
The Lessons of Iran-Contra 2.0
In "honor" of the 25th Anniversary of the press conference admitting to Iran-Contra on Friday, National Security Archive liberated memos an aide to Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, Christian Mixter, wrote assessing the criminal liability of…
Fast Trash
Um, okay, couple of MAJOR problems here. First is the issue of the illegitimate Trash appearing on this blog. and the musical selection for the same? Holy crap, I just do not know how I can work under such conditions. So, it turns out that Detroit…
NATO Helicopter Attack Kills Up to 28 at Pakistani Border Post, Supply Crossings Closed
In September of 2010, the US and Pakistan faced a crisis in relations after the killing of two Pakistani soldiers at a border outpost. Pakistan closed the Torkham supply crossing through the Khyber Pass as a result of the incident. Today,…
The Two Scary Iran Plot Complaints: A Comparison
As I wrote on Wednesday, earlier this month, the government released Manssor Arbabsiar's original complaint in the Scary Iran Plot. As I showed, comparing the original with the amended complaint reveals that the government tried to hide the…
In Thanks for Michigan's Bounty
Two years ago, I made a concerted effort to cook our entire Thanksgiving Dinner, save for spices and olive oil, with products from MI.
I've moved twice since then, but found this year that I almost pulled it off without trying (I didn't use…
Is the Government Hiding Chase's Cooperation in the Scary Iran Plot?
As I noted in this post, earlier this month, the government unsealed the redacted first complaint in the Scary Iran Plot. I will do a post summarizing the differences between the original and amended complaint later (short version: in a number…
Did the US Coerce a Miranda Waiver (Again) by Threatening Family Members?
The NYT reveals that the lawyer for Manssor Arbabsiar has suggested she will challenge the voluntary nature of Arbabsiar's 12 days of waiving his Miranda rights.
Mr. Arbabsiar's lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, said in a recent interview that she intended…
Michelle Bachmann's Nuclear Theft
When Michelle Bachmann announced at the GOP National Security debate last night that there were 15 Pakistani nuclear sites that might be accessible to terrorists...
BLITZER: All right. You're a member of the Intelligence Committee. Do you think,…
Tricksy Turkey Day Trash with Nickelback!
[youtube]Lj4NVYtzlQA[/youtube]
I'm officially launching a pre-emptive sneak attack on Turkey Day Trash because tomorrow, the undefeated Green Bay Packers come to the Lion's Den to be feasted. And to neutralize Packers loyalists in these parts--yeah,…
Latif: The Administration Blew Up Habeas with a Detainee They Determined Could Be Transferred
There are a few more details that need to be readily available about Adnan Farhan Abd al Latif, the Yemeni Gitmo detainee whose habeas corpus petition led DC Circuit Judges Janice Rogers Brown and Karen Henderson to gut habeas. Most importantly,…
Why Is William Welch, Whose Team Is Accused of Intentional Prosecutorial Misconduct, Still at DOJ?
As Nedra Pickler first reported, Judge Emmett Sullivan has submitted a scathing order describing the results of an investigation into the Ted Stevens prosecution.
Based on their exhaustive investigation, Mr. Schuelke and Mr. Shields concluded…
It's the Zenith-Limiting War Declaration, Not the Detainee Restrictions, Obama Wants to Veto
A bit of a parlor game has broken out over whether Obama really means his veto threat over the detainee provisions of the Defense Authorization. Josh Gerstein weighed in here, including a quote from John McCain accusing the Administration of…
In Terror Fight, "Rush For Immediate Results" Leads to Loss of Tradecraft, Misses Real Threats
Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo have a long AP article this morning, outlining yet another huge blow to CIA operations, this time in the form of the loss of a number of agents in Lebanon. However, in describing that situation, Goldman and Apuzzo…