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Bank Bailout Day, February 9, 2012

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emptywheel
I may or may not have more to say about this. But I'm thinking of declaring this Bank Bailout Day, a holiday of the stature of President's day. Forty-nine states, every one but Oklahoma, as well as federal regulators, will participate in…

Santorum to "Plant His Flag" in Michigan

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emptywheel
  Watch the latest video at video.insider.foxnews.comWatch the latest video at video.insider.foxnews.comI think there are two reasons that Rick Santorum is enjoying another surge in the GOP Primary Reality Show, having won all three…

Osama bin Laden: "The ship of Ali Abdullah Saleh is the only ship we have"

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emptywheel
In May 1999, some Yemeni al Qaeda affiliates planned a series of car thefts to fund a rescue attempt of one of their members who had been sentenced to death. The Yemeni government discovered  the plot and raided an al Qaeda safe house. Osama…
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William Welch Probably NOT One of the Attorneys Who Engaged in Gross Prosecutorial Misconduct in Stevens Case

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emptywheel
As Ryan Reilly reported, Judge Emmet Sullivan is moving forward with his plan to release the scathing report on the Ted Stevens prosecution showing the prosecution was "permeated by the systematic concealment of significant exculpatory evidence." Back…
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One-Third of Americans Known to Have Been Killed in Drone Strikes Were US Servicemen

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emptywheel
I agree with Greg Sargent. It is depressing (though I find it unsurprising) that a majority of Democrats support drone strikes on American terrorist suspects overseas. The Post has just released some new polling that demonstrates very strong…
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Not So Great Expectations: Paying the Price of Hubris in Iraq, Afghanistan

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Jim White
Developments over the past few days on several different fronts are coming together in a way that outlines just how arrogantly the US conducted the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how the consequences of that hubris are now diminishing the…
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Short Sale at the White House?

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emptywheel
I haven't had much time to cover the ins and outs of the foreclosure settlement, which has been genuinely imminent for two weeks, but which is faltering now on banks' refusal to be sued for anything. My guess is that Eric Schneiderman's indefinite…
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9th Circuit Prop 8 Decision: Equal Protection NOT At The End Of The Rainbow

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bmaz
The highly anticipated Ninth Circuit decision on the appeal from Judge Vaughn Walker's groundbreaking opinion in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now captioned "Perry v. Brown") has arrived! IT IS A VICTORY for supporters of marriage equality and…

My Lady Parts Will Be Voting This Year

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emptywheel
A funny thing happened when I wrote that I was excited that Trevor Thomas might run for the 3rd Congressional District because he was involved in one of the most exciting underdog victories progressives have had in recent years. A local Democratic…
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World Approach to "Peace" in Syria: Arm Both Sides

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Jim White
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE4tpmzb9SQ[/youtube] The carnage in Syria continues unabated, with government forces shelling citizens, especially in the city of Homs. Qatar's minister for international cooperation described Sunday's…
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Scary Car Broker Plot and the Fifth Amendment

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emptywheel
I've always been skeptical of the Scary Car Broker Plot--the suit against a bunch of used car brokers and others based on the claim that the entire thing is a money laundering operation for Hezbollah. At the core of the complaint is the allegation…

Pete Hoekstra Mocks His Asian-American Neighbors

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emptywheel
[youtube]kxw4uZAezaI[/youtube] When I first saw Crazy Pete Hoekstra's racist ad, I thought the woman in it--who is supposed to depict a Chinese woman who speaks English well--looked more Thai or Laotian than Han Chinese. And while Hoekstra…
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Administration Complains that Others Are Bringing Transparency It Refuses To on Its Drone Strikes

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emptywheel
In a quote for a WaPo story on the Administration's credibility problems on its Afghanistan claims, a senior Administration official complained that their Afghan plans got leaked before they wanted them to. There are people at every piece of…
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Chrysler's Halftime Lesson: Government Investment for America's Rebound

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emptywheel
[youtube]pGMOhOYvcw4[/youtube] Once again, Chrysler had one of the best ads in yesterday's Super Bowl, once again using the aesthetic of Detroit disaster porn to offer gritty inspiration. And while it's not as good as the Eminem version last…

Col. Davis Goes to Washington: A One-Man Battle for Truth-Telling About Afghanistan

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Jim White
When separate classified reports casting doubt on the military's claims of progress in the Afghanistan war were discussed in the New York Times on January 20 and then by BBC (and Times of London) on February 1, my response to both incidents…
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In Memoriam: Mary Beth Perdue

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bmaz
The internet is a strange and wonderful thing. Just about everyone and everything in the world is on it, even though it is nothing but data in the form of binary computer code traversing by random electrons. Yet thought is crystalized, and friendships…

MI Politics Gets Interesting: Trevor and Crazy Pete

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emptywheel
Just interrupting pre-game to bring two pieces of interesting political news from MI. First, we might finally have exciting news in my congressional district, where the party has thus far failed to recruit anyone to run against the unpopular…

How Do You Profile J. Edgar Kelly with Almost No Mention of Domestic Spying?

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emptywheel
In 1974, the NYT made history with a story that reported, An extensive investigation by the NYT has established that intelligence files on at least 10000 U.S. citizens were maintained by a special unit of the CIA In 2005, the NYT again made…
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Emptywheel's Gigantic Patriotic Bad Ass Mega Super Bowl Trash Talk Houseparty

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bmaz
It is SuperBowl weekend and the biggest story in Indianapolis is Peyton Manning. Probably not fair to Peyton, Indianapolis or the Giants and Pats, but such is how it seems to be playing out. The melodrama has served as a reminder that the Colts…
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FBI Director Mueller Boasts of FBI's Cyber Expertise before Anonymous Hacks Cyber Call

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emptywheel
As you may have heard, Anonymous hacked into and released a conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard discussing their efforts to crack down on the hackers' group. What makes the hack all the more ironic is its release comes just…
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