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Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court’s most controversial justice, demonstrated his fiery temper in a recent visit to Florida Atlantic University, where he was marketing his new book, Making Your Case.…

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Yesterday Dick Cheney, doing his best Dr. Phibes, gave an interview in Politico. The United States, he said, faced the prospect of another attack along the lines of 9/11, though…

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On occasion, he compares himself with Grendel, the half-human monster in Beowulf known for cannibalizing his victims. Other times he calls himself Moby Dick, the great white whale of Herman…

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A British court’s judgment makes plain that it believes that a British subject held at Guantánamo was tortured, and that the United States had threatened the British Government over disclosure…

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Just as the Obama Administration prepared to beef up the American presence in Afghanistan as evidence of its commitment to fighting Al Qaeda, bad news arrived from two fronts. Afghan…

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Felix Mendelssohn was born two hundred years ago today. It’s hard to imagine the cultural life of the German-speaking world of the nineteenth century without the name “Mendelssohn” because it…

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Tonight on Rachel Maddow, on MSNBC, I discussed the whisper campaign to mischaracterize President Obama’s decision to stand down the Bush 43 extraordinary renditions program, while leaving open the possibility…

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Neil Lewis of the New York Times takes a look at what we can expect from a Justice Department headed by Eric Holder, who is likely to be confirmed as…

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In a breathless piece of reporting in the Sunday Los Angeles Times, we are told that Barack Obama “left intact” a “controversial counter-terrorism tool” called renditions. Moreover, the Times states,…

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Jon Chait has an interesting piece in the next issue of the New Republic entitled “Spare the Rod.” He contrasts former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman with former Illinois Governor Ron…

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As my colleague Ken Silverstein pointed out, Joe Lieberman made a joke about waterboarding at last night’s Alfalfa Club Dinner. This is an excellent example of “humor” revealing the mindset…

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Meeresstille Tiefe Stille herrscht im Wasser, Ohne Regung ruht das Meer, Und bekümmert sieht der Schiffer Glatte Fläche ringsumher. Keine Luft von keiner Seite! Todesstille fürchterlich! In der ungeheuern Weite…

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Les hommes ont banni la Divinité d’entr’eux; ils l’ont réleguée dans un Sanctuaire; les murs d’un temple bornent sa vue; elle n’éxiste point au-delà. Insensés que vous êtes, détruisez ces…

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John Yoo is at it again. In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, the indefatigable advocate of crushing the testicles of small children to extract actionable intelligence launches a full frontal attack…

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Karl Rove is the master electoral strategist of the Republican Party and has been since the 2000 election that brought the G.O.P. back to power. How’s he doing? Rove promised…

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P. W. Singer of the Brookings Institution labors at the intersection of the military, defense contractors, and the world of high tech. In his latest work, Wired for War, Singer…

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House Judiciary Chair John Conyers has placed former Bush political advisor Karl Rove under subpoena. Rove is being brought before the Judiciary Committee to testify about his role in the…

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Announced by all the trumpets of the sky, Arrives the snow, and, driving o’er the fields, Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air Hides hill and woods, the river, and…

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We’re just over one hundred hours into the Obama presidency now and Obama has acted decisively to implement a number of his promises from the election campaign–those which could be…

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Der Mensch besweiset Reflexion, wenn die Kraft seiner Seele so frei würket, daß sie in dem ganzen Ocean von Empfindungen, die sie durch alle Sinnen durchrauschet, eine Welle, wenn ich…

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One thing seems clear regarding Condoleezza Rice’s stewardship of the State Department: she did not command the admiration of many of those who worked with her. The reaction of State…

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For the last several weeks, Michael Hayden, the former CIA director who previously led the NSA, has been sweating bullets. In recent press meetings he was a bundle of worries,…

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Former New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias has been appointed as a JAG prosecutor for the Gitmo cases. Iglesias, a Native American and 24-year Navy veteran with the rank of…

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In an interview on Tuesday evening with the German television program “Frontal 21,” on channel ZDF Professor Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Rapporteur responsible for torture, stated that with George…

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America! Land created in common, Dream nourished in common, Keep your hand on the plow! Hold on! If the house is not yet finished, Don’t be discouraged, builder! If the…

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Today, Barack Obama has completed his choices for the Justice Department’s “brains,” and his picks provide good reason for hope that the old Justice Department—an organization of which all Americans…

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As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter…

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Woody Guthrie’s celebrated song, as performed during the Inaugural Concert (captured as transmitted on German television, N24) featured the original, unexpurgated lyrics. A memorable event:…

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