Top Items:
Associated Press:
White House near decision to close Guantanamo — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration is nearing a decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and move the terror suspects there to military prisons elsewhere, The Associated Press has learned.
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Mark Benjamin / Salon:
The CIA's torture teachers — Psychologists helped the CIA exploit a secret military program to develop brutal interrogation tactics — likely with the approval of the Bush White House. — A detainee is escorted by military police at Camp 4 of the maximum security prison Camp Delta …
Discussion:
The Next Hurrah
MSNBC:
White House denies Gitmo report — No meeting Friday to discuss closing detention center, spokesman says — WASHINGTON - The White House on Thursday denied a report that top administration officials were expected to meet Friday to discuss closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility …
Discussion:
D-Day
Ulrike Putz / Spiegel Online:
A Visit to Fatah's Torture Chamber — A building formerly occupied by Fatah's intelligence service in Gaza was long notorious for torture and execution. Now Hamas is in control — and is letting former inmates visit the chamber of horrors. — The cells are small, perhaps six feet by six feet …
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard, Jihad Watch, Little Green Footballs, A Blog For All, Israpundit and New York Times
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Andy McCarthy / National Review:
Priceless: Fatah's Abbas Won't Negotiate with "Murderous Terrorists" from Hamas — This is just too rich, from the Arab News. [Hat tip: Jihad Watch] — Has anyone broken this news to the State Department? To the Iraq Study Group? To Speaker Pelosi? Doesn't Abbas grasp the importance of engagement?
Discussion:
Jihad Watch
Marcus Mabry / Newsweek:
Poll: Bush hits lowest approval rating of presidency — President Bush registers the lowest approval rating of his presidency—making him the least popular president since Nixon—in the new NEWSWEEK Poll. — Iraq isn't the only issue dragging Bush's approval ratings down
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Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:
Freefall — The president's approval ratings just scored a staggering 26 percent in the Newsweek poll. 23 percent approve of the handling of Iraq. A broader look at a range of polls is no more comforting. Pollster.com's average is now below 30 percent for the first time.
Hindrocket / Power Line:
IMMIGRATION A NET PLUS? OF COURSE. BUT... Yesterday, the President's Council of Economic Advisers released a report titled "Immigration's Economic Impact." The report was intended to support the administration's case for comprehensive immigration reform that would create a guest worker program …
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George Borjas / The Borjas Blog:
An Inconvenient Truth That Somehow Didn't Make The CEA Report
An Inconvenient Truth That Somehow Didn't Make The CEA Report
Discussion:
Economist's View
Scott Shane / New York Times:
Cheney in Dispute on Oversight of His Office — For four years, Vice President Dick Cheney has resisted routine oversight of his office's handling of classified information, and when the office in charge of overseeing classification in the executive branch objected, the vice president's office suggested …
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Nico / Think Progress:
Breaking: Senate votes to raise fuel standards. — "The Senate voted Thursday to increase fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon for cars and SUVs, the first significant boost demanded of automakers in nearly 20 years." … UPDATE: Feinstein has released a statement on the vote …
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Fred Kaplan / Slate:
The Man Who Knows Too Little — WHAT RUDY GIULIANI'S GREEDY DECISION TO QUIT THE IRAQ STUDY GROUP REVEALS ABOUT HIS CANDIDACY. — If you don't read Newsday, you might not know (I didn't until this week) that Rudy Giuliani was an original member of the Iraq Study Group …
IRIN • humanitarian news and analysis …:
IRAQ: Hundreds flee homes as Turkish forces battle Kurdish fighters — Hundreds of Iraqi Kurds have been forced to flee their homes after up to 30,000 Turkish soldiers massed on the Iraqi-Turkish border and launched attacks against Kurdish fighters, Iraqi border police say.
Discussion:
The Road to Surfdom
Washington Post:
CIA to Air Decades of Its Dirty Laundry — Assassination Attempts Among Abuses Detailed — The CIA will declassify hundreds of pages of long-secret records detailing some of the intelligence agency's worst illegal abuses — the so-called "family jewels" documenting a quarter-century …
Amanda / Think Progress:
The 'Fairness Doctrine' Myth: Right Wing Falsely Claims Progressives Want To Resurrect Mandatory Balance — Yesterday, the Center for American Progress and Free Press released a detailed statistical analysis confirming that talk radio is dominated almost exclusively by conservatives.
Jackie Kucinich / The Hill:
House Republican wants to restrict Pelosi's travel — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will not be permitted to use State Department funds to travel to nations that are known to have sponsored terrorism if a Republican amendment to appropriations legislation passes the House on Thursday.
Stephen Labaton / New York Times:
Investors' Suits Face Higher Bar, Justices Rule — The Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a blow to investors who want to sue companies and executives because of suspected fraud, setting a higher standard for class-action lawsuits to go forward. — The decision was the second one this week …
Discussion:
Economist's View
Rod McGuirk / Associated Press:
Australia to Ban Alcohol for Aborigines — Australia's prime minister announced plans Thursday to ban pornography and alcohol for Aborigines in northern areas and tighten control over their welfare benefits to fight child sex abuse among them. — Some Aboriginal leaders rejected the plan …
Discussion:
The Belmont Club