Ace of Spades HQ

« Ministry of Dubious Factoids | Main | Economic News: Mixed to Hopeful »

May 28, 2004

The Indictment of Abu Hamza ("Captain Hook")

Apparently we flipped two of his disciples -- two of the Portland-area Al Qaeda.

Alphabet City has some first-class reportage, digging through the indictment, linking together all the conspirators.

Ramzi Yousef, inevitably, makes a cameo. He's turning out to be as to Al Qaeda what Allen Dulles is to JFK conspiracy theories, or what the Knights Templar are to medieval/church conspiracies -- he's just always popping up somewhere along the way.

First I thought Alphabet City was cutting and pasting a professional dispatch, but no, it appears he's written this up himself.

This post is great for two reasons. For one, it's just a good backgrounder. It digests the indictment and reports all the most important facts, and then it hyperlinks the stuffings out of all the major players.

But it also demonstrates that there's no particular reason that a blogger, given sufficient discipline and craft, can't produce dispatches on par with anything from AP.

It's not that Alphabet City's backgrounder is so much better than what you'd read on AP (although it's better than what you might read most of the time).

It's rather that there's no discernable difference between a professional backgrounder and Alphabet City's.

And this kind of piece is an important part of the news. It's not talk-to-a-source original reportage (so far as I can tell; if I'm wrong, I trust I'll be corrected). But a lot of articles in the newspapers are digests of indictments and court opinions and the like. It's a big part of the function of reporters, if not their main function.

There are some genuine deep thinkers in the blogosphere. Den Beste, for one; the Volokhs; and even Mickey Kaus, when the mood strikes him, and when he can restrain himself from using exclamation points every second sentence.

So, as far as opinion and analysis, the blogosphere has produced some important players.

But it hasn't produced actual reporters, fact-finders, digesters, and backgrounders, at least not consistently. (And not to my knowledge; I'm not an expert on the blogosphere. I'm not really an expert on anything, to tell the truth.)

As the blogosphere begins producing pieces like this more consistently-- what, precisely, is left for the mainstream media?

Actual talk-to-a-source reportage will probably remain their turf alone; there's a steep entry barrier to that function. You need a lot of time and a lot of connections and a lot of time to work your connections.

Still: two out of three ain't bad. Once the blogosphere can compete in terms of both opinion/analysis essays and overview/context pieces, the reporters will be left with nothing much to do but report on actual breaking news...

...which is sort of the job they're actually supposed to be doing, anyway.

Note to self: Stop churning out slapdash buffoonery. There's a better way.

Note to self: Lean on "Deep Stoat" to tip me as to the upcoming jobs numbers.

posted by Ace at 03:10 AM

Comments

Thanks for the kind words, Ace.

I put the piece together because I couldn't find anything that did the same. I also thought the flip angle was a great substory illustrating the success of our interrogation of Islamists in light of the Abu Ghraib overkill.

Keep dunking those waterboards fellas.

Posted by: Robert Stevens on May 28, 2004 04:11 AM

Not so fast, my friend. There is an important place for slap-dash buffoonery.

There remain many people and events that cry out for ridicule and humiliation. Satirist's have often been an extremely important force for advancing the social discourse. Inflated egos demand the pen prick of the sharpened voice.

When you can write as you did about the Wonkette and Whoreingtonienne episode, your voice is sorely needed. At a time when the level of acromony between the political sides is at a historic high, one who can provoke laughter at the richly deserving is a valuable prize indeed.

Keep it up. You are needed.

Posted by: bigdiogi on May 28, 2004 04:30 AM

Another choice shot of Ayatollah Hook:

http://www.antiwar.com/photos/hamza.jpg

Is he blind too? As near as I can tell, he doesn't have pupils.

On the subject of photos, the Lara Flynn Boyle pic is wearing very well. I never seem to tire of it.

Posted by: Nicholas Kronos on May 28, 2004 11:28 AM

Speak for yourself Nick. It's getting old.

Anybody hear from Allah lately? I can't believe he didn't have a photoshop using pics from Gore's blowout the other day.

Posted by: lauraw on May 28, 2004 12:03 PM

Whatever happened to Him (may his glorious name be praised) must've been pretty serious. His goodbye note was rather terse. Maybe he got in a rumble with Zeus and Vishnu.

Posted by: Smack Remembers Personal Info on May 28, 2004 01:06 PM

Allah's around, it seems, just not posting. He's gotten a handful of hat tips at LGF his week.

I'm happy Ace is here to take up the slack.

Posted by: keggin on May 28, 2004 02:05 PM

Speaking of deep thinking bloggers, Wretchard from the Belmont Club has been dissecting the moves made by our military with incredibly insightful detail, in ways that I NEVER read in the regular media.

I make the argument that some of the blog deep thinkers are years ahead of the self appointed big media pundits...

Posted by: Tman on May 28, 2004 02:43 PM

Lauraw,

Yeah, I think I've had it up for way too long. All of the guys really seem to want me to keep it, but I'm looking to switch.

Posted by: ace on May 28, 2004 02:55 PM

Wretchard rocks.

Posted by: Nicholas Kronos on May 28, 2004 03:26 PM

Perhaps you could replace her with Natasha Henstridge or something. To be more fair to the female readers (or Andrew Sullivan), maybe you should alternate the fine looking ladies with some fine looking men.

DISCLAIMER: this suggestion is made purely out of a natural desire to gratify the female readers (and Andrew Sullivan) and should in no way be construed as indicitive of Smack's own sexual orientation or proclivities. Thank you.

Posted by: Smack Remembers Personal Info on May 28, 2004 04:05 PM

Let's have the crazy Indian guy with the gun to his head.

Posted by: rdbrewer on May 28, 2004 04:51 PM

Or the Gore-bot with his head obviously and badly photoshopped onto the body of a gyrating male stripper.

Orange sockhatted Deaniacs in the foreground waving dollar bills.

Posted by: lauraw on May 28, 2004 04:58 PM

The Lara Flynn Boyle picture makes it a little tricky to read the site while at work. Just try to keep that in mind when selecting your next picture. Thanks.

Posted by: Aaron on May 28, 2004 05:24 PM

Aaron,

Sorry about that. I made a judgment call on it; I figured it was racy, but not obscene. I apologize if the picture was a bit over the line for some.

I haven't posted cheesecake pics here before, and I don't intend to make a habit of it. It was just that I found only a three or four pics of LFB, and this pic, while a little racy, was the only one that really showed her looking good.

Everyone should speak up about stuff like this. The only people who commented immediately about the pic were those saying, "KEEP THAT PICTURE FOREVER."

Posted by: ace on May 29, 2004 03:14 AM

>Spyware Removal - Net Cop - Spyware Removal

Posted by: Net-Cop on February 15, 2005 05:31 AM

Amazon.com Widgets

Now Available!
The Deplorable Gourmet
A Horde-sourced Cookbook
[All profits go to charity]

Top Headlines

Podcast: CBD and Sefton Charge the Democrats with fomenting violence against the nation with their rhetoric, Virginia redistricting going down the tubes? Trump's bully pulpit is not censorship, Lee Zeldin is a star, J.B. Pritzker is an idiot, and more!

TJM watched a stupid stoner comedy and laughed.

ANOTHER LEFT WING ASSASSIN ATTEMPTS TO KILL TRUMP
If I understand this, the left-wing Democrat assassin attempted to get into the White House Correspondents Association dinner, and was stopped at the magnetometers, which detected his gun. I guess he pulled out the gun and was shot by Secret Service agents.
Erika Kirk was present.

Forgotten 70s Mystery Click
You made me cry
when you said good-bye
70s, not 50s
Now that is a motherflipping intro

Podcast: Sefton and CBD wonder about the Chaos that Trump is creating in the minds of the Iranian junta, Virginia redistricting is pure power grab, Ilhan Omar is many things ...and stupid too! Amazon censoring conservative thought again, and the UK...put a fork in it!

TJM explores the films of Peter Weir, director of Master and Commander

TJM discusses the different adaptations of Dune

NYT Melts Down Over Texas Rangers Statue Outside... Texas Rangers' Stadium
"The Athletic posted a lengthy article about a statue outside Globe Life Field, presenting a virtue-signaling moral grievance as unbiased news coverage." [CBD]

TJM discusses Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Portlandia: Would you like to double down on your meal?

Important Message from Recent Convert to Christianity and Yet Super-Serious Christian Tuq'r Qarlson: Actually Muslims love Jesus, it's Trump and his neocons who hate him

Tucker Carlson Network
@TCNetwork

The people in charge [Jews, of course -- ace] don't want you to know this, but Muslims love Jesus.

Islam reveres Him as a major prophet and messenger of the Lord, believes He performed miracles, and states that He will return to Earth to defeat the Antichrist. That's why Donald Trump's painting depicting himself as the Son of God offended the president of Iran. It was an attack on his religion as well as Christianity.

Trump's trolling tweet was ill-advised, but Tucker is just lying when he claims the Christianity-hating President of Iran was "offended" by this.
He's one step away from announcing his official conversion to Islam. He literally never stops praising Islam. Well, he suddenly became Christian two years ago, there's not much stopping him from converting again.
You can track Tuq'r's official conversion to Islam with this Bingo card.

Podcast: CBD and Sefton talk Orban losing, but is it the end of Hungary? The Irish start a brawl, but is it enough, Pope Leo wades into politics, Trump calls Iran's bluff and blockades Hormuz, Artemis II! Swallwell is scum, and more!

People say that the bearded man in the video of Fartwell molesting a hooker looks like Democrat Arizona Senator Rueben Gallego, said to be Swalwell's "best friend" and known to take vacations with him.

TJM definitively ranks the films of Alfred Hitchcock

@KFILE 21m

Politico is reporting that multiple people have abruptly resigned from Eric Swalwell's gubernatorial campaign: "Members of senior leadership have departed the campaign, including Courtni Pugh, a strategic adviser who served as Swalwell's top liaison to organized labor groups."

So the campaign is collapsing due to the truth of the sexual harassment allegations.
That hissing sound you hear is the air going out of the Swalwell campaign. UPDATE: No it wasn't, it was just Swalwell one-cheek-sneaking out a fart on camera
Eric Swalwell more like Eric Farewell amirite
thanks to weft-cut loop.

This is the dumbest AI bullslop I've seen in a while: the CIA can use "quantum magnetometry" to track an individual man's heartbeat from twelve miles away
I wouldn't click on it, it's not interesting, it's just stupid clickslop. I just want to share my annoyance with you.

Oil prices plunge on bizarre realization that Eric Swalwell may actually be straight. A rapey molester, allegedly, but a straight one.

Artemis II Crew releases clearest images of the Far Side yet recorded

Classic Rock Mystery Click
This is super-obscure and I only barely remember it. Given that, I'll give you the hint that it's by the Red Rocker.
And I guess you think you've got it made
Oh, but then, you never were afraid
Of anything that you've left behind
Oh, but it's alright with me now
'Cause I'll get back up somehow
And with a little luck, yes, I'm bound to win
Now twenty people will tell me it's not obscure, it was huge in their hometown and played at their prom. That's how it usually goes. When I linked Donnie Iris's "Love is Like a Rock," everyone said they knew that one and that his other song (which I didn't know at all) Ah Leah! was huge in their area.

Sarah Longwell spotting