Top Items:
Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Pelosi briefed on waterboarding in '02 [UPDATED] — Nancy Pelosi denies knowing U.S. officials used waterboarding — but GOP operatives are pointing to a 2007 Washington Post story which describes an hour-long 2002 briefing in which Pelosi was told about enhanced interrogation techniques in graphic detail.
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit, Right Pundits, Flopping Aces, Don Surber, Commentary and NewsBusters.org
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Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Pelosi: I didn't know about use of waterboarding — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing back on GOP charges that she knew about waterboarding for years and did nothing. — Pelosi says she was briefed by Bush administration officials on the legal justification for using waterboarding …
The Huffington Post:
Boehner: Memos Outline “Torture Techniques” — While cable news outlets and major newspapers continue to use euphemisms such as “harsh interrogation tactics” to describe the Bush administration's approach to intelligence gathering, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) used a more succinct term Thursday: “torture.”
Discussion:
Think Progress, Liberty Street, Crooks and Liars, D-Day, Washington Monthly, MyDD and AMERICAblog News
Bill Roggio / The Long War Journal:
Taliban advance eastward, threaten Islamabad — Click map for full view. Taliban presence, by district and tribal agency, in the Northwest Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies. Information on Taliban presence obtained from open source and derived …
Discussion:
The News International, Reuters, PoliGazette, The New Ledger, A Blog For All and NO QUARTER
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Aryn Baker / Time:
Taliban Advance: Is Pakistan Nearing Collapse? — Pakistani police officers in a shrine in Buner, Pakistan, on April 18, 2009 — The move by Taliban-backed militants into the Buner district of northwestern Pakistan, closer than ever to Pakistan's capital of Islamabad …
Discussion:
The Atlanticist, The Duck of Minerva, Telegraph, Big Brass Blog, NO QUARTER, Global Guerrillas and Outside The Beltway
Rusty / The Jawa Report:
Horror: Taliban Behead Pakistani Troops in Swat Video — A video which claims to show Taliban troops in Pakistan's Swat valley murdering men accused of being “spies” for the government and the U.S. has emerged. It's really horrible and the only people who should watch it are Taliban sympathizers.
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Time to start freaking out about Pakistan — Well past time, actually, but this Daily Mail piece has had me on edge since morning. The Kardari government gave the Taliban an inch by signing away Swat so now they've decided to take a mile in Buner. The wages of appeasement:
Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Larry Summers falls asleep during Obama's meeting with credit card executives. — Today, President Obama met with credit card industry officials at the White House. After the meeting, he pledged to push for a law that would offer “strong and reliable” protections for credit card users in the United States.
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Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:
Goss: Obama Decision “Crossed a Red Line” — Porter Goss, former CIA Director and past chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, blasted the Obama administration for releasing Justice Department memos on harsh interrogation techniques. “For the first time in my experience we've crossed …
RELATED:
Margaret Talev / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Document: Cheney, Rice signed off on interrogation techniques
Document: Cheney, Rice signed off on interrogation techniques
Cliff May / The Corner:
News Bulletin — A Corner exclusive: How many times have you read and heard in the mainstream media that terrorists were waterboarded more than 180 times? It turns out that's not true. What is? According to two sources, both of them very well-informed and reliable (but preferring to remain anonymous) …
The Huffington Post:
Lawmakers: Congress Will Investigate Torture, Bipartisan Support In Place — The central debate dominating discussions of a possible investigation into torture by the Bush administration seems to have shifted sharply in the past few days: from whether such an investigation should take place, to now what form it will have when it comes.
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Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
RNC faction wants Dems branded socialists — A conservative faction of the Republican National Committee is urging the GOP to take a harder line against both Democrats and wayward Republicans, drafting a resolution to rename the opposition the “Democrat Socialist Party” …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Strata-Sphere, Balloon Juice, Liberal Values and The Washington Independent
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Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
King: Torture trial should spark “scorched earth” — New York Republican Rep. Peter King thinks his party needs to go nuke if Bush era officials are prosecuted on torture charges. — King, the outspoken ranking member of the House homeland security committee, said Republicans should …
New York Times:
U.S. Is Said to Prepare Filing for Chrysler Bankruptcy — By MICHELINE MAYNARD and MICHAEL J. de la MERCED — DETROIT — The Treasury Department is preparing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for Chrysler that could come as soon as next week, people with direct knowledge of the action said Thursday.
Discussion:
The Page, Wizbang, naked capitalism, DealBook, Salon, A Blog For All, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Don Surber, TalkLeft, Truthdig and On Deadline
Little Green Footballs:
Pamela Geller: Poster Girl for Eurofascists — Pamela Geller of “Atlas Shrugs” and Paul Belien of “Brussels Journal” have been announced as speakers at a German far right event organized by a group called “Pro Köln” — a successor to the notorious fascist group “Deutsche Liga für Volk und Heimat” …
Discussion:
The Other McCain
Curtis Schick / CapitalNews9:
Sources say Tedisco concession likely — A finish line could be in sight in the race for the 20th Congressional District. With the numbers not looking good for Republican Jim Tedisco, sources tell Capital News 9 that Tedisco could concede to Democrat Scott Murphy as soon as Friday afternoon.
Discussion:
The Politico
Kate Barrett / The Note:
Meghan McCain to Rove & Cheney: ‘Go Away’ — ABC News' Rick Klein reports: Meghan McCain guest-hosted ABC's “The View” Thursday and brought some blunt advice for Karl Rove and Dick Cheney: “Go away.” — “It's very unprecedented for someone like Karl Rove or Dick Cheney to be criticizing the president,” McCain said.
Andrew C. Revkin / New York Times:
Industry Ignored Its Scientists on Climate — For more than a decade the Global Climate Coalition, a group representing industries with profits tied to fossil fuels, led an aggressive lobbying and public relations campaign against the idea that emissions of heat-trapping gases could lead to global warming.
New York Times:
Yemen Dispute Slows Closing of Guantánamo — The Obama administration's effort to return the largest group of Guantánamo detainees to Yemen, their home country, has stalled, creating a major new hurdle for the president's plan to close the prison camp in Cuba by next January, American and Yemeni officials say.
Emptywheel:
Liz Cheney: I'm Proud My Daddy Is the Prime Mover of Torture — The biggest piece of news from this exchange? Liz Cheney's assertion that (only) two of the three detainees who were waterboarded (speaking of Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed) provided valuable intelligence.
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
2012 President Survey — Is it too early to poll Barack Obama against potential opponents in 2012? Sure. But that doesn't mean people don't find it interesting, and it gives us something to track against moving forward so here goes: — On our newest national survey we looked at Obama …
Brad Friedman / The BRAD BLOG:
BREAKING: Randi Rhodes to Return to Talk Radio — [Updated with Premiere's official announcement at end of article.] — Following a nearly two-month absence from the airwaves, Progressive radio talker Randi Rhodes is set to return, according to an announcement this afternoon from John Scott of San Francisco's Green960 (KKGN).
Discussion:
The Radio Equalizer
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Schmidt compares Obama, Kennedy — I quoted McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt just now comparing Obama to Bobby Kennedy. — The whole riff was fairly remarkable. It came in response to a student's question about the youth vote: — If you read history about Bobby Kennedy's unfinished race in '68 …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Becky Shay / Billings Gazette:
Hardin jail tries for detainees from Gitmo — Economic development officials in Hardin are looking at the soon-to-close detention facility in Guantanamo Bay as a possible fix for the jail sitting empty in Hardin. — President Barack Obama signed an executive order Jan. 22 to close …
Discussion:
Don Surber
Ceci Connolly / Washington Post:
GOP Stymies Vote on Sebelius — President Obama will have to wait a bit longer to round out his Cabinet. Senate Republicans refused today to allow a confirmation vote on his health secretary nominee Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.). She is the last Cabinet member awaiting Senate approval.
Discussion:
AMERICAblog News, Think Progress, MyDD, Wonk Room, Political Machine, Kansas Jackass and The Page
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David M. Drucker / Roll Call:
GOP Plots Revenge
GOP Plots Revenge
Discussion:
PoliGazette, Open Left, D-Day, The Treatment, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Wonk Room, Think Progress, MSNBC and Townhall.com