MMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1055-10 November 16, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualties The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died Nov. 13 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, when an insurgent suicide bomber detonated a vest bomb and struck their unit. Killed were: Staff Sgt. Juan L. [...]

My friend Michelle Shephard is an amazing reporter. No journalist knows more about Omar Khadr than she does. And she even kills snakes. And what a writer. I just had occasion to read this November 6 Toronto Star dispatch of hers, a kind of epilogue for Khadr’s military commission. Holy crap. Imagine something like this [...]

I wasn’t sure that New START actually would have died when Sen. Kyl argued today against voting on it during the lame-duck. But this statement from Vice President Biden makes me think it’s lights-out. Failure to pass the New START Treaty this year would endanger our national security. Without ratification of this Treaty, we will [...]

Via Pitchfork, first looks at Wild Flag, the post-Sleater Kinney/Helium supergroup. “Racehorse” is a monster, though I hope they’ll do something that features Janet Weiss, one of my drumming inspirations. Right, and speaking of ponying up. Check out Justin Elliott’s dive down the funding rabbit hole of who funded that 2008 “Obsession” video about the [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1052-10 November 15, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Spc. David C. Lutes, 28, of Frostburg, Md., died Nov. 11 in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive [...]

Like Jack Kirby reinterpreting the Norse Gods, I get cosmic. Check out this piece I did for Danger Room today about the Navy lending its super-powerful Free Electron Laser to hunt for dark energy, the power source accelerating the universe’s expansion. Dark energy remains theoretical for now, but finding it will count as an epochal [...]

As I tweeted and wrote for Danger Room today, the incoming chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Buck McKeon, briefly argued in a speech today that Congress should “reaffirm — in statute — the Authorization to Use Military Force of 2011.” To expand on that: McKeon mentioned the AUMF in the context of [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1051-10 November 15, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Spc. Shannon Chihuahua, 25, of Thomasville, Ga., died Nov. 12 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire and [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1048-10 November 15, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sgt. Edward H. Bolen, 25, of Chittenango, N.Y., died Nov. 10 in Logar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire [...]

Roll Call: Connecticut political players on both sides of the aisle — including a key Lieberman ally — said the Independent who caucuses with Democrats cannot win another three-way race, as in 2006 after he lost the Nutmeg State’s Democratic primary. There is also consensus that Lieberman would struggle to win a contested primary for [...]