Top Items:
New York Times:
Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program — WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 - The top deputy to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft refused two years ago to approve important parts of the secret program that allows domestic eavesdropping without warrants, prompting two leading White House aides …
Discussion:
Amygdala, The Washington Monthly, AMERICAN FUTURE, firedoglake, TalkLeft, Prometheus 6 and Daily Kos
Byron Calame / New York Times:
Behind the Eavesdropping Story, a Loud Silence — THE New York Times's explanation of its decision to report, after what it said was a one-year delay, that the National Security Agency is eavesdropping domestically without court-approved warrants was woefully inadequate.
Discussion:
BuzzMachine, Instapundit.com, PressThink, The Huffington Post, AMERICAN FUTURE, Bark Bark Woof Woof and AMERICAblog
RELATED ITEM:
Michelle Malkin:
HOW THE NYTIMES IS RINGING IN 2006 — Yes, it's New Year's Eve. And since there's no rest for the NYTimes, I'm not taking it easy tonight either. — You see, NYTimes' reporter James Risen has been a busy bee over the holidays. The co-author of the infamous Chicken Little opus exposing …
Patterico / Patterico's Pontifications:
Patterico's Los Angeles Dog Trainer Year in Review 2005 — It is time for this blog's third annual review of the performance of the Los Angeles Times, which long-time Patterico readers know as the Los Angeles Dog Trainer. The first annual review was posted here.
RELATED ITEM:
Michelle Malkin:
2005 IN REVIEW: THE WAR ON BLOGS — To the dismay of the MSM, the blogosphere didn't go away in 2005. Here are some of the more memorable moments in the clash of the bloggers vs. MSM: — 10. Commentator Bill Press's condemnation of bloggers as people "with no credentials, no sources, no rules, no editors and no accountability."
Reuters:
Palestinian gunmen blow up U.N. club in Gaza City — GAZA (Reuters) - Masked gunmen stormed into a club for United Nations workers in Gaza City on Sunday and blew up the drinking hall in a new sign of spiralling unrest ahead of a Palestinian election. — It was the first such attack in Gaza …
Kelli Kennedy / Associated Press:
Coming Home, 'Consequences' Await Teen — The mother of a 16-year-old prep school student who journeyed to Iraq on a journalistic whim hasn't decided how her son will be punished. She's just relieved he's on his way home. Farris Hassan left Baghdad Friday to begin traveling home …
RELATED ITEM:
Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Rendition Started Under Clinton — After months of debate about the Bush administration's supposed support of torture through the "rendition" policy of sending captured terrorists to their nations of origin for questioning, it turns out that the policy did not start with the Bush administration after all.
Duncan Currie / Weekly Standard:
2005: A Tipping Point? — IN MANY WAYS, the year 2005 ends as it began: with millions of Iraqis defying the terrorists to cast ballots; with President Bush hailing the election as a milestone; with nit-pickers fretting about the sulky Sunnis; with the White House coming under fire …
Juan / Informed Comment:
Ten Amazing Predictions for 2006 — 1. Al-Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri, whom the Bush administration has failed to capture after all this time, and who was probably responsible for the July 7 bombings in the London subway and the bombings in the Sinai in Egypt, will strike at US allies again in 2006.
Discussion:
Main and Central
Jerusalem Post:
'US planning strike against Iran' — The United States government reportedly began coordinating with NATO its plans for a possible military attack against Iran. — The German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel collected various reports from the German media indicating that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization …
New York Times:
23 Sudanese Die as Egypt Clears Migrants' Camp — CAIRO, Dec. 30 - Egyptian riot police officers rushed into a crowd of unarmed Sudanese migrants early Friday morning, killing at least 23 people, including small children, after the group refused to leave a public park it had occupied …
Discussion:
Publius Pundit
David Kopel / volokh.com:
The Volokh Conspiracy — About UsSubscribeFeaturesStuffBlogrollArchive sSearch — HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: On this date in 1991, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ceased to exist. As detailed by University of Hawaii political science professor R.J. Rummel on his website "Powerkills" …
Discussion:
The Right Coast
Washington Times:
Military death toll in Iraq 844 in 2005 — The U.S. military death toll in Iraq in 2005 almost matched that of 2004. — The New York Times reported at least 844 service members were killed in 2005, while the total for the previous year was 848. The total since the invasion began …
Abdi Mari / Associated Press:
Bomb Blast Kills 8 in Indonesian Province — PALU, Indonesia — A bomb ripped through a crowded meat market Saturday in an Indonesian province that has been plagued by sectarian violence, killing at least eight people and wounding 45, officials said. Many of the victims were believed to be Christians.
Discussion:
Looking for Someone …
Dave Johnson / Seeing the Forest:
Russian Money to So-Called "Conservatives?" — When I put up this post asking if maybe the "conservative movement" Republicans were really dupes of the Russians or the Chinese, I sure didn't expect to get my answer a few hours later. — From The DeLay-Abramoff Money Trail,
RELATED ITEM:
