Now that the Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to release its report on Bush-era CIA torture, the heat is being turned up. Secretary of State John Kerry weighed in on Friday about the dangers of releasing it. And on Sunday, former CIA director Michael Hayden said it was as if the agency had been “tried and convicted in absentia.” Not everyone agrees. Committee chair Dianne Feinstein calls the report “the most important oversight activity” her committee had ever conducted. Via the Atlantic.
There is no Republican frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race as of yet. But the National Journal explains why Marco Rubio should be.
Thomas Friedman writes that although ISIS is drawing Muslims from around the world to join its cause, it is also pushing many away. Via the New York Times.
The Democrats’ final midterm-election insult: Mary Landrieu, the last Democrat from the Deep South, is crushed in runoff. Via Politico.
Hillary Clinton, the White House years: powerful but not always politically deft. The New York Times examines an oral history released by the University of Virginia.
The New Republic’s problems long predated Chris Hughes. In the words of Vox’s Max Fisher, its former owner, Marty Peretz, did far worse than fire some popular editors, often writing screeds “that were breathtaking in their overt racism.” Why didn’t the New Republic’s writers quit then?
Updated Rolling Stone apology on UVA rape story only makes things look worse for Rolling Stone. Via the Washington Post.
Meanwhile in Montana: The state’s popular Cowgirl Blog reports on the social media flare-up fueled by the new capitol dress code. It’s all about “business attire” and watching hemlines and necklines. According to the blog, “it’s clear (the dress code) is targeted at women — and probably reporters. After all, reporters are really the only people who can access the House floor besides the legislators’ own staff — and a handful of high school pages.”
Related? Republican leadership in Montana is also making moves to push the Associated Press out of its long-standing capitol office. Incoming Senate President Debby Barrett says her offices made need the room presently occupied by the AP. But there’s also this: “The Associated Press is the lead plaintiff in a legal action 22 news media organizations filed last month against the House Republican caucus asking a judge to find lawmakers in contempt of a 1998 court ruling ordering partisan caucuses to be open to the public.”
Retiring Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley names the favorite books he read/reviewed in his 33 years on the job.