US Fails Miserably to Hold Egypt Accountable, Continues Aid Despite Abuses

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Jim White
On the very day that Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy is in Washington to meet with John Kerry, a court in Egypt, for the second time in just over a month, has sentenced hundreds citizens to death in proceedings that lasted only minutes.…
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The Associations behind FBI's No Fly Informant Coercion

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emptywheel
Before I disappeared on my trip last week, the WaPo and others reported on a new suit against the FBI for using the No Fly list to coerce Muslims to become informants, one of whom, Naveed Shinwari, talked about it with Democracy Now as…
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DOJ Continues Its "Multi-Subject" Investigation of WikiLeaks

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emptywheel
As I noted some weeks ago, the judge in EPIC's FOIA for materials on the investigation into supporters of WikiLeaks asked for an update. The government provided that update last night. It said it still must withhold all documents responsive…
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Where Was Anal Rape Approved in the OLC Memos?

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emptywheel
Sorry I've been AWOL for the last several days. I've been traveling and speaking and traveling. Thanks to Jim and bmaz for holding down the fort. While I've been gone, there has been fairly shocking testimony from Gitmo (thanks, as always,…
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Was Kabul Hospital Shooting Triggered by Proselytizing?

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Jim White
Yesterday, Dr. Jerry Umanos and two still unidentified US visitors whom he was greeting were killed outside the Cure International Hospital in Kabul, Dr. Umanos has spent most of each of the last nine years working at Cure International in Kabul…
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Did Northwestern Unionizing Just Cause Real NCAA Reform? No, Not At All

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bmaz
Well, the likely answer is no, but the ground is certainly finally shifting underneath the NCAA to such an extent that they are worried. The step of trotting authoritarian boob Mark Emmert out on for a series of television appearances sure didn't…
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ISI Goes After Geo's Broadcast License in Response to Accusations on Mir's Shooting

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Jim White
On Saturday, Hamid Mir, the most popular news anchor on Geo, Pakistan's largest television news outlet, survived an assassination attempt. He remains hospitalized with at least six bullet wounds. Controversy has swirled since the attack, with…
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With Removal of Materials Under CW Agreement Nearly Complete, Concern in Syria Over Chlorine Use

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Jim White
Yesterday, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons noted another delivery of materials by Syria under the agreement calling for Syrian chemical weapons-related materials to be destroyed. Tuesday's delivery took the current totals…
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Pat Tillman Was A Man, Not Just A Symbol

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bmaz
As you probably know by now, yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the death of Pat Tillman. The media has been replete with stories, remembrances, tributes and the like from the sad tale of a fellow Army Ranger who lives with the fear it was…
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Back Door Searches: One of Two Replacements for the Internet Dragnet?

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emptywheel
I said the other day, most of NSA's Civil Liberties and Privacy Office comment to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board on Section 702 was disappointing boilerplate, less descriptive than numerous other statements already in the…
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White Paper White Wash

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emptywheel
Partly because I want to test my kludge with some quick content while I put out 100 other fires, and partly because I want to raise some issues I've been mulling, I want to point to Steve Vladeck's take on the Awlaki memo decision the other…
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EFF to Reggie Walton: Stuart Delery and John Carlin Are Still Materially Misleading FISA Court

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emptywheel
In my latest post in DOJ's apparent effort to destroy evidence pertinent to EFF's several lawsuits in Northern District of CA, I noted that even after being ordered to explain their earlier material misstatements to the FISA Court, Assistant…
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Selective Leak to Michael Isikoff Proves the Undoing of Otherwise Successful Selective Leak Campaign on Drone Killing

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emptywheel
The 2nd Circuit has just ruled that the government must release a redacted version of the targeted killing memo to the NYT and ACLU, as well as Vaughn documents listing the documents pertaining to the Anwar al-Awlaki killing. The central…
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Latest Parchin Accusation: Centrifuges!

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Jim White
At long last, a conspiracy theory on Iran's Parchin site has surfaced that is too crazy to have come from David Albright and his merry band at the Institute for Science and International Security. Recall that Iran has played the ISIS folks expertly…
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Henceforth All Published IC Comment Should Be Considered Propaganda

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emptywheel
Steve Aftergood reports that James Clapper has done what Congress refused to do: forbid any unauthorized contact between Intelligence Community staffers and any member of an unbelievably broadly defined media. The order requires IC employees…
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NSA's New "Privacy Officer" Releases Her First Propaganda

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emptywheel
Over at Lawfare, Ken Anderson released the public comment on Section 702 the NSA Civil Liberties and Privacy Office have submitted to the Privacy and Civil Liberties and Oversight Board. Anderson notes that the comment doesn't appear to be online…
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Yet More Cell Phones IDed in Program that Purportedly Doesn't Get Cell Phones

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emptywheel
For another purpose, I'm reviewing Robert Mueller's declaration in support of the government's report to the FISA Court in 2009, attempting to get full phone dragnet privileges turned back on. (starting on PDF 91) As part of it, Mueller provides…
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Obama White House Sponsors Young and Rich Narcissistic 1% Fucktards That Will Ruin the World

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bmaz
Proving it is never too late to shine your lame duck ass for a new generation of 1% oligarchs, Barack Obama laid open the real constituency of national politicians. And proved certain any inference that such was only the constituency and province…
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In 2009, DOJ Claimed Its Lawyers Could Not Read Docket Numbers in 2007

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emptywheel
Some time ago, I noted that DOJ appears not to have provided the classified report on Section 215 for the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees mandated by the 2006 PATRIOT Act Reauthorization to Congress in 2009 to 2011. Instead of being…
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Intelligence Response to KSM's Claim Intelligence Supersedes Justice Holds Up His Own Trial

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emptywheel
Matt Apuzzo collects the thoughts of a number of people who are getting frustrated with the way the CIA and FBI (though I suspect it might be CIA and CIA) keep holding up the Gitmo show trials. Most damning of them is this quote from top…
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