Richard Shelby’s Selective Investigation

By: emptywheel Friday November 12, 2010 5:08 am

Let me make a rare statement: I agree with just about everything Richard Shelby said in his call for an investigation of mortgage servicers. The Federal Banking Regulators should immediately review the mortgage servicing and foreclosure activities of Ally Financial, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America. The regulators should determine exactly what occurred at [...]

“The President Ultimately Made the Call”

By: emptywheel Friday November 12, 2010 4:07 am

GQ has another of those articles describing Eric Holder’s failed efforts to restore DOJ’s independence and sustain rule of law as Attorney General. There are a few new details in there — such as details of what torture was described in the CIA IG Report but must be among the redactions (notably, strangling of one [...]

The Obama Disconnect: Arlington, Korea and Catfood

By: bmaz Thursday November 11, 2010 11:30 am

Barack Obama is in Korea lecturing Americans to suck it up and embrace the catfood at the same time Biden was left to represent the WH at the Arlington National Cemetery ceremony to honor America’s Veterans; all so Obama could sell out American labor via a Korean free trade agreement. Dumbest politics ever.

David Axelrod’s Quaint Idea of Middle Class “Security”

By: emptywheel Wednesday November 10, 2010 11:52 pm

There’s a lot to despise about David Axelrod’s announcement of Obama’s capitulation to the oligarchs on tax cuts, not least that he made this announcement on the same day Obama’s Catfood Commission Chairs started the process of stealing from seniors to “fix” our deficit. Let yesterday be marked as the day when a nominally Democratic [...]

The Privatization of Citizen Informant Networks

By: emptywheel Wednesday November 10, 2010 9:45 am

Remember the former JSOC guy in charge of Homeland Security for PA who hired an Israeli-connected private intelligence company to collect information on environmentalists and peace activists? Well, it will surprise none of you that they were comparing Rainforest Action Network to Al Qaeda and trying to set up their own network of people informing [...]

Torture? Check. Covering Up Torture? Check. Rule of Law? Nope.

By: emptywheel Tuesday November 9, 2010 2:25 pm

I think it was the timing of the end of the torture investigation that hurts most of all. Just days ago, Harold Koh was boasting of the Durham investigation to the UN. Then Bush started his dog and pony show, including his proud admission to have ordered up torture. All of which made today’s announcement, [...]

Government Trying to Fudge on Its Claim to Absolute Power

By: emptywheel Tuesday November 9, 2010 11:20 am

I’m working on a post on the news that DOJ will not charge Jose Rodriguez for destroying the torture tapes. But that’s going to take a while (read the NYT on the news in the meantime). In the meantime, though, I wanted to point to Adam Serwer’s summary of yesterday’s hearing on the Anwar al-Awlaki [...]

Darrell Issa Needs a New Baby-Sitter

By: emptywheel Tuesday November 9, 2010 8:30 am

If the Democratic Party wants to survive the next two years, it needs to find a new baby-sitter for Darrell Issa. After all, no one was more gleefully prepared after the shellacking last Tuesday to take over and cause trouble for Democrats that Issa. He’s been planning a series of witch hunts for months. And [...]

Mark Warner’s Chocolate Fountain Remorse

By: emptywheel Tuesday November 9, 2010 5:36 am

Once upon a time in 2006, a dirty fucking hippie blogger had an opportunity to ask aspiring presidential candidate Mark Warner a few questions. Mark Warner had just dedicated part of a speech to talking about how Iran was the biggest WMD threat. So with her questions, the dirty fucking hippie blogger asked Mark Warner [...]

Durham Torture Tape Case Dies, US Duplicity in Geneva & The Press Snoozes

By: bmaz Tuesday November 9, 2010 12:27 am

Just how inattentive and asleep at the wheel does the government think the American media and citizenry are, to brazenly engage in the simultaneous duplicity of relying on the Durham investigation in Geneva for the UN UPR On Human Rights at the same moment it was using the Durham investigation to bleed out the statute of limitation on the primary jurisdiction of the investigation at home? Well, they think the media and people are completely asleep and, sadly, they are quite correct.

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