Geez, Was The Senate Democrats Torture Report Politicized?

In preparing their report on the CIA torture program, did the Senate Democrats present an objective survey or promote their preferred narrative? We get a surprising answer from a surprising source - here we go, from the NY Times:

Did the Torture Report Give the C.I.A. a Bum Rap?

By DAVID COLE  FEB. 20, 2015

WASHINGTON — IN December, when the Senate Intelligence Committee issued its long-awaited report on the C.I.A.’s detention and interrogation program, it seemed to confirm what I and many human-rights advocates had argued for a decade: The C.I.A. had started and run a fundamentally abusive and counterproductive torture program. What’s more, the report found that the C.I.A. had lied repeatedly about the program’s efficacy, and that it had neither disrupted terror plots nor saved lives.

And the switcheroo:

But the principal lesson drawn by countless commentators in the initial news cycle — that torture does not work — was reached before nearly anyone read the full report and responses by the C.I.A. and the Republican members of the committee. The report and responses amount to 828 pages. I’ve now had a chance to read the documents in full. And I suspect the C.I.A. was treated unfairly.

...

The area of dispute concerns the report’s “headlines” — namely, that the C.I.A.’s tactics did not work, and that the agency repeatedly lied about that. The report focuses on 20 prominent instances in which the C.I.A. claimed that information obtained from detainees they subjected to coercive tactics helped identify high-level terrorists and disrupt terrorist plots. The committee concluded that every such claim was a misrepresentation.

When one places the C.I.A.’s accounts of the 20 cases side by side with the committee’s accounts, however, the truth is far from clear. In each instance, the C.I.A. makes a credible case that information it obtained after using coercive tactics played an important role. The C.I.A. says, for example, that 75 percent of the information that led to the capture of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, who pleaded guilty to conducting research on explosives for a potential terrorist attack, came from the interrogation of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind, who was waterboarded 183 times. Information from Mr. Mohammed, the C.I.A. claims, also helped it capture several other key Qaeda terrorists, disrupting their efforts to kill innocent civilians.

Similarly, the C.I.A. maintains that intelligence extracted from Abu Zubaydah, the first person subjected to the coercive techniques, contributed significantly to the arrests of multiple terrorists, including Mr. Mohammed; Jose Padilla, an American who planned to set off explosions in high-rise apartment buildings; and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, said to have helped organize the 9/11 attacks. The committee contended that the most useful information from Mr. Zubaydah actually came while the F.B.I. was questioning him, using noncoercive tactics before he was waterboarded. But the C.I.A. points out that Mr. Zubaydah had been subjected to five days of sleep deprivation, a highly coercive and painful tactic, when the F.B.I. interrogated him.

The committee repeatedly asserted that critical information was obtained not from C.I.A. interrogations but from detainees in “the custody of a foreign government.” In detailing how the United States located Osama bin Laden, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, who led the committee, cited seven such instances. But she did not even acknowledge the likelihood that the other governments, to which the C.I.A. was regularly rendering suspects for torture, used techniques even more abusive than the C.I.A.’s. Her account is hardly evidence that torture doesn’t work.

Without the underlying documents, it’s not possible to resolve the competing claims, but many of the C.I.A.’s responses appear plausible on their face. At a minimum it is possible that the C.I.A.’s tactics did help it capture some very dangerous people planning future attacks.

That conclusion in turn casts doubt on the committee’s other main finding — namely, that the C.I.A. repeatedly lied about the program’s efficacy.

Wow. Is it possible the Senate Democrats simply embraced their original talking points rather than presenting a fair report, and that the media lapped it up?

NY Times readers and no one else will be surprised.

 

Comments

[Jack is Back!]

I only go to the movies Frederick wants to see. Last week it was Sponge Bob. We missed the latest Hobbit so have to wait for DVD.

We saw Act of Valor on DVD and it was quite realistic and well made. We also saw Fury on DVD and I only wish I knew in advance about all the F bombs. It as a painful movie to watch.

Last night we stayed up to watch Transformers on TBS. By now, Frederick knows the script by heart.

[Threadkiller]

Inside Hollywood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMK6lzmSk2o

[Miss Marple]

Jack,

Used to do that with my grandkids. Saw Narnia movies and Lord of the Rings that way.

Alas, they are too old to want to go to the movies with Grandma so I pretty much wait for everything to come out on DVD or On Demand.

[narciso]

I DVRed Grand Budapest, when they had one of those free previews,

Fury was also financed by one of Volodya's bundlers, I recall,

[Ben]

One little piggy built his house of straw, the next from sticks and then there was the BRICS house.

http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/how-goes-the-war/

"Russia is doing what it has always done in the face of adversity, which is to suck it up. And, anyway, these western financial monkeyshines don’t hold a candle to ordeals like the siege of Stalingrad. What’s more, the Russians, despite their peculiar alphabet and thuggish demeanor, are at least as clever with computers as our code jockeys. We (in the USA) think just because we’ve made it possible for everyman to drool over Kim Kardashian’s booty on an iPhone screen that we have some kind of immunity against cyber counter-attack from way out east.

It seems to me that Russia (with China and others) is very busy constructing an alternate financial network that will allow for international money transfers and other necessities for conducting normal trade operations, outside of systems like the SWIFT code, which the US has been using as a knout against our imagined enemies. The upshot will leave America high and dry in a lot of what remains of international trade, especially in oil.

Meanwhile we continue to tell ourselves the false and idiotic story of “energy independence,” based on the shale oil Ponzi scheme that blew up last fall — the consequences of which won’t really be felt for about another eight months, when all those wells drilled and fracked in 2013-14, start to fall off their production cliff, and the replacement wells will not have been drilled. We’re still importing almost 8 million barrels of oil a day, contrary to all the fairy tales we tell ourselves. What happens when the sellers decide they won’t take US dollars for it? Hmmmm….

[jimmyk]

I DVRed Grand Budapest

Did you watch it, narc? I tried for about 15 minutes on HBO/Showtime and got bored and restless. I suspect it's a movie that has to be seen in the theater, where you have to give it a chance.

[Dave (in MA)]

Ooooh isn't it great the pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training?

[Dave (in MA)]

Throwing shoes at a likeness of the POTUS used to be hilarious.

Not to mention photoshopping him as a chimp.

[narciso]

I caught part of it, Wes Anderson is often a little too cute by half, which works as in Tannenbaums, and less with say Aquatic,

didn't anyone as Jeh about Al Shahaab or other cell elements in the Minnesota area, or did the 2 minute hate on Rudy consume all their time,

[narciso]

it's more like George showing up at Playco, or the slacker guy at Initech.

Meanwhile, General Flynn, goes to town, on the ridiculous planned Malabar I mean Mosul offensive,

[narciso]

Omidyar just hires idiots, doesn't he:

http://www.thelasttradition.com/2015/02/rolling-stones-matt-taibbi-demonstrates.html

[jimmyk]

TK@9:44, I'd forgotten about that one. There was even too much inside Hollywood in Argo.

[narciso]

the Sauds have made it plain, their strategy is not unlike that of Rockefeller vs, his competitors, crush the competition, whether they be on the Gulf in the Caspian, or the Permian Basin,

[Ben]

OPM...approval depends on your pov.

http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/us-workers-subsidize-corporations-at-least-10-000-per-year

Adding to the Argument: Publicly Funded Technology Is Taking Our Jobs Away

Despite a continuing growth in productivity in the last 35 years, wages have fallen dramatically, and now it's getting even worse, as technology and new business models have begun to diminish the need for warehouse workers, bank tellers, cashiers, travel agents, and a host of other middle-income positions. Underemployment and long-term unemployment are on the rise. Jobs involving product delivery, driving, and serving food may be the next to go.

We paid for the technology that is reducing us to low-wage workers.

Corporations Owe $5,000 Per Household for the Public Research Bill

According to the National Science Foundation (Table 4-3), public money pays for about 30 percent of all U.S. research, including basic, applied, and development. 30 percent of over $2 trillion in corporate profits comes to about $5,000 per U.S. household.

Add $2,000 for Pollution and Disaster Relief Costs

A quarter of the fossil fuels produced in the U.S. in 2014 came from public land, much of it by the two biggest oil producers, Exxon and Chevron, neither of which pay much in U.S. taxes, and both of which claim mostly foreign profits despite using mostly U.S. resources.

It is estimated that pollution costs run anywhere from $71 billion to $277 billion per year. The midpoint of $174 billion comes to about $1,500 per U.S. household. It is further estimated that federal and state disaster relief payouts cost every person in the US more than $300, which translates to well over $500 per household.

Add Another $3,000 Per Household for Unpaid Taxes and Corporate Welfare

Tax avoidance and federal tax subsidies add up to about $3,000 per household, per year. A lot more could be added if the industry-specific costs of excessive bank fees and overpriced medications were factored in.

[narciso]

mere ignorance in one field, leads to nazgul in others

http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2015/02/bill-nye-jew-hating-guy-blames-european.html

[Extraneus]

WaPo, on the beat...

Documents show the expensive tastes of Jeb Bush’s low-key wife

In 1999, Columba Bush, the famously private wife of then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, was detained and fined by federal customs officials for misrepresenting the amount of clothing and jewelry she had bought while on a solo five-day shopping spree in Paris.

The incident left the Florida first lady deeply mortified and her husband politically chagrined. Jeb Bush said the first lady had misled customs officials because she did not want him to know that she had spent about $19,000 on the trip.

“The embarrassment I felt made me ashamed to face my family and friends,” Columba Bush said in a July 1999 speech to the Central Florida Make-a-Wish Foundation, not long after the incident. “It was the worst feeling I’ve ever had in my life.”

The ordeal did not stop her from spending freely, however. Less than a year later, she took out a loan to buy $42,311.70 worth of jewelry on a single day, according to records filed with the state of Florida by Mayors Jewelers.

That purchase was part of a pattern by Columba Bush of borrowing to buy tens of thousands of dollars of jewelry at a time from the South Florida store over a 14-year period. Documentation available online, which does not include the details of two transactions made less than six weeks apart in 1995, shows that she spent a total of more than $90,000 at the store.

[narciso]

an answer to a question, few people were asking:

http://therightscoop.com/shelby-steel-defends-freedom-against-reparations-advocate-ta-nehisi-coates/

[Extraneus]

Surprising that Perry isn't looking better than this in Texas.

https://www.texastribune.org/2015/02/23/uttt-poll-texas-walker-ties-cruz-clinton-soaring/

[narciso]

meanwhile, they can barely peek at Hillary 'arguing over price' re Norway, and the Kingdom,

Charlie Cheetah and his gang, looted the entire StateParty budget, yet the Post didn't deign to note that.

[Extraneus]

Ready for Hillary goes to the dogs

Once again showing how quick it can glom on to a trend to raise money, the group is piggybacking off the winner of last week’s The Westminster Kennel Club 139th Annual Dog Show to pitch some trinkets like dog collars and bowls.

In the past, the group has featured a brown Boston terrier. But in a new email a beagle, like the show winner, is used.

[Miss Marple]

Extraneus,

I think that falls in "the grass is always greener" category.

Or maybe "familiarity breeds contempt."

I wonder how much of it is because people don't think he can campaign, given what happened last time.

[narciso]

well except for the Medici, there are new faces on that list,

[Janet - I wish my family had a poncho]

Big Face speaks - http://weaselzippers.us/215056-imam-kerry-global-warming-goes-against-the-creators-original-plan/

"He drew a religious connection to the issue of climate change, saying that “when it comes to the fundamental health of Earth, folks, we’d better stick to the Creator’s original plan.”

Hey Iman-Reverend Kerry...perhaps you could enlighten us on the Creator's plan. Do YOU know what the Creator's plan is? Who is the Creator?

Is there a separation of church & state clause concerning weather?
Enlighten us, oh big-faced one.

[Eric in Boise]

The Hillarity! dog needs a caption contest.

"You say 'we're boned' like it's a bad thing."

[Jack is Back! (@ the car wash)]

Ex,

How dare they troll a beagle. They do rule though:)

[henry]

Eric, note the bowl is empty.

[Danube on iPad]

Grand Budapes fell flat with me. Ditto Birdman.

Gaga is a spectacular talent; so is the slut Miley Cyrus (watch the YouTube of "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover"--stunning). I guess Madonna set the standard for establihing yourself as a trashy vulgarian to get attention.

[Threadkiller]

Up-Chuck Wagon

[narciso]

the SUV's in Noah's time, no doubt, it's as if Paul were writing Romans today,

[Old Lurker]

"Eric, note the bowl is empty."

They sent out for free food from the poodle next door.

[Old Lurker]

Clarice, what do you think about your post above about the ACA case?

[Danube on iPad]

I found the article at Clarice's link confusing. I don't follow what they're saying is the basis of the plaintiffs' claim of standing.

[narciso]

volodya's aren't any better than our nazguls

http://20committee.com/2015/02/23/when-kremlin-trolls-attack/

[Old Lurker]

Thanks DoT.

[narciso]

the piece is all full of weaselwords, they use 'appear' instead of confirm the status of the plaintiffs, makes my spidey senses tingle,

[Captain Hate]

How dumb is Milbank to not realize he'd be revealed as a raving hypocrite for celebrating some spastic fossils of indeterminate gender and species acting out against paper mache. And he was outed, not by one of the usual gaggle of retards who slavishly admire his crap, by a trolley car activist. To paraphrase his friend Lurch, "Doesn't she know who he it?"

[narciso]

Milbank who once promised not to write about the Huntress for a month, but had to give up after two days, whose hit job on Beck hit the remainder tables in record time,

[Ignatz]

-- They were all blown away by Lady Gaga's performance.--

--Gaga is a spectacular talent...--

Somebody on one or the other side of this issue having eyes cannot see and having ears cannot hear.

I have never seen this broad that I did not cringe at her mediocre vocals and feel embarrassed for her with her pitiful aping of seductive and/or elegant dance and movement.

I am open to the possibility I am the deaf adder in this instance, but if I am I still wouldn't mind sinking a fang into the talentless bum of that hopeless fake.

[narciso]

well they could have just found this out, six years ago:

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/04/confirming-the-obvious.html

[Captain Hate]

Maybe Rodham's campaign should use a Chocolate Lab to remind people of Buddy, who was hit by a car and killed after he'd outlived his usefulness as a prop to make it appear that the hilljack trash crime family behaved like normal human beings? Or use a cat like Socks who was pawned off on Betty Currie since neither the Glacier in Pantsuits nor the First Special Needs Child could be trusted to spend a few minutes in a day to take care of him.

[Rick Ballard]

Narciso,

The KSA economists are sharp enough to examine the predicates for demand growth (A BILLION CHINAMEN BUYING THEIR FIRST CAR!!!) and note the China debt bubble popping. I'm sure they have a fair grasp of the depth of complete idiocy providing the foundation for PEAK OIL!! as well. The tight oil plays may be an annoyance but the deep oil plays coupled with a slackening increase in demand are what forced capitulation. Increases in production already in the pipeline by Exxon, Chevron and Petrobras are sufficient to cover increased world demand through 2017.

Holding share is going to be very tough for oil producers in the near term.

[jimmyk]

I have never seen this broad that I did not cringe at her mediocre vocals and feel embarrassed for her

I have somehow managed to get through life without even hearing or seeing her perform (at least not knowingly), and from what I've heard about her, have no reason to alter that policy. There are lots of talented people around, it's a matter of what one does with one's talents.

[Janet - I wish my family had a poncho]

Speaking of streetcars - DC Streetcar catches fire on H Street overnight

http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/dc/2015/02/22/dc-streetcar-caught-fire-on-h-street-overnight/23840393/

[matt]

Y'know, yesterday's first reading was about Noah and the Ark and God promising never to destroy the earth by flood. So if the greens are afraid of the seas rising we don't have to worry about it getting out of hand.

[clarice]

About the ACA case, I believe as the issue was not raised below and the govt never challenged the standing question, the Ct will ignore it.

As for the Grand Budapest I watched it on the plane as did my husband and we both thought it charming..

[Old Lurker]

Thanks C.

[narciso]

and furthermore, just a little promotion, TM:

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/04/timing-is-everything.html

[Man Tran]

Ig,

You couldn't pay me to go see a LG concert, but that Sound of Music medley was jaw dropping. I didn't even recognize her without the tramp look. I'll bet a YouTube shows up shortly.

[Miss Marple]

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/414218/administrations-adolescent-rants-about-isis-victor-davis-hanson

[clarice]

OL, you can wander thru the many many cases on Standing as jurisdictional and I suppose you'd find cases going the other way, but in my view had the DoJ challenged it in a timely fashion--before the trial court--the plaintiffs could have been substituted and the case continued. With millions of people affected by ACA and the subsidy issue surely other plaintiffs could have been found,

[centralcal]

Can't stand LG. But video of her performance last night (it's all over the web) was quite surprising. I wouldn't say jaw dropping, but good. Her tattoos were distracting, and she fiddled a bit too much with her dress, but all in all she was pretty good.

[Old Lurker]

"OL, you can wander thru the many many cases on Standing"

I could also buy a big box of kitchen matches and stick them one at a time under all of my finger and toe nail...

:-)

[Ignatz]

Speaking of youtube;
Here is a beautifully produced and remarkably photographed 12 minute film featuring a couple, the distaff side of which is also rather remarkable, seeking to accomplish a MacNab; the taking of a salmon on a fly, a brace of grouse and a red stag in one day in the Scottish Highlands.
Haste Ye Back.

[Porchlight]

I deliberately didn't mention it all weekend so I wouldn't have to watch, but my husband remembered the Oscars about halfway through the broadcast and then everyone but me wanted to watch. Ugh. Stupid, self-aggrandizing, narcissistic jerks patting themselves on the back. I'm sure some of them are nice. Whatever.

The Ferguson mention was revolting.

Lady Gaga was just okay. It was nice that she sang it straight, and her voice was better than I thought, but a thousand American women could do better.

[Porchlight]

Have never liked inside Hollywood movies, even "All About Eve," so would never bother with Birdman.

I do love All About Eve, which is technically about the theater although it qualifies as inside Hollywood I guess. I loved The Player when it came out but I was much younger back then and I'd never watch it again. Would never see Birdman from what I've heard about it.

Not remotely surprising that American Sniper would get snubbed. I thought Boyhood would do better, though.

[Ignatz]

Knowing you are a man of infinite wit and sagacity, I'll defer to you, Man Tran.
Meanwhile I'm sharpening my serpent's tooth.

A couple of obscure Wodehouse references there. : )

[JerryRigged]

I have always disliked Lady Gaga, but she is talented. Here she is with Tony Bennett (Tony has done a lot of duets, check them out).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kpu4mYrbQg

[lyle]

Who is "Lady Gaga"?

[Man Tran]

Heh, well I defer to our more accomplished music lovers. I guess it was like the talking dog story where the owner claims he lies all the time. :)

[JerryRigged]

Clark Terry RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AvImcsbt1U

[Danube on iPad]

"A couple of obscure Wodehouse references there. : )"

One of them was a twofer with Shakespeare.

[Miss Marple]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/scott-walkers-school-days-1424646041?mod=rss_opinion_main

You may have to do the Google thing on this.

[lyle]

http://freebeacon.com/politics/nyts-clinton-reporter-on-paid-speeches-clintons-would-say-its-expensive-to-be-a-clinton/

It's expensive to be a fraud. Just ask King Hussein.

[Ignatz]

Yeah DoT, I know more Shakespeare through Wodehouse than I do through Shakespeare. : )

[MarkO]

My "Doom" is also a Wodehouse reference.

[Extraneus]

From MM's VDH link:

ISIS assumes that most Muslims, despite their present reservations over its methodology and religious contortions, harbor some quiet admiration that at least radical Islam strikes back at Muslims’ supposed oppressors. ISIS like Hitler expects that in time it will win psychological resonance for a large minority of Muslims — at least in sufficient numbers to ensure its existence and growth.

Can this concept have escaped Mr. High Horse?

[lyle]

http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/233405-dems-cash-in-with-oscar-nominees

This. Is why I stopped going to movies and haven't watched the Oscars in 25 years. Although I intend to see American Sniper this week.

[Frau Steingehirn]

The Gray Slut closes the article with the meat of the it all:

"Responsibility for the program lies not with the C.I.A. alone, but also with everyone else, up to the highest levels of the White House, who said yes when law and morality plainly required them to say no."

Carpus magnus!

[Jane]

You couldn't pay me to go see a LG concert, but that Sound of Music medley was jaw dropping.

I've never seen her before but I too thought her performance was jaw dropping. I kept expecting her to screw up and she didn't. The Julie Andrews entrance at the end was pretty cool too. The tats were odd.

[Porchlight]

I guess it was like the talking dog story where the owner claims he lies all the time. :)

:)

I did enjoy watching LG and thought it was sweet that she exited the stage quickly after Julie Andrews gave her a hug. Yielding the limelight to the greater talent, etc. Of course she probably had no choice.

[MarkO]

Gaga was surprisingly good. The tats I saw were at least of musical instruments. So she's got that going for her. Which is nice.

[Captain Hate]

Let's get ready to RUUUUUMMBBLLLLLLLLLLE:

http://weaselzippers.us/215069-report-wasserman-schultz-plotted-to-paint-obama-as-anti-woman-and-anti-semitic-if-he-ousted-her-as-dnc-chair/

[Danube on iPad]

As the Sophomore said, this guy Shakespeare ain't so hot--all he did was string a bunch of famous sayings together.

[jojo]

even fake sweetness and modesty, just to be different and grab attention, are better than debauchery

[lyle]

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/iran-press-obama-desperate-nuclear-deal_863234.html

Horseface needs his Nobel For The Extermination Of Israel Prize, people!

[henry]

If Trumka shows up, the weight of the union protest against right to work will double.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Kerry:
“when it comes to the fundamental health of Earth, folks, we’d better stick to the Creator’s original plan.”

Ahhh, so there's something to the "plant-based diet" thing there....

Oh and in other news: everybody's gonna have to get naked.

[Jeff Dobbs]

In other, other news: the "More "Random" Killings, Now In Copenhagen" thread ultimately fell two comments short of making the top 5.

I had planned on stopping by on Saturday, the day the comments were closing, to push it over the edge. Those plans were thwarted by an extremely over-indulgent amount of pool instead.

[Rick Ballard]

Hit,

You'll have to admit that all evidence points to Kerry never having even approached the tree of knowledge.

[Miss Marple]

I didn't know botox was part of the Creator's plan.

[Dave (in MA)]

Rick, though he does bear some resemblance to those talking tree things in those tedious Hobbit movies.

[Appalled]

To Danube and Ignatz, who appreciate the benefits of the Great Books, I dedicate this ditty of yesteryear....(It's Cole Porter, folks, not Lady Gaga or, despite a similarity in style, Hit and Run)

The girls today in society go for classical poetry
So to win their hearts one must quote with ease
Aeschylus and Euripides
One must know Homer, and believe me, Beau
Sophocles, also Sappho-ho
Unless you know Shelley and Keats and Pope
Dainty Debbies will call you a dope

But the poet of them all
Who will start 'em simply ravin'
Is the poet people call
The Bard of Stratford on Avon

Refrain}

Brush up your Shakespeare
Start quoting him now
Brush up your Shakespeare
And the women you will wow

Just declaim a few lines from Othella
And they'll think you're a hell of a fella
If your blonde won't respond when you flatter 'er
Tell her what Tony told Cleopatterer

If she fights when her clothes you are mussing
What are clothes? Much ado about nussing
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kow-tow

{Refrain}

With the wife of the British ambessida
Try a crack out of Troilus and Cressida
If she says she won't buy it or tike it
Make her tike it, what's more As You Like It

If she says your behavior is heinous
Kick her right in the Coriolanus
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kow-tow

{Refrain}

If you can't be a ham and do Hamlet
They will not give a damn or a damlet
Just recite an occasional sonnet
And your lap'll have honey upon it

When your baby is pleading for pleasure
Let her sample your Measure for Measure
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kow-tow - Forsooth
And they'll all kow-tow - I' faith
And they'll all kow-tow

{Refrain}

Better mention "The Merchant Of Venice"
When her sweet pound o' flesh you would menace
If her virtue, at first, she defends---well
Just remind her that "All's Well That Ends Well"

And if still she won't give you a bonus
You know what Venus got from Adonis
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kow-tow - Thinkst thou?
And they'll all kow-tow - Odds bodkins
And they'll all kow-tow

{Refrain}

If your goil is a Washington Heights dream
Treat the kid to "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
If she then wants an all-by-herself night
Let her rest ev'ry 'leventh or "Twelfth Night"

If because of your heat she gets huffy
Simply play on and "Lay on, Macduffy!"
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kow-tow - Forsooth
And they'll all kow-tow - Thinkst thou?
And they'll all kow-tow - We trou'
And they'll all kow-tow

[clarice]

Omri Ceren, the Israel Project:
Klapper and Jahn's AP story about a seemingly impending "phased agreement" between the US and Iran has predictably generated a firestorm this morning. The technical debate is over the duration of a "sunset clause," after which Iran would be welcomed as a normal nuclear power under the NPT. The Iranians will be allowed to enrich as much uranium as they want, however they want, to whatever levels they want - including of course weapons-grade levels. Until the second they build and detonate a bomb in the desert, they would be totally unhindered. And in the meantime the West would have squandered any nonmilitary leverage it had to push back.
Just judging by emails and Twitter, the biggest debate right now is what metaphor to use to describe the U.S. collapse. Some people seem to prefer "the deal builds Iran an on-ramp to a nuclear bomb" while others are using "the deal puts Iran on a glide path to a nuclear bomb."
There are lots and lots and lots of angles to this story, very few of which have yet to be reported out in light of the AP story. I've pasted some of the most straightforward at the bottom, along with the experts who originally floated them. If you're reporting this out you can either contact them directly, or we can connect you if you need.
( ) The most straightforward argument: it effectively gives Iran a bomb
President Obama has also accepted the idea of a “sunset clause” on any agreement (Tehran has suggested three to seven years; Washington wants more than 10), which means that eventually the regime could legally develop an industrial-size enrichment program, reducing its bomb breakout time to days and increasing the risk of uranium diversion to covert sites.
Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz - senior fellow at FDD and FDD executive director - Aug 2014
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/iran-ignores-a-lucrative-deal-over-its-nuclear-activities/2014/08/08/32ef5c96-1ef0-11e4-ab7b-696c295ddfd1_story.html)
( ) It enables the Iranian regime to consolidate its domestic power - and the human rights abuses that go with it - by presenting the deal as a huge win
If they could nail down a favorable sunset clause, Iranian officials would be able to tell their public that they had won two big concessions -- a lifting of restrictions on Iran's nuclear advancement, plus elimination of the international sanctions that have been crushing the country's economy. From their perspective, this makes sense, Takeyh said. "Once the deal is over, they're off to the races," he said.
Ray Takeyh - Senior Fellow at Council on Foreign Relations, Professor at Georgetown University - July 2014
(http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-sunset-clause-iran-talks-20140704-story.html)
( ) It locks in Iranian regional expansionism
It's hard to comprehend what the logic is for after, let's say, ten years suddenly saying OK Iran, you go back to being a normal NPT state. I mean, nothing will have changed. Iran will still have its military ambitions. It will have been slowed down but will be able to continue. So that's a major concession.
Emily Landau - Senior Research Associate, Institute for National Security Studies - Oct 2014
(https://soundcloud.com/the-israel-project/conference-call-with-dr-emily-landau-1)
( ) It shreds US security assurances to regional allies
If the deal's major success is less consequential than many portray it, few commentators have focused on what may be its most consequential aspect -- an apparent promise that, at the end of the process, Iran may eventually be able to enrich as much uranium as it wants, to whatever level it wants... if Iran acts like a Boy Scout long enough -- one expects the "agreed period" to be measured in years, not months -- Iran's ayatollahs may receive formal international blessing for nuclear activities that, for a long time, have flouted the will of the international community... regional powers that deferred to the Obama administration's strategy for dealing with the Iran problem may begin to take matters into their own hands. With Saudi Arabia likely to take its own defensive measures, in terms of deepening its nuclear partnership with Pakistan, all eyes are on Israel.
Robert Satloff - Executive Director, Washington Institute for Near East Policy - Nov 2013
(http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/irans-nuclear-program-is-still-growing-and-americas-fist-is-shrinking)
( ) Guts global nonprolifieration standards - the timeframe is too short for the IAEA to certify Iran's program is peaceful (this one is very technical and insidery, but has the potential to become really, really important from a diplomatic perspective)
Number one... Iran has shown itself to be quite patient. So saying to Iran that they're limited just for a number of years, may prove to be insufficient in terms of limiting the regime's nuclear ambitions. And second, nuclear inspectors like Olli Heinonen have said that in fact, it could take longer than some of the durations that have been discussed to even accomplish the strict purposes that are being assigned to the inspectors and to the IAEA and sort of the different draft agreements we've seen. And that the work of inspections, the work of establishing what Iran has done in the past, for example, could in fact take much longer than the five years or seven years that Iran would like the agreement to last.
Michael Singh - Senior Fellow and Managing Director, Washington Institute for Near East Policy - July 2014
(http://www.theisraelproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Conference-Call-with-Mike-Singh.pdf)
( ) "Get out of jail free card" that guts global nonproliferation standards (again, this angle is insidery and a little boring, but from the perspective of global nonproliferation experts there is a catastrophic risk)
All they need to do is behave during the period that these agreements are in effect, and the slate will be wiped clean; Iran’s nuclear program will be accepted as legitimate, and bygones will be bygones. This will be true even if Iran concedes that it was actively seeking to develop nuclear weapons in the past, or even up to the present day... It is worrisome that the Administration is committed to a process that promises Iran full nuclear rehabilitation in exchange only for behaving for a specified period of time. There have been other instances, in which countries have abandoned nuclear weapons programs and subsequently been considered rehabilitated. South Africa, Brazil and Argentina come to mind. But in these cases, our willingness to accept that they had abandoned their nuclear weapons ambitions and to begin treating them as responsible stewards of civil nuclear technology rested on the fact that they had undergone fundamental changes in government.
Stephen Rademaker -Frmr Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation - June 2014
(http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA00/20140610/102321/HHRG-113-FA00-Wstate-RademakerS-20140610.pd

[Jim Miller]

Dave (in MA) - The principal cartoonist for the Gurdian, Steve Bell, drew George W. Bush as a chimp, not once, but routinely. At least once he combined Bush and Blair in a cartoon that ws literally obscene.

He was so pleased with that effort that, when Bush left office, he did a retrospective of all the chimp cartoons.

At least once he drew Saddam -- as Saddam.

Does the Guardian influence our leftist journalist? I'm sure it does, both directly, and through its influence on the BBC.

(Here's a 2012 sample of Bell's work, for those who want one.)

[Strawman Cometh]

MM's google thing link:
https://www.google.com/webhp?source=search_app&gws_rd=ssl#safe=off&q=Scott+Walker%E2%80%99s+School+Days
I've noticed that Althouse has been publishing her WSJ links in this format.

[Captain Hate]

Hitting another one out of the Levant:

http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=355139

[Rick Ballard]

Dave (in MA),

Secretary Ent works as well as Secretariat in delimiting the extent of intelligence and knowledge displayed by the head of the State Department. He's lucky the Persians only scream at him rather than beating him as they would any other recalcitrant ass.

I hope Netanyahu's speech is effective in terms of raising awareness of the danger in dealing with the Mad Mullahs.

[MarkO]

Iran with the bomb? Why doth treason prosper.

Don't worry. Obama's not pro-Islam.

[lyle]

http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/quran-quran-glam-band-puts-a-face-to-the-muslim-invasion-t15936.html

[lyle]

Bill Nye, "Climate Expert," has a BS in mechanical engineering.

Frauds all the way down.

[Dave (in MA)]

Rick, I'm hoping that the Orange Crybaby doesn't cave to all the pressure and dis-invite Netanyahu.

[Captain Hate]

He's lucky the Persians only scream at him rather than beating him as they would any other recalcitrant ass.

Like tolerating a huge case of jock itch.

[Danube on iPad]

Lucianne header:

"The Obama administration on Monday filed both an appeal and a request for an immediate stay of last week’s court ruling halting the president’s deportation amnesty, arguing that if it can’t grant illegal immigrants work permits and Social Security numbers it cannot enforce other laws properly."

Jeez--one shudders to think of these guys being unable to enforce laws properly.

[Jane]

arguing that if it can’t grant illegal immigrants work permits and Social Security numbers it cannot enforce other laws properly."

That doesn't even make sense - does it?

[rse]

DOT-the youth program component of WIOA commences earlier than the rest in April. The DOLETA regs just came out and I looked over them this morning.

Given how WIOA works and the immigration XO I wonder if some hands are tied there if the Teaxs federal judge's ruling stands.

They are definitely in a hurry to give the illegals economic rights even before political ones.

[Jack is Back!]

Stay was denied.

[Rick Ballard]

Dave (in MA),

There is no way I would say that OrangeDrank wouldn't drop a razor sharp wedge and a fifteen pound maul by withdrawing the invitation but I find it unlikely. I agree with NK's observations regarding the splitting of the Progressive Fascist Party and the speech has to be examined in conjunction with BOzo's failure to support Rahm, DWS's reach for the antisemitism card in trying to hold her leadership position and the Black Racist Caucus letter to Boehner.

I don't think Boehner is really all that committed to progressive suicide prevention.

[Old Lurker]

I think they meant to say "Enforce laws when and as they see fit at the moment".

[Porchlight]

Secretary Ent

Haha, Rick - that is great. Although it's insulting to Ents.

[Old Lurker]

...and against whom.