July 14, 1955: The United States ratifies the 1949 Geneva Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War. Of the four conventions, the third is the “Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.”

August 21, 1996: President Clinton signs the War Crimes Act of 1996. “After 40 years, after the ratification of the Geneva Conventions, [we discovered] that it was not self-enacting, and we actually have never passed the necessary legislation to accept jurisdiction within our Federal courts to prosecute war crimes that we were aware of,” says Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe.

Subsection (d)(1)(A) of the War Crimes Act expressly defines and forbids torture: “The act of a person who commits, or conspires or attempts to commit, an act specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation, coercion, or any reason based on discrimination of any kind.”

Violation of the War Crimes Act is a felony with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, or death if the torture victim dies.

September 11, 2001, 12:05 pm: Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld is told that al Qaeda is likely responsible for the morning’s attacks, based on a phone call the NSA intercepted 15 minutes after the Pentagon was hit.

September 11, 2001, 2:40 pm: Rumsfeld demands “Best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] at same time. Not only UBL [Osama bin Laden].… Need to move swiftly.… Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not.”

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Title: The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World

Author: W. Cleon Skousen

Rank: 10

Blurb: “After the American election of 1980, Skousen was appointed to the Council for National Policy, a think tank of influential politicians, scholars and academics that lent support and advice to President Ronald Reagan’s administration. Among the many solutions Skousen proposed included suggested programs to convert the Social Security system to private retirement accounts and a plan to completely wipe out the national debt.”

Review: “Every conscious citizen needs to understand these principles so that we do not loose the freedoms and prosperity we now enjoy.”

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yv9K4ADqhw

Pardon us for dredging up Peggy Noonan again, but something has gone unremarked about her appearance last Sunday, and it’s really nagging at us.

It’s not what she said. It’s how she said it.

First, let’s get to the quote itself, starting around 2:50:

Sometimes in life, you want to just keep walking… Some of life has to be mysterious.

Peggy’s plea for proactive ignorance aside, watch her delivery — the sincerity, the earnestness, the empathy. Yes, we know the Wronged Woman shot the bastard, but he was a bastard, and sometimes we have to take extenuating circumstances into account. Doctor Phil, your comment?

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From the Stinque mailbox, a French commercial from the 1980s demonstrating the benefits of Perrier’s new, um, larger package. We’d like to remind our audience that France is a Catholic nation, and their God clearly has a more wicked sense of humor than ours.

America loves a Redemption story. And Eric Holder was poised to provide one, upon his nomination for attorney general.

The soundbite we’re hearing again from January is the obvious one: “Waterboarding is torture.” But we’re not hearing the backstory of his selection, and what it may bring to bear on his decision whether to enforce the law of the land.

You’ll recall that Holder’s previous claim to fame was signing off on Bubba’s infamous midnight pardon of fugitive billionaire Marc Rich (tax fraud), whose ex-wife coincidentally donated more than $1.65 million to the Clinton library, Hillary’s original Senate campaign, and the Democratic Party. The appeal bypassed conventional Justice procedures.

Oh, and Holder had also asked Rich’s lawyer for help becoming AG if Al Gore was elected. Which sounds odd until you learn that Rich’s lawyer was Jack Quinn, a former White House counsel.

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We’re not sure how we feel about our painkiller company making weed killer, but we definitely don’t want our weed killer company making painkillers. We can only hope they don’t mix up the packages, or we’ll be pushing daisies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEtFMj6ZiHM

Our best guess is that every so often, Roger Ailes forgets to recharge Shep’s electric collar.

Shepard Smith Uncensored: “We Are America, We Do Not F**king Torture!” [HuffPo, via Sully]