From the Salmon

If you’re keeping track at home, our President now has the power to declare people to be enemy combatants, imprison them indefinitely, and interrogate them using a standard of his choosing — a standard that will almost assuredly include methods that reasonable people would consider torture. These prisoners will have no legal recourse to challenge their imprisonment, and should the president ever decide to bring them before a military tribunal, they can be convicted using secret evidence and evidence obtained through coercion or hearsay. And since we can’t afford accountability while we’re at war, we’ve also made these changes retroactive, to absolve the executive branch of past criminal acts.

It’s depressing enough that the Republican Party has no qualms about tossing aside seven centuries of legal tradition as a craven, cynical ploy to cover their asses and hold on to a few congressional seats in a midterm election. What’s even worse is that it looks like it might actually work.

I’ve never had this little faith in my government. And I’ve never been more ashamed of my country.