THE DEMOCRATS’ TORTUOUS LIES ABOUT TORTURE
"How many legs does a calf have, if you call the tail a leg?" Abraham Lincoln asked a Congressman during a discussion of whether he had the authority to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. "Five," the Congressman replied. "Four," Lincoln corrected him. "Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg." We can assume that Lincoln would similarly correct Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee who have as expansive a definition of "torture," as he would those feminists who include consensual sex in their definition of "rape." Foremost of the "tortures" Democrats decried in a 500 page report was the waterboarding of three senior al Qaida leaders. CIA interrogators were themselves waterboarded before using the technique on terrorists. Grandstanding journalists have volunteered to be waterboarded to "prove" it's torture. Which should prove conclusively it isn't. No journalist has ever volunteered to have his fingernails pulled out.
THE GROVELING OF GRUBER
The testimony Monday (12/8) of Jonathan Gruber, professor of economics at MIT and a leading architect of Obamacare, posed a delicate problem for ABC, CBS, and, especially, NBC News. The House Oversight Committee wanted to hear more from Prof. Gruber about how the administration deceived Congress, CBO and the American people to get Obamacare passed. The hearing was great theater. "Gruber groveled. Gruber regretted. Gruber apologized. Gruber was sorry," said Scott Johnson of the Power Line blog. "He squirmed. He dodged. He apologized," said Politico. The problem for the broadcast networks was how to explain to their viewers who Gruber is and why he was squirming, dodging and groveling, because before Monday, they'd reported next to nothing about the things he'd said.
HALF-FULL REPORT 12/12/14
"Boehner Wins Funding For Obama's Amnesty." Welcome to this morning's headline. It's hard to imagine more nauseating news, confirming all of our suspicions about what Rino rectum sellout corrupt scumbags are John Boehner and the House GOP leadership. It is now clear that Boehner and the GOP Establishment is in collusion with Zero to grant unconstitutional amnesty to millions - uncountable millions with subsequent chain migration - of illegal non-Americans.... It's hilarious that no member of the Enemedia has ever questioned Zero's intelligence. For while he has the ruthless cunning of a mafia gangster or narcissistic sociopath, he shows no evidence of being either educated or very bright. A case in point is... With the exposure of the UVA Rape Hoax, the question now is what effect will that have on the other FemiLeft Rape Cause, that of the destruction of Bill Cosby?.... Get comfortable for what's coming next, preferably with a tumbler of your favorite adult beverage within easy reach. This is one of those gems that by itself is worth a year's subscription to TTP.....
HOW TO PROPERLY TORTURE A TERRORIST
The treasonous release of the Democrats' "Senate Torture Report" this week (12/09) is definitive proof that they lack any patriotism or even basic decency whatever. If they had any integrity - of which they don't have a picogram - they'd change their name to the HateAmerica Party. Like most normal Americans, I couldn't care less how a Moslem terrorist is interrogated, other than what he knows about terrorist attacks on Americans be extracted from him as efficiently and dependably as possible. The monsters of Al Qaeda and ISIS et al have divested themselves of any claim to human rights. The only practical argument against torturing terrorists is that it's so undependable: the guy will say anything to stop the torture. Often, a dramatic presentation of the threat of torture works better. Take the Israeli way: When a Palestinian terrorist is captured, how many Israeli lives can be saved depends on how quickly Shin Bet (Israeli Security) agents can make him squeal. They strip him naked and sit him in a chair with his legs forced apart. They bring in a large Doberman pincher whose muzzle is placed inches from his genitals. They explain: "This is Herman. Herman is a very unusual dog. Herman can smell when someone is lying. When someone lies, it gets Herman very mad. And when Herman gets mad, he bites - really hard. So we suggest you tell us the truth." Works like a charm. At least in many cases. In those that don't, the consequences are really gross and the Palestinian is rendered useless in the needed time-frame. A more reliable method is required. Here are three. Buckle your seat belt.
TEAM OBAMA’S TORTURE REPORT IS TREASONOUS
Tuesday's (12/09) willful, unnecessary and gratuitously destructive release of the one-sided "torture report" at the insistence of outgoing Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) - backed by the White House - amounts to nothing less than providing aid and comfort to the enemy in wartime. Can anyone cite one practical good accomplished by releasing this gratuitously destructive report at this time? Will revealing successful practices make us more secure? No. The report provides a propaganda windfall for Islamist fanatics. Will it benefit our allies? No. It exposes those who took great risks to help us in the wake of 9/11. Will it "set the record straight?" No. It distorts the record grotesquely in the interests of political correctness, blame-shifting and short-term political advantage. Of course, the release of this report just now - which may lead to the deaths of more Americans, as the senator has been warned - is another sign of the Obama administration's desperation. Team Obama's genius for failure in every policy field, foreign or domestic, has left the administration's inner circle frantic to deflect attention from its parade of deceptions, derelictions and disasters.
THE SHRILL CHERRY-PICKED SCREED OF THE DEMOCRAT TORTURE REPORT
Yesterday (12/09), the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence chaired by Democrat Senator Diane Feinstein (CA) publicly issued an unclassified Executive Summary of its classified report to Congress on the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program in response to the terror attack on America of September 11, 2001. It has been dubbed the "Torture Report" by the media. As CIA Director from May 2005 to February 2009 I'm not here to defend torture. I'm here to defend history. The Senate Democrat report is exceedingly graphic in its description of several interrogations; it is designed to shock and it does. So too would an equally detailed description of drone strikes, which are currently supported by these same lawmakers and, by the way, deemed lawful by the Department of Justice. The Senate Democrat document reads like a shrill prosecutorial screed rather than a dispassionate historical study. What happened here seems clear. The staff started with a conclusion and then "cherry picked" their way through 6 million pages of documents, ignoring some data and highlighting others, to make their case.
THE CATASTROPHE OF THE CORRUPTION OF SCIENCE
As somebody who has championed science all his career, carrying a lot of water for the profession against its critics on many issues, I am losing faith. Recent examples of bias and corruption in science are bad enough. What's worse is the reluctance of scientific leaders to criticize the bad apples. Science as a philosophy is in good health; science as an institution increasingly stinks. This past week has seen three egregious examples of poor scientific practice. The most recent was the revelation last week that scientists appeared to scheme with environmental activists to get neonicotinoid pesticides banned, rather than open-mindedly assessing all the evidence. Second example: last week, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a supposedly scientific body, issued a press release stating that this is likely to be the warmest year in a century or more, based on surface temperatures. Yet this predicted record would be only one hundredth of a degree above 2010 and two hundredths of a degree above 2005 - with an error range of one tenth of a degree. In any case, the year is not over with 16% of the 2014 data not yet recorded, so why the announcement now? Oh yes, there's a political climate summit in Lima this week.
CHINA BUBBLE
China's stock market boom has reached outright mania, with equities galloping higher at a parabolic rate, despite threats of a crackdown by regulators and the continued slowdown of the national economy. The Shanghai Composite Index has risen 32% in the past six weeks, blowing through 3,000 to a three-and-a-half-year high even though corporate earnings are declining steeply. The China Securities Regulatory Commission said late last week that it would "increase market supervision, resolutely crack down and earnestly safeguard normal market order." It warned that stock manipulators had been "raising their head" and would be dealt with. The cautionary words have been ignored by retail investors as they throng brokerage offices, lured by momentum trades. For the stock boom comes as Chinese industry battles with massive overcapacity in everything from steel to shipbuilding, coal output, cement and solar panels. The bottom line is that it may be impossible for China to deflate its epic bubble painlessly.
HALF-FULL REPORT 12/05/14
Before we start tearing our hair out by the roots over House Rino perfidy, let's take a look at some good news this week. Yes, there is some. The New York Times finally began - just began - catching up to To The Point on Sunday (11/30) with Russian Money Suspected Behind Fracking Protests. TTPers have known about this since April 2012 in Is Obama on Putin's Payroll? Yet that was just the prelude, for the next day, Monday (12/01) is when, as one headline put it: Putin's Luck Runs Out. Here's how rapid the Putin Collapse has been... There will be marvelous news in Louisiana tomorrow (12/06). Scary Mary Landrieu is going to get crushed by Dr. Bill Cassidy - he's ahead by 24 points (!). I grew up in the days of the Solid South completely run by Yellow Dog Democrats. With Landrieu gone tomorrow, Democrats will be left without a single Governor, Senator, white Congressman, or state legislative chamber from the Carolinas to Texas. Think about that... Okay, time to wallow in the mire with a clothespin blocking the stench from our noses. Thomas Sowell noted yesterday that it will take a psychiatrist to explain why Boehner & Co want millions of illegal foreign workers to compete with Americans for jobs... There are other things we could get upset about this week, but instead, I need to tell you a story. It's about how I met an extraordinary man and became friends with 45 years ago. On Wednesday (12/03) at age 84 he passed away. His name was Nathaniel Branden.
AN EARNED LIFE: NATHANIEL BRANDEN 1930-2014
I've lost a mentor and a dear friend; Nathaniel Branden passed away on Wednesday, Dec. 3rd. Playful, brilliant, mischievous, incisive, inspiring... He was the best ally a young soul striving for strength and self-possession could have. When someone we care about passes, we long for stories that remind us of them; stories that help us feel like we can still know them better, as though they're somehow still here, and we can continue to feel closer to them, if only for a little while longer; while we get used to the jarring truth that they're gone. There are stories that are public knowledge - and they are big stories. Nathaniel was instrumental in creating a systematic philosophy and organized school of thought from the novels and thought of Ayn Rand. I'd like to give a brief introduction to the man for those who may not know him or his work. Then what I have to say is more personal.