It's odd that the media has become liberal darlings, because during the W years, they were despised. We didn't see them as "enemies of the people," but rather as spineless sell-outs who endlessly disappointed us. The blogosphere was the alternative where we felt heard.
Take the New York Times. The Times sold the Iraq war based on the flimsiest of evidence. The Times wasn't keeping fascism at bay. The Times helped get us into the Iraq debacle.
During the absurd "Mission Accomplished" stunt, Chris Matthews rhapsodized about our Chad president. "The president there -- look at this guy! We're watching him. He looks like he flew the plane. ... He looks for real. He didn't fight in a war, but he looks like he does."
In the early morning of February 25, 1603—419 years ago today—a battle was fought off the Coast of Singapore that would have profound implications for how states wage war. A thread on the Capture of the Santa Catarina, origins of the laws of war, and birth of liberalism.
Soon after Vasco da Gama reached India in 1498, Portugal came to dominate the Asian spice trade. By 1599, Dutch merchants had begun to challenge the lucrative monopoly. The Portuguese retaliated by harassing natives who did business with the Dutch and by killing Dutch traders.
In 1602, the Dutchman Jacob van Heemskerck led a fleet of eight ships to the East Indies on a trading expedition. When he arrived, he learned about the Portuguese terror campaign to drive the Dutch away and decided to punish the wrongs committed against his countrymen.
As I finish up my hacking book, I have been revisiting the Snowden revelations and what they really revealed. To explain their true significance, however, you have to understand intelligence law and in particular FISA. But FISA is absurdly complicated. 1/
FISA is so confusing b/c 50 USC 1801 uses many similar parameters to determine whether a FISA warrant is needed: (1) communication location (any end in US?); (2) target identity (US person?); (3) target location (US?); (4) acquisition location (US?); (5) media (wire/radio) 2/
Then there is Sec 702 that permits warrantless collections, but requires annual certifications. 702 depends on (1) target identity; (2) target location. How can we possibly have a public debate about these issues when the law is so confusing? 3/