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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
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 …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
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Wall Street Journal:
The President Ties His Own Hands on Terror — The point of interrogation is intelligence, not confession. — The Obama administration has declassified and released opinions of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) given in 2005 and earlier that analyze the legality …
ACLU:
Abuse of Power: The Bush Administration's Secret Legal Memos — On April 16, 2009, the Department of Justice released four secret memos used by the Bush administration to justify torture: — A 18-page memo, dated August 1, 2002, from Jay Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, OLC, to John A. Rizzo, General Counsel CIA.
Discussion:
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Jeffrey Toobin In / New Yorker:
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 …
Room for Debate:
The Memos: Torture Redefined — A screen shot of page 2 from the August 1, 2002 secret memo that details harsh interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency. To see the other memos released by the Justice Department today, go here. — The Justice Department …
Michael Scherer / Time:
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.
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Banality Of Evil — Perhaps you are reading these documents alongside me.
The Banality Of Evil — Perhaps you are reading these documents alongside me.
New York Times:
Interrogation Memos Detail Harsh Tactics by the C.I.A.
Interrogation Memos Detail Harsh Tactics by the C.I.A.
Discussion:
Power Line, Washington Post, FP Passport, Law Blog, On Deadline, QandO, The Caucus, NewsBusters.org, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, BAGnewsNotes and The Other McCain
Little Green Footballs:
LGF on Glenn Beck — I still don't have a working cable TV connection in my new top-secret underground facility, so I missed Glenn Beck's show today (I wouldn't have been watching anyway, to be honest), but I understand from several lizardoid reports that Beck had some things to say about me.
Discussion:
PoliGazette
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Jamie Larson / The Register Star Online:
Tedisco asks to be declared winner — COLUMBIA COUNTY — 20th Congressional District candidate Republican Jim Tedisco submitted a petition to the Dutchess County Supreme Court Thursday asking the judge to declare him the winner of the extremely close special election race …
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Green Shoots and Glimmers — Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, sees “green shoots.” President Obama sees “glimmers of hope.” And the stock market has been on a tear. — So is it time to sound the all clear? Here are four reasons to be cautious about the economic outlook.
Wall Street Journal:
Authorities Investigate Payments by Rattner — Steven Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration's auto task force, was one of the executives involved with payments under scrutiny in a probe of an alleged kickback scheme at New York state's pension fund, according to a person familiar with the matter.
New York Times:
Control of Cybersecurity Becomes Divisive Issue — WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency has been campaigning to lead the government's rapidly growing cybersecurity programs, raising privacy and civil liberties concerns among some officials who fear that the move could give the spy agency …
Discussion:
Washington Post
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Amy Gardner / Washington Post:
Moran Campaign Contributors Have Business Before Brother — More than a dozen defense contractors with business before U.S. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), a member of the powerful House Appropriations defense subcommittee, have donated thousands of dollars to Moran's younger brother Brian, a candidate for governor of Virginia.
CNN:
Ex-McCain aide to call for gay marriage support — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Steve Schmidt, a key architect of John McCain's presidential campaign, is making his first public return to Washington a bold one. — Schmidt will use a speech Friday to Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group …
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Barack Obama's ‘New Foundation’ - a Sting in Four Parts — Franklin Roosevelt gave us the New Deal. John Kennedy gave us the New Frontier. In a major domestic policy address at Georgetown University this week, Barack Obama promised — eight times — a “New Foundation.”
ABCNEWS:
Blind Amputee Has to Fight AIG for New Plastic Leg, Wheelchair — While Executives Get Bonuses, John Woodson Gets “Cheapest They Could Get Away With” — An Oklahoma man who lost an eye and a leg in Iraq says the giant insurance company AIG refused to provide him a new plastic leg and fought …
Discussion:
AMERICAblog News
Charles Bremner / Times of London:
Sarkozy snipes at ‘dim’ Spanish PM and ‘weak’ Barack Obama — The US President is weak, the Spanish leader is dim, the German Chancellor is clinging on to France's coat-tails and the head of the European Commission is irrelevant. — That, at any rate, is the world according to President Sarkozy …
Michael Sandler / The Hill:
Dean, Emanuel bury the hatchet — The feud between Howard Dean and Rahm Emanuel appears to be over. — Dean told The Hill that he recently had lunch with the White House chief of staff, signaling a thaw in their once icy relationship. — Dean, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee …
CNN:
Some foreclosed homes too damaged to sell — CNN Special Investigations Unit — NASHUA, New Hampshire (CNN) — The economy in southern New Hampshire is not by any means among the worst in the nation. Still, according to city records, there are 29 foreclosed homes on the books in Nashua — many of which are in deplorable condition.
Discussion:
The Washington Independent
Peter Urban / ConnPost.com:
Only 5 state residents donated to Dodd — WASHINGTON — Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd appears to have looked everywhere but his home state to fuel what pundits anticipate will be one of the most hotly contested races in the nation in 2010. — The five-term incumbent reported raising just $4,250 …
Mary Williams Walsh / New York Times:
A.I.G. Chief Owns Significant Stake in Goldman — Edward M. Liddy, the dollar-a-year chief executive leading the American International Group since its bailout last fall, still owns a significant stake in Goldman Sachs, one of the insurer's trading partners that was made whole by the government bailout of A.I.G.
Nick Gillespie / Reason:
Obama on Taxes and Traffic: Ever Get the Feeling You've Been Cheated? Or, can we start talking about Obama's vision deficit? — Mega-props to our President Obama for yesterday's speechifying about simplifying and fair-izing the Infernal Revenue Service and all that.