After two mistrials, the feds decide to try the Liberty Seven Six (one was acquitted) for a third time.
The CIA has some 7,000 documents responsive to human rights groups’ FOIA requests for more information about secret detentions, renditions, and torture — but it’s not going to turn them over.
John McCain is in New Orleans’ 9th Ward today as part of his “poverty tour,” which prompts TPM Reader BM to recall McCain’s endorsement by the Rev. John Hagee:
It’s probably folly to think that a member of the press corps would ask McCain about whether he believed that New Orleans’ sinfulness is responsible for the damage inflicted by the hurricane, as his endorser continues to allege.
Here’s Hagee on “the homosexual parade” that prompted God to unleash Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans, from TPMtv (starts at the 3:17 mark):
Late Update: Hagee essentially repeated his verdict as recently as this week.
[Special Thanks to TPM Reader JY.]
Super Late Update: McCain told reporters today that Hagee’s suggestion was “nonsense,” according to Fox:
“It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense. I dont have anything additional to say. It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, I don’t have anything more to say….it’s nonsense. I reject it categorically.”
The Clinton campaign is sticking by its claim that it raised $10 million between the time the polls closed in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and 11 ET last night.
Always wait for the fine print.
We’ve been hearing for several days now that the White House was poised to released new videotape showing incontrovertible evidence of North Korean helping the Syrians build the alleged nuclear facilities the Israeli air force destroyed last September.
Well. Read down in the details. Now it appears there’s actually no videotape — only still photos. The ‘videotape’ is a videotape of the still photos.
As one “US official” told AFP, “There are still photographs of the facility as part of the video, but it’s a video presentation, like a Powerpoint presentation. It’s not a video of the facility.”
What does the FBI do when faced with evidence of torture by the U.S. government?
First, it was supposed to be video of North Koreans inside of Syria’s alleged nuke facility. Then it turned out the “video” was really just the intel community’s own presentation, which contained still photographs.
Now Reuters seems to knock the story back another notch:
A U.S. official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss classified matters, said that among the intelligence the United States has was an image of what appeared to be people of Korean descent at the facility.
“Appeared to be people of Korean descent”?
As a friend of the site wondered in a email a little while ago: “I’m not sure how one would recognize NKs in photos…’Hard Rock Café Pyongyang’ T-shirts?”
Late Update: The Financial Times offers a more definitive account from a source:
One photograph shows a North Korean nuclear scientist named Chon Chibu standing beside a person believed to be his Syrian counterpart. Mr Chon has worked at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which produced the material for the bomb North Korea tested in 2006, and has dealt with US officials in the past. The US official said the date of the meeting was unclear, but said the vintage of a car that appears in the background suggests it was sometime after 2005.
With the pledged delegate lead now out of reach, the Clinton campaign is focused on the popular vote. In today’s episode of TPMtv, Greg Sargent looks at the different ways to slice and dice the numbers and what it would take for Sen. Clinton to grab hold of the popular vote lead …
High-res version at Veracifier.com.
Reed Hundt calls out the person really behind the growing chorus of right-wing attacks on Obama: John McCain.