In May of this year, thousands of people gathered at the White House to spontaneously celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden. The Park Police did not ask them for a permit, did not ask them to disperse, and there were no paddy wagons called to haul them away. Of course killing Osama bin Laden was something the President repeatedly spoke of with pride, earning himself not only a bump in his poll numbers but also a Saturday Night Live send-up.

As I sat in DC traffic court waiting for Dan Choi to be released from jail on Monday, it became clear that the objective of the government was to prevent him from doing what the Osama bin Laden celebrants had been freely permitted to do: express their first amendment rights in front of a powerful American symbol owned by the American people.

President Obama’s job approval rating hits its lowest level yet in Gallup’s daily tracking polling. The three day rolling average found only 38 percent approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president while 54 percent disapprove.

The late-night Chinook helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed up to 31 Americans and 7 Afghans killed over 20 Navy SEALs, including members of Seal Team Six, the same unit that participated in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Osama Bin Laden was looking to re-brand al-Qaeda. Suggestions anyone?

It is another sign Obama’s re-election will hinge almost exclusively the economy.

The White House may not want to admit that all their nation-building projects in Afghanistan are destined to crumble, but common sense dictates that as the expected outcome. It’s another reason why, after 10 years of war, and the sinking of thousands of lives and billions of dollars into the region, most Americans just want to get the hell out.

Now, ten years after 9/11, with Osama bin Laden dead, in a broad bipartisan vote, the United States Senate moved forward with another extension of the “temporary” Patriot Act. The vote was 74-8. Both the support and the very limited opposition to this extension were near-even slits along party lines; true bipartisan efforts.

The Dawn Media Group in partnership with WikiLeaks has been releasing the “Pakistan Papers,” cables from the trove of more than 250,000 US State Embassy cables that WikiLeaks obtained which specifically deal with Pakistan. Thus far, some of the revelations include the following: Pakistan’s military asked for continued drone coverage, the US has had troops deployed on Pakistan soil, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been financing jihadist groups in Pakistan and the US did not provide Benazir Bhutto with proper security.

I interviewed Raza Rumi, a writer based in Lahore, Pakistan, who regularly writes for the Pakistani weekly The Friday Times, The News and Daily DAWN.

The mission was launched on a less than optimal night. And it was launched when it was because the Administration worried about impending leaks.

The Academy-Award nominated, Sundance Grand Jury-winning Restrepo is a story of war, loss, tragedy and bravery which resonates even more loudly with the death of co-director Tim Hetherington, who was killed during a mortar attack in Libya while reporting there. Hetherington had been scheduled as our guest for tonight. His death is a great loss to his family and friends, and to journalism. We are honored to have author David Axe (War is Boring) with us tonight in his stead. Axe has spent much time on the battlefields in Afghanistan, and he’s been here before– hosting an FDL Book Salon with Hetherington’s co-director Sebastian Junger. Tonight we’ll discuss the film, the war in Afghanistan, and being an embedded journalist.