memeorandum: The Most Gruesome Moments in the CIA ‘Torture Report’ (Shane Harris/The Daily Beast)

4:30 PM ET, December 9, 2014

Top Items:

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.

Discussion: ABC News, Yahoo! News, Techdirt, Hot Air, Hit & Run, JustOneMinute, NBC News and Twitchy

Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:

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: Bloomberg View, The Moderate Voice, Hinterland Gazette, New York Magazine, Prairie Weather, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Dish

Mark Fallon / Politico:

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: feinstein.senate.gov, ABC News, Little Green Footballs, American Prospect, Guardian, Addicting Info, Outside the Beltway and Washington Free Beacon

Anthony D. Romero / New York Times:

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: Hullabaloo, Bloomberg View, emptywheel, RedState and The Dish

Shane Harris / The Daily Beast:

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, Gawker, No More Mister Nice Blog and Guardian

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Remind Me Who It Is the CIA Works For? — So the redacted summary of the “torture report” is out, which means Senate Democrats brushed aside GOP complaints and that the administration overruled both State Department and CIA objections to the timing or to the release itself.

Discussion: Telegraph and Booman Tribune

CNN:

Senate report: CIA misled public on torture — 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, according to an explosive Senate report released Tuesday.

Discussion: Liberaland, Balloon Juice, Hot Air and New York Magazine

New York Times:

7 Key Points From the C.I.A. Torture Report — 1. The C.I.A.'s interrogation techniques were more brutal and employed more extensively than the agency portrayed. — The report describes extensive waterboarding as a “series of near drownings” and suggests that more prisoners were subjected …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and ProPublica

New York Times:
White House and Republicans Clash Over C.I.A. Torture Report

Discussion: BBC, Washington Post, Reuters, ThinkProgress, Prairie Weather, Washington Monthly and First Draft

K.T. McFarland / Fox News:
CIA interrogation report: Democrats want to punish America, blame Bush

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Dish, Liberty Unyielding and The PJ Tatler

Glenn Greenwald / The Intercept:
Live Coverage of the Senate Torture Report

Discussion: The Dish, New York Times, Washington Post, emptywheel, Reuters, ABC News, Politico, Guardian, The Verge, Taylor Marsh and TalkLeft

Brian Bennett / Los Angeles Times:
Dianne Feinstein leaving intelligence job amid clash on tactics report

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, No More Mister Nice Blog and Addicting Info

Jose A. Rodriguez Jr. / Washington Post:
Today's CIA critics once urged the agency to do anything to fight al-Qaeda

Discussion: TIME, National Review, American Spectator, Telegraph, Hot Air, Techdirt, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, The Dish, NO QUARTER USA NET and Hit & Run

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Dismissing Senate Report, Cheney Defends C.I.A. Interrogations

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Liberaland, US Department of State, Mediaite, Hit & Run and rubber hose

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

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: Bloomberg Politics

Tom Howell Jr / Washington Times:
Gruber to face hostile House panel, tea party 'I'm with Stupid' T-shirts

Discussion: Truth Revolt and The Gateway Pundit

Fox News:
Gruber apologizes for ‘mean and insulting’ ObamaCare comments

Discussion: Washington Monthly, American Spectator and Liberaland

Sarah Ferris / The Hill:
Circus set for Gruber at Capitol

Discussion: Politico and Fox News

NY Daily News:

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: Capital New York, Hatewatch, New York Magazine, New York Times, Truth Revolt, Gawker, The Jawa Report and Washington Free Beacon

New York Post:
Cops fatally shoot synagogue attacker

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air and The PJ Tatler

James Kirchick / The Daily Beast:

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.

Discussion: The Federalist, OpenSecrets.org, Gawker, Althouse, RedState, Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, The PJ Tatler, alicublog, Fox News, Mashable, Advocate, New York Times and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

Philip Sheridan / The Atlantic Online:

The New Republic: An Appreciation … Last week, Franklin Foer resigned his editorship of The New Republic. A deep, if not broad, mourning immediately commenced as a number of influential writers lamented what occurred to them as the passing of a great American institution. The mourners have something of a case.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

Peter Beinart / The Atlantic Online: How The New Republic Lost Its Place

Emily Atkin / ThinkProgress:

FBI Files Charges Against President Of Company Behind West Virginia Chemical Spill — Gary Southern, president of Freedom Industries, takes a sip of water at a press conference on the chemical spill. — The former president of the company that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 West Virginians …

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

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, Outside the Beltway, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Hot Air and The PJ Tatler

Stuart Rothenberg / Rothenblog:

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

Pew Research Center:

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, Latest, Jezebel, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Post