A Grammar Lesson: Obama's Executive Order on Indefinite Detention
I hate to be pedantic, but a number of people are misreading Obama's Executive Order on indefinite detention, with the result that they present the order as much less troublesome than it actually is. Here's one example, from Ken Gude:
There…
What about Indefinite Detention in Afghanistan?
I made my two most critical points about Obama's Executive Order on indefinite detention in my snarky post yesterday. First, even assuming the idea of institutionalizing indefinite detention weren't bad on its face, Obama's EO doesn't provide…
A Modest Proposal: Indefinitely Detain the Banksters
Obama has declared that he has the authority under the 2001 AUMF to indefinitely hold anyone "if it is necessary to protect against a significant threat to the security of the United States."
He doesn't say that person has to be a terrorist,…
With David Kris Gone, Obama Rolls Out "New and Improved" Military Commissions
I think I'll do a series of posts over the next few days all starting with the phrase, "with David Kris gone," showing how Obama has finally gone off the deep end (the "Dark Side") in his War on Terror and the Constitution.
This edition has…
With David Kris Gone, DOJ Tries to Vacate Vaughn Walker's FISA Opinion
There's an interesting tidbit in the government's mediation questionnaire in anticipation of their appeal of Vaughn Walker's decision that al-Haramain had been illegally wiretapped and was entitled to damages.
The government is willing to…
John McCain and iPhone's Sick Chinese Workers
The buzz today focuses on John McCain's latest gaff: in his weekly Sunday show appearance with Christiane Amanpour yesterday, he claimed that iPhones and iPads are made in the US.
Host Christiane Amanpour spoke about her network's project…
DOJ Bigfoots Over A Bridge Too Far On Loughner Indictment
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bmazOn Friday afternoon, the DOJ released a superseding indictment of Jared Loughner in the Giffords shooting incident occurring on January 8 in Tucson, Arizona. It is a stunning overreach and contorted power grab by the federal government for which the Obama DOJ should be ashamed.
A Narrative Chronology of Bradley Manning's Alleged Leaks
In January, I did a timeline of the key dates revealed in Manning's July 6, 2010 charging document. I wanted to put the timeline laid out in yesterday's charging document side-by-side with the earlier one to identify what new details there are,…
DOD Declares War on ... Underwear
Charlie Savage just tweeted that the Abu Ghraib tactics will continue for Bradley Manning.
Quantico tells me Bradley Manning will now be stripped every night as a "precautionary measure" to prevent self-injury
Remember, Manning was already…
DOD Passes the Buck Rather than Let Kucinich Visit Bradley Manning
On February 4, Dennis Kucinich asked DOD to allow him to visit Bradley Manning so he could assess his conditions of confinement. On February 8, Robert Gates wrote Kucinich a short note telling him we was referring his request to Secretary of…
Online Personas and Congress
I've been meaning to return to our government's contracting for persona software for a while. Last week RawStory had a good story providing details of the persona management contract the Air Force put out for bid. RS reveals that the contract…
Nine Years of Nudity in American Detention
It's just like old times!
... the CIA interrogators also announced they planned to become Zubaydah’s "God." They reportedly took his clothing as punishment, and reduced his human interaction to a single daily visit in which they would…
We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us
The stated intent of the Wikileaks.org Web site is to expose unethical practices, illegal behavior, and wrongdoing within corrupt corporations and oppressive regimes ...
[snip]
The developers believe that the disclosure of sensitive or…
Bradley Manning's New Charges: "Bringing Discredit upon the Armed Forces"
Aside from learning that we--the recipients of a bunch of information Bradley Manning is alleged to have leaked--are the enemy, what did we learn from the new charges the government filed against Bradley Manning yesterday? Most of the charges…
Will DOJ Finally Finish Its "Review" of Faulty White Paper on Illegal Wiretapping on Monday?
Steven Aftergood reports that, as of December 10, DOJ was still "reviewing" the flawed January 2006 white paper that the Bush Administration used to retroactively claim the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force also authorized Bush to…
Time to Reevaluate the Importance of Bradley Manning's Alleged Leak?
Back when WikiLeaks leaked the Collateral Murder video, I was agnostic about the value of the leak. Surely, exposing the cover-up of the killing of the Reuters journalists was important. But I thought the response focused too much on the soldiers…
Will Issa's Fired Spokesperson Expose How Politico "Wins the Morning"?
When news broke yesterday that Darrell Issa had fired his spokesperson, Kurt Bardella, for sharing emails with NYT reporter Mark Leibovich, I suggested,
I suspect Issa just fired his spokesperson because Issa cares more about staying in…
Liar Calls Access Journalist a Pot
Even before Tom Ricks handed his blog over to Bob Woodward to rip Donald Rumsfeld a new asshole, Ricks shared this quote from H.R. Haldeman about Rummy as a way to introduce Rummy's dismissal of Ricks' Fiasco and Woodward's books.
So in my…
Court Should Deny DOJ & Scott Bloch Collusion to Avoid Accountability
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bmazAs you will recall, Scott Bloch is the senior governmental attorney who formerly served as head of the United States Office of Special Counsel:
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial…
American Girl, Made in China, The Reality Show
This is a really cool project. ABC's World News has a series this week on whether or not a typical upper middle class family can survive without consumer goods made in America. It includes:
Footage of a bunch of Americans claiming to buy…
