Entries by emptywheel

Obama Admin: Look Forward! Even in the Face of Obvious Corporate Fraud!

I’m not surprised by this–but I simply don’t understand how the Obama Administration can claim they haven’t found anything fundamentally flawed (though that could be HuffPo’s formulation) when thousands of people have been thrown out of their homes based on documents whose signers falsely attested to those documents. U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun […]

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CIA and DOJ’s Different Ideas of Accountability on Khost

I wanted to return to yesterday’s report on the investigation in the Khost bombing. As I noted, the CIA had advance warning that Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi might be a double agent. The report also found a number of other operational problems in al-Balawi’s treatment. But Leon Panetta decided not to hold anyone responsible for […]

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Dark Actors Playing Games with Iraq WMD Propaganda

The National Security Archive has been doing great work going back and collecting the documents leading to the Iraq War, adding some it acquired through FOIA. Its first installment provided new evidence of how quickly the Bush Administration turned to targeting Iraq both before and after 9/11. Its second installment looked at whether anyone had […]

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CIA Had Warning on Khost Attack, Will Not Hold Anyone Responsible

Jordanian intelligence warned the CIA that Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the Khost bomber, might be working for al Qaeda three weeks before al-Balawi killed 7 CIA people in the attack. But because the CIA still suffers from the same information sharing shortcomings problems that prevented it from finding out about 9/11, the CIA still allowed […]

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Fred Johnson Takes on Blackwater in Erik Prince’s Home Town

Fred Johnson is the Democratic candidate for Congress in MI’s 2nd Congressional District. When his opponent–Crazy Pete Hoekstra lackey Bill Huizenga–claimed to want to cut costs in a debate the other day, Johnson called him on his hypocrisy regarding cutting spending on military contractors, starting with Blackwater. [my transcript] Johnson: When that one question [about […]

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CIA Sues over Whistleblower Book

Jeff Stein reports that, after months of rumors this would happen, the CIA has sued Ishmael Jones for publishing The Human Factor: Inside the CIA’s Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture without approval from CIA’s review board. The Justice Department suit, on behalf of the spy agency, seeks “an injunction against any further violations of ‘Jones’ secrecy obligations […]

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Administration Inches Closer to Rule of Law on Foreclosure Crisis

…with this statement from Robert Gibbs: As institutions are determining their next steps in addressing these issues, we remain committed to holding accountable any bank that has violated the law. In addition to strongly supporting the investigation by the state attorneys general, the administration’s Federal Housing Administration and Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force have [sic] […]

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Foreclosure Mill King David Stern Announces Big Management Changes

David Stern’s company, the foreclosure mill that has removed thousands of Floridans from their homes, announced big management changes today. Otherwise known as abandoning ship: DJSP Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq:DJSP) (Nasdaq:DJSPW) (Nasdaq:DJSPU) today announced that Stephen J. Bernstein, the Company’s Lead Independent Director, has been appointed as Interim Chairman of the Board of the Company. Initially, […]

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What Did David Stern Do with the Truck of Documents He Removed from His Office?

4ClosureFraud published another of the depositions from the FL investigation into foreclosure mill David Stern’s office. In it, Kelly Scott, the assistant of Cheryl Salmons–the woman who oversaw the robosigner aspect of their business–included details on how Salmons appears to have created her own lost title affidavits, how they would backdate affidavits of proof of […]

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