Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Here.

Houses of the Holy (1973). Gorgeous.

To the Editor:

It’s the height of hypocrisy for the House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, to complain of Democrats “playing politics” with Obamacare and to call for good-faith negotiation. Republicans had the opportunity for this discussion in 2009 when President Obama articulated his openness to any proposal that expanded coverage without adding to the debt. They could readily have obtained many of the adjustments they now propose had they been willing to engage at that time. Instead they opted for calculated party-line opposition focused entirely on handing the president a political defeat, and outrageous anti-Obamacare hyperbole has poisoned the discussion in the years since.

By all means let’s stop playing politics, but this means abandoning the overheated and vacuous repeal rhetoric and engaging in good-faith discussion on possible adjustments to the existing framework, not playing chicken with the coverage for millions of people.

STEVE LEOVY

Boulder, Colo.

Note from KBJ: This is risible. Republicans didn't manipulate people into opposing ObamaCare. The people who were subjected to ObamaCare saw how awful it was and elected Republicans to repeal it. ObamaCare was based on lies ("It's not a tax"; "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor"; "Premiums will go down $2,500") and rammed down Americans' throats. Republicans had nothing to do with it and are not responsible for it.

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974).

Here.

Here.

Has anybody seen or heard from William "Never Trump" Kristol? I hope he has crawled back into his hole, never to be seen or heard from again. Any self-proclaimed conservative who preferred Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump, for any reason, cannot be taken seriously and is not worth reading or listening to. One thing is clear: He'll never get the time of day from Trump.

To the Editor:

Re “Nearly Half From U.S. in Poll Say Torture Can Be Useful” (news article, Dec. 5): It is troubling that 46 percent of Americans believe that torture can be used to extract information from an enemy combatant. In 1764, Cesare Beccaria’s founding work of modern legal philosophy, “On Crimes and Punishments,” called for the abolition of torture not only because it is immoral but also because it simply doesn’t work.

“Torture is not a fit means of discovering the truth,” he asserted, because “convulsions of torture” encourage the victim to say anything to “make the pain stop.”

Thanks to Beccaria’s writings and those of other Enlightenment philosophers, many countries abolished torture in the 18th century, and it is now prohibited by international law. That so many Americans do not seem to be aware of this is alarming and suggests that our country is at risk of abandoning fundamental principles of justice.

We must educate and remain vigilant. As a historian of the 18th century, I think that it’s important to speak out.

MICHAEL KWASS

Baltimore

The writer is a professor of history at Johns Hopkins.

Note from KBJ: Here's the scenario. Police officers have in their custody a man whom they have good reason to believe has planted a high-powered bomb in a major metropolitan area. The bomb is set to go off in two hours, which is not enough time to clear the area. If the bomb goes off, it will kill tens of thousands of innocent people. The man won't talk. The police believe that if they torture him, he may tell them where the bomb is located in time for them to defuse it. Not knowing whether it it permissible to torture the man, the police call Michael Kwass, whose extended family, friends, and colleagues are within the bomb's range. "Is it permissible for us to torture the man?," they ask. Kwass is committed by his own principles to saying no. Notice that he has every right to sacrifice himself for his principles. He has no right to sacrifice his family, his friends, his colleagues, or any of the tens of thousands of others. Can you say "moral retard"?

Here.