Top Items:
Chicago Breaking News:
Blagojevich snubs Senate, taps Burris for seat — Brushing aside charges that he tried to sell Illinois' vacant U.S. Senate seat, Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to the post today in defiance of Senate leaders who said they would not admit anyone he selected.
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Senate Leadership: Burris ‘unacceptable’ — The Senate will not seat Roland Burris if Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich attempts to appoint him, a Democratic leadership aide said. — Majority Leader Harry Reid views Burris as “unacceptable,” the aide said.
Discussion:
TPM Election Central, New York Times, Concurring Opinions, Fox News, The Swamp, Lynn Sweet, Hot Air, MSNBC, Political Machine, PoliBlog, Firedoglake, Erick's blog and The Nation
The Huffington Post:
Roland Burris Almost Certain To Be Seated, Legal Scholars Say — Rod Blagojevich's decision to appoint Roland Burris to Illinois' vacant Senate seat, even as the governor faces intense criminal scrutiny, is being treated as a crazy political power grab. It also seems very likely to be permanent.
Associated Press:
White will try to reject — Blagojevich Senate pick — SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White says he'll reject any paperwork that Gov. Rod Blagojevich files to name a new U.S. senator. — The secretary of state keeps state records and certifies official actions.
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: The surreal, race-baiting Blagojevich press conference …
Video: The surreal, race-baiting Blagojevich press conference …
Discussion:
Power Line, Riehl World View, Jack & Jill Politics, The Crypt's Blogs, The Swamp and MSNBC
Rich Miller / The Capitol Fax Blog:
This just in... *** Guv to appoint Burris *** White says No …
This just in... *** Guv to appoint Burris *** White says No …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Chicago Sun Times, Progress Illinois, The Moderate Voice, D-Day, Top of the Ticket and MyDD
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
ZBIG SMACKS DOWN MORNIN' JOE — Zbig to Joe: “You have a such stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on it's almost embarrassing to listen to you.”
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The Huffington Post:
Zbigniew Brzezinski Calls Joe Scarborough ‘Stunningly Superficial’ — On this morning's Morning Joe, former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski offered his expertise on the conflict in Gaza. It was all very insightful! But you'll want to just skip to the end of this clip …
Virginia Lawyers Weekly / libn.com:
D.C. lobbyist sues Times over McCain affair story — Washington lobbyist Vicki L. Iseman has filed a $27 million defamation lawsuit against The New York Times for a February article about Iseman and her relationship with Sen. John McCain. — The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond on Tuesday …
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Vicki Iseman files $27 million lawsuit against NYT over McCain hit piece — Remember that one? It blew up in the middle of the primaries, alleging that McCain staffers were convinced he'd had a “romantic” relationship with her in 2000 and that he'd admitted to acting “inappropriately,” …
Discussion:
TigerHawk, Political Machine, Gawker, The Politico, Law Blog, Michael Calderone's Blogs and The New Republic
Jack Healy / New York Times:
Home Prices Fell at Their Sharpest Pace in October — How bad has the housing market gotten? With home values dropping by faster rates each month, a real estate agent near Detroit said that if houses weren't priced as low as foreclosures, they simply would not sell.
Discussion:
Kevin Drum
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Noah Pollak / Commentary:
What YouTube Doesn't Want You to See — Yesterday, the IDF did something innovative: it opened a channel on YouTube and posted videos to it that help explain why Israel is fighting Hamas. The site hosted about a dozen videos showing things like Israeli humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza …
Michelle Cottle / The New Republic:
Obama's Super-Bubble — A couple of days ago, Politico posted a piece about how the closing of the presidential bubble was already beginning to chafe Barack Obama. All I could think was: Better make peace with it quickly, my man, because things are about to get so much worse.
Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama goes to Washington: School's in — Fresh from his Hawaiian vacation, President-elect Barack Obama will leave behind his home and transition office in Chicago and make his move to Washington, D.C., this weekend. — But he won't be staying put for long.
Discussion:
TIME.com
Jessica Pressler / New York Magazine:
Madoff's Latest Victims: Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick — The crap thing about being Kevin Bacon, it turns out, is that sometimes you find yourself six degrees from the wrong kind of guy. Such as, for instance, Bernie Madoff. We'd heard that along with Hollywood boldfacers Jeffrey Katzenberg …
Fouad Ajami / Wall Street Journal:
Samuel Huntington's Warning — He predicted a ‘clash of civilizations,’ not the illusion of Davos Man. — The last of Samuel Huntington's books — “Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity,” published four years ago — may have been his most passionate work.
Stephanie Clifford / New York Times:
Consumers Union to Buy Gawker Blog Consumerist — Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, planned to announce on Wednesday that it had acquired Consumerist.com, a popular blog formerly owned by Gawker Media. — Consumerist is one of several sites Gawker has sold this year …
E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Coming Soon: The 21st Century — Social and political epochs rarely end precisely on schedules provided by calendars. Many historians date the end of Europe's 19th century to 1914 and the outbreak of World War I. What we call “The Sixties” in the United States, with its ethos of reform and protest …
Michelle Malkin:
Bon voyage, Jihad Cindy McKinney — Move over, Hanoi Jane Fonda. Jihad Cindy McKinney is sailing to Gaza to deliver medical supplies to Hamas. — Is it a one-way ticket? We can only hope. Via the AJC:
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Associated Press, Reuters, The Sundries Shack, EU Referendum, Don Surber, A Blog For All, NewsBusters.org and CNN
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John Leland / New York Times:
Breaking Up Is Harder to Do After Housing Fall — When Marci Needle and her husband began to contemplate divorce in June, they thought they had enough money to go their separate ways. They owned a million-dollar home near Atlanta and another in Jacksonville, Fla., as well as investment properties.