Trash Talk: There Will Be Football
The big news of the morning may be the latest maneuvers of the Murdoch scandal.
But we've also got real sports news.
It looks like the assholes running American football will beat the assholes running America to crafting a deal. The key…
Rebekah Brooks Arrested
The Guardian is reporting that Rebekah Brooks, Rupert Murdoch's henchwoman in the UK, has been arrested in the phone hacking scandal.
The Metropolitan police said a 43-year-old woman was arrested at noon Sunday, by appointment at a London police…
Why Assign the Met's Counterterrorism Squad to Investigate Murdoch?
The NYT has a long article exploring why Scotland Yard allowed bags and bags of evidence showing News of the World's widespread hacking to sit unopened for four years. One reason, it explains, is because Scotland Yard's counterterrorism…
Rand Paul's Timely Questions
Charlie Savage has a report describing how Rand Paul's hold the reconfirmation of Robert Mueller threatens to push the process beyond the time when Mueller's ten year appointment date.
[A] necessary first step — enacting legislation that…
Links, July 15, 2011
In an effort to keep track of breaking stories without necessarily doing a post on all of them, I'm going to start doing a post of links every day. I'll explain more on what I'm trying to achieve with this next week. And I expect most days the…
Welcome Back to Emptywheel!
You've found our new digs!
Thanks to Chris, Dan, Rayne, Brian, and Jason for helping with this transition--particularly Chris and Dan who helped with a lot of last minute surprises.
The site is not yet fully functional--most notably, we're…
Sterling's Graymail Attempt
As Josh Gerstein reported, back in June, Jeffrey Sterling asked the government for details about which parts of James Risen's account of Merlin are true and which are false. His lawyers argue that Sterling cannot be guilty of disseminating national…
Reggie Walton Unleashes the Rocket's Red Glare
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Well well well. who couldda knowd?? Acute prosecutorial foul play has ended the big Roger Clemens perjury trial at it's gestation. From ESPN:
The judge presiding over Roger Clemens' perjury trial declared a mistrial over inadmissible…
Darrell Issa Steps in It, Inadvertantly Reveals Improper Use of Congressional Funds to Serve AEI
Republicans are big fans of projection. When they're neck-deep in conflicts of interest, they like to hide it by accusing Democrats of such conflicts. When they leak stuff, they accuse Democrats. When they mismanage stuff, they accuse Democrats.
And…
ACLU FOIAs CIA for Documents on Juan Cole
The ACLU has just FOIAed the CIA and Director of National Intelligence for any information on Juan Cole. It asks for,
e-mails, letters, faxes, or other correspondence, memoranda, contemporaneous notes of meetings or phone calls, reports or…
Obama Administration: Don't Cut Construction Funding to Bahrain
In its statement of Administration policy on HR 2055--which funds military construction--the Administration expressed concern that the Senate had cut $100 million funding for two projects in Bahrain.
The Administration is worried, you see,…
On Two Torture Investigations
Across the pond--in the investigation of British complicity with the torture of Binyam Mohamed and others--the Supreme Court has told the government it can't present secret evidence.
The supreme court has outlawed the use of secret evidence…
Our Unilateral Counterterrorism Operations in Somalia
A detainee in what Jeremy Scahill describes as "a secret prison buried in the basement of Somalia’s National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters, where prisoners suspected of being Shabab members or of having links to the group are held"--one…
Emptywheel Leaving Firedoglake
It is with very mixed feelings that I announce emptywheel will be leaving Firedoglake at the end of this week.
About six years ago, I started blogging on the abuse of power. At first it was the CIA Leak case. Then it was torture. And warrantless…
In 1,200 Word Profile on Eric Cantor, WaPo Neglects to Mention His Bet against the US
So the WaPo did a 1200-word profile on Eric Cantor's central role in debt ceiling negotiations. And somehow they never get around to mentioning that Cantor has a bet placed against US Treasuries.
Eric Cantor, the Republican Whip in the House…
Hamid Karzai's Brother Killed by Guard
This is going to make it more difficult for us to declare victory and withdraw from Afghanistan.
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the Kandahar provincial council chief, was killed during a gathering, said provincial governor Tooryalai Wesa. He did not …
How the Government Hid Their Pacha Wazir Mistake by Denying Habeas Corpus
Scott Horton's revelation that the detainee described as "CAPTUS" in Glenn Carle's book, The Interrogator, is an Afghan named Pacha Wazir reveals something else: in spite of the fact that Carle realized the CIA had been mistaken about Wazir's…
No Wonder They Hired Andy Coulson
Amid news that News Corp is playing games with its BSkyB bid (and even that Murdoch might sell News International entirely), the Guardian reports that Gordon Brown, like everyone else in England it seems, was hacked by "journalists across News…
RomneyCare Didn't End Medical Bankruptcies
Surprise surprise. Getting everyone insurance is not enough to eliminate medical bankruptcies. (h/t Susie)
To gauge whether healthcare reform in Massachusetts had eased bankruptcies, the researchers looked at a random sample of Massachusetts…
On the Wisdom of Keeping Up Offensive Pressure
As we hear about how heroic this victory was over the next few days, remember what went into it: first, superior fitness. Thankfully these women did not rest on their reputation for greatness, but instead put in the hours of training to…