memeorandum: Rand Paul: Speaks out on Obama, war on drugs, police (Geoff Pender/The Clarion-Ledger)

1:00 PM ET, December 9, 2014

Top Items:

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: American Prospect, Outside the Beltway and Washington Free Beacon

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: The Moderate Voice and The Dish

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: emptywheel and The Dish

CNN:

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

Washington Post:

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: Gawker and Obsidian Wings

New York Times:

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, Washington Post, Reuters, BBC, Prairie Weather and First Draft

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

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Addicting Info and Washington Post

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

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

ABC News:
Torture Report Reveals CIA's ‘Brutal’ Interrogation Tactics

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, NBC News and ABC News

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

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Guardian and Political Wire

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

Discussion: New York Times, emptywheel, Reuters, The Daily Caller, The Dish, Guardian, The Verge, Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, RedState, Washington Examiner and TalkLeft

Digby / Hullabaloo:
The president of the ACLU wants Obama to pardon the torturers

Discussion: Crooked Timber and No More Mister Nice Blog

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

Discussion: TIME, Bloomberg View, National Review, Hot Air, Techdirt, The Huffington Post, The Dish, NO QUARTER USA NET, Hit & Run, Foreign Policy, New York Times and ABC News

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

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo and Hit & Run

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: Political Wire and Bloomberg Politics

Tom Howell Jr / Washington Times:

Gruber to face hostile House panel, tea party 'I'm with Stupid' T-shirts — Democrats shun Obamacare architect after ‘stupidity of the American voter’ comments

Discussion: Truth Revolt and The Gateway Pundit

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

Discussion: Politico and Fox News

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

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

WHAS-TV:

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

Geoff Pender / The Clarion-Ledger:
Rand Paul: Speaks out on Obama, war on drugs, police

Discussion: CNN, OnPolitics, Talking Points Memo and Bloomberg Politics

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: The Jawa Report, Truth Revolt, New York Magazine, CNN, Liberaland, Gawker, The PJ Tatler and Washington Free Beacon

Margaret Talev / Bloomberg Politics:

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

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, Jezebel, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Post

Susan Page / USA Today:
Poll: Americans back charges in Eric Garner death

Discussion: Hot Air and Prairie Weather

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

MoveOn.org Looks to Nudge Elizabeth Warren Into 2016 Presidential Race — WASHINGTON — Some Democrats are “Ready for Hillary.” MoveOn.org is ready for Elizabeth Warren. — The liberal group is poised to spend $1 million on a campaign to draft Senator Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat …

Discussion: Washington Post, Shakesville, PoliticusUSA, Politico, RedState, The PJ Tatler and Political Wire

Eugene Volokh / Washington Post:

Lena Dunham's publisher says her alleged rapist “Barry” wasn't actually named Barry — Lena Dunham in a scene from the HBO series “Girls.” (JoJo Whilden/HBO via AP) — As I noted last week, Lena Dunham's memoir describes her having sex with someone named Barry, whom she labels as Oberlin's “resident conservative.”