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Tuesday Overnight Open Thread (12/10/19)
The Soyciety Pages: Dunkin' on NeverTrump LOL: Battleground/Red State Democrats Begging and Whining for Censure Option, So They Can Avoid Voting on Impeachment and Avoid Being Sent Packing AG Barr Blasts Media and Deep Staters -- and Criticizes Horowitz -- in Interview Poll: Say Hello to Your New Frontrunning Democrat Presidential Candidate Active Shooter Situation in Jersey City; Cops Describe Shooting as an "Ambush;" Terrorism Suspected Democrats' Star Counsel Dan Goldman Claims He's a Non-Partisan Straight-Arrow Fact-Finder, Then Wilts When Asked By Matt Gaetz if He Used to Tweet That the Pee-Pee Tape Was Real Democrats Unveil Two Frivolous, Focus-Grouped Articles of Fake Impeachment The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition Mid-Morning Art Thread |
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May 13, 2009
Implausible Deniability: Pelosi's Lying, Close Source ConfirmsPelosi fake-frowned, Zubaydah fake-drowned. A source close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now confirms that Pelosi was told in February 2003 by her intelligence aide, Michael Sheehy, that waterboarding was actually used on CIA detainee Abu Zubaydah. As I had supposed: She was playing a game of plausible deniability with the CIA. She offered her support, or at least silence, in exchange for which the CIA went along with the charade of pretending she didn't know. Plausible deniability has a long and often honorable tradition in spycraft. It allows high-ranking people to order actions without much fear of being compromised or embarrassed if those actions are revealed. There is a catch, though: You can't start prosecuting the very same people you just secretly authorized to undertake such actions. Because, get this, then they'll stop pretending you didn't know and tell the world you did. This appears to contradict Pelosi's account that she was never told waterboarding actually happened, only that the administration was considering using it. "Appears," yeah. And that's not her "account," actually. That's her "second account," to be precise. It differs from her first and third accounts, and will surely also depart from her fourth. ... In related news, somewhere a Mafia captain is testifying at a RICO prosecution, "Hey, I wasn't personally told my crew would be importing that heroin from Turkey. Sure, my lieutenant told me, but not actually the members of my crew doin' it. So, you know, I'm innocent 'n stuff." Charles Schumer then: And I’d like to interject a note of balance here. There are times when we all get in high dudgeon. We ought to be reasonable about this. I think there are probably very few people in this room or in America who would say that torture should never, ever be used, particularly if thousands of lives are at stake. Dianne Feinstein spins on behalf of Nancy Pelosi, and seems to advocate torture.... in the right circumstances: “I don’t want to make an apology for anybody, but in 2002, it wasn’t 2006, 07, 08 or 09. It was right after 9/11, and there were in fact discussions about a second wave of attacks.” Captain Ed asks if this defense of Pelosi is also a defense of Bush and Cheney. It's obviously not intended to be -- but it looks like a back-up defense is now in the works. The Democrats' problem, of course, is that they want to prosecute Bush officials and CIA agents who performed EITs, but they have to distinguish those actions from the Democrats' own actions. They need to come up with some formulation that indicts Bush and the CIA, while absolving Rockefeller, Pelosi, et al. It looks like Feinstein is groping at a time-based distinction. For reasons unfathomable, which I'm certain Democratic lawyers are trying to cobble together even as we speak, it turns out that "torture" was not illegal and not unconstitutional during the period of 2002 and 2003 (and possibly 2004), but suddenly became illegal and prosecutable in "2006, 2007, and 2008." Absolutely illegal, illegal under all circumstances. Except, of course, during the period when Democrats supported it. Sort of "absolutely illegal under all circumstances" but with some nuance in that "absolutely" and "under all circumstances." They'll figure out the exact cut-off date for legal immunity later -- and this date will be the latest one upon which ranking Democrats provably supported the policy. The moment after that date of last provable Democoratic blessing of EITs, the actions became illegal and prosecutable. But they'll be working with a narrow window -- waterboarding ended sometime, what, in 2004 or 2005? We might be looking at a five or six month window when 1) the technique was still be employed but 2) there is no record of Democrats contemporaneously supporting it. And for that short duration alone, waterboarding will have been absolutely illegal, and a gross violation of the Constitution, and repellent and deserving of highest punishment and so forth. The Democrats will want to see all of the CIA minutes before the public does -- so they can determine the precise date upon which EITs became illegal, in advance of the public reading about it all first. This kind of argument is pretty sketchy, so they'll need a little lead-time in preparing the ground for it.
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Tuesday Overnight Open Thread (12/10/19)
The Soyciety Pages: Dunkin' on NeverTrump LOL: Battleground/Red State Democrats Begging and Whining for Censure Option, So They Can Avoid Voting on Impeachment and Avoid Being Sent Packing AG Barr Blasts Media and Deep Staters -- and Criticizes Horowitz -- in Interview Poll: Say Hello to Your New Frontrunning Democrat Presidential Candidate Active Shooter Situation in Jersey City; Cops Describe Shooting as an "Ambush;" Terrorism Suspected Democrats' Star Counsel Dan Goldman Claims He's a Non-Partisan Straight-Arrow Fact-Finder, Then Wilts When Asked By Matt Gaetz if He Used to Tweet That the Pee-Pee Tape Was Real Democrats Unveil Two Frivolous, Focus-Grouped Articles of Fake Impeachment The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition Mid-Morning Art Thread Search
Polls! Polls! Polls!
Election Projection Federal Review Real Clear Politics Rasmussen Reports Gallup Zogby FoxNews Polls Sabato/Crystal Ball Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Primary Document: The Audio
Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings) George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an F*ckin' Hammer Top Top Tens
Democratic Forays into Erotica New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really Hate Potatoes Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party" Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?" Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance Collective Names for Groups of People John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive" Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments John Edwards Campaign Excuses John Kerry Pick-Up Lines Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney Torments in Dog-Hell Greatest Hitjobs
The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny More Margaret Cho Abuse Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed" Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means Wonkette's Stand-Up Act Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report! Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet The House of Love: Paul Krugman A Michael Moore Mystery (TM) The Dowd-O-Matic! Liberal Consistency and Other Myths Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate "Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long) The Donkey ("The Raven" parody) |