Germany has become the second European country to issue arrest warrants for CIA agents involved in kidnapping terrorism suspects for transportation to third countries where the suspects are abused and often tortured. German citizen Khaled El-Masri was snatched from the German border, flown to Afghanistan where he was beaten and tortured, and was then dumped [...]

The Rebel Angels, by Robertson Davies: A
The Face in the Frost, by John Bellairs: B+

You have to love those Renaissance-era scholars. I mean they were just so cute. They had all the brains, but (saving Aristotle and his buds, a Roman or two, and a double handful of carefully ignored Arab luminaries) a [...]

Monday morning at the Libby trial, prosecution gets October 2003 Washington Post articles on the Plame leak admitted as evidence, and the defense continues cross examination of FBI agent Deborah Bond…

Why is it that politicians and pundits continue to behave as though they can exert any influence upon George Bush and Dick Cheney? The pair have explicitly stated on any number of occasions that they are not only unwilling to take advice from anyone other than themselves, but that they regard ignoring Congressional strictures, let [...]

In his March 2004 appearance before the grand jury investigating the Plame leak, Scooter Libby can’t recall very much…

My paraphrased account of this morning’s playing for the jury of audiotapes of Fitzgerald’s March 5, 2004, interrogation of Libby…

In his grand jury testimony that we heard today, Scooter Libby introduced a novel concept to the field of national security law…

Tim Russert delivers the prosecution’s knockout punch…

Why are lefty bloggers embracing the defense’s attack on Russert’s credibility?

The U.S. military’s demonstration of “Iranian” weapons in Iraq fails to convince…

Tim Russert cemented his reputation as the Bruce Strauss of Washington journalism during his testimony at the Scooter Libby trial. During Sunday’s episode of Meet the Press, he gave other, lesser journalistic lights the opportunity to demean the profession each in their own imitable ways.
The Politico’s Roger Simon grabbed most of the attention from [...]

BTC News world headquarters — i.e., me and my computer — officially made the move from Honolulu to San Diego last week. As happens with these things, the move cost more than expected and my coffers are more bare than usual, which is pretty much. If you like the site and can afford to contribute [...]

Among the journalistic practices held up for scrutiny by the Scooter Libby trial is the prolific use of anonymous sources to questionable ends. Administration officials including Libby, Karl Rove and Dan Bartlett used casually granted anonymity to steer reporters away from the substance of a story — the administration’s use of tainted, if not manufactured, [...]

The Bush administration has been pushing the envelope on arrogance and ignorance for more than six years now. One would think that their capacity for doing worse tomorrow than they did yesterday, and getting away with it, would have sunk in by now at least with the people who have been ringing the alarm bells [...]

Ted Wells wants Scooter back, Pat Fitzgerald would rather have the truth…

Students of ancient history will recall that long-ago moment when president Bush found in Vladimir Putin a kindred soul. Bush said that “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of [...]

If at first you don’t succeed, lie, lie again…