The Tracking Device in Your Pocket
Eric Lichtblau has a story summarizing what Ed Markey discovered after he asked cellphone companies to tell him how many law enforcement requests they respond to every year. And while some of the companies (AT&T and Cricket, at least) claim…
Deadly Fallout from Reopening of Pakistan Border Crossings: Taliban IED's, US Drone Strikes on First Responders
Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologized to Pakistan over the November attack on a Pakistan border post in which the US killed 24 Pakistani troops. The apology was delivered on Tuesday and the first supply trucks passed through…
Withholding the Tax Decision: SCOTUSblog on the ObamaCare Decision
Having served as the liveblog link to a widely-anticipated court decision myself, I probably read Tom Goldstein's tick-tock of how the decision got reported differently than others. Most interesting for me?
SCOTUSblog is not credentialed…
Rupert Murdoch and the Invisible Hand Job of Capitalism
Someone let Rupert Murdoch free on Twitter again.
Libor " scandal" very suspicious. 2008/9 huge crisis and Brown should defend pressure to keep rates down and prevent meltdown.
Don't know, but suspect Diamond scapegoat used by old establishment…
The Wonderful Wet At Wimbledon and Silverstone
While we in the States deal with sweltering heat across the country, our "special friends", the Brits, are having a run of wet weather over one of the most compelling fortnights in recent history across the pond. You see, not only has Wimbledon…
Failed Overseers Prepare to Legislate Away Successful Oversight
Before I talk about the Gang of Four's proposed ideas to crack down on leaks, let's review what a crop of oversight failures these folks are.
The only one of the Gang of Four who has stayed out of the media of late--Dutch Ruppersberger--has…
The Incidental Anti-Drug Spying on a White SUV
I hinted at this earlier, but it's worth making explicit. In his reporting from Holloman Air Force Base, Mark Mazzetti revealed that the Air Force practices drone targeting on civilian traffic driving close to the base.
Holloman sits on almost…
Manned Flights Kill Civilians Too
NPR's Kelly McEvers just released a story with some on-the-ground reporting on attacks in Yemen attributed to the US. She focuses closely on an attack on Jaar I've discussed before in the context of reports on Obama's embrace of signature strikes…
Umar Patek: Indonesia's 20 Year Sentence Versus One Errant Drone Strike
Mark Mazzetti has a fascinating collection of details on drones. In addition to showing drone pilots training in New Mexico practicing by tracking (and therefore incidentally collecting intelligence on) US civilian cars and displaying a real…
Selective Prosecution from CIA's US Attorney
In its response to John Kiriakou's claim he is being selectively prosecuted, the government cites this passage from US v. Armstrong.
A selective prosecution claim asks a court to exercise judicial power over a special province of the Executive.…
NATO Supply Shipments Through Pakistan Resume With Payments to Afghan Taliban Instead of Pakistan
After US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued an apology to Pakistan on Tuesday, the first supply trucks entered Afghanistan from Pakistan this morning. Although there had been suggestions during the negotiations to re-open the supply lines…
Things Worth Fighting For
Before you head out for barbecue and blowing fireworks up, take a moment to reflect on the things that were once worth fighting for. Here are a few that--given Anwar al-Awlaki's death and the dismissal of Jose Padilla's torture lawsuits since…
SCOTUS Conservatives in Anonymous Disarray
I expressed skepticism about the part of Jan Crawford's story confirming John Roberts flipped his vote on ObamaCare that claimed Roberts had no role in writing the dissent.
Finally, there is Crawford’s not entirely convincing explanation…
Albright Attempts to Deflect Neutron Activation Issue at Parchin
On May 15, I pointed out that the claims associated with the cartoon published by George Jahn of AP purporting to depict a high explosives chamber used by Iran at Parchin (this is a new link for the cartoon, the AP link in the May 15 post no…
Complacency on Medicaid Would Feed Two Years of Ugly Race-Baiting
I'm with DDay. I believe liberals are far, far too complacent in their wonkery-based confidence that Red States will eventually come around and extend Medicaid under ObamaCare. (See this post too.)
I keep seeing these confident predictions…
The Invisible Hand-Job of Capitalism
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First we confirm what we long suspected--bankers were manipulating the LIBOR rate to benefit themselves, corrupting one of the "market" measures at the core of the financial system.
And now, in an Abu Dhabi…
Some Data Points on Minh Qhang Pham, AQAP's Graphic Artist of Mass Destruction
On Friday, the government indicted Minh Quang Pham for material support of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The indictment and the press release make it clear (though don't say explicitly--though this report confirms it) that Pham's primary…
Last Week in Deferred and Non-Prosecution Agreements: Arming China and Stealing Trillions from Municipalities
I'm so old I remember the time, four years ago, when Democrats hated Deferred Prosecution Agreements.
Back in the days when Chris Christie, former US Attorney, was challenging Jon Corzine, once and future bankster, to be governor of New Jersey,…
New Green on Blue Attack Kills Three British Troops in Afghanistan
Three British soldiers were killed today in Helmand province in Afghanistan, extending the rising trend of green on blue killings where Afghan security forces turn their weapons on NATO personnel. Because NATO systematically under-reports green…
The Real Blowback: Drone Instability
In addition to saying something I've said for a while--that our poor education outcomes are a bigger threat to our country than al Qaeda--Stanley McChrystal also had this story to tell at the Aspen Ideas Festival.
"I hope we won't be a country…