Top Items:
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:
Washington Monthly, CBS News, The Huffington Post, United States Senator …, The Anonymous Liberal, Threat Level, Bloomberg, The Moderate Voice, CNN, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Think Progress, Taylor Marsh, Hullabaloo, Atlas Shrugs, Political Machine, PERRspectives, Guardian, NION, Firedoglake, Swampland, Christy Hardin Smith, MoJo Blog Posts, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, MoJo Blog Posts, The League of Ordinary … and Cup O' Joe
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
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 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 …
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:
Wizbang
Spencer Ackerman / ATTACKERMAN:
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 …
New York Times:
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.
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Daily Dish, RebelReports, The Caucus, NewsBusters.org, ACSBlog and Unqualified Offerings
New York Times:
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.
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. 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 …
Discussion:
Buck Naked Politics
Mark Mazzetti / The Caucus:Obama Releases Interrogation Memos, Says C.I.A. Operatives Won't Be Prosecuted
Discussion:
UN Dispatch, Salon, Washington Monthly, The Plum Line, Don Surber, AfterDowningStreet.org, The Moderate Voice and Taylor Marsh
Digby / Hullabaloo:Depraved Judgment — First of all, good for Obama for releasing these OLC memos.
Discussion:
The Mahablog
Fox News:
Cable Anchors, Guests Use Tea Parties as Platform for Frat House Humor — Cable anchors and guests covered the anti-tax tea party protests by cracking a litany of barely concealed sexual references. — FOXNews.com — For thousands of Americans, Tax Day was a moment to protest …
Discussion:
Sister Toldjah, Atlas Shrugs, TBogg, Political Machine, Confederate Yankee, Don Surber, Althouse and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
RELATED:
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.
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Jay / Stop The ACLU:
( 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.
Jay Bookman:
Georgia Senate threatens dismantling of USA — It wasn't quite the firing on Fort Sumter that launched the Civil War. But on April 1, your Georgia Senate did threaten by a vote of 43-1 to secede from and even disband the United States. — It was not an April Fool's joke.
RELATED:
Eric Zimmermann / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:
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 …
RELATED:
David Neiwert / Crooks and Liars:Shepard Smith blows the ‘DHS is picking on the Tea Parties’ meme out of the water
Discussion:
The Caucus
Jim Iovino / NBC Washington:
Jesus Missing From Obama's Georgetown Speech — White House asked university to cover symbol — Amidst all of the American flags and presidential seals, there was something missing when President Barack Obama gave an economic speech at Georgetown University this week — Jesus.
Discussion:
Fox News, The Western Experience, The Powers That Be, Political Machine, Wizbang and Pharyngula
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Go Rick! — MSNBC is now picking up on the story of Gov. Perry of Texas hinting that the Stimulus Bill may be such a blow to the constitution that Texas may have to secede from the Union. But according to MSNBC, while Perry was making the comments, the crowd started chanting, “Secede …
RELATED:
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.
Chloe Albanesius / PC Magazine:
Time Warner Scraps Bandwidth Cap Testing — Time Warner Cable has shelved plans to test consumption-based billing until it can improve its “customer education process,” the company announced Thursday. — “It is clear from the public response over the last two weeks that there is a great deal …
Newsdesk / Clout St:
Burris fundraising total: $845 — U.S. Senator Roland Burris, the controversial appointee to the seat once held by President Barack Obama, is holding his first campaign fundraiser since he took office this weekend—and the financial report he filed this week shows he could use some political donations.
ProgressNow Colorado:
CONTACT: Michael Huttner at 303-931-4547 — DENVER: ProgressNow Colorado staff once again braved a crowd of belligerent right-wing protesters at today's “Tea Party” protest event at the Colorado State Capitol. And once again, ProgressNow recorded for posterity shameful displays of both ignorance …
John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Did the GOP in Oregon really send these PSA scripts out to be made? UPDATED — I'm in the process of verifying that the GOP in Oregon is in the process of having these new PSA's/commercials made. … I redacted the company letter head that the bids went out on. Check out these docs.
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Perry: No Secession, At Least for Now! — We've just gotten comment from Gov. Perry's press spokesman on the governor's apparent interest in seceding from the union. It's pretty vague but basically it seems like he's saying no need to secede for now. But in the future, who knows.
Discussion:
TPMDC
Greg Giroux / CQ Politics:
Big Early Money for Democrats Defending ‘Frontline’ — “Raise money early” is probably the most oft-repeated advice given to the 40 House Democrats singled out by party officials to receive special assistance, as they prepare to defend against potentially serious challenges in the 2010 elections.
Discussion:
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