Matthew Yglesias: 75 Percent Of What catches Condi Rice floundering when asked how many al-Qaeda people are being counted as “leaders” when Bush et. al say they have captured or killed '75 percent of the al-Qaeda known leadership' . Given the vagueness of her answer, which appears due to total ignorance as to either the real facts or how this factoid was concocted, Matt Yglesias concludes “they could mean as few as eight people.”
Recent Bluessky Posts- FL Bar says it erred: "no such pending Bar investigation of Lindsey Halligan...The Florida Bar received a complaint against Lindsey Halligan and, consistent with standard practice, the Bar is monitoring the ongoing legal proceedings underlying the complaint.” news.bloomberglaw.com/product/blaw... March 6, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Jotwell Legal Profession: Rebecca Roiphe, Be Careful What You Wish For: How Conservative Groups Learned from Liberal Cause Lawyers, JOTWELL (March 6, 2026), legalpro.jotwell.com/be-careful-w.... March 6, 2026 Jotwell
- The Florida process for resolving bar complaints is very slow unless dismissed immediately, so don't hold your breath for the results in this bar complaint against Lindsey Halligan. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/u... March 5, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- I would love to see this data disaggregated by US state. Not surprised though to see French people have a lower view of each other than the rest of Western Europe. Although whether that is due to suspicious natures or sus behavior is less obvious. March 5, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- excellent deep dive into all of the ways that the Trump administration has used the federal budget to keep punishing critics and trying to bend them to his will. FWIW, this is precisely how Viktor Orban crushed the opposition in Hungary 15 years ago. The national budget is a powerful weapon. March 5, 2026 Kim Lane Scheppele
Rice, of course, is supposed to be the person to make sense of the possibly confusing different takes coming up from different agencies.
How much confidence can we have in an administration where the national security adviser does not know within AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE* what impact we are having in our “war” against an enemy which attacked us, an attack which, by the way, CHANGED EVERYTHING.
* [how many killed or captured?] — “I would suspect that that’s in the tens to hundreds”