From The National Mall

My wishes for a Merry Christmas to all my fellow citizens.

And, because it's a Friday, one Eyebrow-Raising Headline of the Week with a faintly Christmas-y, or at least a Santa-ish, theme:


"Gazprom Executives Killed by Reindeer Herdsmen" - Upstream Online

Friday Document Dump

Okay, technically it's a Thursday, but today is a Federal Friday by Executive Order, so this qualifies as a Friday document dump.

The Director of National Intelligence has made a 'proactive disclosure' of assorted Benghazi-related documents, none of them particularly interesting. You can read them here.

New Freedom of Information Act Request Documents Released by ODNI

December 24, 2015

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is one of seven federal agencies participating in a pilot program to make records requested via the Freedom of Information Act more readily available to the public, as reflected in the recently released Third National Action Plan for Open Government.

Over the course of the pilot, ODNI will note the release of new “proactive disclosure” documents here on IC on the Record. Documents posted to DNI.gov this week include:

- The revocation of American passport of Anwar al-Aulaqi by the U.S. Dept. of State and any criminal complaint by the Dept. of Justice against U.S. citizens Mr. al-Aulaqi or Samir Khan

- All emails and means of correspondence pertaining to the overall situation in and around Benghazi, Libya

- PDDNI memo – changes to the HUMINT Control System (HCS) May 20, 2014

- NCSC Director Bill Evanina’s appointment calendar January January 5-9, 2015

Spammity Spam, Wonderful Spam

Ireland and United Kingdom foods, maybe

While doing some shopping today at my local Wegman's, I went through their international foods section and was delighted to see cans of Spam - quite a lot of them - in the "Ireland and United Kingdom" aisle. Does Wegman's sell Spam anyplace else in their stores? Not that I've ever noticed.

Brits liking Spam - is that just a stereotype left over from the WWII years, or do they still really like their Spam? I know it's produced in the UK, and they do indeed seem to eat a lot of it, but is it a distinctive national dish?

Whatever it is, it has the "Spam Spam Spam Spam" song running in my head.

Star Wars Told in the Style of Ken Burns

Thank you, WaPo Pop Culture blogger Alyssa Rosenberg, that was excellent. I'm even overlooking the annoying vocal fry.

Best reader comment on the WaPo site came from Nitpicker:

Alyssa, spend 30 years drinking whiskey and smoking cigars, then re-voice

A bit cruel, I suppose, but he's not wrong.

Tuco Salamanca Reads a Van Warranty ("WHICHEVER COMES FIRST!")

"CORRRROSION COVERAGE!"

Most Eyebrow-Raising Headline of the Week

Catching him wasn't even profiling, it was just statistics

"7' 4" Man Busted For 7-Eleven Armed Robbery" - The Smoking Gun

House Oversight Committee Releases Report on U.S. Secret Service

Read the report here U.S. Secret Service: An Agency in Crisis (alternative title: Jason's Revenge). Be prepared to spend several hours, because it's a long compendium of scandals, misconduct, failures, abuse, mismanagement, and collapsing morale.

Best quote from a Secret Service agent's e-mail was this item on a pre-departure checklist: “Cash fo dem hoes-check”