Wiretap: Torture? Yes, without accountability, we’ll do it again

Jane Mayer writes in the New Yorker in praise of Dianne Feinstein’s work to release the executive summary of the Senate torture report. But Mayer writes that nothing in the report guarantees that we won’t use torture again. Dick Cheney says he would do it again “in a minute.” And in his news conference, CIA Director John Brennan wouldn’t even use the word “torture.” Mayer quotes Reed College professor Darius Rejali, an expert on torture regimes, as saying, “Nothing predicts future behavior as much as past impunity.”

Georgetown law professor David Cole asks in a Washington Post op-ed: If the techniques used the CIA were legal, why did they lie about using them?

If you missed Dick Cheney’s spirited defense of torture on Meet the Press, you can read the transcript here. Via NBC News.

Wait, what? U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Jack Bauer “ticking time bomb” torture apologist Antonin Scalia just doesn’t see where the Constitution prohibits things like cruel and unusual punishment or forcing people to incriminate themselves.

They did it, kind of. Negotiators struck a “watered down” climate deal over the weekend in Peru. It’s something at least to work with in Paris next year.

Two years after Sandy Hook, a Pew poll shows, yes, growing support for gun rights. Via the Los Angeles Times.

The spending bill is done. But Ted Cruz’s feud with GOP leaders rages on. Via the National Journal.

Run, Liz, Run? Elizabeth Warren is getting hotter and hotter. Movement liberals want her to challenge Hillary Clinton in 2016. Will she? Via Politico.

Liberals love Warren. She drives many on the right crazy. Try this National Review piece by Kevin Williamson as a perfect example.

Krugman: Wall Street got its first cut out of Dodd Frank. Surprised? Via New York Times.

Ross Douthat writes that liberals believe working-class marriages would work better if they were more like liberals’ marriages. Or something like that. Via New York Times.

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