It Only Seems That Political Corruption Is Rampant With the indictment last week of the former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell on fraud and conspiracy charges, one might surmise that high-level political scandal is breaking out all over. And in a way, one would be right: It has been a good year, or perhaps a bad one, for hauling politicians before judges. Three members of the House of Representatives pleaded guilty to, or were convicted of, crimes in 2013, more than any other year since 1981, when the now-cinematized Abscam sting operation put six House members and a senator behind bars. Last year, former mayors of Detroit and New Orleans, among others, were convicted of, or charged with, felonies.
The U.S. may be planning to kill another U.S. citizen abroad. Photo by General Atomics/Getty Images “U.S. officials” have told Kimberly Dozier of the Associated Press that the Obama administration is wrestling with a decision over whether to kill a U.S. citizen who is a member of al-Qaida and is reportedly actively planning attacks against U.S. citizens abroad. Joshua Keating is a staff writer at Slate focusing on international affairs and writes the World blog. Follow him on Twitter. Follow The individual is apparently in a country that refuses U.S. military action on its soil. Two of the officials described the man as an al-Qaida facilitator who has been directly responsible for deadly attacks against U.S. citizens overseas and who continues to plan attacks against them that would use improvised explosive devices. Dozier writes that the Justice Department is “working to build a case for the president to review and decide the man's fate.” President Obama justified the Awlaki strike in a speech last May:
The National Security Archive December 9, 2014 Torture Report Finally Released Senate Intelligence Committee Summary of CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program Concludes CIA Misled Itself, Congress, the President about Lack of Effectiveness. September 28, 2014 THE YELLOW BOOK Secret Salvadoran military document from the civil war era catalogued "enemies," many killed or disappeared. More recent items The National Security Archive is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. National Security Archive, Suite 701, Gelman Library, The George Washington University, 2130 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C., 20037, Phone: 202/994-7000, Fax: 202/994-7005, nsarchiv@gwu.edu
Iranian warships heading to USA to show reach Iranian warships headed to the U.S. coast pose little danger to the United States but could be a dry run for the future, according to former U.S. military and security officials. The mission shows the danger Iran would pose if it possessed nuclear weapons, says John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush and an arms negotiator during the Cold War. "It shows they could put a weapon on a boat or freighter, and if (Iran) has ballistic missiles it could put it anywhere on the U.S. coast," Bolton said. Chris Harmer, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War and a former military planner for the U.S. While it poses no tactical threat to the United States, Iran will likely use it to advance its relationship with its ally Venezuela, a U.S. adversary in the Caribbean. "It shows the Iranians have worldwide ambitions and capabilities," Harmer said. The commander of Iran's Northern Navy Fleet, Adm.
Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Home Page DARPA: 'Vanishing' spy tech will self-destruct in 3,2,1... | Crave VAPR. It sounds like a nefarious spy agency bent on world domination, doesn't it? Instead, VAPR stands for Vanishing Programmable Resources, and it's a new program created by DARPA -- the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- to develop tech that self-destructs either on demand or at a pre-scheduled time. That's not to say it isn't involved in the world of espionage. That's exactly its point. According to DARPA: Sophisticated electronics can be made at low cost and are increasingly pervasive throughout the battlefield. That's all another way of saying: "We want to send spy toys over enemy lines that we might not be able to get back, so we want to blow them up before the enemy gets them." To help it in this mission, DARPA has given out contracts to major corporations, including ones worth $3.5 million to IBM, $2.5 million to Honeywell Aerospace, and $2.1 million to Xerox. (Via BBC)
State of the AmLaw 200 Blogosphere: March, 2010 96, or 48%, of the 2009 AmLaw 200 law firms are now blogging. This number is up from 39 firms, or a 149% increase, since August 2007 when LexBlog released its first State of the AmLaw Blogosphere. The number of blogs being published by these firms has grown nearly 300% in that same timeframe, from 74 to 297. In the 7 months since LexBlog released its fourth State of the AmLaw Blogosphere in June of 2009, the number of AmLaw law firms blogging has grown 20%. For large law firms looking to brand their law firm blogs, LexBlog remains the blog publishing platform of choice with 65% of the AmLaw law firm branded blogs running on the the LexBlog publishing platform. Growth highlights: 48% of AmLaw 200 law firms have blogs.20% growth in last 8 months in the number of AmLaw 200 law firms publishing blogs.33% growth in last 8 months in total number of blogs being published by AmLaw 200 law firms (some firms have more than one blog). And in the numbers: Note: a e-Discovery Team SCOTUSblog ClimateIntel
The Wages of Cronyism, Big Government, and Corruption - Daniel J. Mitchell The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death,” but the same can’t be said of Washington, DC. The bureaucrats, lobbyists, politicians, contractors, insiders, cronyists, and influence peddlers have rigged the system so that they get rich by diverting money from people in the productive sector of the economy. How bad is the disconnect between Washington and real America? Well, according to Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index, people in every state have a negative outlook. But there is one outpost of giddy prosperity, and that’s the District of Columbia, where residents have a 20-point gap compared to the most optimistic (or, to be more accurate, least pessimistic) state and a whopping 35-point gap with the average American. If you’re a glass-half-full person, there is a tiny sliver of good news in the new Gallup report. It turns out that DC is not as fat and happy as it was one year ago, and the likely reason is that the federal Leviathan got put on a modest diet.
Justia Blawg Search - Law Blogs, Lawyer Blogs, Legal Blogs Directory & Search Engine The dictator’s pen Text smaller Text bigger America has been delivered a serious blow at the hand of our president’s pen. Barack Obama is killing off freedom and liberty by signing one executive order after another without congressional approval. He routinely bypasses Congress and takes matters into his own collectivist hands, targeting our constitutional rights like a sniper targets its victim. Liberty and freedom is in Obama’s cross-hairs, and with the end of his second term approaching, he’s taking as much of our lawful privileges with him as possible, notwithstanding tightening his noose around our necks even more through unconstitutional actions and stifling regulations. Last I checked, America is a free society and the rule of law aptly applies. In his SOTU address, Obama promised a “year of action” and used, as an excuse, strengthening the middle class, committing to “take steps without legislation.” But wait; there’s more. Holtz-Eakin states, “This is the most regulatory administration in history.
Monitor Suite® Ohio set to pass tough new round of voting restrictions Ohio Republicans are poised to pass a new round of restrictive voting laws this week. Taken together, the measures could limit access to the ballot in this year’s midterms and the 2016 presidential race, and revive the obscenely long lines at the polls that plagued the Buckeye State a decade ago. No Republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio, and it remains the single most pivotal state in presidential elections. That status is giving an added intensity to the battle over voting rights there. The Ohio House could vote as soon as Wednesday on two GOP-backed bills. One would cut early voting from 35 to 28 or 29 days. The Ed Show, 1/30/14, 6:35 PM ET Fighting for voting rights before midterms In “Trenders,” Bieber’s back in trouble, while America gets excited for puppies. A third bill scheduled for a Tuesday hearing and already passed by the Senate would make it harder for provisional ballots to be counted—though a full vote on that measure isn’t expected this week.