Top Items:
Eric Kleefeld / TPM Election Central:
Minnesota Supremes Shoot Down Crucial Coleman Lawsuit, Making A Franken Win Nearly Certain — Norm Coleman just got a Christmas present from the Minnesota Supreme Court: A giant lump of coal. — In a unanimous decision handed down just now, the state Supremes denied Coleman any relief …
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Pat Doyle / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Court denies Coleman request on duplicate ballots — The justices said the Coleman claim that some ballots may have been double-counted would be better resolved in a separate court action than by the state Canvassing Board. — The Minnesota Supreme Court today denied a bid by Republican …
Matthew Moore / Telegraph:
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran to give alternative Christmas Day message — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran will give a message of seasonal goodwill on Christmas Day as an alternative to the Queen's traditional broadcast, it has been announced.
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Damian Thompson / Damian Thompson's blog listings:
Channel 4 dishes up a raving anti-Semite for Christmas
Channel 4 dishes up a raving anti-Semite for Christmas
Joanna Sugden / Times of London:
Iran's Ahmadinejad to give alternative Christmas message
Iran's Ahmadinejad to give alternative Christmas message
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Toussie pardon canceled — President Bush pulled the plug on the pardon of a mortgage scammer, which I noted with surprise yesterday, and whose outraged victims the New York papers quoted today. — Isaac Toussie's pardon was among those listed in a press release yesterday.
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City Room:
Bush Reverses Brooklyn Developer's Pardon — In an unusual move, President Bush on Wednesday reversed his decision, announced a day earlier, to pardon Isaac R. Toussie, a Brooklyn developer who pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining federally insured mortgages and to defrauding Suffolk County, N.Y., by selling it overpriced land.
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Time to Reboot America — I had a bad day last Friday, but it was an all-too-typical day for America. — It actually started well, on Kau Sai Chau, an island off Hong Kong, where I stood on a rocky hilltop overlooking the South China Sea and talked to my wife back in Maryland, static-free, using a friend's Chinese cellphone.
Michael Mello / Orange County Register:
Pastor says ‘God will punish Rick Warren’ — Wiley Drake criticizes Warren, calls Obama ‘evil illegal alien.’ — Recommend — BUENA PARK — Southern Baptist Pastor Wiley Drake bashed Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren this week, saying “God will punish” Warren for agreeing to give …
Discussion:
The Raw Story, Firedoglake, JammieWearingFool, L.A. Now, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! and protein wisdom
Caroline Baum / Bloomberg:
Obama's Job-Creation Program Flunks Basic Math: Caroline Baum — A A A — Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) — President-elect Barack Obama is still four weeks away from inauguration, and already the size of government is growing. His initial goal of creating 2.5 million new jobs has been upped to 3 million …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
CNN:
CNN Poll: Obama transition draws approval of 4 in 5 Americans — (CNN) - Hawaii's always been a great spot for honeymoons — and Barack Obama, who's spending the holiday season there on the beach at Kailua, is unquestionably having one of the best in modern presidential history.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, Brendan Nyhan, Washington Monthly, New West Notes, JammieWearingFool, Daily Kos and TPM Election Central
Julie Stahl / CNSNews:
As Christmas Approaches, Muslims Erect ‘Allah Has No Son’ Banner in Nazareth — Nazareth, Israel (CNSNews.com) - As Nazareth's Christians prepare to celebrate Christmas, they are playing down the appearance of a confrontational Islamic banner that challenges an elemental Christian belief.
Michael C. Moynihan / Reason:
Merry Christmas, Kwanzaa is Over — fIn the days leading up the Christmas, one couldn't help but notice that references to Kwanzaa, the decades-old African-American holiday that captured so many dull minds during the Great Culture Wars of the 1990s, were almost nonexistent.
Discussion:
Cold Fury
Lawrence Lessig / Newsweek:
Reboot the FCC — We'll stifle the Skypes and YouTubes of the future if we don't demolish the regulators that oversee our digital pipelines. — Economic growth requires innovation. Trouble is, Washington is practically designed to resist it. Built into the DNA of the most important agencies created …
Roxanne Roberts / Washington Post:
The Only Facts So Far: 10 Balls, 5 Locations — News flash! Rumors are true! — The Presidential Inaugural Committee — trumpets, please! — is hosting 10 official balls on the night of Jan. 20. — These, ladies and gentlemen, are the only parties where Barack Obama …
Christopher N. Osher / Denver Post:
Denver mayor confirms interest in Senate job — Hickenlooper says he would bring his experience as a business owner to Congress. — Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper on Monday confirmed that he is interested in Colorado's looming U.S. Senate vacancy. — In a brief interview …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Ivan Moreno / Associated Press:
Military center tracking Santa's sleigh ride — COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Who says Santa Claus doesn't exist? — The military personnel charged with being the eyes in the sky are certainly acting like he does — and they've been joined on the Internet by millions of believers.
New York Post:
RAID ON PLAX HOME — WEAPONS FOUND IN LATEST WOE FOR FALLEN STAR — Police yesterday seized a small cache of weapons and ammo from the Totowa, NJ, home of troubled Giants star Plaxico Burress, possibly setting up the suspended grid star for more legal trouble, law-enforcement sources said.
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, The Moderate Voice, JammieWearingFool, Gothamist, NY Daily News and New York Magazine
Graham Readfearn / NEWS.com.au:
Scientists warn Christmas lights harm the planet — SCIENTISTS have warned that Christmas lights are bad for the planet due to huge electricity waste and urged people to get energy efficient festive bulbs. — CSIRO researchers said householders should know that each bulb turned on in the name …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Livni boy! — Bibi Netanyahu isn't the only one knocking off elements of Barack Obama's presidential campaign in the hard-fought Israeli election. — With apologies to Obama Girl, here's Livni Boy, delivering his own soulful, semi-nude ode to the other leading candidate for prime minister, Tzipi Livni.
Discussion:
The Washington Note
Robin Pogrebin / New York Times:
In Madoff Scandal, Jews Feel an Acute Betrayal — There is a teaching in the Talmud that says an individual who comes before God after death will be asked a series of questions, the first one of which is, “Were you honest in your business dealings?” But it is the Ten Commandments …