Remember When Obama Thought the FISA Amendments Act Was Imperfect?
Four years ago, when Obama caved and supported the FISA Amendments Act, he said in part,
I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to those of you who opposemy decision to support the FISA compromise.
This was not an easy call for…
What If Rahm Were Evaluated Like a Teacher?
As you may have heard, the Chicago Teacher's Union went out on strike last night.
The traditional news has spun this to largely be about wages.
Late Sunday, Mr. Emanuel told reporters that school district officials had presented a strong…
Handoff of Detention Facility in Parwan Marred: Afghan Government Places Higher Value on Rule of Law Than US
Following on the heels of the initial agreement that was virtually meaningless from the start, because the US still retained veto power of many of Afghanistan's moves, the US today allowed Afghanistan to hold a "splendid" ceremony marking the…
Obama, Stuck in the 9/11 Era as Much as Mitt Is Stuck in the Cold War Era
Working on another post, I went back and read all three Obama DNC speeches. (2004; 2008; 2012) Aside from the biographical details, several things remained constant through all three: the Hope theme (though it has evolved in interesting ways,…
The Elites Cling to Their Jobs
After the job numbers on Friday showed that we continue to tread water on job creation, Chris Hayes tweeted,
Dirty secret about the jobs crisis: A lot of the policy elite in both parties don't think there's much to be done.
I asked him whether…
NFL Hard Knocks, Head Injuries and The Monza Rebuttal
Here we are at the real, official, start of the football season in earnest. Yes there were a full slate of college games last weekend, but only a couple of decent ones. and, yes, the NFL officially kicked off wednesday with the Cowboys somewhat…
Vilma Vanquishes Goodell & NFL; Saints Players Reinstated
There is some early Trash from the National Football League breaking within the last hour. The four New Orleans Saints players suspended in "Bounty Gate", led by Jonathan Vilma and Scott Fujita, dissatisfied withe the league ruling handed down…
Mitt's Election Would Just Mean Cofer Black Would Get His Kill List Back
Amidst all the partying and pandering, some actual journalism did take place in Charlotte. Gawker's John Cook asked the following people about whether Americans could trust Mitt Romney to decide which American citizens to assassinate with drones…
Clint Eastwood's Time Travel
The local paper in Carmel scored the interview with Clint Eastwood where he tries to describe his bizarre empty chair performance at the RNC. Some of it, including this line...
President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the…
Congress Finally Gets Around to Learning about Domestic Drones and Privacy
After Congress has spent the last several years telling DOD and FAA to speed up the roll out of drones in domestic airspace, and partly in response to efforts (by Rand Paul, among others) to protect all of our privacy and other efforts (by Shelley…
Express Tribune Reveals Remarkably Detailed Intelligence on TTP Threat to Attack Nuclear Facility
Despite a tumultuous relationship that has seen extreme swings over the last few years, the US remains engaged with Pakistan. One reason, of course, is the reliance on overland supply routes through the country for NATO war efforts in Afghanistan.…
Judge Lamberth Upholds Gitmo Detainees' Right to Counsel
I'm a bit cranky, so reading this scathing opinion from Royce Lamberth rejecting the government's effort to impose a new Memorandum of Understanding concerning Gitmo detainees' right to counsel was just the ticket. The operative ruling reads,
The…
Obama Looking for Structures to Ensure He Abides by Rule of Law
Noah Shachtman does a good job of fact checking Obama's claims about his drone program in a recent interview with Jessica Yellin.
But I'd like to push further on his comments about Obama's claims to give Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan (to…
What You Won't Hear at the DNC: Children Are Going Hungry in the Richest Country in the World
Here's what the Secretary of Agriculture--who is in charge of our nation's Food Stamp program--had to say about food and hunger at his DNC speech last night:
You know, rural Americans are a special people. Their labor puts food on our table…
DoD's Bungled Answers to Questions on Re-Vetting ANSF and Cultural Awareness
On Saturday, I noted that the move by US Special Operations forces to halt training of Afghan Local Police and Afghan special forces while those entire forces were re-screened for security threats meant that there would need to be an equivalent…
(Re)Productive Conventions
In one way, the DNC was almost the same as the RNC last week. Almost every woman who spoke self-identified as a mother. (This is a point Irin Carmon also made in this piece.) Lily Ledbetter was one exception; she didn't mention her daughters…
DOD Gets Awfully Sensitive When They're Cornered
Just about every outlet that reported on George Little's whine about Matt Bissonnette's book yesterday claimed that Little had said there was "classified" information in the book.[all emphasis in this post mine]
CNN: A Pentagon official said…
Afghanistan Begins Purge of Army While NATO Chief Promises "Cultural Awareness Training"
In a news conference this morning, Afghanistan's Defense Ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi announced that "hundreds" of soldiers have been dismissed from the Army or detained in a probe that began six months ago and is aimed at removing…
With What Databases Has NCTC Cross-Referenced with FBI's 12 Million iDevice User IDs?
Update, 6/13/13: For those coming to this via my Twitter link, subverzo reminded me that this turned out to be a false claim. The data came from an Apple developer, not from FBI.
Sorry for the confusion.
As you may have heard, Anonymous…
Petraeus Tie to Afghan Local Police Program Hits NYTimes One Day After ALP Role in Revenge Killings Noted
On Saturday, we learned that US Special Operations forces have suspended training of Afghan Local Police while a re-screening of the backgrounds of those already in the force is carried out. I noted then that only Reuters dared to connect the…