Dick Cheney Can Sing a [Black Site] Rainbow Too
This post is mostly meant as comic relief in response to President Obama's willingness to hide the known black site locations behind stupid color names.
The WaPo has provided a very helpful key and map to help you remember that,
Cobalt:…
Maureen Mahoney's Dirty Bomb Blows Up
Back in 2010, I pointed out a key problem with Jay Bybee lawyer Maureen Mahoney's defense of Bybee's endorsement of the torture memos.
Mahoney spends three pages of her response (PDF pages 81 to 84) trying to justify the Bybee Memo’s unsupported…
Torture? Obviously, But What About Litany Of Other Crimes?
So, just a quick thought here, and with a little prompting by Jon Turley, obviously there is torture, and outright homicide thereon, spelled out and specified by the SSCI Torture Report. As I have said on Twitter, there are many things covered…
SSCI Torture Report Key: They Knew It was Torture, Knew It Was Illegal
Okay, here are the critical working documents:
The SSCI Torture Report
The Minority Response to SSCI Torture Report
Dianne Feinstein's Statement
But, without any question, my best early takeaway key is that the United States Government,…
Neoliberalism and Neoclassical Economics
I’m new here as a poster, so I'll start by describing my interests. As you may know from my work at Firedoglake under the name masaccio, I’m interested in the way the economy actually works. That’s why I like the…
Emergency Fundraising Succeeds: World Food Programme Restarts Suspended Aid for Syrian Refugees
A week ago today, I pointed out the moral depravity of a situation in which the US never hesitates to find funding to increase air strikes and the flow of weapons into Syria and other fronts in the battle against ISIS while the UN World Food…
Obama Would Not -- Cannot -- Deem Any Activities Authorized by Gloves Come Off Finding Illegal
ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero has what I'm sure he believes to be an out of the box op-ed in the NYT. In it, he calls on President Obama to issue pardons for all those who masterminded the torture program.
But with the impending release of…
The Debate about Torture We're Not Having: Exploitation
We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality.
Partly by design, the debate about torture that has already started in advance of tomorrow's Torture Report release is focused on efficacy, with efficacy defined as obtaining…
Reagan? No, Regin — Yet Another [GCHQ] Intelligence Malware
Recently, computer security firm Symantec reported discovery of another intelligence-gathering malware, dubbing it “Regin.”
What's particularly interesting about this malware is its targets:
It infected computers in Afghanistan,…
Some Torture Facts
At the request of some on Twitter, I'm bringing together a Twitter rant of some facts on torture here.
1) Contrary to popular belief, torture was not authorized primarily by the OLC memos John Yoo wrote. It was first authorized by the September…
Dead Mediators Belie the Claim US Didn't Know about Pierre Korkie
A number of people have been pointing to the buried lead in a NYT story about the US killing South African aide worker Pierre Korkie the day before the charity he worked for finalized his freedom. Back in November, a group of tribal leaders…
US Pretends to End Combat Mission in Afghanistan
We need no other indicator of just how bad the situation in Afghanistan really is than that, with no previous announcement of the schedule that I am aware of, the US staged a ceremonial "end of combat operations" in Kabul today, more than…
Abu Wa'el Dhiab and Five Others Released to Uruguay
Abu Wa'el Dhiab, the Gitmo prisoner at the center of an ongoing force-feeding controversy, has been released to Uruguay along with five others.
Dhiab's Reprieve lawyer, Cori Crider, said this in a statement.
Cori Crider, a Director at Reprieve…
Torture Is Not a Christmas Tree and John Brennan Is Not a Jesuit Pope
I would have thought by this point journalists would cease comparing John Brennan with Jesuits, unless it's a coded reference to the corrupt spookish reputation the sect had in past centuries.
Such a Jesuitical response will do absolutely nothing…
Coffin Corner Trash Talk
Okay, I tried to get folks interested in the criminal docket report yesterday, to sadly little avail. Oh well, so be it. Let us dive headfirst into trash then.
First up is the Pac-12 Championship game between the Oregon Quackers and the Cats…
My Yearly December Post on John Brennan Rolling DiFi on Torture Report
Approximately 358 days ago, I wrote a post titled,
Yup, John Brennan Rolled DiFi on the Torture Report
In it, I predicted,
Since I was right about John Brennan being completely untrustworthy about bringing an open mind to the evidence…
Stealth Boots in Iraq: Now With Special Bonus Immunity!
Remember when Barack Obama used the magic of semantics in 2010 to turn our boots on the ground in Iraq into non-combat soldiers? Those "non-combat" troops remained for another year or so, with the last troops leaving in December of 2011. But…
Today Obama Will Get His Fifth New Dragnet Order Since "Reform" Started
On December 12, 2013, almost one year ago, President Obama's handpicked NSA Review Group made the following two recommendations.
Recommendation 1: We recommend that section 215 should be amended to authorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance…
Yes, Ray Rice's Diversion Adjudication Was Appropriate
The popular meme has been that Ray Rice got some kind of miraculous plea deal to diversion (pre-trial intervention, or "PTI", in New Jersey parlance) and that NOBODY in his situation ever gets the deal he did.
Is that true? No. Not at all.…
5 Democrats Have Called on Obama Not to Reauthorize the Dragnet Tomorrow
Tomorrow is dragnet day, the next 90-day reauthorization for the dragnet.
In advance of that date, Pat Leahy just called on President Obama to simply let the dragnet end.
The President can end the NSA’s dragnet collection of Americans’…