Trent and Mitch

/
emptywheel
As you've no doubt heard, Trent Lott will announce that he has decided to spend more time with his K Street friends. Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott(R-Miss.) is planning on resigning from the Senate this year and maymake a formal announcement as soon as today. If he resigns, Lottwould become the sixth Republican senator to announce they werestepping down this election cycle.
,

Does this Sound Familiar?

/
emptywheel
Where have we seen this before: a Bush Administration gives vague guidance to our favored military dictator in a turbulent neighborhood, and the dictator takes a step that might destabilize the whole region. The Bush Administration knew that Pakistani strongman PervezMusharraf planned to institute emergency rule but did not act or speakout about the plan, according to officials with knowledge of thediscussion who spoke anonymously in Friday's Wall Street Journal. "In the days
,

It Takes Astute Observation, Not Mea Culpas

/
emptywheel
Mark Halperin has a hysterical op-ed in the NYT today, designed to be a mea culpa for the failures of presidential campaign journalism. Halperin reveals the reason behind the press corps' obsession with horse race politics--they all read Ben Cramer's What It Takes--and then admits that success in a political horse race does not necessarily equip someone to run the country. For most of my time covering presidential elections, I shared theview

Speaking of the Saudis

/
emptywheel
Check out who Bandar Bush bin Sultan hired to defend him in the BAE bribery investigation: Prince Bandar, a confidant of the Bush family, recently retained the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director Louis J. Freeh, as well as one of the fathers of the F.C.P.A., the retired federal judge Stanley Sporkin, to represent him.

The Saudis Have Been Busy

/
emptywheel
The Saudis appear to be moving three chess pieces at once. I won't pretend to know what the moves mean. But I'd suggest that the coincidence of the three moves might suggest they're taking an upper hand in the US policy-making in the Middle East. Nawaz Sharif First data point: after preventing former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from returning to Pakistan several weeks ago, the Saudis now appear to be forcing his

Probable Cause

/
emptywheel
I can't say I'm surprised by this news--that some courts are approving government use of cell phone GPS data without first requiring the government to demonstrate probable cause. Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphonecompanies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint thewhereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects,according to judges and industry lawyers. In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiringthe government to demonstrate

Thanksgiving Football Trashtalk Thread

/
emptywheel
Say, did you know that the last time the Detroit Lions won on Thanksgiving Day, they beat the Packers? And if you want to answer the absurd quiz, click through to NFL.com, which apparently needs to have four entries for all of its quizzes. How else to explain the presence of Kitna who, though he has moments of inspiration, is not in the same league as the other guys, particularly not Manning

Stop Making Scottie McC Rich!!

/
emptywheel
Cannonfire is right. People have gotten way too excited over this Scottie McC "revelation." I'd advise you all to look closely at what John Dean had to say about the flap on Olbermann: Dean: Well, there's very little that's specific in this. I actuallythought about calling the publisher today. He's a very ablepublisher--Peter Osnos, Public Affairs, good journalist.

Rove Is Rejected By Time

/
emptywheel
For the record, I heartily approve of both of Newsweek's recent pundit hires--Rove and Markos. After all, news outlets dump a lot of money to pay pundits whose predictions turn out to be wrong year after year. So why not hire two guys who at least have contributed historic innovations to elections--the guys who execute campaigns, rather than talk about doing so?

Radioactive DHS

/
emptywheel
There is not one but two articles in the WaPo today suggesting DHS' massive corruption is impeding its efforts to get protective scanners in place at our ports and border. The first article explains that implementation of the big radiation detectors designated for the borders will be delayed, again. For more than a year, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoffand others have told Congress that the costly next-generation machineswould sharply improve the
,

GOP Offer Healthcare to All Those without Pre-Existing Conditions

/
emptywheel
According to the LAT, the GOP presidential candidates have come up with a brilliant way of offering insurance to the uninsured: leave out those with pre-existing conditions, including people with medical histories just like the candidates' themselves. When Rudolph W. Giuliani was diagnosed with prostate cancer in thespring of 2000, one thing he did not have to worry about was a lack ofmedical insurance. Today, the former New York mayor joins two other

Hey Senators! What About Immunity for Former Qwest Officials

/
emptywheel
As I pointed out in this post, the Senate Intelligence Committee used a remarkable argument to justify giving the telecoms immunity in their FISA bill. Basically, it argued the telecoms could neither prove or disprove whether they were entitled to immunity according to existing statutes, because the mean old Bush Administration had invoked State Secrets.

Scottie

/
emptywheel
As several folks have pointed out to me, Scottie McC is getting chatty: The most powerful leader in the world hadcalled upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility helost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So Istood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare ofthe klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publiclyexonerated two of

Fieger Makes Allegations about Arkansas

/
emptywheel
I admit--I'm getting sucked into the Geoffrey Fieger case. I will have more to say, but the short version is this: The government alleges that Fieger and his partner got employees from their law firm to donate to John Edwards in his 2004 election. And then, the government further alleges, they reimbursed those people.

Will Luis Posada Face Justice?

/
emptywheel
Back in May, a judge dismissed immigration charges against Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, arguing he had been tricked in the interview that led to his indictment. At the time, it looked like BushCo threw the case, not wanting to convict one of their favored terrorists. But now, two of his associates have pled guilty to charges of obstruction of justice in connection with his case. Two associates of Cuban exile Luis
, ,

No, Pakistan Was the Last Big Test. And We Failed It.

/
emptywheel
"Serious Person" Michael O'Hanlon and escalation surge architect Fred Kagan end their op-ed with the following words. There was a time when volatility in places like Pakistan was mostly ahumanitarian worry; today it is as much a threat to our basic securityas Soviet tanks once were. We must be militarily and diplomaticallyprepared to keep ourselves safe in such a world.

Paulose Resigns

/
emptywheel
I think it's great that Rachel Paulose has resigned (h/t JF) Rachel Paulose, the embattled U.S. attorney for Minnesota, will beleaving the post to take a position at the Justice Department inWashington, according to a Bush administration official and acongressional aide. According to a news release sent by thedepartment of justice, Paulose has accepted a position as Counselor tothe Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy at the Department ofJustice in Washington, D.C.

Kafka Would Be Proud

/
emptywheel
The BoGlo reports what we already know--many of the people at Gitmo who have been determined to not be a threat in status review hearings remain in Gitmo. And, at the same time, some people who have been released to their home country have not undergone review hearings. About a quarter of detainees who were cleared to leave GuantanamoBay prison after hearings in 2005 and 2006 remain in custody, raisingquestions among inmates

Fran Townsend Resigns

/
emptywheel
News via TP. Actually, you should click through and read the AP report, which is stark in its brevity (at least as of 8:49 today). I think they had to use a soft return to get the announcement long enough to take up two lines. Which suggests it's not clear WTF to think of this.
image_print