Top Journalist's Husband Argues People Are Too Stupid for Debate
Hopefully, you've already seem Ryan Grim's explosive report on how, in 2004, Alan Greenspan argued the Fed should keep worries about a growing housing bubble secret because the chumps buying the houses were too stupid to engage in a debate about…
John Yoo: Stupid Political Hack AND Craven Addington Disciple
If ever there were a doubt that John Yoo was not just a craven lackey for David Addington, but also a stupid political hack, his op-ed today puts that doubt to rest. After whining about how mean the Senate Judiciary Committee was to Robert Bork…
$75 Million Buys BP Six Years of Lobbying or One Giant Oil Spill
As you've no doubt heard, BP's own liability for the damages the Deepwater Horizon spill will cause may be limited to $75 million (though it will have to pay for cleanup).
The federal government has a large rainy day fund on hand to help mitigate…
Lloyd Blankfein's AAA Bridge He Wants to Sell You
Perhaps the most stunning part of the Goldman Sachs hearing the other day came at the end of the hearing, after most of the press had left for dinner. Carl Levin challenged Lloyd Blankfein on something he had said to staffers. Blankfein claimed…
Dems Not Only Call for National ID, but for Anti-Democratic National ID
As DDay reported, the Reid-Schumer-Menendez draft on Immigration Reform calls for a national ID card (which they call a "biometric" or "fraud proof" social security card). Perhaps in a move to placate civil libertarians, the draft insists the…
Khadr: "You're Trying to Humiliate Me"
If you've been following Spencer and Carol Rosenberg, you know that the news from Omar Khadr's hearing has been dominated by Khadr's two refusals to come to the hearing room, yesterday because he didn't want to wear the blackout goggles they…
Our Unlawful Enemy Combat-Drones and Their Spooky Button-Pushers
If you haven't already read these two posts at Danger Room, you should do so. It reports and elaborates on the discussion at a Congressional hearing yesterday about whether or not our use of drones is legal.
As you recall, State Department…
Do Bloggers Suck or Does TradMed Just Suck More?
Above the Law, reporting on a speech 9th Circuit Court Chief Judge Alex Kozinski gave at Fordham Law, summarized his argument as, "A New Argument in Favor of Cameras in the Courtroom: Bloggers Suck."
Now, for the record, I'm all in favor of…
Risen Gets Subpoenaed for Merlin Story. Again.
Charlie Savage reports that James Risen just got subpoenaed to reveal the source for the chapter of his book, State of War, in which he described a wacky effort to sell Iran faulty blueprints for a nuclear bomb.
The Obama administration is seeking…
The Right to Counsel at Gitmo
Best as I understand it, the shiny new military commission manual says the following about right to counsel:
Defendants will generally get military lawyers
Defendants can use civilian attorneys, but the government isn't going to pay those…
Breaking! Torture Is Illegal! Except when Consistent with the Interests of Justice!
Thanks to BoxTurtle for linking to the manual for military commissions rushed out last night in time for the Omar Khadr hearing.
There are a number of interesting details in it, but since Khadr's hearing today pertains to torture--whether statements…
Pleading Terror Trials
Will the GWOT go on trial today? Or will the Administration avoid having its policies on terror detainees go on trial, along with two accused terrorists?
In Gitmo, Omar Khadr's military commission is due to start shortly, in spite of the fact…
George Will Goes Bipolar Over Brown
George Will comments on the new Arizona immigration law and proves he is past his "use by" date and needs to be put out to pasture with the other jackasses.
The Protective Order on Khadr's Interrogators and the John Adams Project
In addition to the bombshell that Omar Khadr's military commission will start Wednesday, less than a day after lawyers in the case will have received the thick manual laying out the rules for the newfangled military commissions, Gitmo released…
Claire McCaskill: Synthetic CDOs Are Not Like Corn
One of the highlights of today's hearing on Goldman Sachs (aside from my Senator saying "shitty deal" over and over, was Claire McCaskill's insistence on referring to Goldman Sachs's Synthetic CDOs as gambling. (She did this earlier with another…
Obama-Era Military Commissions: Cramming on the Rules
Spencer's down in Gitmo this week, supposedly watching the beginning of Omar Khadr's hearing. Only, as he just reported, the manual laying out rules for the military commissions only got signed an hour ago by Secretary of Defense Bob Gates.
A…
BP's Procedural Spills
Another thing that happened while I was tromping around one of the most beautiful places on earth (Yosemite) is that the BP drilling rig that had an explosion and fire last week sunk and oil has started to spill into the Gulf (as this dramatic…
Dick Cheney's Counterterrorism Incompetence Continues to Endanger Us
When I was out tromping around Yosemite (!!) on Friday, one of Najibullah Zazi's co-conspirators, Zarein Ahmedzay, plead guilty to two terrorism-related charges.
Mark that up as yet another counterterrorism victory for civilian courts.
But…
David Iglesias: Obama's Used Car Salesman For Gitmo Show Trials
The Obama Administration is using David Iglesias as a shill for its wholesale adoption of the military commissions and prosecution based on torture championed by George bush and Dick Cheney.
I Guess The Comfy Chair Was Not An Option
Utah inmate Ronny Lee Gardner has chosen firing squad as his method of execution; if that is his choice, what's wrong with that?