Marc Thiessen is the author of Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack , about which he wrote for us here. As White House speechwriter for George Bush, Thiessen was locked in a secure room and given access to the most sensitive intelligence when he was assigned the task of writing Bush’s September 2006 speech explaining the CIA’s interrogation program and why Congress should authorize it. Few men in a position to address the subject knowledgeably in public know more about these CIA operations than Thiessen.
[…]
Yesterday Thiessen clashed with Amanpour and Sands on CNN. During the segment Thiessen confronted Amanpour with her wild misstatements about the CIA interrogations and disputed Sands’s assertion regarding the inefficacy of the techniques in issue. I don’t think Amanpour will be having Thiessen back any time soon.
Hopenchangen: The Long Final Walk
The last chance to save the planet from bursting into flame safely behind us…
The timetable to reach a global deal to tackle climate change lay in tatters on Wednesday after the United Nations waived the first deadline of the process laid out at last month’s fractious Copenhagen summit.
Nations agreed then to declare their emissions reduction targets by the end of this month. Developed countries would state their intended cuts by 2020: developing countries would outline how they would curb emissions growth.
But Yvo de Boer, the UN’s senior climate change official, admitted the deadline had in effect been shelved.
“By [the end of] January, countries will have the opportunity to . . . indicate if they want to be associated with the accord,” he said. “[Governments could] indicate by the deadline, or they can also indicate later.”
“You could describe it as a soft deadline,” Mr de Boer said.
“Soft”, like footsteps in the snow….
Why Terrorists Target Airplanes
And not courthouses.
Zakaria Amara, 23, the group’s ringleader, pleaded guilty on Oct. 8. A police informant described him as being a “time bomb waiting to go off” and having a “total indifference to innocent life.” He was sentenced this week to life in prison, but will be eligible for parole in six years.
Saad Gaya, 21, a McMaster University student, pleaded guilty on Sep. 28. The group’s ringleaders selected Gaya to drive one of the bomb-laden trucks to its target. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison this week, but will be eligible for parole in 3½ years.
Ali Mohamed Dirie, 26, a Somali-Canadian, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to smuggling guns for the terrorist group. While in prison, Dirie “took an active role in recruiting other inmates to adopt extreme jihadi beliefs,” the Crown prosecutor said during his trial.
Saad Khalid, 23, was the first of the group to plead guilty. The Saudi-born Khalid was sentenced to 14 years but could be released on parole in just more than two years because of seven years’ credit given for time served. Khalid bought electrical components and recruited another person into the group. Crown prosecutors say they willl appeal his sentence.
Nishanthan Yogakrishnan, 18 at the time of his arrest, is a Sri Lankan convert to Islam. He was convicted last September and sentenced to 30 months, but credited for time served and released on parole. Yogakrishnan was first person found guilty under anti-terrorism legislation passed by Parliament in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
Amin Durrani, 23, was sentenced yesterday to 7½ years in prison but will be released today on strict parole, having been given extra credit for time already served in custody.
RELEASED
The following have signed peace bonds in which they agreed to undergo rehabilitation and stay out of trouble, and in exchange the Crown agreed not to proceed with their prosecution:
– A father in his mid-40s, described as a spiritual leader to some of the accused.
– A recent university graduate, described by a lawyer as a model citizen.
– A young university student.
– A man originally charged with importing firearms for the group.
– Three young offenders released in February 2007.
Or the Toronto Star.
“My gal Hillary”
Always helpful;
And, by the way, ladies and gentlemen, I think that it is time for Mrs. Clinton to start gearing up for a run for the White House in 2012. I firmly believe that she is. I think the Clintons are waiting out there.
They are watching this. They are watching a lackadaisical failure response to the earthquake in Haiti. They are watching this election result. They’ve been loyal. They’ve been spouting the Obama talking points all over the place. Hillary has dutifully gone wherever she’s been told to go by Obama. Now we had a referendum on Obama; his approval numbers are plunging. No issue he supports enjoys majority support of the American people. Mrs. Clinton, start gearing up for 2012. Her loss was narrow! Operation Chaos (orchestrated by me and executed by many of you) kept her in that race longer than she otherwise would have been. But Obama has failed miserably in record time. And my gal Hillary, who so many of you voted for in the Democrat primary, could be well poised to springboard back into the race in 2012.
I hope she’s pondering it. Nobody could have ever expected (except me) this big and this fast a failure on the part of the president of the United States. But I have no doubts because I know, and knew, that his policies were going to take us right where we are. So make no mistake about it: Even without my urging, Hillary Clinton is salivating and Bill Clinton is salivating because (doing Bill Clinton impression), “A few years ago, that guy would’ve been getting us coffee. In a couple more years, that guy can get us coffee. Maybe three.”
The Sound Of Settled Science
Growing legs: “Disappeared” – The Case Of The Vanishing Thermometers
In case you missed that: “Just 1 thermometer remains for everything north of latitude 65N – that station is Eureka.”
Richard Foote takes note at the National Post.
Reader Tips
Welcome to the Wednesday (EBD) edition of Late Nite Radio.
Anyone fortunate enough to have seen the late Ray Condo in a small club setting can attest to what a great live performer he was. His studio recordings never managed to fully capture either his mischievous joy or the whip-crack energy of his live performances, but tonight’s selected album cut comes close to doing that, thanks in part to a nicely-done video comprised of footage shot by his drummer on a 1994 European tour. Here it is: the title track from Ray Condo & His Hard Rock Goners’ 1994 Album Come On.
You are invited, as always, to provide your Reader Tips in the comments.
Is There Nothing That Obama Can’t Do?
Now is the time at SDA when we juxapose!
Fox News, December 20090 – White House Christmas Decor Featuring Mao Zedong Comes Under Fire
Washington Times, January 2010 – The White House National Security Council recently directed U.S. spy agencies to lower the priority placed on intelligence collection for China amid opposition to the policy change from senior intelligence leaders…
Update – a better point in the comments.
The Sound Of Settled Science
The IPCC never asked, but that did not stop the IPCC from making up an answer for me.
h/t Don B.
Dwaine Lingenfelter: Not Losing Enough!
Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Dwain Lingenfelter, Jan.12th – “I want to be very clear that I’m referring to (Wall) and his team of cabinet — but mainly the premier because he’s the leader — as a loser, but no one else.”
RCMP, Jan.19th – …. have charged a man who volunteered in the provincial NDP leadership campaign of Dwain Lingenfelter in connection with irregular memberships sold by the campaign.
The Sound Of Settled Science
Climategate-I was the revelation that climate scientists crusading over global warming at East Anglia University had tried to censor inconvenient data and shut dissenters out of academic journals. Climategate-II is the revelation that the 2007 report of the International Panel on Climate Change, saying Himalayan glaciers might disappear by 2035, was not science at all but idle, unsubstantiated speculation.
It speaks volumes for the huge biases within IPCC that it took two years for this hoax to be exposed. Any hoax opposing the global warming thesis would be exposed in ten seconds flat. The IPCC is willing to swallow unexamined what it finds convenient, while raising a thousand technical objections to anything inconvenient. This is religious crusading, not objective science. The tactics being used to discredit and destroy heretics is reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition.”
Read the whole thing. Then compare the depth of detail it contains with this curiously vague version.
h/t Maz2
In a shocking coincidence – Al Gore tries to cool ‘climate spin’ by correcting claims of North pole thaw
Update: Another case of wet feet?
Australia’s peak science agency, the CSIRO, has backed away from attributing a decade of drought in Tasmania to climate change, claiming ‘’the jury is still out’’ on the science …
So Many Young Suicides Cut Short
French health ministry issued a warning on Tuesday after eight people died and seven fell sick in two European countries from using heroin contaminated by anthrax.
Reader Tips
| Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SDA Late Nite Radio. Tonight, for your delectation, here are Mr. Kenny Rogers and the boys performing Don Schlitz‘s The Gambler ¤ § (ca.1978, 3:24). |
Your Reader Tips are, as always, welcome in the comments.
How Did Michael Vote?
I for one, think some enterprising wag should ask Prof. Ignatieff his opinion of the special election outcome in his home state.
Over 100K Dead Voters On The Rolls In Massachusetts
And one of them is named Mary Jo Kopechne.
Mass. Senate Race: With 39 Percent of Precincts Reporting, Brown Has 52 to 47 Percent Lead Over Coakley
(Meanwhile, over at CNN, a rerun of the award-winning documentary “CHIRP: Song Of The Nocturnal Insect”.)
Time for a Poll!
More – The Huffington Post’s Great Big Red Letter Headline.
Brown VS Coakley
The campaign of unintended consequences;
Over the past several days as the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts heated up, the available “inventory” of advertising spots to buy from the TV networks dried up.
And then disappeared entirely.
On cable we here at the Tea Party Express were not able to purchase any additional local spots. Zero. None. Nada.
Polls just closed. I’ve never seen so many Republicans afraid to “jinx” themselves in my lifetime.
That’s a good sign. Maybe they’re catching on.
Heh.
Hope and Change: The Musical
Great Moments In Political Messaging
“Why would you hand the keys to the car back to the same guys whose policies drove the economy into the ditch and then walked away from the scene of the accident?“
Polls have opened. And go here for Steyn’s take.
Updates: In a watershed moment for post-2009 Democrats, the first mention of “blame” that excludes the word “Bush”. And speaking of monkey wrenches, the media wing of the Democratic machine has its own problems.
(I’m busy with stuff that makes blogging difficult today. Your best source for ongoing developments is likely to be the Corner.)
Team Rubicon
A good friend of mine reached out to me to get some medical supplies and doctors into Haiti. The plan was to get the supplies, docs, and SF medics into the Dominican Republic and convoy into Haiti. Since convoys have been attacked from the DR, you need to have security personnel who can sub as medics and medics who can sub as security personnel.
So you send experienced operators – Soldiers and Marines.
Continuing updates here. If you’d like to help out, there’s more at the link.
Reader Tips
| Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SDA Late Nite Radio. Tonight, for your delectation, here are George Lewis and the boys performing Mahogany Hall Stomp ¤ (2:49). |
Your Reader Tips are, as always, welcome in the comments.
Sure, I Hate Sharks
But not like I hate seals.
h/t Brent Weston