Sydney gunman reportedly demands ISIS flag as some hostages escape  —  Sydney (CNN) — Australia, and the world, looked on with dread Monday as a gunman holding hostages inside a darkened Sydney cafe demanded an ISIS flag and a phone call with Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Sen. Warren Warns That Spending Bill Sets Dangerous Precedent  —  Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. (right), a member of the Senate banking committee, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., ranking member of the House financial services committee, express their outrage to reporters …

Most Americans consider waterboarding to be torture: poll  —  A barbed wire fence surrounds a military area is in the forest near Stare Kiejkuty village, close to Szczytno in Northeastern Poland, in this January 24, 2014 file photo.  Poland threatened to halt the transfer of al Qaeda suspects …

Torture and the Truth  —  It's hard to describe it as a positive development when a branch of the federal government releases a four-hundred-and-ninety-nine- page report that explains, in meticulous detail, how unthinkable cruelty became official U.S. policy.

Journalists Shouldn't Help the Sony Hackers  —  “Jolie a ‘Spoiled Brat’ From ‘Crazyland,’ ” says The New York Post.  —  “Shocking New Reveals From Sony Hack,” says The Daily Beast.  —  “Sony's Hacked Emails Highlight Hollywood's Problems With Diversity,” says The Huffington Post.

Sen. Thune: Not closing door on 2016 run  —  Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) isn't ruling out a 2016 bid for the White House.  —  Republicans have an enormous field of potential candidates who are already making moves ahead of 2016.  But Thune told The Hill he hasn't been focused on building …

The great campus rape hoax: Column  —  The truth - that rape on campus is becoming less common - doesn't fit the left's narrative.  —  Americans have been living through an enormously sensationalized college rape hoax, but as the evidence accumulates it's becoming clear that the entire thing …

Rove: CIA's Waterboarding Not Torture Like Japanese War Crimes Because We Raised Detainee's Legs  —  Republican strategist and former senior advisor to President George W. Bush argued on Sunday that the CIA's use of waterboarding on detainees could not be considered torture because it was “designed” to let the victim live.

Is It Bad Enough Yet?  —  THE police killing unarmed civilians.  Horrifying income inequality.  Rotting infrastructure and an unsafe “safety net.”  An inability to respond to climate, public health and environmental threats.  A food system that causes disease.  An occasionally dysfunctional and even cruel government.