Top Items:
Lara Setrakian / ABCNEWS:
EXCLUSIVE: DA in Duke Rape Case Asks to Be Taken off Case — After Weeks of Criticism, District Attorney Mike Nifong Asked to Be Recused — ABC News Law & Justice Unit — District Attorney Mike Nifong has requested that he have himself removed from prosecuting the Duke Lacrosse rape investigation, ABC News has learned.
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Duff Wilson / New York Times:
Prosecutor Asks State to Take Over Duke Case — The district attorney has asked the state attorney general to take over prosecution of the sexual offense and kidnapping case against three Duke University lacrosse players, an official involved in the case said today.
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Duke prof resigns committee posts over defendants' return to campus; Update: Nifong asks to be recused (Bumped) — Innocent until proven guilty, unless you're a cog in the patriarchy's institutionalized frat-boy rape machine. … We must not judge by adjudging them presumptively not guilty.
New York Times:
Bush Authorized Iranians' Arrest in Iraq, Rice Says — A recent series of American raids against Iranians in Iraq was authorized under an order that President Bush decided to issue several months ago to undertake a broad military offensive against Iranian operatives in the country, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday.
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Fox News:
WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN BLASTS SEN. BOXER'S EXCHANGE WITH SECRETARY RICE — Jan. 11: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discusses U.S. policy in Iraq while testifying on Capitol Hill. — WASHINGTON — The White House fired back Friday at Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer's verbal slap …
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: Boxer gets personal with Condi at Senate hearing; Update …
Video: Boxer gets personal with Condi at Senate hearing; Update …
Discussion:
New York Post, Swampland, Olbermann Watch, Tammy Bruce, Wizbang, NewsBusters.org, The Caucus, Sister Toldjah, Silent Running, Taylor Marsh, The Carpetbagger Report, The Political Pit Bull, Macsmind, shotinthedark.info, Media Lies, No More Mister Nice Blog, Ed Driscoll.com, Brilliant at Breakfast, Fausta's blog, Little Green Footballs, The News Blog and Althouse
David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Democrats in Senate Fail to Block Bill on Ethics — After campaigning for months on a promise to tighten ethics rules, Senate Democratic leaders tried unsuccessfully Thursday to block a measure that would shine a light on the shadowy practice of earmarking federal money for lawmakers' pet projects.
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Murray Waas / National Journal:
CIA Leak Probe: Inside The Grand Jury — Late in the morning of July 12, 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney stood atop a pier at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia awaiting the commissioning of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, a ship 20 stories high that took eight years to construct.
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Washington Post:
Unveiled Threats — A Bush appointee's crude gambit on detainees' legal rights — MOST AMERICANS understand that legal representation for the accused is one of the core principles of the American way. Not, it seems, Cully Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs.
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Boneless Wonders — Meet the spineless members of Congress. … Today, Boneless Wonders sit on the benches of both parties in Congress. More are to be found on the Democratic side of the aisle than the Republican. But the herd of Boneless Wonders these days is a bipartisan one.
Discussion:
Angry Bear
Reuters:
Scientists prepare to move Doomsday Clock forward — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The keepers of the "Doomsday Clock" plan to move its hands forward next Wednesday to reflect what they call worsening nuclear and climate threats to the world. — The symbolic clock, maintained by the Bulletin …
MSNBC:
Bush's Best Democratic Buddy — Joe Lieberman gives the president a pass on Katrina. — Newsweek — Sen. Joe Lieberman, the only Democrat to endorse President Bush's new plan for Iraq, has quietly backed away from his pre-election demands that the White House turn …
Amir Taheri / New York Post:
HOW IRAQIS SEE W'S NEW PLAN — GREAT RELIEF - AND SOME CONCERNS — 'A SIGH of relief! So one resident of Haifa Street, in the heart of Baghdad's badlands, reacted to the new plan to secure the Iraqi capital with the help of thousands of additional American troops.
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, TPMmuckraker, Rising Hegemon, jules crittenden, Middle Earth Journal and Wonkette
Jim Abrams / Associated Press:
Convicted lawmakers to lose pensions — WASHINGTON - Members of Congress convicted of serious crimes would lose their taxpayer-paid pensions, sometimes totaling more than $100,000 a year, under a measure unanimously approved by the Senate Friday. — The 87- vote to deprive lawbreaking lawmakers …
Washington Post:
Intelligence Chiefs Pessimistic In Assessing Worldwide Threats — Negroponte Cites Resilience of Al-Qaeda, Iraqi Insurgency — Iraq is at a violent and "precarious juncture," while al-Qaeda is significantly expanding its global reach, effectively immune to the loss of leaders in battle …
CBS News:
Read more about the CBS News poll '08 Contenders Weigh In — Bush, visiting with troops at Fort Benning, Ga., cautioned that the troop increase "is not going to yield immediate results. It's going to take a while." — The president's plan, outlined in a prime-time address to the nation on Wednesday …
Discussion:
rollingstone.com
Alexis Debat Reports / The Blotter:
New Arms Shipments to Iraqi Militia Detected — Alexis Debat Reports: — US military intelligence sources tell ABC News that large shipments of weapons have been smuggled to Iraqi militia over the past five weeks, including dozens of Iranian supplied EFP's , or Explosive Form Projectiles, highly effective against armored vehicles.