CDC Director: "Zero Risk" to Passengers on Flights With Dallas Ebola Patient
Although not yet widespread, panic and disinformation are emerging surrounding the case of the first patient to have been diagnosed with Ebola while in the United States. The worst of the hysteria surrounds the fact that Thomas E. Duncan flew…
Hiding Yahoos: ORCON and the FISC Special Advocate
Some weeks ago, I noted the language in James Clapper's letter purportedly "supporting" Patrick Leahy's USA Freedom Act making it clear he intended to retain the information asymmetry that currently exists in the FISA Court -- specifically, ex…
US Air Strikes in Syria Proceeding as Expected: Civilian Deaths Documented, ISIS Recruitment Up
Last week, besides pointing out the obscene fact that the US Senate approved $500 million for the US to get more involved in the Syrian civil war on the same day the UN announced a $352 million funding shortfall for feeding civilian refugees…
Unrepentant War Criminal Dostum Sworn in as Vice President in Afghanistan
The worlds largest vendors of death and destruction, US defense contractors, must be at their highest state of euphoria ever. Last week, they were able to add Syria to the newly expanded list of fronts on which they are vending weapons for US…
Week Four Trash Talk
Not nearly as much criminal docket news this week, but one thing is notable. The NFL has started its pushback on the AP story of the "law enforcement official" who sent the full elevator video to the league now that AP has supplemented its original…
Day after Escalating Climate Damaging War, Obama Cites "Beyond Vietnam" on Climate Urgency
In a column at Salon, I compare two executive actions President Obama took this week: escalating the war against ISIL (and expanding it to "the Khorasan group"), and including climate resilience as one consideration in foreign aid projects.
The…
Yahoo's FISA Content Requests Went up 30% in Second Half of Last Year
Yahoo just released their transparency report for the first half of this year, which means they can report on the National Security requests from the last half of last year.
And that data shows a pretty alarming spike in FISA Content Requests.
The…
Eric Holder Resigns, Will Likely Go Back to Representing Banks at Covington and Burling
As we speak, Chuck Schumer is probably yelling into a phone trying to get President Obama to nominate Wall Street's US Attorney Preet Bharara to succeed Eric Holder as Attorney General. "Barahck," Schumer is probably yelling, "I can get Mitch…
Zbig's Plotting over Chilean Sea Bass
Earlier this month, President Obama hosted a dinner with past foreign policy luminaries to explain his plan to combat ISIL. He served Chilean sea bass and d'Anjou pear salad as they discussed the future of America's empire.
Harman described…
Graft-Sharing Agreement Signed, Ghani Awarded Afghan Presidency
On Sunday, Ashraf Ghani was declared the new President of Afghanistan. Despite months of "auditing" the votes cast in the runoff, we have not yet had an announcement of actual vote totals. That is because Abdullah Abdullah, who won the first…
Obama to Congress: Oh, By the Way, You Just Funded the Iraq War
A number of people have closely scrutinized the latest entry in Obama's epistolary war -- the one informing Congress he had escalated the war into Syria.
I especially like the way he doesn't even mention the strikes on Jabhat al-Nusra (aka…
CDC Modeling Demonstrates Importance of Intervention in Ebola Outbreak
As the Ebola outbreak in West Africa continues to grow, fresh attention was focused on it yesterday when the CDC announced that in a mathematical model they developed of the outbreak, failing to intervene in spread of the virus could lead…
Former FBI Assistant Director Makes a Compelling Case to Eliminate the Corporation
Former FBI Assistant Director apparently isn't afraid to embarrass himself to fear monger for law enforcement.
That's the only conclusion I can reach by his penning this op-ed, which still bears its original title in the URL.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/09/23/i-helped-save-a-kidnapped-man-from-murder-with-apples-new-encryption-rules-we-never-wouldve-found-him/
In…
Noted Torture Apologist, Branded a Terrorist
For months, I've been pointing out that the fear-mongering estimates about the number of Americans who have joined ISIS are inflated due to faulty Terror Watchlist procedures.
That's in large part because the government considers any unexplained…
Law Enforcement's Apple Security Hysteria: About Border Searches?
As I noted the other day, Apple just rolled out -- and Google plans to match with its next Android release -- passcode protected encryption for its cell phone handsets.
Last night WSJ had a story quoting some fairly hysterical law enforcement…
Obama Starts Syrian Bombing using Cover of Khorasan Claims
Last night, President Obama said the word "imminent" and started bombing Syria.
It appears the legal logic behind the attack (besides the fact that Congress hurriedly approved funding for war through December so it could get back to the…
The Covert Operation Undermining US Credibility against ISIS
Over the weekend, the NYT had a story reporting the "conspiracy theory" popular among Iraqis that the US is behind ISIS.
The United States has conducted an escalating campaign of deadly airstrikes against the extremists of the Islamic State…
On Day Senate Approved $500 Million for War in Syria, UN Announced $352 Million Funding Shortfall for Feeding Syrian Refugees
A recent theme of mine has been that most of the time, the only response the US can come up with for a crisis anywhere in the world is to ask "Which group should we arm?" Despite ample evidence that this inane desire to train and equip various…
Raez Qadir Khan: Hoisting the FBI on Its Own Metadata Problems
As I said earlier, the lawyers defending Pakistani-American Raez Qadir Khan -- who is accused of material support of terrorist training leading up to an associate's May 2009 attack on the ISI in Pakistan -- are doing some very interesting…
Oregon Prosecutors Wiretapped Defense Investigators on Mohamed Osman Mohamud Case
I'm working on a post on some interesting FISA moves the defense attorney for Reaz Qadir Khan, a Pakistani American indicted for material support for terrorism back in 2012, recently made. But before that, I wanted to note something revealed…