Fraud still plagues the Medicare prescription-drug program, where questionable practices were found at 1,400 pharmacies, which collectively billed Medicare $2.3 billion in 2014.

Top of the Alty World

"Fraud Still Plagues Medicare Drug Program, Watchdog Finds"—ProPublica

Pressure mounts to remove the confederate flag from the South Carolina capitol.—Democracy Now!

White Nationalist group defends the grievances of the Charleston church shooter.—Mother Jones

Mental health experts warn Louisiana residents that images of the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina can cause depression and PTSD.—The Gambit

Top of Alty Utah

A poll shows more Utahns becoming convinced that climate change is real.—Utah Policy

FEC files complaint against Jeremy Johnson for illegal donations to Mark Shurtleff, Mike Lee and Harry Reid—Utah Politico Hub

Lawmakers weigh taxing e-cigarettes.—Utah Political Capitol

Candidate for Salt Lake City Council Derek Kitchen and Christian Harrison of the Kentlands Initiative discuss the evolution of the Granary District with SL City News.—SL City News

Rantosphere

Rick Larsen makes the case for term limits for elected officials.

Elected officials and self-identified politicos often lament the apathy of the public and yet, in the case of term limits, are quick to discount resounding public support with the condescending attitude that “the public doesn’t know what’s good for them”.
An astonishingly high 79% of Utah voters statewide would beg to differ, as they express strong support of term limits. In fact, only 5% of those surveyed strongly oppose term limits. The public couldn’t possibly make a stronger statement as to their opinion on this issue
Not so long ago, in this land of Utah, the citizens made their will known by voting for term limits…that were then promptly repealed by those who represent the people, and apparently know better.—Utah Politico Hub

The Long View

A look at how Bruce Jessen, a quiet Idaho farm boy rose to become a contract torturer for the CIA.

Only one detainee is known to have died while in custody at any of the CIA's secret prisons, and he died shortly after being interrogated by Jessen.

Gul Rahman was an Afghani arrested by U.S. agents and Pakistani forces during an attack inside Pakistan. His capture took place on Oct. 29, 2002. Less than a month later he was found dead at the notorious "Salt Pit" detention site in Kabul, Afghanistan—stripped from the waist down and shackled to a wall in such a way that he would be forced to sit on the concrete floor in freezing conditions.

Jessen personally interrogated Rahman days before he was found dead, on Nov. 20, 2002, using methods that were not authorized, according to the Senate report. Jessen had traveled to the Salt Pit at the request of the CIA's ALEC Station—which was tasked with locating Osama bin Laden—where he determined the types of interrogation techniques that should be used on Rahman.

According to the report, those techniques included the "insult" slap, auditory overload, total darkness, isolation, cold showers, 48 hours of sleep deprivation and "hard" or "rough" takedowns, which included being dragged outside where his clothes were cut off. Restrained with Mylar tape and wearing a hood, Rahman would be forced to run up and down a long hallway, with CIA personnel slapping and punching him along the way.—Salt Lake City Weekly