OK. Permit me to get all law geeky, but this is big legal news. Well, it’s big news for anyone who believes in our Constitution, really. Aned a big blow to the Bush Administration. About an hour ago, the Supreme Court ruled that foreign nationals held at Guantanamo Bay have a right to pursue habeas challenges to their detention. What … Read More
The McClellan Book
You know, it doesn’t say anything that many of us didn’t already know. It’s just nice to see someone on the inside of the Bush Administration admit that these things went on: WASHINGTON (CNN) — The incidents that first left then-White House press secretary Scott McClellan "dismayed and disillusioned" about Washington involved the surreptitious release of classified information, McClellan said … Read More
Dunkin Donuts Is Being Ridiculous
OMG! Look! It’s celebrity spokesperson Rachael Ray talking about Dunkin Donuts!! And look what she’s wearing around her neck! That looks vaguely middle eastern! It looks like a keffiyeh. Is she a terrorist-supporter?!? Does Dunkin Donuts (by inference) support terrorism?!?!? Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk … Read More
Soldiers Can F*** In Afghanistan
Progress is being made: A new order signed by Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, commander of Combined Joint Task Force-101, has lifted a ban on sexual relations between unmarried men and women in the combat zone. General Order No. 1 outlines a number of prohibited activities and standards of conduct for U.S. troops and civilians working for the military in Afghanistan. … Read More
GAO Report: No Plan To Get al Qaeda
This is pretty embarrassing: The Bush administration doesn’t have a comprehensive strategy for eliminating Osama bin Laden’s sanctuary in Pakistan’s tribal region and preventing the region from being used for launching terrorist attacks on the United States, the investigative arm of Congress said Thursday. President Bush and his senior lieutenants frequently claim that eradicating the threat that bin Laden’s al … Read More
Top Bush Advisors Approved ‘Enhanced Interrogation’
Explosive report from ABC: Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects — whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding. The high-level discussions about these "enhanced interrogation techniques" were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation … Read More
More On The Pre-9/11 “Safe House” Call
Dan Gilmour of the Center for Citizen Media takes journalists to task: A truly extraordinary example of journalistic malfeasance is playing out right now. Attorney General Michael Mukasey told a San Francisco audience last week that the Bush administration was aware in the days before the 9/11 attacks that an Al Qaeda official was making calls from a “safe house … Read More
If The Framers Of The Constitution Read This….
…they would never stop throwing up. I’m talking about this: For at least 16 months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, the Bush administration believed that the Constitution’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures on U.S. soil didn’t apply to its efforts to protect against terrorism. That view was expressed in a secret Justice Department legal memo dated … Read More
A Smoking Gun? Or A Lie?
Keith Olbermann (see video below) and Glenn Greenwald are on the case, and rightly so. The controversy centers around statements made last week by Attorney General Mukasey. In a speech to telecom leaders showing his support for telecom company immunity in the FISA law, Mukasey made a startling heretofore-unknown revelation. From The NY Sun: Officials "shouldn’t need a warrant when … Read More
World’s Worst Attorney: John Yoo
Holy mother of God: Memo: Laws Didn’t Apply to Interrogators Justice Dept. Official in 2003 Said President’s Wartime Authority Trumped Many Statutes The Justice Department sent a legal memorandum to the Pentagon in 2003 asserting that federal laws prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes did not apply to military interrogators who questioned al-Qaeda captives because the president’s ultimate authority as … Read More
The Obama Doctrine
Good article in TAP about "The Obama Doctrine". While both Obama and Clinton appear to be similar on the Iraq War (they both want out), Obama seems to be going the extra mile in arguing that he wants to change the mindset that got us into Iraq in the first place. The article looks at the Obama mindset on foreign … Read More
Sssshhhhhh!
You know that Pentagon study I mentioned yesterday? The one where the Pentagon concluded, after scouring Iraq for evidence, that there was no link between Saddam and Al Qaeda? The Bush Administration is trying to keep it quiet. ABC News reports: The Bush Administration apparently does not want a U.S. military study that found no direct connection between Saddam Hussein … Read More
No Saddam And Al Qaeda Link
Not news to most of us, but there are — amazingly — still people who believe that Saddam has something to do with bun Laden and 9/11: WASHINGTON — An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein’s regime had any operational links with Osama … Read More
Video Of Times Square Bomber And Blast
Looks like a single bomber. Actually, the explosion was bigger than I thought, based on the reports: Link: sevenload.com
For The Record, I Left NYC On Sunday
Blast Damages Times Square Recruiting Station Fortunately, nobody was hurt. And the explosion wasn’t that large. That area is covered with security cameras, so you know they’re going to find the guy. Probably some nut. Of course, the rightwing blogosphere are all acting like junior CSI-ers: From the choice of target, lack of shrapnel, and low amount of explosives used, … Read More