Mother Jones magazine on Tumblr

"Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Libya, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe."

— The 54 foreign governments that helped the CIA torture, detain, and transport suspects in the years following 9/11, according to this detailed report.

"[The Obama targeted killing paper argues] a single ‘high level-official,’ whose authority is undefined, can approve a death sentence for an American citizen as long as the target is too difficult for the US government to capture and the loss of civilian life that would result from a targeted killing is not deemed excessive."

— Obama Targeted Killing Document: If We Do It, It’s Not Illegal

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CHART: Mass shootings more lethal than homegrown Islamist terrorism in the US.

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We’re always interested in a cure for “Terriosm.” Sigh.

(Via The Duffel Blog)

Do We Really Need a Second Gitmo? →

"I think we’re going to have to ask ourselves in 2015-2016 if [the Guantanamo prison] is something we still want in 2050. And it’s going to seem ridiculous…Hopefully the American public will see that moving prisoners to the US is a necessary step if we want to move on."

— Ken Gude, chief of staff and vice president at the Center for American Progress. 

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Behind the comparisons to Jimmy Carter and the references to “peace through strength” is a dubious policy critique: not just that Obama is Carter and Romney is Reagan, but that somehow sufficient man-musk from an American president can dissuade any potential terrorist from laying his finger on an American diplomat.

Adam Serwer puts the lie to Republican claims that they’re better on protecting American ambassadors abroad.

Oh gee, will you look at that? The Guantanamo detainees transferred or released by George Bush have committed far more acts of terrorism and violence than the ones released by Barack Obama.

But, as Adam Serwer notes, there are some pretty compelling (and depressing) reasons for the discrepancy.

We’re not trying to pick on CNN here, but: Seriously?

Important story you may have missed: Adam Serwer explains what Monday’s Boston terror case verdict case means for civil liberties:

[B[y convicting Mehanna of material support for terrorism based on his online activities, the prosecution may have established a path through which the government can throw people in prison on terrorism charges for expressing abhorrent opinions, even if the individual in question has no direct ties to a terrorist organization.

Full story here.

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Hey, look, it’s Osama bin Laden…and OMG he’s looking at our handy map of nuclear weapons sites around the US!

Even though we used 100% public, unclassified information to make our map of the nuclear complex, some people have freaked out and accused us of doing America’s enemies’ homework for them. Never mind that the military freely posts the location of its missiles and bombers and the nuclear power industry shares the locations of its plants. Apparently, terrorists have yet to master this simple yet deadly tool.

Protip For Right-Wing Extremists

adamserwer:

If you’re going to (allegedly!) get involved in some sort of crazy terrorist plot, fantasizing about the president dying on your Facebook page is probably not the best idea. 

Via.

We also highly doubt that his favorite actor was really Patrick Swayze! Full team coverage here.

Anwar Al-Awlaki was just killed in Yemen. How does the Obama administration justify killing an American citizen? David Corn explains the rationale. →

The Informants →

readonethingtoday:

Ever since 9/11, counterterrorism has been the FBI’s No. 1 priority, consuming the lion’s share of its budget—$3.3 billion, compared to $2.6 billion for organized crime—and much of the attention of field agents and a massive, nationwide network of informants. After years of emphasizing informant recruiting as a key task for its agents, the bureau now maintains a roster of 15,000 spies—many of them tasked, as Hussain was, with infiltrating Muslim communities in the United States. In addition, for every informant officially listed in the bureau’s records, there are as many as three unofficial ones, according to one former high-level FBI official, known in bureau parlance as “hip pockets.”

Hey! Check out our latest cover. And while you’re at it, take some time to read our special year-long investigation of the FBI’s secret informant network.