Extrajudicial Execution of Samir Khan Arguably More Significant Than Awlaki
By this time in the day, the early morning report of the killing of Anwar Awlaki is old news. From ABC News:
Senior administration officials say that the U.S. has been targeting Awlaki for months, though in recent weeks officials were able…
Lots of Senior Officials Spilling State Secrets Today
Last year, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the following:
I am asserting privilege over classified intelligence information, assessments, and analysis prepared, obtained, or under the control of any entity within the U.S.…
Let's See the Evidence on Al-Awlaki
Ding dong Awlaki's dead, says the government.
While everyone's talking about having "got" this latest bogeyman, I just wanted to remind folks the kind of language the Administration used to explain why it could kill an American citizen with…
DOJ Deems Plan to Attack Military Targets with a Drone, Terrorism
Last year, I tracked how TSA head (and former FBI Deputy Director) John Pistole used an FBI entrapment plot targeted at the Metro to justify increased TSA surveillance of the Metro.
Which is why I'm intrigued that the FBI's latest entrapment…
I Was that Trust-Fund Kid Working as a Supermarket Checker
I take that back. I wasn't really a trust fund kid. But my grandfather was an Ag Scientist who shared the royalties from an erosion control plant he developed with his grandkids, so I did get a modest quarterly "weed money" check while I was…
Is Democracy the Problem, or Money-Corrupted Governance?
I've been pondering this NYT story--which is presented as news yet which in fact is analysis attempting to provide a general explanation for protests in democracies--since it came out. Its general explanation for why so many people are protesting…
Pakistan Update: Graham Advocates Escalation, Chaman Crossing Closed After Tanker Bombed
In the latest developments in the US-Pakistan war of words, the Pakistani Prime Minister said the US must stop blaming Pakistan, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested the US should start using bombers in the region held by the Haqqani…
Cheney Tells the Seventh Circuit It Would Erode Military Discipline To Let Courts Second Guess Cheney's Torture Decisions
Remember that letter a bunch of former Directors of Central Intelligence wrote begging Obama to kill an investigation into George W Bush-approved CIA torture?
Poppy, the father of the President who authorized that torture, had the good grace…
Links, 9/28/11
Back in the day we were watching cut submarine telecom cables pretty closely. Here's a map of the global Toobz network. (h/t Global Guerrillas)
A Muslim Republican, Nezar Hamze, was denied a spot on Broward County Republican Party's Executive…
Two of Obama's Independent Intelligence Advisors Have Supported Oversight in Past; Why Not Now?
I've written recently about Obama's refusal to appoint anyone to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which is supposed to ensure the government protects privacy while laying out a dragnet to catch terrorists, most recently when…
Is DOD Trying to Bypass the Gitmo Press Corps (AKA Carol Rosenberg)?
Yesterday, we had an interesting discussion about whether efforts by Gitmo Chief Prosecutor Mark Martins to expand viewing of Gitmo military commissions was about cover-up or transparency. I suggested that it might be something in-between--an…
Pakistan Issues New Warning to US; Mullen Accusations Softened
There are new developments this morning in the latest war of words between the US and Pakistan. Pakistan's Express Tribune reports that an official familiar with what transpired claims that the head of Pakistan's ISI informed CIA chief…
The Terrorist Watchlist: One Watchlist Among a Collection of Databases and Watchlists
Timothy Healy, the Director of the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, has a telling comment at the end of Charlie Savage's story on documents revealing new details about the terrorist watch list.
But Mr. Healy said the government could not reveal…
The Freddie Mac/Bank of America Settlement: Billions of Reasons to Actually Investigate the Loans
As Gretchen Morgenson tells it, the headline story from an FHFA Inspector General report on a $1.35B deal Freddie Mac made last year with Bank of America is that the analysis behind the deal was flawed.
Freddie Mac used a flawed analysis when…
A List of Food Trucks That Will Take Orders for #OccupyWallStreet Protesters
Someone down at Occupy Wall Street noted that a bunch of food trucks are gathering around the protest. Four of them would be able to take orders for the protesters. So if you want to feed those trying to hold the banksters accountable, call…
Sucking Tritium
That would be me, sucking tritium, living as I do about 70 miles away from a nuclear plant in South Haven, MI, that just released some radioactive steam. (h/t wizardkitten)
Entergy’s Palisades nuclear plant near South Haven is venting radioactive…
The Government Once Again Harrasses Others to Hide Its Own Failures
This is a post I could have written (in fact, I think I did here, here, here, and here). One difference, however, is that the author of this post is a government insider, State Department Foreign Service Officer Peter Van Buren.
The State Department…
Cover-up Specialist Mark Martins Chosen as Gitmo Chief Prosecutor
On Sunday, Carol Rosenberg informed us that there will be a new Chief Prosecutor in charge of military commissions at Guantanamo:
The Obama administration’s handpicked choice to run prosecutions at the Guantánamo war crimes court is…
Our Counterterrorism Policies Will Make Impact of Climate Change Worse
What place does this sound like?
Ruling elites ... do not see climate change as an immediate threat to their authority. They therefore feel free to take an opportunistic attitude toward climate change, supporting climate change mitigation policies…
The Name of NYPD Brutality: Anthony Bologna
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The Lieutenant Deputy Inspector who pepper-sprayed a kettled, defenseless woman has been identified as Anthony Bologna. He was IDed, in part, by a lawyer representing one of the people Bologna improperly arrested…
