Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We […]
Zelikow’s Destroyed Memos By emptywheel on Philip Zelikow Last night, as I was beginning my catalog of the interrogation reports used in the 9/11 Report, the former Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission was on Rachel Maddow, elaborating on his Foreign Policy article where he revealed how the Bush Administration destroyed his objections to the […]
The SASC Smoking Gun on Waterboarding SASC Torture Report, Working Thread Cheney Plans to Continue to Manufacture Intelligence OLC + CIA = CYA Those CIA Employees Don’t LOOK Pissed that Obama Released the Torture Memos Is There a 2003 Waterboarding Memo We’re Missing? The CIA IG Report: Is Waterboarding KSM 183 Times Really Effective? If […]
Main Entry: re·flect Pronunciation: \ri-ˈflekt\ Function: verb Etymology: Middle English, from Latin reflectere to bend back, from re- + flectere to bend Date: 15th century transitive verb: archaic to turn into or away from a course: deflect to prevent passage of and cause to change direction <a mirror reflects light> to bend or fold back […]
I doubt that many of us have the stomach to read the Torture Memos thoroughly. I don’t. But here’s an exerpt from 2005 in which Steven Bradbury attempts to re-evaluate the earlier Yoo/Bybee versions. The question is simple, if these techniques don’t cause extreme pain and suffering, why are they using them at all? Why […]
Of the Torture Memos, President Obama said: this is a time for reflection, not retribution… Those are wise words, well spoken. Were I he, and in his position, I might have said the same thing. But I’m not Obama, nor in his position. I agree that this is not a time for retribution, in spite […]
Divisions Arose on Rough Tactics for Qaeda Figure By SCOTT SHANE April 17, 2009 The first use of waterboarding and other rough treatment against a prisoner from Al Qaeda was ordered by senior Central Intelligence Agency officials despite the belief of interrogators that the prisoner had already told them all he knew, according to former […]
I’m obviously having a "graph day." I usually post the National Debt as a percentage of the GDP, which corrects for inflation [the lower figure]. However, the upper figure [the absolute national debt] has a meaning of its own: That level line in the upper figure that runs from about 1948 until 1981 means […]
Order extends U.S. probe of accountant in Madoff case Apr 17, 2009 NEW YORK (Reuters) – The criminal investigation of an accountant accused of rubber-stamping the books of jailed swindler Bernard Madoff was extended on Friday for one month pending an indictment, further charges, or a plea, according to court papers. The accountant, David Friehling, […]
The upper figure is the yearly unemployment from the Great Depression. Below, I’ve extracted the yearly rate of change [this year – last year = % change/year]. What it shows is that in 1932, Hoover’s interventions were beginning to have an impact, even before FDR’s New Deal. Also notice what happened in 1937 when FDR […]