Obama to release OLC torture memos; promises no prosecutions for CIA officials  —  [updated below - Update II -Update III (Interview w/ACLU's Jameel Jaffer - calls for a special prosecutor)]  —  In a just-released statement, Barack Obama announced that — in response to an ACLU FOIA lawsuit …

JEFFREY TOOBIN: HIDING JAY BYBEE  —  The newest round of “torture memos” have just been released by the Department of Justice.  I'm only just beginning to go through them, but I have a preliminary thought.  —  The first, and very chilling memo in the group is an analysis of the various techniques …

For The Record  —  No mention of the torture memos appears right now on the Drudge Report (which provides news of a prank at Dominos pizza), Instapundit (which mentions the new DVD for the Lord of The Rings trilogy), Pajamas Media, or Michelle Malkin.  They are reacting to the evidence …

Interrogation Memos Detail Harsh Tactics by the C.I.A.  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department made public on Thursday detailed memos describing harsh interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency, as President Obama said that C.I.A. operatives who carried out the techniques would not be prosecuted.

Not Even Jesus Would Forgive What You Do  —  One of the Office of Legal Counsel memos that was released today was the famous hidden “Yoo-Bybee Two” or “Second Bybee Memo” from August 2002.  Recall that the first August 2002 OLC specified that it was acceptable to apply physical pain to a detainee …

President Obama's Statement on the Memos  —  Following is President Obama's statement on the release of memos by the Office of Legal Counsel, as provided by the White House.  —  The Department of Justice will today release certain memos issued by the Office of Legal Counsel between 2002 and 2005 as part of an ongoing court case.

The Banality Of Evil  —  Perhaps you are reading these documents alongside me.  I've only read the Bybee memo, as chilling an artefact as you are ever likely to read in a democratic society, the work clearly not of a lawyer assessing torture techniques in good faith, but of an administration official tasked …

Bush Approved Use of Insects in al-Qaeda Interrogations  —  The Bush Administration approved the use of “insects placed in a confinement box” during the interrogation of top Al Qaeda official Abu Zubaydah, according to a 2002 document that President Obama declassified for release Thursday.

Obama consulted widely on memos  —  White House senior adviser David Axelrod says President Barack Obama spent about a month pondering whether to release Bush-era memos about CIA interrogation techniques, and considered it “a weighty decision.”  —  “He thought very long and hard about it …

Obama Explains Memo Release Decision  —  In sum: he's decided to redact the identities of the CIA officers who conducted the interrogations, but everything else will be released without censorship.  The full statement is after the jump; here's the part that reflects, I think, what Obama really thinks:

Schakowsky: Tea parties ‘despicable’  —  Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) blasted “tea party” protests yesterday, labeling the activities “despicable” and shameful.  “The ‘tea parties’ being held today by groups of right-wing activists, and fueled by FOX News Channel, are an effort to mislead …

( Video) Glenn Beck Vs. Charles Johnson  —  Update: (Perhaps a coincidence or mistake, but for some reason my account at Little Green Footballs is suddenly blocked.  How odd.  Surely it was just a fluke; a mistake of some kind.  Maybe I should have took sides?)  —  It's at about 7 minutes in on this video.