memeorandum: Afghanistan Again: Somalia Falling to Al Qaeda (Pajamas Media)

9:15 AM ET, December 23, 2006

Top Items:

ict.org.il:

Realities of the Conflict - Between Islam and Unbelief — In the Name of Allah, and all praise is due to Allah, and may peace and prayers be on the Messenger of Allah and on his family, companions and allies. — Muslim brothers everywhere: peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

Hindrocket / Power Line:

ZAWAHIRI DRONES ON... ...and on. You could say that Zawahiri is a blowhard, but that would be a disservice to the blowhards of the world. He's really in a different league. The complete text of Zawahiri's latest video tape, released a couple of days ago, is here. But, hey—I read it all, so you won't have to.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Good Lt / The Jawa Report:

AQ: Democrats Didn't Win in November - We Did — The Democrats can't get away from their allies, can they? They might want to, but they can't. — How many times have we said that Democrat victotry will be seen by Islamic terrorists as a victory for them?

Dan / Riehl World View:

Zawahiri Calls Out Cowering Dems … If the Democrats had the slightest bit of back bone to offer in support of the war on terror, you'd think some Democrat leader would immediately want to take this head on. Unfortunately, they can't really do that, perhaps because to a good extent, it's true.

Discussion: Unclaimed Territory

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Zawahiri to Democrats: You owe us

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ and The Political Pit Bull

The Blotter:
Al Qaeda Sends a Message to Democrats

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard, Gun Toting Liberal ™, The American Street, Wake up America, Stop The ACLU, The Political Pit Bull, Little Green Footballs, jules crittenden and Gay Patriot

Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:
Al Qaeda Tells Democrats: We Got You Elected, Now Start Negotiating With Us

Discussion: Hot Air

Redstate: Al Qaeda's Message To Democrats

New York Times:

Charges of Rape Against 3 at Duke Are Abandoned — The Durham district attorney dropped rape charges against three former Duke lacrosse players on Friday, but he said he would continue to pursue kidnapping and sexual offense charges that carry equally stiff sentences.

Discussion: TalkLeft and Durham-in-Wonderland

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:
DA Drops Rape, Not Other Charges in Duke Lacrosse Case

Discussion: Associated Press, American Thinker, Redstate, A Blog For All and La Shawn Barber's Corner

The Smoking Gun:
Duke Rape Charges Dropped

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Don Surber, WRAL-TV and Wizbang

New York Times:
Rape Charges Dropped in Duke Case

Discussion: JustOneMinute and Durham-in-Wonderland

Matthew Continetti / Weekly Standard:

The Peace Party vs. the Power Party — The real divide in American politics. — The polarization that has characterized American politics since the presidency of Ronald Reagan has extended its reach to foreign affairs. Never have the differences between the two parties on issues of war and peace been so distinct.

Discussion: Liberal Values, Political Animal and toohotfortnr

Lyndsey Layton / Washington Post:

Pelosi Aims To Recast Self, Party — On a scale associated with presidential inaugurations, Nancy Pelosi is planning four days of celebration surrounding her Jan. 4 swearing-in as the first female speaker of the House. She will return to the blue-collar Baltimore neighborhood where she grew up …

Discussion: Power Line, Extreme Mortman and Wizbang

Mel Konner / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Carter's about-face betrays Jews, Christians — We are in that season when Jews celebrate one of their few successful rebellions against oppression. Christians celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace. How ironic, then, that Jewish-Americans are embroiled in a grim struggle …

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Wonkette, Blue Crab Boulevard and Washington Times

Michael van der Galien / The Moderate Voice:
Carter... and Carter — More on Jimmy Carter, or more precisely his book.

Discussion: forward.com

Richard A. Epstein / Los Angeles Times:

The myth of the big bad drug companies — They're not greedy, they're over-regulated. The result is fewer pills to cure our ills. — THE PHARMACEUTICAL industry is getting bad press. Recent books by Marcia Angell, the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, and Jerome Kassirer …

Discussion: Redstate

Shreema Mehta / newstandardnews.net:
Big Pharma's Profit Pursuit Means Fewer New Drugs, Report Says

Discussion: MyDD, TAPPED and NewsHog

Jim Forsyth / Reuters:

Hispanic groups call for moratorium on work raids — SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. Hispanic groups and activists on Thursday called for a moratorium on workplace raids to round up illegal immigrants, saying they were reminiscent of Nazi crackdowns on Jews in the 1930s.

Discussion: The American Street, Texas Rainmaker, Vox Popoli and The Volokh Conspiracy

Matt Apuzzo / Associated Press:

Judge: Iran owes $254M in terror attack — WASHINGTON - The Iranian government financed a 1996 terrorist attack that killed 19 Americans in Saudi Arabia and must pay $254 million to the victims' families, a federal judge ruled Friday. — The ruling by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth allows families …

Discussion: Hot Air and Left I on the News

Hassan M. Fattah / New York Times:
Bickering Saudis Struggle for an Answer to Iran's Rising Influence …

Discussion: Jihad Watch, Ezra Klein, Regime Change Iran and American Footprints

Hilzoy / Obsidian Wings:

Fiscal Responsibility — Paul Krugman wrote an interesting column today. I am very much of two minds about it. Excerpts: … In what follows, it's important to bear in mind that I, like Krugman, am not considering the question: should the Democrats just toss fiscal responsibility …

Discussion: Andrew Olmsted dot com, Angry Bear, TAPPED, Matthew Yglesias and TalkLeft

Wichita Eagle:

Spending freeze targets pet projects for members of Congress — WASHINGTON - Democratic leaders in the new Congress plan to strip funding for thousands of pet projects for individual members, a big display of fiscal discipline they say will help cut deficits and curb spending abuses.

Discussion: Angry Bear

Media Matters for America:

"Media Matters"; by Jamison Foser — Cat videos — unlike NBC News — don't impart conservative misinformation — Time magazine's selection of "You" as its "Person of the Year" has — justifiably — drawn criticism. — Writing for CJR Daily, for example, Christian Vachon argued …

Discussion: TalkLeft

James Glanz / New York Times:

Iraqi Factions Try to Undercut a Plan to Isolate Extremists — Several Iraqi political groups on Thursday maneuvered to undercut an American-backed initiative that would create a multisectarian bloc intended to isolate extremists like the Shiite cleric and militia leader Moktada al-Sadr.

Discussion: Firedoglake and Washington Post

Associated Press:

Rice: Iraq 'worth the investment' — U.S. is ready to elect black president, secretary of state says — WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Associated Press on Thursday that Iraq is "worth the investment" in American lives and dollars and said the U.S. can still win …

Discussion: AMERICAblog and jules crittenden

CNN:

Ellison: Lawmaker has 'a lot to learn about Islam' … WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Virginia lawmaker criticized for writing an "Islamophobic" letter to his constituents would be wise to learn more about Islam, the first Muslim elected to Congress said Thursday. — Minnesota Rep.-elect Keith …

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister and The Caucus