Murder in Istanbul: Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was tortured and killed within minutes of entering his country’s consulate in Istanbul just over two weeks ago, according to details attributed to an audio recording published by a pro-government Turkish newspaper. The paper reported that Saudi agents cut off  Khashoggi’s fingers during a quick interrogation before beheading and dismembering him.

When the Saudi consul objected and said “do this outside,” one of the agents told him, “If you want to live when you come back to Arabia, shut up.”

As the dismemberment began, the Saudi doctor who was present advised the others to put on head phones and listen to music to ease the tension.

The evident leak of details on the same day Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was visiting Turkey escalates the pressure on Saudi Arabia to admit what it did and for the US to do something about it.  US intelligence agencies would almost certainly know all the details by now and Turkey wants the world to know.

President Trump is still hedging about whether to take action against the Saudis.  He told reporters, “They’re an important ally. But I want to find out what happened, where is the fault, and we will probably know that by the end of the week.”

Last Words: Khashoggi’s last newspaper column, released yesterday by The Washington Post, was a plea for freedom of the press in the Arab world. He wrote, “Arab governments have been given free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate. There was a time when journalists believed the Internet would liberate information from the censorship and control associated with print media. But these governments, whose very existence relies on the control of information, have aggressively blocked the Internet. They have also arrested local reporters and pressured advertisers to harm the revenue of specific publications.”

Khashoggi’s translator sent the article to the Post the day after the writer went missing.

Blameless in Washington: President Trump told the Associated Press in an interview this week that if Republicans lose the House majority it won’t be his fault. But a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll says that’s exactly what it would be.

The poll found that by a margin of 55 to 39 percent, voters want the next Congress to be controlled by Democrats to act as a check on Trump. The margin is much bigger among independents,  58 to 33.

The biggest margins is among women who want a Democratic House 60 to 32 percent

Swamp News: A Treasury department official was arrested yesterday on charges that she gave a journalist confidential banking reports about the activities of Trump associate Paul Manafort. Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards is charged with one count of unauthorized disclosure of suspicious activity reports, which banks use to flag shady transactions to the authorities.

Prosecutors said Edwards shared reports about transactions involving Manafort, his deputy Rick Gates, the Russian Embassy, accused Russian spy Maria Butina, and a Russian company that had been accused of money laundering.

The Trump administration is cracking down on leaks to reporters. On Monday a former Senate Intelligence Committee aide pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about whether he gave information to a reporter.

Northern Lightups: Recreational marijuana is now legal in Canada, making it only the second country in the world to have a national law allowing it. Uruguay was the first.

If you travel from the US to get mellow you’ll have to smoke it while you’re there. You can’t bring any home

For the time being Canada may have a shortage of supply, but big companies are lurking around to pour in investment money and make Canadians even friendlier.

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