Rizzo's Brief with Nancy Pelosi: Bush Didn't Include Torture in the Finding Authorizing Torture
I'm going to deal with John Rizzo's purported "mea culpa" in three posts, one each for each of his regrets.
Rizzo's first regret is that the CIA did not push the White House to allow it to brief the entire intelligence committees so they…
CNN: Only Brown People Can Be Lone Wolves
Just in time for the 9/11 fearmongering season, CNN comes out with this ridiculous article on lone wolf terrorists.
It starts by correctly identifying Khalid Aldawsari as a lone wolf (at least as far as is publicly known thus far). Piggybacking…
Brian Williams, Meet Cameron Todd Willingham
Pretty much everyone seems to have waken up this morning still aghast at the wild applause Rick Perry got last night for his boast about the number of people he has executed.
It is disgusting.
But Brian Williams, who otherwise did…
Obama Rejects Senate Advice and Consent Over the Guy Who Data Mines Our Communications
The Administration has released a veto threat of the Intelligence Authorization that I'm going to deal with in reverse order.
The last objection argues that we can't require the head of the NSA--the agency that gets to collect and data mine…
Links, 9/7/11
A chain of Mormon boarding schools has been accused of torturing hundreds of the teenagers who attended the schools. That's horrible on its face. But remember, too, that key architects of the country's torture program--Bruce Jessen and James…
William Welch & DOJ's Dishonest Intelligence Witness Against Jeff Sterling
In a comment to Marcy's The Narratology of Leaking: Risen and Sterling post yesterday, MadDog related this nugget regarding the Sterling case from a Steve Aftergood article in Privacy News:
I know EW’s post’s focus was on Sterling’s…
Unlike Islamic Terrorists, Neo-Nazi Terrorists Don't Get Life Sentences
Kevin Harpham, who attempted to bomb the MLK Day Parade in Spokane, WA, just reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. Prosecutors will recommend a 27-32 year prison term.
Kevin Harpham reached a deal with federal prosecutors for a recommended…
Obama's Re-Election Campaign: Destroying the Country to Save It
Much of the discussion about this Jeff Zeleny piece has focused on Obama's apparent consideration of cutting regulations that "affect the economy."
The president intends to offer at least some progressive proposals to help regain a fighting…
Links, 9/6/11
Remember that top DHS cybersecurity official who quit in June? He's now working for Sony, which badly needs help protecting their users' privacy.
In their latest installment reporting on the NYPD's "CIA-on-the-Hudson," Goldman and Apuzzo…
The Narratology of Leaking: Risen and Sterling
You know, I very much want Jeffrey Sterling to defeat the government's attempt to criminalize whistleblowing. I very much want James Risen to succeed in avoiding expansive testimony in the Sterling case.
But this is bullshit.
Sterling's…
The Death Squads "Protecting" Our Country
There was an odd pair of stories in the WaPo last week. On Thursday, there was a story by two reporters on the CIA's increased focus on killing its targets, whether by drone or paramilitary strike.
In the decade since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks,…
How Will City Council Oversee NYPD's Spooks after This?
In their stories on the way the NYPD's intelligence programs profile religious and ethnic minorities, Goldman and Apuzzo have repeatedly noted that the only entity providing oversight of the programs is the City Council.
The department has…
The Next Target in the War on Voting: Hoffa and the Unions
Last week, Ari Berman chronicled what he termed a war on voting.
All told, a dozen states have approved new obstacles to voting. Kansas and Alabama now require would-be voters to provide proof of citizenship before registering. Florida and…
Cops, Security Guards, and Prisoners
I decided to compare these numbers after I read this story about an Iraqi veteran patrolling a suburban VA golf course, armed with a Glock, mace, and handcuffs, making $16/hour (h/t Balloon Juice):
Total cops in the US (2009): 883,600; median…
"The Congressional directory now reads like a casebook of lunacy"
There are a number of reasons to read this entire article--Republican Mike Lofgren's explanation of why the TeaParty convinced him to leave his congressional staffer position after 30 years: the pithy descriptions of Republican nut-jobs (like…
Moussa Koussa's Security File
Journalists and human rights groups found a collection of damning--but not the most damning--records of Libya's cooperation with the CIA and MI6, all wrapped up in binders with labels marking CIA and UK collaboration.
Documents found at the…
Trash Talk: NCAA On The Way To Save The Day!
This joint needs some football, and the college kids are back to give it to us. We have already seen a couple of notable things. First, Wisconsin looked scary good, even though it was Podunk State (UNLV) they clobbered. No, the Runnin Rebs were…
FHFA Shows TurboTax Timmeh Geithner What a REAL Long Weekend Is
Because after the bomb they just dropped on the finance world, I would imagine Geithner will be busy.
Here's the listof banks they're suing:
Ally Financial Inc. f/k/a GMAC, LLC
Bank of America Corporation
Barclays Bank PLC
Citigroup,…
Just in Time To Undercut Eric Schneiderman, the (Ongoing) HUD Investigation!
American Banker has an article suggesting that Tom Miller will be able to use the results of HUD's investigations into servicing problems to craft a settlement with the banks.
The state attorneys general have a secret weapon in their negotiations…
Happy Labor Day, You Zeroes!
I'm a bit slow in revving up today; I've changed my main Farmer's Market day from Saturday to Friday (not actually a good crowd-avoidance strategy before a 3-day weekend, as it turns out) and it has thrown my rhythm a bit.
So while I've been…
