31
May
via questionallSecret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will
Does anyone see a never-ending conflict here?
(via mohandasgandhi)
29
May
Drones have replaced Guantánamo as the recruiting tool of choice for militants; in his 2010 guilty plea, Faisal Shahzad, who had tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square, justified targeting civilians by telling the judge, “When the drones hit, they don’t see children.”
[…]
William M. Daley, Mr. Obama’s chief of staff in 2011, said the president and his advisers understood that they could not keep adding new names to a kill list, from ever lower on the Qaeda totem pole. What remains unanswered is how much killing will be enough
“One guy gets knocked off, and the guy’s driver, who’s No. 21, becomes 20?” Mr. Daley said, describing the internal discussion. “At what point are you just filling the bucket with numbers?”
via mohandasgandhiIn remarkably colorful terms, former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY) on Sunday lashed out at members of his party for their unyielding opposition to new tax revenues, whom he described as stymieing a debt reduction agreement. (via CNN)
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
via tpmmedia
How does Governor Walker spend his workdays? Check out this interactive chart, developed by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. The Center obtained Walker’s calendars through an open records request, then developed a database of all calendar entries. The Center also breaks down the companies Walker met with and the donations made to Walker by each company, so you can get a sense of how money impacts access to Walker’s time.
via sarahlee31025
May
The DEAL-4 and related genes on Reagan’s strategy chromosome are probably the most troubling for modern conservatives. These abnormalities led Reagan to compromise routinely on arms control, the size of government, taxes and other matters of principle. In his autobiography, he criticized “radical conservatives” for whom “ ‘compromise’ was a dirty word.” He continued: “They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. . . . I’d learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for.
22
May
via think-progress20
May
It’s a fairly basic constitutional issue for the press, whether or not there is a reporter’s privilege. It’s something a lot of people outside the press don’t really understand, don’t really care about. I think the basic issue is whether you can have a democracy without aggressive investigative reporting and I don’t believe you can. So that’s why I’m fighting it.
James Risen, reporter, New York Times, in a talk at the National Press Club. ‘Reporter’s Privilege’ Under Fire From Obama Administration Amid Broader War On Leaks.
Background: The Obama Justice Department continues its attempts to force Risen to testify against CIA agent Jeffrey Sterling by arguing that Reporters’ Privilege does not exist when the information revealed is considered illegal.
In this case, the CIA’s Sterling is charged with leaking classified information about a plot against the Iranian government that Risen then used in his book, State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration.
Via the Huffington Post:
While the Obama administration hasn’t prosecuted those responsible for torture during the Bush years, it is taking a strong stand against a former official believed to have supplied information to the media about use of torture and other controversial tactics during the previous administration.
In January, the Justice Department charged former CIA officer John Kiriakou with disclosing classified information to the media; The FBI claims to have evidence linking him to a 2008 New York Times story detailing the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah.
In another notable case, the DOJ charged Thomas Drake under the Espionage Act, claiming the former National Security Agency official provided classified information of gross NSA mismanagement to a Baltimore Sun reporter. The government’s case collapsed in 2011 and Drake pleaded guilty only to a misdemeanor.
The crackdown hasn’t gone unnoticed among reporters, with tension recently spilling out into the White House briefing room after the administration praised Anthony Shadid and Marie Colvin, journalists who died while covering the bloody conflict in Syria.
Jake Tapper, the senior White House correspondent for ABC News, asked White House Press Secretary Jay Carney how public support of those journalists’ work “square[s] with the fact that this administration has been so aggressively trying to stop aggressive journalism in the United States by using the Espionage Act to take whistleblowers to court.”
“There just seems to be a disconnect here,” Tapper added. “You want aggressive journalism abroad; you just don’t want it in the United States.”
(via futurejournalismproject)
via futurejournalismproject
IAEA chief to visit Iran for nuclear talks
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog will arrive in Tehran on Monday morning for a day of negotiations with the Iranian government on its co-operation with the agency, at the start of a week that is likely to be critical to an international effort to defuse tensions in the Gulf.
Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will hold talks with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, and senior officials from the country’s nuclear programme, with the aim of reaching a breakthrough agreement on inspections of sites and access to scientists suspected of having been involved in work on nuclear weapons.
Two days later, Jalili will meet the EU foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton, and senior diplomats from six world powers – the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany – in Baghdad to discuss other confidence-building measures, including limits on Iranian uranium enrichment.
The degree of progress at both meetings is likely to have an important bearing on the level of tension surrounding Iran’s nuclear programme, the likelihood of an Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear sites, and global oil prices.
Amano’s trip to Tehran is the first by an IAEA director general since his predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei, visited in 2009. If the Japanese diplomat succeeds in securing an agreement on the IAEA investigation into alleged Iranian work on nuclear weapons, it would vindicate his tough approach to Tehran in the face of criticism that he is too closely aligned with the west.
(Continue reading…)
09
May
New York Post: “Obama Comes Out.”
We should add this to the campaign playlist. Yes?
via producermatthew
An important point from Adam Serwer: President Obama endorsed marriage federalism, not equality for all.
A step in the right direction. He may not have gone as far as most of us would have liked, but every step towards full equality for all citizens is a reason to celebrate - political games or not.
via captain-americaaa