Trump Gags On The 'Gag Order'
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"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." February 22 2010 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The Power Of The The Media May Change Everything - Obama's Dilapidated Health Reform Plan Will Be Debated On Television [Pop Out Player? Click Here] Prefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [192kbps VBR 11:01 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Twitter This Commentary |
"The chief author of the Bush administration's "torture memo" told Justice Department investigators that the president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be "massacred," according to a report by released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility.
The views of former Justice lawyer John Yoo were deemed to be so extreme and out of step with legal precedents that they prompted the Justice Department's internal watchdog office to conclude last year that he committed "intentional professional misconduct" when he advised the CIA it could proceed with waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques against Al Qaeda suspects.
The report by OPR concludes that Yoo, now a Berkeley law professor, and his boss at the time, Jay Bybee, now a federal judge, should be referred to their state bar associations for possible disciplinary proceedings. But, as first reported by NEWSWEEK, another senior department lawyer, David Margolis, reviewed the report and last month overruled its findings on the grounds that there was no clear and "unambiguous" standard by which OPR was judging the lawyers. Instead, Margolis, who was the final decision-maker in the inquiry, found that they were guilty of only "poor judgment." [In Full]
A week or so ago, we were hearing a lot about how decisive the current surge over Marja in Afghanistan would be. Of course, we were hearing all sorts of things – including a lot of happy talk about how well things were going. This week we learn that the fight is not so easy with US forces still facing “strong resistance” even though the US/NATO/Afghan force is 15,000+ while the reported “Taliban” presence before the attack was estimated at 400. US officers are now saying that the military component of the campaign will take at least a month. They have also told the Guardian that Marja is just a “confidence building” action leading to the new “decisive” battle which they are beginning to plan for Kandahar. [In Full w/ Linkage]
In 2008, according to an authoritative report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS), $55.2 billion in weapons deals were concluded worldwide. Of that total, the United States was responsible for $37.8 billion in weapons sales agreements, or 68.4% of the total “trade.” Some of these agreements were long-term ones and did not result in 2008 deliveries of weapons systems, but these latest figures are a good gauge of the global appetite for weapons.
It doesn’t take a PhD in economics to recognize that, when one nation accounts for nearly 70% of weapons sales, the term “global arms trade” doesn’t quite cut it.
Consider the “competition” and reality comes into focus. Take a guess on which country is the number two weapons exporter on the planet: China? Russia? No, Italy, with a relatively paltry $3.7 billion in agreements with other countries or just 9% of the U.S. market share. Russia, that former Cold War superpower in the “trade,” was close behind Italy, with only $3.5 billion in arms agreements. More from ProfMarcus @ And Yes I DO Take It Personally:
[ "The U.S. - making sure that purveyors of death and destruction have the latest and best tools for the job"]
Lawsuit: School gave kids laptops to spy on them at home...and when you do graduate don't fret the lack of jobs opportunities paying enough to allow you to move out of your parents house... The Air Force has JUST the job for you!
A Philadelphia based class action lawsuit against the Lower Merion School District (PDF) alleges that students and parents weren't told that school administrators had the ability to activate the laptop webcams... remotely, even when the student is at home or away from the computer. [In Full]
“Part of the job is to try to identify body parts." --Air Force captain Sam Nelson, a drone pilot at drone operations at Creech Air Force Base, the command center for seven Air Force bases in the continental U.S. where crews fly drones over Iraq and Afghanistan. [In Full]
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