The debt ceiling is dominating national media coverage right now, but the arrest of Private Naser Jason Abdo on suspicion of planning a second attack on Fort Hood is going to become focus in the next few weeks. In the aftermath of Nidal Malik Hasan's rampage that killed 13 people in 2009, Republicans argued that "political correctness" was hampering the government's ability to identify extremists before they acted. Conservatives were already furious that Abdo had obtained conscientious-objector status based on his religious belief that he was prohibited from killing other Muslims, and they're likely to argue that the same problem was at work here, that Abdo's beliefs were obvious evidence of extremism, and that it was only fortune that stopped a second tragedy. Erik Vasys, a spokesman for the FBI’s San Antonio field office, said police in Killeen arrested Abdo after “concerned citizens” reported suspicious activity. After police determined that Abdo was wanted on the child pornography...

Brian Tashman pokes fun at a conservative columnist who concludes that the Founding Fathers were a key element of the liberal fascist conspiracy: Under the Articles of Confederation, the central government of America was very weak – which was a good thing. It was true then, and it's true now: You can have a strong government and a weak people, or a strong people and a weak government – but you cannot have both. Today, we have a draconian, out-of-control government and a very weak people. Arguably, democracy in this country started to break down in 1787 when the Constitution created a strong federal government. It got worse – much worse – under the fascist policies of Woodrow Wilson's reign from 1912 to 1920. Then, beginning in 1932, FDR's failed socialist policies took away even more individual freedom from American citizens. And the final disintegration of true democracy in the U.S. was catalyzed by the left-wing revolutionaries of the '60s. I mean, sure this is funny, but only in...

I meant to respond to this earlier this week, but I think the notion that al-Qaeda is on the verge of defeat would best be taken with more than a grain of salt. As Daveed Gartenstein-Ross points out, we've heard this before -- government officials have been periodically writing al-Qaeda's obituary since 2003: President Bush claimed in September 2003 that al-Qaeda was on the ropes. As Time reported, he told the nation that up to two-thirds of the group’s known leadership was captured or killed; the same Time story said that “its training camps in Afghanistan have been destroyed and the relentless worldwide campaign [against it] has denied it new sanctuaries.” In April 2006, the consensus of the intelligence community was that al-Qaeda had in fact been defeated as an organization. The National Intelligence Estimate released that month said that “the global jihadist movement is decentralized, lacks a coherent strategy, and is becoming more diffuse.” The following month, President Bush...

My post at Greg's today, about that fact that both parties' austerity plans will likely hurt the economy: From the point of view of helping the economy recover, this is idiotic. For Republicans, of course, increased unemployment and lower GDP increase the possibility of Obama being a one term president. The reason few people are stating the obvious — that there’s something oddly masochistic about harming the economy at time when so many are unemployed — is that both sides are pushing plans that could damage the recovery. That’s because we’re trapped in a Beltway Deficit Feedback Loop, where no one’s talking about unemployment and everyone’s talking about the deficit. It’s no surprise then, that the American public is increasingly confused about the impact of spending cuts — indeed, there’s been a big swing in favor of the idea that cuts create jobs, rather than the other way around. With both parties competing for the mantle of austerity, they’re acting a bit like two crazed medeival...

On Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper sent a letter to Senate Republicans defending their decision to transfer alleged al Shabaab member Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame to U.S. soil for trial in federal court. Among the reasons cited is that establishing jurisdiction in the military commissions system would require disclosure of classified evidence that wouldn't be necessary in civilian court. Because of legal restrictions, Warsame wouldn't be able to simply be tried by military commission, prosecutors would have to prove that he's eligible to be tried in that forum. In a House Armed Services Committee hearing earlier this week, University of Texas Law Professor Robert Chesney made that exact point, only to be curtly rebutted by former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who pointed out that a list of unindicted coconspirators was revealed during the 1993...

Private Nasser Jason Abdo, a Muslim soldier who recently applied for conscientious objector status because he said his religion prohibited him from killing other Muslims, was arrested on allegations of planning a second attack on Fort Hood. He was reportedly found with explosives in his car.