It's Geezer Time! The NFL Season Takes Flight Tonight
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bmazTake out yer false teeth mama, it is time for the hitting to begin again; it's the season opener in the NFL, Saints and Vikings!
Pakistan Promises to Arrest Three "Very Bad Boys" Tied to Times Square Bombing
Last week, the US put the Tehrek-i-Taliban Pakistan on its official terrorist lists and charged its leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, with something that was almost certainly not a crime. Oddly, though, DOJ did not charge Mehsud which actions they…
The Telenovelas Beat the Crappy Reruns
Almost a year ago, Obama offended DC's chattering class for appearing on Univision's Sunday show, Al Punto, but not appearing on Fox News Sunday. But as I noted at the time, Al Punto is actually a more popular show than Fox's Sunday swill.
And,…
Ceci Connolly Cashes In
Who knew the world of journalism had the same kind of revolving door as government does? But apparently, if you build a reporting beat entirely around portraying the views of top corporate representatives as the only views that count, and if…
Our Banana Republic
In 2002, I taught the Argentine film La hora de los hornos (it was a media and narrative class--I wasn't just proselytizing radical leftist ideology). The second most famous scene from the movie starts at 3:14, but it is very disturbing.
I…
9th Circuit: The Government Can Kidnap and Torture You and Then Hide It Under State Secrets
This--a decision in the Jeppesen Dataplan suit upholding the government's invocation of state secrets--is really bad news.
This case requires us to address the difficult balance the state secrets doctrine strikes between fundamental principles…
National Cathedral Thinks "Fuck the UAW" and "Fucking R****ds" Will Heal National Discourse
Faiz Shakir tweeted this:
Our national discourse is becoming increasingly shrill. We are faced with complex economic, social, and foreign policy questions that need a safe atmosphere in which to explore solutions that will work for the long…
Scooter Libby: "Back in 2003 There Was More That Might Have Been Done"
Someone decided now was a good time to roll out Scooter Libby to complain about stolen elections and Iranian nukes. The whole thing was basically an unmitigated blowjob -- thanks Monica Crowley!
Crowley: I know that you had been working…
More Torturers Coming Back to CIA as Contractors
Adam Goldman has another in his series of articles fleshing out the details of the torture that John Durham is investigating. Today's story describes the former FBI-turned CIA guy, "Albert" threatened Rahim al-Nashiri with a drill--with the…
America Picks and Chooses Among Extra-Legal Entities Destabilizing the World
I wanted to add to what David Dayen had to say about these two stories.
Last week, the WaPo quoted at least two military figures stating, as fact, that the Taliban was a bigger threat to the US mission in Afghanistan than corruption. Based…
Better Give Up Trying to Fix Housing Crisis Before Principal Reductions Hit
I'm fairly amused by this story, presented by the NYT as "reporting." It claims the Obama Administration has tried "just about every program it could think of to prop up the ailing housing market," and faced with the failure of "just about every…
KSM Asked after His Sons in December 2006
Terry McDermott will have a 9/11-timed biography of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the New Yorker this week. But in the interim, he has posted a few of the letters he got in Pakistan as part of his research. In a letter sent December 15, 2006 to…
Who We Are: Zeitoun and Camp Greyhound Five Years On
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bmazThere is peril to the very fabric of American society when our founding principles are discarded and/or compromised, yet that is exactly what has occurred in the wake of 9/11. The stunning tale of Zeitoun and the Gitmo style gulag known as Camp Greyhound erected five years ago in the wake of Katrina tells us just how far down the slippery slope we have fallen as a nation.
Why Not Hire the Woman Who Wrote the Book on the Struggles of the Middle Class?
Apparently, Obama decided to use his Labor Day weekend radio address not to pay tribute to all that organized labor did to create the middle class in this country, but to try to persuade voters that he is doing enough to save it.
On Monday,…
Cheney's "Hard, Hard Power" and Syria
Apparently, the Poodle's memoir (the tour for which got a little messy in Dublin) confirms something that was blatantly obvious: Dick Cheney wanted to conquer the entire Middle East, country by country.
Describing the former US vice president…
EW's World Famous Trash Talk: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
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bmazIt's Trash Time!
Hamdan Gets A Full Panel Review
This is a rather interesting pre-holiday document dump:
The Pentagon's war crimes appeals court announced without explanation Friday that the full U.S. Court of Military Commission Review, not a smaller panel, would review the conviction…
"I Think the Critical Term Here Is" Littering Prolonged Mental Harm
Here's how our crack 9th Circuit Judge Jay Bybee played word games so as to consider bottles of water left for migrants traversing the Arizona desert "litter" even if they weren't "garbage." (h/t Balkinization)
1The regulation suffers from…
The Anonymous Coward Returns
The White House was okay with Robert Gibbs attacking the Professional Left and their Catfood Commission Co-Chair attacking, well, everyone.
But they wouldn't let Steven Rattner's claim that Rahm Emanuel had attacked the UAW go unanswered.
Rattner…
Working Thread: John Yoo's Emails
At Rosalind's request, I'm putting up this working thread on the emails that OLC just turned over to CREW.
There's nothing all that exciting there because this search did not include "paper or electronic documents of Mr. Yoo available elsewhere…