The Torture Report: The Senate Democrats are expected today to release a detailed report on torture and the activities of the CIA during the war on terror. Republicans and Democrats have been arguing for days about the wisdom of releasing details about brutal interrogation methods after the 9/11 attacks that could cause international backlash and endanger US personnel overseas.

The US has stepped up security at military bases and government facilities around the world.

The report is expected to say that techniques like waterboarding and enclosure in small spaces produced less information about terrorism than previously claimed.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, “The president believes it is important for us to be as transparent as we possibly can about what exactly transpired, so we can just be clear to the American public and people around the world that something like this should not happen again.”

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, long a fan of “enhanced” interrogation, told the New York Times even before he saw the report that

“They (the CIA) deserve a lot of praise. As far as I’m concerned, they ought to be decorated, not criticized.”

Nation: Protests against police violence continued last night in cities from New York to Washington, Berkeley, and Oakland, Calif. In New York protesters demonstrated choke holds not far from where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended a Brooklyn Nets basketball game. Inside the Barclays Center some of the players wore warm-up shirts with the slogan “I can’t breathe,” the last words of Eric Garner who died at the hands of the police in Staten Island. In Berkeley marchers blocked both directions on Interstate 80 and stopped the passage of a train. In Washington, protesters laid down in the street a few blocks from The White House.

>A mother and her two young sons were killed yesterday when a private jet crashed into her home in Gaithersburg, MD. The pilot of the jet and his two passengers also were killed. The plane erupted into a fireball on impact. Marie Gemmell, 36, was found in a bathroom, apparently trying to shield her sons age 3 and six weeks. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

Heavy Weather: A winter storm warning is in effect for much of the East Coast as a nor’easter moves in this morning. Snow is expected from northeast Pennsylvania up through Maine. A powerful storm is also hitting in the Bay Area. Waves as high as 27 feet are expected at the Mavericks surfing hotspot on Half Moon Bay.

Uber: The city of Portland, Ore. has sued the Uber ride service accusing it of running an “illegal, unregulated transportation service.” Uber has turned the taxi business on its head by going into competition without asking permission from local transportation regulators. It’s grown to a value of $40 billion. Uber drivers are not screened by regulators and fares are not capped. But Uber is increasingly coming under the scrutiny of regulators across the country.

No Bill: President Obama made a surprise appearance on the Colbert Report last night, sitting in at the anchor desk for Stephen Colbert.

“Nation as you know I, Stephen Colbert, have never cared for our president. The guy is so arrogant I bet he talks about himself in the third person.”

Obama did a pretty smooth job taking shots at Republicans and himself, but at one point during the interview segment he mistakenly referred to Colbert as “Bill,” proving once again what a terrible president he is.

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