The Weekend Desk Report

"On September 9, 2002, as the George W. Bush administration was launching its campaign to invade Iraq, a classified report landed on the desk of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It came from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and it carried an ominous note," Politico reports.

"Please take a look at this material as to what we don't know about WMD," Rumsfeld wrote to Air Force General Richard Myers. "It is big."

The report, revealed here publicly for the first time, was an inventory of what U.S. intelligence knew - or more importantly didn't know - about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Its assessment was blunt: "We've struggled to estimate the unknowns . . . We range from 0% to about 75% knowledge on various aspects of their program."

Myers already knew about the report. The Joint Staff's director for intelligence had prepared it, but Rumsfeld's urgent tone said a great deal about how seriously the head of the Defense Department viewed the report's potential to undermine the Bush administration's case for war. But he never shared the eight-page report with key members of the administration such as then-Secretary of State Colin Powell or top officials at the CIA, according to multiple sources at the State Department, White House and CIA who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity. Instead, the report disappeared, and with it a potentially powerful counter-narrative to the administration's argument that Saddam Hussein's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons posed a grave threat to the U.S. and its allies, which was beginning to gain traction in major news outlets, led by The New York Times.

Go read the rest, and contemplate once again how the course of history changed when the United States of America invaded a country on a lie - and how it led to where we find ourselves today. Note again, as well, the media manipulation and complicity.

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This also caught my eye:

"Efforts to reach Rumsfeld, directly and through an intermediary, were unsuccessful."

Well, to be fair, he's a very busy man.

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The Beachwood Radio Hour #71: Bruce Rauner's Hotel Illinois
You can check out any time you want; you can even leave. He doesn't give a fuck. The governor's uncompromising mission is both naive and cynical. Plus: Glenn Frey vs. David Bowie; Democrats Own Flint Too; and How Glam And Punk Enabled Reagan.

If you don't want to listen, at least click through and enjoy the Show Notes.

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The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #86: Like Bon Jovi, Bulls Halfway There
The timing of this show couldn't be better given the team's easy win in Cleveland - just days after an ugly loss in Boston. Livin' on a prayer. Plus: Blackhawks Have Only Won 12 Of Last 134; Riverboat Ron Has Last Laugh; and John Baker Way Better Than Dusty Baker.

With Show Notes!

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Flint Hint
As I discuss on The Beachwood Radio Hour, Flint is a bipartisan disaster - the EPA administrator who resigned recently was a Democratic appointee of President Obama's who was based in Chicago and previously worked in the Illinois attorney general's office.

From today's New York Times:

"E.P.A. officials contend that they pressed Michigan regulators to take more decisive action after [a damning] report, but for months federal officials did little to inform the public of those findings or take decisive action. It was not until Thursday that the federal agency issued an emergency order and assumed oversight of lead testing in Flint."

And that's going easy on the EPA.

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Meanwhile, the Times reports:

"Health officials have tested the air and deemed it safe. Yes, the awful smell from a huge natural gas leak near the Porter Ranch neighborhood may cause vomiting, nosebleeds and other short-term symptoms, they say, but they have assured residents that it does not pose long-term health risks.

"Many people here, however, simply do not buy it. And now they look warily toward Flint, Mich., where the switch to a new water supply, which state officials insisted for months was safe, has left children with high levels of lead in their blood."

Though I would add "state officials insisted for months was safe, and federal officials kept quiet about evidence to the contrary . . . "

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Best Read Of The Weekend
Platonic, Until Death Do Us Part.

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Hate Reads Of The Weekend
Presented Without Commentary.

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The Sound Opinions Weekend Listening Report: "Only a few years into his career, Las Vegas-based singer/songwriter Shamir has already explored house, disco, indie pop, country and countless other styles. He joins Jim and Greg in the studio for a stripped-down performance and conversation about refusing to be pigeonholed, performing personal songs in front of crowds, and gender identity."

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Weekend BeachBook

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Weekend TweetWood

The New York Times only assigned a full-time reporter to the Bernie Sanders campaign "in recent weeks." https://t.co/A2ZUJMVP4a

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) January 24, 2016

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Willie Wilson for President: "No events, fundraisers, political rally, speaking engagements yet." https://t.co/26TkA4W8UT

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) January 24, 2016

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When bands could afford to form and start in Wicker Park ... https://t.co/nujm3wg4Sg

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) January 24, 2016

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Someone at CPS needs to learn difference between cutting and adding and simply renaming the exact same position...

— Sarah Karp (@SSKedreporter) January 23, 2016

To be fair, Rahm was speaking at a transparency and trust program in Washington, D.C., when they did that. https://t.co/1SPx9mMd3V

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) January 23, 2016

Some of these purported central office cuts are ridiculous. CPS cut chief financial officer, but added snr vp of finance...

— Sarah Karp (@SSKedreporter) January 23, 2016

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She left out the Tribune's editorial page editors ... https://t.co/CVKtoaxszs

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) January 23, 2016

If only Chicago Public Schools critics actually had their children enrolled there, says @HeidiStevens13 (a CPS mom) https://t.co/YfBVCsI0fZ

— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) January 21, 2016

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The Weekend Desk Tip Line: The perfect storm.

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