Nope. Not buying this one. From CNN:

The Saudis are preparing a report that will acknowledge that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death was the result of an interrogation that went wrong, one that was intended to lead to his abduction from Turkey, according to two sources. One source says the report will likely conclude that the operation was carried out without clearance and transparency and that those involved will be held responsible.

Translation: One of the rogue dudes who flew to Turkey on a government plane was cleaning his bone saw when it accidentally discharged.

One of the sources acknowledged that the report is still being prepared and cautioned that things could change.

Translation: If our bullshit trial balloon fails to reach escape velocity, we've got 10 more waiting on the launch pad.

Earlier Monday, President Donald Trump suggested that "rogue killers" could be behind Khashoggi's disappearance, after a phone call with Saudi Arabia's King Salman about the case. Trump said King Salman told him "in a very firm way that they had no knowledge of it." Later Monday, Trump said he had seen the latest media reports. But he said he did not know if the report is accurate or just "rumor." The President said he remains eager to get to the bottom of what happened to Khashoggi. He noted that Turkey and Saudi Arabia are "working together" to determine what happened.

Translation: I must consult the orb—and the French Impressionists who keep my books—to resolve this dispute between my presidential idol who runs Turkey and my son-in-law's sugar daddy who runs Saudi Arabia. Big, beautiful clean coal!

MANDEL NGAN Getty Images

The age of impunity rolls on. Leaders of democracies—putative and otherwise—feel free to float the most obvious lies to their people in the same way that the leaders of authoritarian satrapies do. It's hard to know when and where we passed over this line, but I do know that, once, in this country, the following was national policy, and that a lot of important people pretended not to know how completely truthless it was.

These cases make clear that while many of these techniques may amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, they do not produce pain or suffering of the necessary intensity to meet the definition of torture. From these decisions, we conclude that there is a wide range of such techniques that will not rise to the level of torture.

Further, a showing that an individual acted with a good faith belief that his conduct would not produce the result that the law prohibits negates specific intent.

A defendant could negate a showing of specific intent to cause severe mental pain or suffering by showing that he had acted in good faith that his conduct would not amount to the acts prohibited by the statute. Thus, if a defendant has a good faith belief that his actions will not result in prolonged mental harm, he lacks the mental state necessary for his actions to constitute torture.

The two people responsible for this work are now employed as a professor at a respected American school of law and as a federal judge.

Safety Tip for Citizens of a Democracy: The bone saw is always loaded.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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