By hiring long-time Obama spokesmen Robert Gibbs and David Axelrod, the cable news network clarifies its function

Last month, MSNBC's Al Sharpton conducted a spirited debate about whether Obama belongs on Mount Rushmore or instead deserves a separate monument to his greatness (just weeks before replacing frequent Obama critic Cenk Uygur as MSNBC host, Sharpton publicly vowed never to criticize Barack Obama under any circumstances: a vow he has faithfully maintained). Earlier that day on the same network, a solemn discussion was held, in response to complaints from MSNBC viewers, about whether it is permissible to ever allow Barack Obama's name to pass through one's lips without prefacing it with an honorific such as "President" or "the Honorable" or perhaps "His Excellency" (that really did happen).

Yesterday, Chris Matthews - who infamously confessed that listening to Obama (sorry: President Obama) gives him a "thrill going up his leg" - hosted another discussion, this one involving former Obama campaign aide and MSNBC contributor Joy Reid, about whether the Honorable President should be mounted on Mount Rushmore (Matthews restrained himself by explaining that "I'm not talking about Mt. Rushmore but perhaps the level right below it", but then shared this fantasy: "If [Obama] were hearing us talking about him maybe mounting Mount Rushmore, getting up there with the great presidents...what would he be thinking? 'That's exactly what I'm doing?'". A Pew poll found that in the week leading up to the 2012 election, MSNBC did not air a single story critical of the President or a single positive story about Romney - not a single one - even as Fox aired a few negative ones about Romney and a few positive ones about Obama. Meanwhile, Obama campaign aides who appeared on MSNBC were typically treated with greater deference than that shown to the British Queen when one of her most adoring subjects is in her presence for the first time.

Surveying this assembled data, one does not need to be a veteran cable news executive to see what MSNBC has been so sorely lacking: people who loyally defend President Obama. Thankfully, MSNBC is now boldly fixing that glaring problem; they began two weeks ago with this:

"Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has become a contributor for MSNBC. Rachel Maddow introduced Gibbs as a new member of her network's stable in the final minutes before President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday night. . . . Gibbs was White House press secretary from 2009 to early 2011, when he left to become a senior campaign adviser for Obama's re-election."

I wonder: does someone who goes from being an Obama White House spokesman and Obama campaign official to being an MSNBC contributor even notice that they changed jobs?

But MSNBC wasn't content merely to hire Obama's former Press Secretary; today they did this:

"David Axelrod, the former White House senior advisor and senior strategist for President Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns, has joined NBC News and MSNBC as a senior political analyst, the networks announced today. . . . Like Gibbs, Axelrod will appear across the networks' programming."

Impressively, David Axelrod left the White House and actually managed to find the only place on earth arguably more devoted to Barack Obama. Finally, American citizens will now be able to hear what journalism has for too long so vindictively denied them: a vibrant debate between Gibbs and Axelrod on how great Obama really is.

The NDAA and indefinite detention, what does it all mean for Americans?

Amidst The Noise explains the background to the National Defense Authorization Act and why the 2012 and 2013 updates to this legislation are particularly concerning for U.S. citizens concerned about life, liberty and freedom.

For the first time ever, a senior US senator has publicly announced the number of victims of America's ever expanding drone war - and apparently it's even bigger than some independent researchers have suggested.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) put a number on the United States' growing tally of kills caused by Uncle Sam's arsenal of drones on Tuesday this week while speaking to constituents at the Easley Rotary Club in Easley, South Carolina.

"We've killed 4,700," the Council for Foreign Relations Sen. Graham told the crowd. "Sometimes you hit innocent people, and I hate that, but we're at war, and we've taken out some very senior members of Al-Qaeda."


The influential American lawmaker has gone on the record several times in recent months to defend the expanding role of drone warfare in America's foreign wars, but the actual number of casualties caused by the missile-equipped robots has gone largely unreported. In fact, neither the Executive nor Legislative branches of the US have formally offered as much as an estimate regarding the number of kills, and drone-strikes led by the Central Intelligence Agency have largely gone unconfirmed by the CIA, despite first-hand accounts from survivors of the attacks.

Everyone knows that AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is the most powerful lobby in Washington.

But starting next September 11th, a new group called AMPAC, the American Muslim Political Action Committee, will challenge AIPAC's stranglehold on American political life.

AMPAC will be forcefully announcing its presence with a "Million Muslim March" on the White House on September 11, 2013. The goal, announced at AMPAC's press conference in New York:

"We at AMPAC (American Muslim Political Action Committee) are planning a historic event for 9/11/13. One million Muslims will march to Washington D.C. and demand that our civil rights be protected by our government. We are demanding that laws be enacted protecting our First Amendment rights. We are asking President Obama to fulfill his promise from his first campaign for the Presidency of a transparent government. Lastly we are asking for the establishment of a real 9/11 Commission to reveal the truth to the American people."

On Tuesday, February 19, 2013, the United States Supreme Court slammed its door in the face of the last 9/11 family member seeking justice through the American legal system.

Ellen Mariani, whose husband Neil was murdered on September 11, 2001, had turned down more than a million dollars in government hush money to pursue the real 9/11 criminals in federal court.

After eleven years, two separate lawsuits, and an unbelievable series of encounters with corrupt lawyers and Israeli-American judges, Ellen Mariani has finally heard from the United States Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court's message is loud and clear: There will be no truth, and no justice, concerning 9/11... at least not in the US court system.

After a week-long on-site investigation, former National Security Agency officer Wayne Madsen is "100% certain" that 9/11 investigator and author Philip Marshall and his two children were killed in a black ops hit. Madsen's conclusion is that the cover story - an alleged murder-suicide - is transparently absurd.

Madsen stated his conclusions on yesterday's Kevin Barrett show. Among the evidence cited by Madsen:

*Neighbors' houses are "practically on top of" Marshall's house, so dozens of neighbors would have heard any gunshots that weren't muffled by a silencer...and Marshall's "patsy gun" did not have a silencer.

*The crime scene was illegally and surreptitiously cleaned up by professionals, including "a SUV, license undetermined, with an array of communication antennas bristling from the roof."

*Philip Marshall, who had expressed his fear of being harassed or silenced for his 9/11 revelations, never kept his doors open - but when the bodies were found, a side door Marshall never used was wide open.

Declassified documents show that Bush administration officials wanted Saddam Hussein out of Iraq and were ready to start a war in order to achieve it.

Just hours after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld met in the Pentagon with Air Force General Richard Myers, then vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other top aides. Notes taken by Rumsfeld aide Steve Cambone (and referred to pages 334 and 335 of the 9/11 Commission Report) show the secretary asked for the "best info fast..judge whether good enough [to] hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] @ same time - not only UBL [Osama bin Laden]." Rumsfeld also tasked Jim Haynes, the Pentagon's top lawyer, "to talk w/ PW [Paul Wolfowitz] for additional support [for the] connection w/ UBL." Other comments from the notes: "Need to move swiftly...go massive - sweep it all up things related and not."

Although the defense secretary had yet to be presented with any evidence linking the Iraqi leader to the World Trade Tower attacks, he was already considering whether the terrorist acts could be used as to justify a war on Iraq.

The FBI is examining possible insider trading in Heinz shares ahead of last week's $28bn (£18bn) takeover announcement. A spokeswoman confirmed the move, days after US regulators said they had identified suspicious trades from a Swiss account.

Kelly Langmesser said: "We're aware of the trading anomalies the day before the announcement ... and we're consulting with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to see if a crime was committed."

The SEC said last Friday it had identified highly suspicious trades in H.J Heinz before billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital announced they were acquiring the baked bean and ketchup maker.

It also announced it had obtained an emergency order to freeze a Goldman Sachs bank account in Switzerland suspected of use in the trades.

Unknown traders earned $1.7m (£1.1m) in profits through "irregular and highly suspicious" trades and added that it believed the traders had knowledge of the takeover ahead of the announcement early last Thursday morning in New York, according to the SEC.

Firedoglake blogger Daniel Wright publishes once-classified FBI documents that show extent of agency's investigation into Swartz

A blogger has published once-classified FBI files that show how the agency tracked and collected information on internet activist Aaron Swartz.

Swartz, who killed himself in January aged 26, had previously requested his files and posted them on his blog, but some new documents and redactions are included in the files published by Firedoglake blogger Daniel Wright.

Wright was given 21 of 23 declassified documents, thanks to a rule that declassifies FBI files on the deceased. Wright said that he was told the other two pages of documents were not provided because of freedom of information subsections concerning privacy, "sources and methods," and that can "put someone's life in danger."

The FBI's files concern Swartz's involvement in accessing the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (Pacer) documents. In pursuit of their investigation, the FBI had collected his personal information and was surveilling an Illinois address where he had his IP address registered.

Aaron H. Swartz FBI File by Daniel Wright

Pope Benedict's decision to live in the Vatican after he resigns will provide him with security and privacy. It will also offer legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources and legal experts say.

"His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless. He wouldn't have his immunity, his prerogatives, his security, if he is anywhere else," said one Vatican official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It is absolutely necessary" that he stays in the Vatican, said the source, adding that Benedict should have a "dignified existence" in his remaining years.

Vatican sources said officials had three main considerations in deciding that Benedict should live in a convent in the Vatican after he resigns on February 28.

Vatican police, who already know the pope and his habits, will be able to guarantee his privacy and security and not have to entrust it to a foreign police force, which would be necessary if he moved to another country.

"I see a big problem if he would go anywhere else. I'm thinking in terms of his personal security, his safety. We don't have a secret service that can devote huge resources (like they do) to ex-presidents," the official said.

Another consideration was that if the pope did move permanently to another country, living in seclusion in a monastery in his native Germany, for example, the location might become a place of pilgrimage.