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…
Some Pigs Money Launderers Are More Equal Than Other Pigs Money Launderers
Treasury is going to ratchet up sanctions against Iran today, designating it as a primary money laundering concern.
he Treasury Department plans to designate Iran as an area of "primary money laundering concern" on Monday, a U.S. official said,…
The Bloomie and Kelly Show ... with Fake Video Props!
Just three days after NYPD's cops overreacted to First Amendment protests, and two days after NY's Muslim community protested NYPD's heavy handed spying, Mike Bloomberg and Ray Kelly decided to roll out a big press conference to announce ...
A…
Trash Regurgitated
Okay, I am going out on a limb here and moving trash up in the queue until tonights game, and any afterbirth, is over. Then either Marcy or I will return it to the bottom of the barrel where it was rescued from! Mostly, I wanted to post up…
With Latif Decision, Section 1031 Authorizes Indefinitely Detaining Americans Based on Gossip
As I noted yesterday, both Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin understand Section 1031 of the Defense Authorization to authorize the indefinite detention of American citizens. Levin says we don't have to worry about that, though, because Americans…
The Detainee Debate Heats Up: The Rule of Martial Law Vs. the Unitary Spookery
As I noted yesterday, Obama issued a veto threat for the detainee provisions included in the Defense Authorization. Since then, both Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin have given speeches on the floor, arguing against (DiFi) and for (Levin) the…
Congress and the Administration Agree: the Government Can Indefinitely Detain US Citizens
I've got a long post mostly written on the debate between two awful positions on the detainee provisions in the Defense Authorization.
But let me make something clear. Both sides have already bought off on one principle: that the Administration…
Are the Chinese Spying on Our Spying?
Danger Room reports that our nation's spooks have moved beyond their concern about Chinese chips and other "counterfeit" (read, sabotaged) parts in war toys to grow concerned about Chinese parts in our telecom system.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.),…
The Checkered Neocon History of Mansoor Ijaz, Instigator of Pakistan's "Memogate"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFoUCUE6-U0[/youtube]
As I noted yesterday, Josh Rogin has been doing outstanding work on the issue now rocking Pakistan, a memo purportedly sent from the highest levels of the Pakistani civilian government…
Robert Mueller Once Again Claims Anna Chapman a Bigger Threat to US than Lloyd Blankfein
Robert Mueller addressed the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco today. He repeated a familiar theme: the biggest threats to the United States are terrorists (even aspirational ones), spies, and cyber attacks.
Terrorism, espionage, and cyber…
California Supreme Court Rules There Is Standing For Prop 8 Intervenors
When the Ninth Circuit initially referred the issue of standing for the Defendant-Intervenors in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger/Brown back at the start of the year, I wrote this:
I still look for the California Supreme Court to certify this…
Obama Issues Veto Threat to Revised Detainee Language
The Administration just released its position on the Defense Authorization, including a long passage on the new detainee language SASC devised the other day. That section reads:
Detainee Matters: The Administration objects to and has serious…
Rogin Obtains Proof Mullen Received Ijaz Memo, Pakistan Ambassador Recalled, Offers Resignation
Back on October 10, Mansoor Ijaz, an American from a Pakistani family, published a remarkable column in Financial Times in which he claimed to have been involved in the passing last May of a memo purportedly from Pakistan's President Asif…
More FOIA Refusals Hiding DOJ's Informant Practices
The Center for Constitutional Rights is helping former Black Panther, community activist, and Common Ground founder Malik Rahim sue to get the FBI's records on FBI informant Brandon Darby's infiltration of Common Ground.
Today, the Center for…
The More You Look for Terrorists, the Fewer Banksters You Have to Prosecute
This report--or rather the HuffPo piece on it--has gotten a lot of attention. It shows the government as a whole has prosecuted 57.7% fewer financial fraud crimes than they did 10 years ago, when 9/11 changed everything.
The report on our…
Night Raids, Drones and Raymond Davis Still in Af-Pak News
A vitally important loya jirga, or grand gathering, is underway in Afghanistan with leaders from all over the country converging to share their views on the future of the Afghanistan-US relationship. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has announced…
Senate Armed Service Committee Celebrates Agreement to Spend 32 Times More on Detainees
As Josh Gerstein and Adam Serwer lay out, the Senate Armed Services Committee just passed a new version of the Defense Authorization mandating military detention for terrorists. The language on detention includes the following two paragraphs:
Except…
The Gray Lady Calls the GOP Candidates Gray
The NYT had a hysterical editorial calling out the GOP candidates for claiming that waterboarding is not torture.
As hard as it is to believe, the Republican candidates for president seem to have learned very little from the moral calamities…
IAEA Iran Report Fallout Continues: France Leads Militancy, MEK Rumors, Iran Reconsiders Cooperation
Reaction to the leaked IAEA report on Iran's nuclear technology continues. In a remarkable article in the New York Times that reads more like an Op-Ed (h/t MadDog), we see the writer urging the US to join the more militant posturing coming…
Two MI Counties File Class Action Suit against MERS and Banks for Being Tax Cheats
Two MI County Registers of Deeds--Curtis Hertel of Ingham (Lansing's county) and Nancy Hutchins of Branch--have filed a class action suit against MERS, seeking the taxes the banks should have been paying to counties and the state every time…
