The findings led Sam Zarifi of Amnesty International to declare, “The Obama administration must explain the legal basis for drone strikes in Pakistan to avoid the perception that it acts with impunity. The Pakistan government must also ensure accountability for indiscriminate killing, in violation of international law, that occurs inside Pakistan.” In fact, that is what Akbar, whom the CIA calls a spy, is trying to do: challenge the legality of drone strikes. And, clearly establishing what is legal and not legal about drone strikes is exactly what the US does not want to do, preferring to keep courts from deliberating on the issue in the same way the Bush administration worked to keep courts from deliberating on the issue of torture.

In March, U.S. Magistrate John M. Facciola raised concerns about the “rarely invoked” federal charges that the government is pursuing against Dan Choi for protesting in front of the White House. Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela George said it was because Choi has been arrested for protesting in front of the White House multiple times.

But Dan has only been arrested three times for protesting there; numerous people have been arrested many more times than he has.

Normally elections are heavily dependent on the state of the economy, and with some people struggling right now with bad economic conditions the outcome of the 2012 election will be determined even more by the state of the economy. I’ve complied this chart from Gallup tracking data that I believe makes it clear how much that President Obama’s fortunes will depend almost exclusively on the state of the economy.

Darrell Issa is really not happy about a New York Times spread about how business interests have affected his job on the House Oversight Committee.

But first of all, the NYT should credit Lee Fang and Think Progress for the work that they’ve done on this. Second, Issa has no real reason to complain about what he has called a hit piece.

It turns out that the Iraqi leadership essentially backed the Syrian side of the divide over their repressive attacks on their own people. It’s credible to suggest that Iran played a role in Iraq’s decision-making.

The Iraqi government is most certainly not unified on this point. The Parliament has denounced the violence in Syria, particularly the Kurdish and Sunni factions. But Maliki appears firmly in the Syrian camp, in contrast to his government’s anger at Bahrain when the Sunni minority brutalized a Shiite majority. So the sectarian lens has come to govern Iraq’s positions in the region.

Tax policy that favors the rich has an enormous impact on public policy, with everything run through corporate and wealthy elites. In an impressive rant, Steven Pearlstein shows how this worked, with the rich creating the conservative monster and financing the radical movement which has relentlessly pushed the economy to the brink of disaster. So there’s definitely value in progressive taxation, even if that may not be true at this particular point in time. And when forced to choose between progressive taxation and spending cuts, it’s really no contest.

I can’t wait to see what Larry “I wrote laws, MFer! With Pat Moynihan!” O’Donnell has to say about his GOP man-crush Tim Pawlenty dropping out of the presidential race. Perhaps he’ll not report it at all, and act as if the T-Paw juggernaut in his head continues on apace? Or — maybe he’ll have an hour-long In Memoriam segment for the brilliant but tragically misunderestimated Pawlenty “movement”?

I’ve written about June Clarkson and Theresa Edwards, the two foreclosure fraud investigators at the Florida Attorney General’s office fired for being too competent in their investigations. This appeared to be a US Attorney-like scandal at the state level, but I wasn’t hopeful that much would come of it.

Boy, was I wrong.

In reaction to BART’s shutdown of cell phone service Thursday, Anonymous has taken to the Internet and begun #opBART and #opMuBARTek (a reference to the Egyptian president’s shutting down that country’s Internet service during protests) a multi-pronged series of actions designed to protest the Bay Area Rapid Transit’s stifling of free speech. There will be [...]

• Goodbye, T-Paw; hello, Secessionist.
• Meanwhile, in Afghanistan…
• Trying to please the center and pleasing no one.
• They’re running the 1996 playbook.
• Hehindeedy.