Torture is about as immoral and unconstitutional as it gets, but that’s not how Antonin Scalia sees it.

During an interview with a Swiss radio station last week, the Supreme Court Justice argued that it isn’t so clear that torturing people is wrong and ineffective.

He said,

“I think it is very facile for people to say 'Oh, torture is terrible,’ You posit the situation where a person that you know for sure knows the location of a nuclear bomb that has been planted in Los Angeles and will kill millions of people. You think it's an easy question? You think it's clear that you cannot use extreme measures to get that information out of that person?”

Scalia then added that while torture may be against the law here in the U.S., he “doesn’t know what article of the Constitution that would contravene.” In other words, torturing people isn’t just morally acceptable, it’s also constitutional.

Now, I know Scalia, a Supreme Court Justice, is supposed to be an expert on these kinds of issues, but this time he’s just flat-out wrong. Even if torture were an effective way to get information from terrorism suspects during a ticking time bomb scenario - and there’s no evidence that it is - it would still without a doubt be unconstitutional.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Climate danger zone...are we screwed? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Be sure to check out our new videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio

Need to Know: Climate danger zone...are we screwed?
- Karen Orenstein, Friends of the Earth
- Oscar Reyes, Institute for Policy Studies

Screwed: U.S. torture...worse than we thought?
- Shahid Buttar, Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Could GMOs be making you sick?
- Patty Lovera, Food & Water Watch
- Alexis Baden Mayer, Organic Consumers Association

Monday's Daily Stack

Article: "Dick Cheney on “Meet the Press”: Forced rectal feeding was “for medical reasons”" by Salon.

Article: "From Outside or Inside, the Deck Looks Stacked" by Gretchen Morgenson.

Quote: "Less government in business and more business in government" - Warren Harding.

Article: "Teapot Dome scandal" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Wall Street “Cromnibus” Carried By Dems Who Received Most Cash From Banks Pushing It" by Sam Knight.

Article: "Why are torturers being given “balance” in the press?" by David Atkins.

Quote: "Treat them with humanity, and Let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the British army in their Treatment of our unfortunate brethren" -- George Washington.

Article: "John Brennan defends CIA after torture report in rare press conference" by Eric Bradner.

Video: Conversations w/Great Minds P1 - Ray McGovern - From CIA Agent to CIA Critic.

Video: Conversations w/Great Minds P2 - Ray McGovern - Cheney Shouldn’t Get Media Coverage.

Law: "Boland Amendment", 1982 - 1984 (limiting U.S. government assistance to the Contras in Nicaragua) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Lt. Col. Oliver North, USMC (Ret)" by rotten.com.

Article: "Constitution of the United States" Article 6 section 2. "... This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby ..."

Article: "United Nations Convention against Torture" by Wikipedia.

Case: "Wilkerson v. Utah" (execution by firing squad was not cruel and unusual punishment), March 17, 1879.

Case: "Baze v. Rees" (execution by lethal injection did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment), April 16, 2008.

Quote: "This Court has held that the Eighth Amendment forbids “punishments of torture, … and all others in the same line of unnecessary cruelty,” Wilkerson v. Utah, 99 U. S. 130 , such as disemboweling, beheading, quartering, dissecting, and burning alive, all of which share the deliberate infliction of pain for the sake of pain." -- Chief Justice Roberts".

Article: "Geneva Conventions" by ICRC.

Video: John McCain on torture , Face the Nation, December 14, 2014.

Article: "Adolf Eichmann" by Wikipedia.

Hour Two: Are cops scanning your social media profile?
- Brent Skorup, Mercatus Institute

Article: "Cops scan social media to help assess your ‘threat rating’" by Brent Skorup.

Movie: "Citizenfour".

Article: "Cuyahoga River Fire" by Michael Rotman.

Book: Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-right Alliance To Dismantle The Corporate State by Ralph Nader.

Bible: "Mark 9:42" "And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.".

Article: "Tax ‘experiment’ rebounds on Republican in re-election campaign" by Neil Munshi.

Article: "Kansas Governor Proposes Using Pension Money to Cover Budget Gaps Created By His Tax Cuts" by David Sirota.

Article: "Tom Coburn blocking veteran suicide prevention bill" by Rachel Maddow.

Site: Move to Amend

Article: "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation" (School of the Americas) by Wikipedia.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Victoria Jones

Article: "Sydney Siege Over As Police Storm Cafe" by Nicholas Salazar.

Article: "Sydney siege: Three dead after commandos storm cafe" by BBC.

Article: "NLRB Passes Quickie Election Rules" by Joel Barras.

Article: "NLRB 3-2 Finds Employee Right to Use Company E-Mail for NLRA-Protected Activity" by Lawrence E. Dubé.

Article: "NLRB ruling expected to clarify ‘joint employer’ standard" by Lisa Jennings.

Article: "Harry Reid plays hardball in lame duck" by Burgess Everett.

Article: "Senate To Vote On Controversial Surgeon General Nominee" by TRNS .

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 12/15" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: Election 2014 fallout continues
- Brad Friedman, The BradBlog

Article: "Maine 'phantom Ballot' Mystery Solved!" by Brad Friedman .

Article: "Don Siegelman appears at hearing on appeal motion" by Brian Lyman.

Article: "Oregon GMO Ballot Measure 'Recount' Highlights Concern About Excluded Vote-by-Mail Ballots" by Brad Friedman.

Article: "Proponents of Oregon's GMO Labeling Measure 92 Concede Defeat Following Adverse Court Ruling" by Brad Friedman .

Article: "An Economic Agenda for America: 12 Steps Forward" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Article: "Did Wall Street Need to Win the Derivatives Budget Fight to Hedge Against Oil Plunge?" by Yves Smith.

Law: "Commodity Futures Modernization Act", 2000.

Law: "Tillman Act of 1907".

Case: "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010).

Article: "Stare Decisis".

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

Law: "McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission", 2014.

Article: "‘Cromnibus’ Highlights: IRS Cuts; No Raise for Biden; Break on School Lunches" by Siobhan Hughes.

Article: "Illinois Passes Bill That Makes It Illegal To Record The Police" by Thomas Halleck.

Article: "American exceptionalism" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Manifest destiny" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Ted Cruz" by The Center for Responsive Politics.

Article: "Preamble to the Constitution of the United States".

Book: "None Dare Call It Treason" by John A. Stormer.

Article: "The Danger of American Fascism" by Henry A. Wallace.

Article: "Joseph Goebbels" by Wikipedia.

Article: "8 Things To Know About The ‘Cromnibus’ Budget Deal Congress Just Unveiled" by Alan Pyke.

Article: "With Negotiators in DC, Opponents Vow to 'Mobilize Like Never Before' to Kill Corporate-Friendly Trade Deals" by Nadia Prupis.

Article: "How Costco Closed On Thanksgiving And Did Just Fine" by Alan Pyke.

Article: "Sweet Deal: Corporations Get $760 from the Government for Every Dollar They Spend on Elections" by Alex Ellefson.

Article: "With Negotiators in DC, Opponents Vow to 'Mobilize Like Never Before' to Kill Corporate-Friendly Trade Deals" by Nadia Prupis.

Tuesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

I'll be asking Renowned Prosecuting Attorney / Author Vincent Bugliosi whether to prosecute or pardon those responsible for torture.

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

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Should there be national GMO labeling laws in the US?

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Conversations w/Great Minds P1 - Ray McGovern - From CIA Agent to CIA Critic

Conversations w/Great Minds P2 - Ray McGovern - Cheney Shouldn’t Get Media Coverage

Big Picture Rumble: Who’s Lying - Bush or Cheney?

Big Picture Rumble: Big Bank Budget Bullsh*t

Full Show 12/12/14: Thom Talks Banksters and Torture

In tonight’s “Big Picture Rumble,” Thom debates the budget bill’s ties to greedy Wall St. hands. Horace Cooper, Conservative commentator & Senior Fellow-National Center for Public Policy Research, Kris Ullman, Conservative Commentator & Activist, Andrea Miller, National Co-Executive Director-Progressive Democrats of America, joins Thom on set.

Tonight’s “Conversations with Great Minds” features former CIA analyst Ray McGovern.

The Reason why Torture Exists...

Why are Torturers Being Allowed to tell 'Both Sides' in the Media?

Thom Hartmann on Economic & Labor News: December 15, 2014

The New Way to 'Bribe' an Elected Official...

Why we Need a Basic Income for All...

Thunderclap for Don Siegelman...