Obama: Gitmo Likely Won't Close in His First 100 Days  —  Closing Guantanamo Bay More Difficult Than People Realize, President-Elect Says  —  President-elect Barack Obama said this weekend that he does not expect to close Guantanamo Bay in his first 100 days in office.

Bush: I Personally Authorized Torture Of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed  —  In an interview with Brit Hume that aired today on Fox News Sunday, President Bush admitted that he personally authorized the torture of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.  He said he personally asked “what tools” …

Earth on the Brink of an Ice Age  —  The earth is now on the brink of entering another Ice Age, according to a large and compelling body of evidence from within the field of climate science.  Many sources of data which provide our knowledge base of long-term climate change indicate that the warm …

GERMAN “POLICE” JOIN JEW-HATING MUSLIM MOB  —  Only one word comes to mind as I read and watch this: UNBELIEVABLE.  —  Wow.  In Germany.  Wow.  —  I read this story at the excellent Gaza war-posting blog, “Muqata,” and I was just able to dig up the vid on YouTube...It is obviously the same episode.

The Embrace  —  Jim Henley offers a provocative thought: … There's something to that.  According to the perverse rules of our post-9/11 discourse, willingness to verbally endorse the idea of having other people torture strangers counts as a form of courageous “toughness” akin to, you know, actually doing something brave.

Eight Years of Madoffs  —  THREE days after the world learned that $50 billion may have disappeared in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, The Times led its front page of Dec. 14 with the revelation of another $50 billion rip-off.  This time the vanished loot belonged to American taxpayers.

DATE OF PUBLICATION: … SYNOPSIS:  —  The Israeli-Hamas War, and there is little else that it can be called, has now lasted two weeks.  Israeli jets have flown some 800 strike sorties, and the IDF has pushed deep into Gaza.  Israel also continues to report tactical gains.

Bad Economy May Fuel Hate Groups, Experts Warn  —  Experts Warn That Downturn Could Drive Discontent, Help Extremists Recruit  —  For 20 years, Bart McIntyre has tracked white supremacist movements, even spending two years undercover in Alabama to penetrate a violent young band of criminals …

CRITIQUING THE CRITIQUE  —  From TPM Reader AJ ...

Notes From the Chairman  —  Once upon a couple of weeks ago ...  I'm in a crush in a Dublin pub around New Year's.  Glasses clinking clicking, clashing crashing in Gaelic revelry: swinging doors, sweethearts falling in and out of the season's blessings, family feuds subsumed or resumed.

Peace Is No Longer in Sight  —  At the end of the 10th day of Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip, I was zapping between Israeli, Arab and international TV channels.  The pictures grew more gruesome from moment to moment.  Then a friend called to tell me that Mezzo, a French concert channel …

At McDonald's, the Happiest Meal Is Hot Profits  —  Tinton Falls, N.J.  —  CHRIS WARD, 23, didn't go to McDonald's much because it wasn't open late enough for after-hours snacks.  —  Casey Fillian, 32, and her friend Carol Milano, 33, gave up their teenage McDonald's habit when they became more health-conscious adults.

IAF targets 20 smuggling tunnels along Philadelphi Corridor  —  IAF planes on Sunday afternoon attacked at least twenty smuggling tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor, on Gaza's southern border with Egypt.  The tunnels were being used to smuggle weaponry into Gaza, according to the IDF.