Top Items:

Dick Cheney was lying about torture — The Senate report confirms it doesn't work. As those of us on the inside knew. — It's official: torture doesn't work. Waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, did not in fact “produce the intelligence that allowed us to get Osama bin Laden …
Discussion:
American Prospect, Outside the Beltway and Washington Free Beacon
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Senate report on CIA program details brutality, dishonesty — An exhaustive, five-year Senate investigation of the CIA's secret interrogations of terrorism suspects renders a strikingly bleak verdict of a program launched in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, describing levels of brutality …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Gawker and Obsidian Wings


Senate Torture Report Condemns C.I.A. Interrogation Program — WASHINGTON — A scathing report released by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday found that the Central Intelligence Agency routinely misled the White House and Congress about the information it obtained from the detention …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Prairie Weather, New York Magazine and The Dish

Pardon Bush and Those Who Tortured — BEFORE President George W. Bush left office, a group of conservatives lobbied the White House to grant pardons to the officials who had planned and authorized the United States torture program. My organization, the American Civil Liberties Union, found the proposal repugnant.
Discussion:
emptywheel and The Dish


The Most Gruesome Moments in the CIA ‘Torture Report’ — The CIA's rendition, interrogation, and detention programs were even more nightmarish than you could imagine. — Interrogations that lasted for days on end. Detainees forced to stand on broken legs, or go 180 hours in a row without sleep.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Guardian and Political Wire


Marines on alert ahead of release of Senate torture report — Washington (CNN) — The CIA's harsh interrogations of terrorist detainees during the Bush era didn't work, were more brutal than previously revealed and delivered no “ticking time bomb” information that prevented an attack …
Discussion:
Telegraph, Washington Monthly, Liberaland, Hot Air, Balloon Juice and New York Magazine


CIA Interrogations Saved Lives — The Senate Intelligence investigators never spoke to us—the leaders of the agency whose policies they are now assailing for partisan reasons. — The Senate Intelligence Committee has released its majority report on Central Intelligence Agency detention and interrogation in the wake of 9/11.


White House and Republicans Clash Over C.I.A. Torture Report — WASHINGTON — On the eve of a long-awaited Senate report on the use of torture by the United States government — a detailed account that will shed an unsparing light on the Central Intelligence Agency's darkest practices …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, Reuters, Washington Post, BBC, Prairie Weather and First Draft


Dianne Feinstein leaving intelligence job amid clash on tactics report
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and Addicting Info

CIA interrogation report: Democrats want to punish America, blame Bush
Discussion:
The Dish, Liberty Unyielding, Daily Kos and The PJ Tatler

Live Coverage of the Senate Torture Report
Discussion:
New York Times, emptywheel, Reuters, The Dish, Politico, Washington Post, The Verge, Taylor Marsh, RedState, Washington Examiner and TalkLeft

The president of the ACLU wants Obama to pardon the torturers
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog and Crooked Timber

Dismissing Senate Report, Cheney Defends C.I.A. Interrogations
Discussion:
US Department of State, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Hit & Run

Today's CIA critics once urged the agency to do anything to fight al-Qaeda
Discussion:
TIME, Bloomberg View, National Review, Hot Air, The Huffington Post, The Dish, NO QUARTER USA NET, Hit & Run, Foreign Policy and New York Times


Issa To Gruber: ‘Are You Stupid?’ — House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-CA) cut right to the chase in his questioning of MIT professor Jonathan Gruber's comments on the “stupidity of the American voter” at a Tuesday oversight committee hearing.
Discussion:
Political Wire and Bloomberg Politics
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Gruber to face hostile House panel, tea party 'I'm with Stupid' T-shirts
Discussion:
Truth Revolt and The Gateway Pundit


The Rise and Fall of Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge, America's Worst Gay Power Couple — Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge have always been entitled brats. And now the media has finally noticed. — Just three years ago, Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge were the toast of the liberal establishment.


Republicans clash on reversing nuclear option in Senate — Republicans are split over whether to change the Senate's rules to allow filibusters on executive and judicial nominations. — As they head into a conference meeting on Tuesday, some Republicans say it's time to undo a wrong committed …
Discussion:
rubber hose, The PJ Tatler, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Hot Air and Outside the Beltway


Rand Paul talks 2016 plans, Senate majority, bi-partisanship and marijuana — His decision whether he will enter the 2016 presidential race still months away, U.S. Senator Rand Paul is already navigating presidential waters. — CONNECT — HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. (WHAS11) …
Discussion:
Politico and Talking Points Memo
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Rand Paul: Speaks out on Obama, war on drugs, police
Discussion:
CNN, OnPolitics, Talking Points Memo and Bloomberg Politics

Cops swarm Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue, shoot knife-wielding man after student gets stabbed (VIDEO) — WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT NYPD anti-terror officers swarmed Chabad-Lubavitch in Crown Heights after Israeli student Levi Rosenviat, 22, was stabbed during prayer early Tuesday.
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, CNN, Truth Revolt, New York Magazine, Liberaland, Gawker, The PJ Tatler and Washington Free Beacon


Approval Ratings Hit 5-Year High for Republicans — Republicans are enjoying a five-year peak in popularity after their wins in the midterm elections, according to a new Bloomberg Politics poll, while President Barack Obama struggles with his lowest job approval rating, at 39 percent.
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon


Mary Landrieu's Loss and the End of Ticket Splitting — Louisiana Sen. Mary L. Landrieu's defeat in the Dec. 6 runoff certainly was no surprise. If anything, it seemed inevitable since the evening of Nov. 4, when it became clear a Republican rout was underway and Democrats would lose control of the Senate.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Roll Call


Sharp Racial Divisions in Reactions to Brown, Garner Decisions — Many Blacks Expect Police-Minority Relations to Worsen — The public has very different reactions to the recent grand jury decisions in two police-related deaths that have sparked protests in cities across the country.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Jezebel, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Post
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Poll: Americans back charges in Eric Garner death
Discussion:
Hot Air and Prairie Weather


Who Wants to Buy a Politician? — Don Blankenship, the recently indicted former chiefexecutive of Massey Energy, has a history of donating a lot of money to West Virginia politicians. In 2004, for instance, Blankenship spent $3 million to support the election of a lawyer named Brent Benjamin to the state's Supreme Court of Appeals.
Discussion:
EconLog