Chevron's New Heavies
Last year, Chevron Corporation released a video purporting to show an Ecuadorian judge in the act of being bribed and admitting bias in a pollution case against Chevron. The company has made the...
View ArticleRendered by U.S., Tortured by Syria, Degreed in Canada
Earlier this month, Maher Arar received his PHD in electrical engineering from Ottawa University.That's eight years after U.S. authorities snatched him from JFK and rendered him to Syria knowing he...
View Article(Non) Combat in Iraq
The administration and media are celebrating the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq.But really, it's only the official mission that's changed, not the actual activity or the composition of U.S....
View ArticleKossacks play chess
Last year SuperbowlXX and others organized and supervised a Kossacks chess tournament - see SuperbowlXX's announcement of it here. The tournament was staged mostly on Chess.com.
View ArticleKossacks Chess - OkieLawyer Teaches Me A Lesson
Recently, I played against another Kossack, OkieLawyer, in the Kossacks-only chess tournament on Chess.com. Talk about a teaching moment. Follow me below for my comments and a game analysis by the...
View ArticleThe surveillance state loses a round in court.
On Thursday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a suit against the government can proceed, a case in which the plaintiffs allege that the National Security Agency engaged in “an...
View ArticlePlay Chess with the Kossacks
This diary is just a reminder that a group of chess-playing Kossacks is active on chess.com.
View ArticlePresident Obama, Publicly Pledge Not to Launch or Support a Surprise Attack...
There's really not much more to say that's not contained or implied in the title of this diary. No amount of discussion or thoughtful analysis can add anything important to the thought, so I'll leave...
View ArticleA Couple of Quaint Historical Things
I recently did an diary urging that President Obama foreswear launching or supporting a surprise attack against Iran. The diary didn't amount to much and got the attention that it deserved, but some...
View ArticleKossacks Chess: OkieLawyer v rhutcheson
You may know that there is a Kossacks chess team active on chess.com. This diary is a collaborative documentation by two members of the team, OkieLawyer and rhutcheson, of a recent game in which...
View ArticleJudge's Instruction: 'Presume the prosecution's case reliable and accurate'.
In U.S. criminal courts, juries typically get instructions before beginning deliberations something like this model jury instruction:The fact that a witness is employed as a law enforcement officer...
View ArticleWho Can the President Order Killed? Any Idea?
In yesterday's State Department Daily Press Briefing, a reporter asked the spokesperson about the possibility of getting the Pakistanis to agree to the listing of the Haqqani Network as a Foreign...
View ArticleCourt Faults FBI for Unconstitutional Use of National Security Letters
The US District Court of Northern California has ruled that the some of the FBI's use of national security letters (NSLs) is unconstitutional. These NSLs are issued without judicial review to force...
View ArticleAmericans Oppose U.S. Intervention in Syria and North Korea
According to a New York Times/CBS News poll, a large majority of the public opposes U.S. intervention in Syria and only 15% say that North Korea is a threat which requires immediate action. That's...
View ArticleBill Keller Says: Why wait? Let's Go On Syria (This Time I Know I'm Right)
Bill Keller is an OpEd writer for the New York Times whose columns appear on Monday. In his previous career as executive editor of the Times, he played a starring role in the ginning-up of the Bush...
View ArticleSupport Barbara Lee's Bill to Repeal the AUMF
Representative Barbara Lee has introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives a bill to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which has provided the legal fig leaf for our...
View ArticleAnother Reason to Repeal the AUMF
As if we need another reason to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which has provided the legal fig leaf for our unending 'war on terror': The US Court of Appeals for the...
View ArticleMuslims Need Not Apply
That's the title of a report by the ACLU of Southern California which exposes yet another violation of the rule of law (to say nothing of fair play) associated with the endless 'war on terror': since...
View ArticleTwo things I didn't know about the push for attack on Syria.
From an article by David Bromwich for the London Review of Books: - James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, evidently refused to sign off on the intelligence report cited by John Kerry in...
View ArticleInternet Fails: They should have done it like the private sector!
Except they did:Error Creates Deals Too Good to Be True on Walmart’s Site: Certain products on the Walmart website displayed wildly low prices Wednesday morning, such as a kayak for $11 or a treadmill...
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