Last week, the court in Idaho—the very same court that granted the FBI’s request for a warrant in 2003—took the FBI to task for this “misleading and highly suggestive” warrant application.  Judge Edward J. Lodge, adopting the recommendations of Magistrate Judge Mikel H. Williams, ruled that the FBI agent who sought Mr. al-Kidd’s arrest violated the Fourth Amendment by recklessly misleading the court.  Judge Lodge also ruled that the United States was liable for false imprisonment, and that Mr. al-Kidd’s “abuse of process” claim—his claim that the government had misused the material witness statute “for a purpose other than to secure testimony”—deserves a trial.

As national commentators have recognized, the court’s rulings are a “big deal.”  It’s the first time that a court has found on the merits that the government violated the constitutional rights of a person wrongfully arrested as a material witness after 9/11.

Federal court calls FBI to account for the unlawful imprisonment of U.S. citizen Abdullah al-Kidd

An interesting observation:

As far as counterterrorism policies are concerned, what is most at stake in the election contest between Obama and Romney are differential categories of trust and mistrust, and resulting asymmetries in their abilities to get things done.  Because Obama is a democrat who came to office with a civil liberties reputation, he garners more trust, support, and leeway from the public, Congress and courts than a hawkish republican when it comes to “aggressive” counterterrorism actions (drone strikes, indefinite detention, proxy detentions, and the like), but less trust, support, and leeway on “dovish” counterterrorism policies (like closing GTMO and criminal trials).   By contrast, and for mirror image reasons, Romney would (like Obama’s predecesor) have more leeway to reduce the GTMO population and conduct criminal trials but would receive more scrutiny and criticism, and have less room for maneuver, for drone strikes and proxy detentions.  There are many complications here, but the bottom line is that a democratic president has more leeway than a republican one to conduct aggressive counterterrorism policies, and less leeway to conduct dovish ones.

Lawfare › What’s Most at Stake for Counterterrorism Policy in the 2012 Election

Obama made a passing reference to civil liberties in a campaign speech this week.

We haven’t talked about what's at stake with respect to the Supreme Court.  We haven’t talked about what's at stake with respect to civil liberties.

OK - lets talk about that.

Most of the bold rhetoric surrounding civil liberties from the 2008 DNC platform was cut from the 2012 DNC platform, a change that is open to a variety of interpretations. I think that any way you slice it, clearly, mainstream Democrats aren't concerned about civil liberties issues right now and don't notice the absence of these issues in the platform. It seems clear that Democrats only care about civil liberties when Republicans are in the Whitehouse.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, as a civil libertarian, I don't have a lot of friends in the American political spectrum, and usually the friends I have are only my friends temporarily whenever they see an opportunity to criticize their political opponents. Take, for example, Glenn Reynolds' insipid call for Obama to resign last month. Of all the affronts to civil liberties that have happened over the past 12 years, he chooses this moment to call for a President to resign? Forgive me for not feeling inspired by his zeal to defend our Constitutional rights.

The civil-libertarian cause is diminished when it appears as if it's opportunistically invoked as a cudgel against ideological opponents.

Many real civil libertarians are critical of Obama's record. However, I think that this mostly represents a feeling of disappointment rather than outright frustration. In my mind the Bush administration committed three significant sins respecting civil liberties:

1. Supporting the Patriot Act - The Patriot Act was passed with broad bipartisan support but for some reason it turned into a partisan issue. There were several provisions that have been found unconstitutional and therefore I think people like me who expressed concerns about it in 2001 have been more-or-less vindicated. I wish that all of the liberal loudmouths who later seemed to join in opposition of it were as angry at the Democrats who voted for it as they are at Bush. Regardless, the Bush administration presented this bill and it is part of the Bush legacy, including the unconstitutional provisions.

2. Indefinite Detention without Charges - The indefinite detention, without charges, of a US Citizen (Jose Padilla), seized on US soil, crossed a line. It is impossible, in my mind, to rationalize applying the term "free society" to a country in which that action was legal. I am very disappointed in the amount of legal wrangling ... [ Read More (0.6k in body) ]

Obama brings up Civil Liberties in campaign speech

Interesting collection of graffiti from the tube.

Photo Album - Imgur

Democrats insist they have a chance at regaining the majority in the House just two years after they lost it in the 2010 election. But Republicans have their biggest House majority in six decades and are playing some offense too, which means it's a tall task for the minority party.

This is a useful dataset. It doesn't look likely that the Dems will take the house.

The race for House control - House race ratings election 2012 - The Washington Post

Hijexx wrote:

Decius wrote:

When you have a fire in an aircraft, there's no place to go, exactly, there's no -- and you can't find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don't open. I don't know why they don't do that. It's a real problem.

Also see this:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/romney/windows.asp

New York magazine reported that:
The Los Angeles Times story that relayed Romney's airplane remark to the world was based off a pool report written by the New York Times's Ashley Parker. When we asked Parker whether it seemed as if Romney made the mark in jest, she left no doubt. "Romney was joking," she e-mailed. Parker told us that while the pool report didn't explicitly indicate that Romney was joking, it was self-evident that he was. "The pool report provided the full transcript of his comments on Ann's plane scare," she said, "and it was clear from the context that he was not being serious."

Thanks for the followup - they ran stories about that as if he said it deadpan.

RE: Romney Wonders Why Airplane Windows Don't Open

When you have a fire in an aircraft, there's no place to go, exactly, there's no -- and you can't find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don't open. I don't know why they don't do that. It's a real problem.

Reminds one of this:

That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it’s got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade — we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.

I don't know what is worse - the people who defend the idea that these are credible candidates for the highest offices in this country, or the thought that our political system actually selected these people for that role. Clearly, its not a meritocracy here.

Romney Wonders Why Airplane Windows Don't Open

The widespread prevalence and persistence of misinformation in contemporary societies, such as the false belief that there is a link between childhood vaccinations and autism, is a matter of public concern. For example, the myths surrounding vaccinations, which prompted some parents to withhold immunization from their children, have led to a marked increase in vaccine-preventable disease, as well as unnecessary public expenditure on research and public-information campaigns aimed at rectifying the situation.

Misinformation and Its Correction

The researchers found evidence that the command-and-control servers were set up to communicate with at least four pieces of malware.

Aside from Flame, none of the other three pieces of malware have been discovered yet, as far as the researchers know. But according to Raiu, they know that SPE is in the wild because a handful of machines infected with it contacted a sinkhole that Kaspersky set up in June to communicate with machines infected with Flame. They were surprised when malware that was not Flame contacted the sinkhole as soon as it went online. They only recently realized it was SPE. The SPE infections came in from Lebanon and Iran.

More undiscovered state sponsored malware out there...

Much hey is being made of Romney's comments about the Democratic base consisting of people who are dependent upon the state. The comments are being called "candid" but I really think Romney is still being a politician here. I think he is reflecting to these donors their own views regarding the poor, rather than his own.

I have no idea what Romney actually thinks, but I have to say I agree with the following:

Well, I wrote a book that lays out my view for what has to happen in the country, and people who are fascinated by policy will read the book. We have a website that lays out white papers on a whole series of issues that I care about. I have to tell you, I don't think this will have a significant impact on my electability. I wish it did. I think our ads will have a much bigger impact. I think the debates will have a big impact…My dad used to say, "Being right early is not good in politics." And in a setting like this, a highly intellectual subject—discussion on a whole series of important topics typically doesn't win elections. And there are, there are, there are—for instance, this president won because of "hope and change."

Some of these remarks provide an interesting view into the realities of our political system that are worth noting if you can see them through all the self serving outrage of the partisan machine.

SECRET VIDEO: Romney Tells Millionaire Donors What He REALLY Thinks of Obama Voters | Mother Jones