The National Felon League: Week 2 Trash Talk
Welp. Not a particularly banner week for the National Football League. In fact, I am not sure I have ever seen a league, any league, take quite the self inflicted beating that Goodell and the NFL have this week.
The Ray Rice affair was already…
Hate to Tell SSCI I Told Them So, John Brennan Lying and Spying Edition
The morning of John Brennan's confirmation hearing, I posted what I deemed the 5 most important questions to ask him. Three were: Will you stop lying, how much of Dick Cheney's illegal wiretap program did you run, and will you permit CIA to…
After Spectacular Failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, US to Throw More Money at Training for Syrian Rebels
A central part of Barack Obama's prime-time disclosure that he is authorizing air strikes in Syria was his call for half a billion dollars to train and equip "moderate" rebels in Syria. Proving that bipartisanism in Washington is not dead,…
"Linking" Procedures in the Yahoo Opinion
As I mentioned earlier, Yahoo is finally releasing the documents pertaining to its challenge of Protect America Act directives in 2008. The LAT has loaded the Yahoo documents in an easy to access page.
This post will look primarily at the…
Remember Joseph Nacchio?
Yahoo just announced that it will shortly be releasing the docket from its 2008 effort to challenge a Protect America Act order.
In a report on the release, WaPo notes that the government threatened Yahoo with a $250,000 day fine for not…
Pew-Related Headlines Should Read: Americans More Scared of ISIS than Real Attack
Pew released a new poll yesterday that has led to some remarkably bad reporting. The most problematic I've seen is the WaPo declaring the "Post-Snowden Era" that suggests the concern for civil liberties purportedly sparked by Edward Snowden's…
Every Senator Who Supports USA Freedom May Be Affirmatively Ratifying a Financial Dragnet
Now that I've finally got around to reading the so-called transparency provisions in Patrick Leahy's USA Freedom Act, I understand that one purpose of the bill, from James Clapper's perspective, is to get Congress to ratify some kind of financial…
USA Freedom Act's So-Called "Transparency" Provisions Enable Illegal Domestic Surveillance
I regret that I am only now taking a close look at the "transparency" provisions in Patrick Leahy's version of USA Freedom Act. They are actually designed not to provide "transparency," but to give a very misleading picture of how much spying…
"Let's Bomb Syria" Version 2 Is Working; Why Did Version 1 Fail?
Polls taken almost exactly one year apart show a remarkable reversal in US opinion regarding the prospect of air strikes on Syria. Last year, in a poll conducted September 6-8, (pdf) there were a number of questions regarding action in Syria.…
Tech Companies: Hurry Up and Give Us Immunity and Compensation
The tech industry has issued a letter urging the Senate to hurry up and give them immunity and compensation pass USA Freedom Act.
The letter is actually pretty funny. The letter claims:
The revelations about the U.S. government's surveillance…
Keith Alexander Wants to Patent Having No Knowledge
Have you noticed that every time someone covers all the patents Keith Alexander is getting for his cybersecurity boondoggle, the number of patents grows?
In this installment, it is 10.
IronNet is working with lawyers to draft as many as…
Rand Paul and I Told You So
At least according to this snippet from WaPo, Jane Harman reported out after discussing war over "d'anjou pear salad and Chilean sea bass" that the President thinks he can rely on both his epistolary War Power Resolution letters and ... the…
Did Afghan and Pakistani ISIS Recruits Really Expect to Travel Length of Iran?
Disclaimer: There is a very good chance that my thinking here is so off-target as to make it total bullshit, but it is still a fun exercise in trying to make sense of recent events. --JW
Long-time readers will be familiar with my strange…
Remember that Nashiri's Torture -- "Real Torture" -- Didn't Work
Yesterday, the Telegraph reported that the "waterboarding" used with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was far worse than described before -- more actual drowning to the point of death than "pours."
The description of the…
New Email Release Shows: Peter King Demanded an Investigation To Find Journalist’s Sources Like Peter King
On May 7, 2012, then Associated Press reporters Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo broke the story of a thwarted al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) underwear bomb plot. Within a day, several news outlets — including ABC News, Los Angeles…
James Clapper's Letter DIDN'T Endorse S 2685; It Endorsed HR 3361
I'm sorry to return to James Clapper's letter that has been grossly misreported as endorsing Patrick Leahy's USA Freedom Act.
In this post I pointed out what Clapper's letter really said. In this one, I described why it is so inexcusable…
Is NFL Telling Stories Now about Previously Seeing Ray Rice Video because They Believe(d) It Exonerates Rice?
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Ray Rice -- ELEVATOR KNOCKOUT ... Fiancee Takes Crushing Punch [Video]
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NFL officials are everywhere claiming that no one saw the Ray Rice video…
Happy Monday of Drum-Up-War Week
''From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August.'' -- Andy Card
12 years ago today, Michael Gordon and Judy Miller published a story about aluminum tubes based off deliberate leaks from Dick Cheney and Condi Rice.…
Abdullah Declares Himself Election Winner, Won't Accept Audit Result
In a press conference completed only about an hour ago, Abdullah Abdullah has declared himself the winner of Afghanistan's presidential election and said that he will not accept the result of the audit that has been taking place since the June…
Supporters of USA Freedom Ignore the Courts
The National Journal reports that Leahy's USA Freedom Act probably won't move until after the election, if not next year.
A bill that would curtail the government's broad surveillance authority is unlikely to earn a vote in Congress before…