The Republic is doomed. A morally bankrupt Republic cannot stand. And yesterday, we saw confirmation of that.
Gina Haspel is a perfect CIA chief. She doesn't care what Congress thinks. She gives zero fucks about accountability, transparency, or human rights.
The argument goes that the US, as an empire, has to do this in order to survive. We have tortured. We do torture. And we will torture again. But for now, just take the word of our millionaire senators from both sides of the aisle that the USA is good, and stands fro truth and justice. Don't worry, and go back to sleep.
Torture
New CIA Chief Is A Trusted Torture Site Manager
Gina Haspel will almost surely become the next CIA chief on May 9. She managed a torture site in at least one nation. The torture employed at her black site had the usual - dark isolation, sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, physical torture, psychological torture, and water boarding.
Contrary to what Barack Oabma said, the USA never stopped its rendition and torture program. It's still with us. If we were serious about stopping it, there would have been a truth commission, investigations, reports and accountability. Of course that didn't happen, aside from one Senate report. Americans had more apps to play with one their phones and the CIA continued to orchestrate the torture of people all over the world. And now one of their torture managers will be head of the agency.
And what did the DC elite say when she was nominated to head the agency? They said that she was just being loyal and was following orders when she ran a black site in Thailand. It's the Nuremberg Defense.
I call this the good German defense, which was used by Adolph Eichmann when he was on trial in Jerusalem for his part in organizing the Holocaust. It was dismissed then, and should be dismissed now, and for the same reason. To argue that one may commit crimes against humanity because you were only following the orders of the legal authority in your country fails as a matter of law and a matter of morality. Such an order is illegal, always, and its immorality is self evident.
Julian Assange Addresses The UN Via His Friends At Russia Today
While I don't entirely agree with his assertion that President Obama is exploiting the 2011 Arab uprisings for political gain, I do agree with everything else he says, especially his strong points on Bradley Manning:
Bradley Manning, science fair all-star, soldier and patriot was degraded, abused and psychologically tortured by his own government. He was charged with a death penalty offense. These things happened to him, as the U.S. government tried to break him, to force him to testify against WikiLeaks and me...As of today Bradley Manning has been detained without trial for 856 days. The legal maximum in the US military is 120 days.
Update: January 15 2018: Video of his appearance is no longer available, but here's a typical Assange TV appearance from the same year.
Friday News & Blog Roundup
Lindsay Lohan is Going to See Dead People: She'll be working two half days in a morgue, as part of her punishment for drunk driving.
Bobby Fischer Dead at 64: Goodbye, Grand Master. You were incredible. You were also quite mad. Your story is begging for a grand biopic.
Beware of Americans: A training manual published by the Canadian government advises diplomats to be aware of, and be on the lookout for, signs of torture in a 'watch list' of nation states. Those nations include Iran, Syria, Israel, China, Afghanistan, and the USA / Guantanamo Bay. Keith Olbermann discusses the significance of this Canadian watch list.
New York City Needs Tourists: And we're not ashamed to say so. We need tourists so the city stays financially solvent, since we don't manufacture anything, and we have a shrinking middle class. Remember The Gates? Get ready for four giant waterfalls this summer. Meanwhile, the NYC unemployment rate edges up for the fifth straight month.
Sadly, No! Ups Its Critique of Jonah: Clif over at Sadly No! has produced a magnificently researched post on how Jonah Goldberg is not only guilty of projection when he calls progressives racists, but he's totally full of shit in a very serious way. His book is currently ranked #2 in sales over at Amazon.com. It is an insult to historical research and intellectual debate worldwide, and copies of it need to find their way to bargain bins soon. I'm never for censorship. But I am against wingnut welfare and rediculous political and historical arguments. Really, if it wasn't for his mom and Linda Tripp, he wouldn't be a contributing editor at America's Shittiest Website or have this 400 page book published.
Bless the Pets: In Mexico, it is the the annual feast day of St. Anthony The Abbot.
!Tenga un buen fin de semana, amigos!
At Tribeca Film Festival: Taxi to the Dark Side
I poured through the Tribeca Film Festival listings two weekends ago, and I don't recall seeing this documentary. Tom Tomorrow makes a strong case for seeing it. Taxi to the Dark Side appears to be a comprehensive look at how we officially became a torture state. And thanks to director Alex Gibney (The Smartest Guys in the Room), it is polished and well constructed.
Showtimes and locations:
Saturday April 28th, 20:30, Clearview Chelsea
Sunday April 29th, 21:45, AMC 34th Street
Tuesday May 1st, 18:30, AMC 34th Street
Thursday May 3rd, 15:00, AMC Kips Bay
Locations and tickets can be viewed here.
Thanks to the Tribeca Film Festival for making all trailers available through Brightcove (which I now realize is slicker than YouTube), and encouraging bloggers to embed the trailers on their sites. This is how a film festival should promote itself.