This was a good conversation between Jon, and Robbie, it was infodense to coin a term and a lot of ideas were exchanged.

Jus Cogens

Jus Cogens, literally means "compelling law." In searching where I brought it up before (12/09/2014)¹ on this board, I noticed Colleen Rowley mentioned the term as a bullet point under the heading: " How Top Secret America Misfires •The erosion of the prior legal safeguards, even the firmly entrenched ethical and legal (jus cogens) principles prohibiting torture" appeared on a post here on 01/21/2011.² The unique quality of jus cogens is that is sacrosanct, it can't be mucked about with and it carries universal jurisdiction which was famously invoked in the arrest by Spain of Augusto Pinochet for crimes committed, not in the Kingdom of Spain, but an ocean away in Chile. George W. Bush's aborted Swiss junket in 2011 (recently circulated as fresh news for some reason) was said to have been canceled for fear of arrest. As I alluded to above, jus cogens, as international law, can not be changed from one state to another, they can't be derogated, nor can they be abrogated or vitiated: In the vernacular, "it is what it is."

Out of the Mouths of Babes

One of the features of my ongoing study of World War II is that in Germany there was a marked absence of what are called Fuhrer Orders, Hitler rarely signed anything that would implicate him in unlawful acts. One of the ways this was accomplished was by giving high ranking party members a great deal of autonomy; they then would do what they thought would please the leader in accordance with the threadbare philosophy of National Socialism. Hitler would either praise his minions or excoriate them and always in camera. Lacking Hitler's reticence, Obama in mouthing the words "we tortured some folks" has admitted to the knowledge of egregious wrongdoing that ipso facto requires a remedy under law; there is nothing else for it. Say it with me, one word at a time..."we....tortured...some...folks." The former is an important phrase because, don't get me wrong, it has all the moment and weight and all the stentorian timbre of other historical phrases such as "et tu, Brute?" or "sic semper tyrannis"; it is really one for the ages.

Now, it seems that there are no current plans to prosecute any of the torturers. We can not be a nation of laws if the principles by which and for which our laws are written are not reified by the spirit of justice else they become just pulp and pigment or weapons to be used against and not for the people. In the following clip, watch as Jen Psaki, State Department Spokeswoman, uses the word "values" as a euphemism for the word "law" as she attempts to cross the legal minefield of torture and repeatedly says "we stopped doing it because it went against our values": when what she should have said was that it was against the f*ing law. Weasel wordsmith Psaki, graduate of William and Mary (a public policy school) attempts to explain to an AP reporter how our moral ascendency is still intact: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eipNVZB_Vdw
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¹My post, which is basicly a definition lifted from two sources is here: http://911blogger.com/news/2014-12-03/12-things-keep-mind-when-you-read-torture-report

²Ms. Rowley's post can be found here: http://911blogger.com/news/2011-01-21/why-those-who-value-constitutional-rights-and-civil-liberties-must-ask-congress-init...