Verboten: Vagina and Vasectomy
In spite of the fact that MI's economy--which had been turning around--is now turning back down again, the Republicans who run Lansing are busy enacting new restrictions on abortion and contraception. Busy with that, and busy silencing two state…
Hugo Chavez' Balsa Wood Drone
There were two very fascinating pieces of news out of Venezuela today.
First, Venezuela has officially surpassed Saudi Arabia in terms of proven petroleum reserves.
Venezuela surpassed Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest holder…
Sheldon Adelson Could Buy Bibi a Very Effective October Surprise
The Internet is abuzz today with Sheldon Adelson's announcement that he has already donated $10 million to Mitt Romney's SuperPAC and plans to provide limitless donations to defeat Obama.
Forbes has confirmed that billionaire Sheldon Adelson,…
"The Yemeni situation and ... the Iranian cyber situation"
As MadDog noted yesterday, Dianne Feinstein seemed to answer a question I've written about here and here regarding the scope of the leak investigations.
She said the U.S. attorneys would not face political pressures from the Obama administration…
The Baitullah Mehsud Propaganda
I have twice before noted some curious details about Joby Warrick's telling of the events leading up to Baitullah Mehsud's death. I noted that it is another example--like the Iraq War--of an attack justified by nukes in which the nukes were…
A Tale of Two Senators: Feinstein Calls for Apology to Pakistan, Paul Attempts to Defund
You know that things are truly screwed up regarding US policy on Pakistan when the "best of Senators" is Dianne Feinstein, but it's hardly surprising that Rand Paul would step up in the Senate to carry Dana Rohrabacher's sentiments forward and…
Peak Chicken: PA's Drinking Water versus Saudi Extravagance
This FT article--describing the calculations stakeholders are making in face of the realization that the US is the only non-OPEC nation to have increased petroleum output in the last three years--is worth reading. As reported, OPEC members are…
The Whack-a-Moles Leave Women Unaroused
Pew Research has started polling whether people around the world approve of America's use of drones against terror leaders.
Do you approve or disapprove of the United States
conducting missile strikes from pilotless aircraft called
drones…
Can Hillary Turn on Electricity in Yemen Better than AQAP?
Due to the vagaries of smart phone RSS feeds, I re-read this story over the weekend. In addition to describing Secretary of State Clinton's speech before the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference--in which she described how special ops…
Karzai Objects to Sham Agreement on Air Strike "Restrictions"
Hamid Karzai lashed out yesterday against the continued use of NATO air strikes in civilian areas. He angrily referred to police actions in the US and France, noting that even when the most dangerous suspects are being sought, houses where they…
An IP Tax, before It's Too Late
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While I was at Netroots Nation, I thought a lot about how the US could tax Intellectual Property. When I saw Honeywell's CEO claim he should pay no taxes I thought about how much his tech relied on protecting…
JPM and ING: Some Trading with the Enemy Is More Equal than Other Trading with the Enemy
ING just signed a $619M settlement with Treasury for sanctions violations, largely with Cuba, but also with Iran, Burma, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. Aside from the fact that that's the biggest sanctions settlement ever, I'm interested in…
Why Isn't Neil MacBride Investigating the Alleged UndieBomb 2.0 Leak?
I'll have more general comments about today's Senate Judiciary Committee oversight scrum and what it says about leak investigations. But I want to note a very small point Eric Holder made.
When trying to explain to the Republicans why it…
US Negotiators Leave Pakistan, Supreme Court Commission Blames Husain Haqqani for Memo
There are two separate major developments coming out of Pakistan in the last 24 hours. First, US negotiators have left Pakistan without reaching an agreement on reopening NATO supply routes. Both sides appear to be trying to gloss over the obvious…
$356 Million in Drone Failure
I guess we should be grateful the Customs and Border Patrol simply mismanages its fleet of 9--soon to be 10--drones, each costing $18M apiece. (h/t Kevin Gosztola, who tweeted a report of this) After all, the massive drone that went down in…
FISA Amendments Act: "Targeting" and "Querying" and "Searching" Are Different Things
Steven Aftergood suggests there's disagreement among Senate Intelligence Committee members about whether or not the FISA Amendments Act allows the government to get US person content without a warrant.
The dispute was presented but not resolved…
Pakistan Still Searching for Long-Term Imprisonment Site for Afridi
After a "trial" that was strangely held in Bara, in the Khyber Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, Dr. Shakeel Afridi is now being held in the central jail in Peshawar in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Despite…
SCOTUS Kills Habeas Corpus
SCOTUS has just declined to take all seven of the pending Gitmo habeas corpus petitions, including Latif and Uthman.
This effectively kills habeas corpus.
Consider what SCOTUS just blessed:
Holding a person indefinitely for being in…
StuxNet: Covert Op-Exposing Code In, Covert Op-Exposing Code Out
In this interview between David Sanger and Jake Tapper, Sanger makes a striking claim: that he doesn't know who leaked StuxNet.
I'll tell you a deep secret. Who leaked the fact? Whoever it was who programmed this thing and made a mistake…
Is Administration Admitting It Is Lying about Drones?
I'll have far, far more on the leak investigations tomorrow or Monday. But for the moment I want to lay out certain implications suggested by this Jack Goldsmith post.
Goldsmith asks what the scope of the leak investigation is and cites reports…