The Obama administration has come to be regarded as being deceitful on policies of openness and transparency; and in many cases, worse on freedom of information than the Bush Administration. That is something government officials have had to confront during Sunshine Week, as they try to celebrate freedom of information and open government.

How could a private citizen’s whistleblower suit get extinguished in a federal settlement? We haven’t seen the terms, of course, but apparently the Mackler suit could have been filed under the False Claims Act on behalf of the US government, which was being defrauded. Mackler probably got a payout for his services, but the suit sought $5,500-$11,000 in fines per violation, which could have ranged into the billions. So when faced with documented proof of noncompliance with and abuse under HAMP, the government simply passed it off and folded it into their settlement, and for good measure gave back all the incentive payments owed to the same banks alleged to have defrauded them in this lawsuit.

If there’s anything approaching accountability in the Obama Administration’s actions against the banks, I’m not seeing it.

A policy speech given by Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday asserted the Executive Branch’s supposed legal authority to kill US citizens abroad without charge or trial if they are deemed to pose an “imminent threat” and be “senior operators” of al-Qaeda or a group loosely affiliated to al-Qaeda. The speech has sparked a backlash, especially since it argued that US citizens have a right under the Constitution to due process but not judicial process. Since there is a review board that makes a decision on whether to order the killing of individuals believed to be a threat, the argument is that this is a process and so, if a citizen is killed, it is okay because that citizen would have been given his or her due.

Attorney General Eric Holder delivered a major policy speech at Northwestern University in Chicago that laid out what he and the Obama Administration consider to be the legal justification for counterterrorism policies. Of particular significance were arguments justifying the use of lethal force to kill US citizens suspected of terrorism without charge or trial.

Attorney General Eric Holder helpfully explained when the government can kill you without a trial, in a speech last night at Northwestern University. He didn’t take questions, because he was so crystal clear about it.

But must it be repeatedly dug up and mutilated like poor Pope Formosus?

Al Franken has a video out informing borrowers that they may be contacted if they’re eligible for a cash payment from a wrongful foreclosure or the opportunity to refinance or get a principal reduction on their loans. It’s more of a public service announcement than anything. Meanwhile, Tammy Baldwin joined others in criticizing Wisc. Gov. Scott Walker for proposing to divert settlement funds to the state treasury.

The fact is that as the elected chief legal officers in their states, no one had the power to make Harris or Schneiderman accept the deal. Yes, a lot of indirect political pressure was applied to them, but that is all it was. No one literally put a gun to their heads. Nothing actually prevented them from fighting longer or harder. The deal happened because they choose to agree to it. It would not have happened without them.

No one should get a pass. Everyone should be held responsible for the choices they make.

Eric Schneiderman, co-chair of the newly titled “RMBS working group” investigating financial fraud, appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show last night (the interview starts around the 5:00 mark), and there were a few interesting moments. First you have his assessment of the the fraud involved here, which he definitively cast as a pre-crisis issue. Schneiderman, from his public statements, is less concerned with the faulty documentation used to foreclose on borrowers; I would imagine he sees this as the cover-up for the initial crime of securitization fraud, and going back even further origination fraud. He sees that as where the banks’ real exposure lies. And so the working group will look at “all of the conduct that blew up the economy,” not the conduct being engaged in to paper over (literally) all that.

It seems Covington & Burling, the powerhouse law firm that used to employ, and could be expected to re-employ, Attorney general Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division Lanny Breuer is also the same firm that issued the opinion letter that said that MERS was a valid way to transfer mortgages.