Adam Serwer

Peter Finn points to a study by the Institute for Homeland Security Solutions examining mostly domestic terror plots between 1999 and 2009. The study has a few eye-opening stats, but here’s the first one: Note the importance of the public role in helping start investigations. Finn notes that the study acknowledges that it may underestimate […]

Amanda Hess points to this terrible blog post from Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen rationalizing Anita Hill‘s charges of sexual harassment against Clarence Thomas: In fact, they have nothing to do with anything — unless it is to prove that nothing about Thomas and his initial accuser, Anita Hill, makes any sense. Her charges fell […]

Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle‘s reprehensible and deliberate exploitation of anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic sentiment is matched only by her cowardice in owning up to it. Angle has run three shameless race-baiting ads using the same discredited attacks on Harry Reid‘s record on immigration issues, all of which employ racialized images of Latino men. If Reid’s […]

Glenn Greenwald with a devastating post on Wikileaks’ revelations about the U.S. turning a blind eye to torture in Iraq. Ezra Klein makes a smart “It Gets Better” video arguing that increased agency makes adulthood better; The Economist explains how being broke limits agency and therefore stops it from getting better. Unintentionally hilarious threat of […]

After I read Noah Schactman‘s reporting on the Wikileaks documents that show the military found a few chemical weapons caches in Iraq, I figured it was inevitable that someone would try to retroactively justify the invasion by saying “we found WMD,” as if liquid sulfur mustard produced “mushroom clouds.” Glenn Reynolds leaps to the hack […]

Matt Barreto at Latino Decisions, which specializes in polling the Hispanic community, notes a startling rise in Latino voter enthusiasm in recent weeks: For the fourth straight week, we find an increase in the percentage of Latino registered voters who report being very enthusiastic about voting in November 2010. Four weeks ago just 40.3% of […]

Endangered Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold has sharpened his message in recent weeks, following a series of moments in which his Republican rival, Ron Johnson, seemed unable to answer basic questions about his policy agenda. Throughout the campaign, Feingold seemed to struggle with going negative — it conflicts somewhat with his established political persona — but […]

Danielle Crittenden over at FrumForum has the worst defense I’ve read of Juan Williams‘ “being afraid of Muslims isn’t bigotry” argument. First, she cites an airline employee, engaging in an obvious example of hindsight bias, for failing to prevent the 9/11 attacks by clearing several of the hijackers — none of whom, as Crittenden notes, […]

Omar Khadr pleads guilty in his military-commissions trial, confirming the reporting that there was some sort of plea deal in the works to avoid the embarrassment of the U.S. trying someone for war crimes committed while they were a minor. Carol Rosenberg reports: His 9 a.m. plea spared him a risk of life in prison, […]

Via Justin Elliot, The Tennessean, following up on the controversy over the proposed Islamic community center in Murfreesboro, publishes an investigation of the finances of groups fueling the right-wing panic over “stealth jihad” and finds a lucrative industry. It’s pointless to excerpt that part of the piece here, but suffice it to say that taking […]