Top Items:
Michael Calderone / Michael Calderone's Blogs:
Obama meets with liberal columnists — Obama held a meeting with several columnists and liberal commentators this morning, following up on last night's dinner with conservative writers, according to sources with knowledge of the meeting. — The group included the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Off the Grid, The Caucus, Reason, Ben Smith's Blogs, Sister Toldjah, Blog P.I., Political Punch, Washington Wire, New West Notes, ATTACKERMAN, D-Day, TVNewser, Matthew Yglesias and CBS News
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Sorry, No Details — Lots of emails from readers asking about the chat with the president-elect this morning. It was totally off the record and I'm a stickler for those rules. I can say, however, the following: it's hard to express the relief I feel that this man will be the president soon.
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Silence of the lamb chops — Call it a charm offensive or a high-level “Listening Tour,” but Barack Obama is already signaling that he intends to break with the current president in one obvious way: hearing from his critics. — Obama Tuesday night trekked to the Chevy Chase, Md. …
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blogs, Gawker, The Nation, The Moderate Voice, The Confluence, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, TIME.com and Political Punch
Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
Why Liberals Aren't Angry Over Obama's Dinner — I actually don't find it terribly surprising that liberals haven't shown any outrage over Barack Obama's dinner party with George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol, and David Brooks. I'll get to my hypothesis why liberals aren't upset in a moment.
Greg Mitchell / Editor and Publisher:
Cheney Tells Jim Lehrer Tonight: No Torture, Few Mistakes, Economy Not Our Fault — NEW YORK In an exit interview with PBS's Jim Lehrer on the NewsHour airing tonight, Vice President Cheney repeats claims that Saddam Hussein worked with al-Qaeda. Asked if he made any mistakes in his eight years as V.P. …
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Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Cheney On Whether Iraq War Was Worth The 4,500 Americans Killed: ‘I Think So’ — In an interview airing tonight on PBS's Newshour, host Jim Lehrer asks Vice President Cheney about the U.S. soldiers who have lost their lives in the war in Iraq. Cheney shows little remorse:
Douglas B. Brill / lehighvalleylive.com:
WARREN COUNTY, N.J. NEWS — Real-time news for Belvidere, Phillipsburg and more — Boy named Adolf Hitler, his sisters removed from parents' home by New Jersey authorities … State authorities have removed Adolf Hilter Campbell and his two sisters from their parents' home in Holland Township …
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Wall Street Journal:
IMF Informed Geithner on Taxes — Senate Delays Treasury Nominee's Hearing Till Jan. 21; Obama Vote of Confidence — Timothy Geithner, whose nomination as Treasury secretary has been delayed by his past failure to pay taxes, was repeatedly advised in writing by the International Monetary Fund …
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Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Tim Geithner! Why Are Rich People So Cheap?
Tim Geithner! Why Are Rich People So Cheap?
Discussion:
Salon, The New Republic, New York Times, The Huffington Post, Climate Progress, Washington Post, Wizbang and NY Daily News
The Politico:
Can Obama save Geithner?
Can Obama save Geithner?
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Associated Press, Reuters, NewsBusters.org, The Caucus and JustOneMinute
Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times:
U.S. military report warns ‘sudden collapse’ of Mexico is possible — President-elect Barack Obama listens as Mexico's President Felipe Calderon makes a statement to reporters in Washington, Monday, Jan. 12, 2009. Mexico is one of two countries that “bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse …
Discussion:
YID With LID, Hot Air, Chicago Boyz, QandO, Pat Dollard, Fausta's Blog and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
Fox News:
Obama to End Military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy — WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama will allow gays to serve openly in the military by overturning the controversial “don't ask, don't tell” policy that marred President Clinton's first days in office, according to incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
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Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:
Gannett Plans to Furlough Employees for a Week — The Gannett Company, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, said on Wednesday that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs. — Gannett, which owns 85 daily newspapers across …
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool
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Wall Street Journal:
Bank of America to Get Billions in U.S. Aid — Deal Is Said to Be Reached on Fresh Bailout Cash; Lender Told Government It Needed Funds to Absorb Ailing Merrill Lynch — WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has agreed to commit billions in additional aid to Bank of America Corp. to help …
Discussion:
The Big Picture
Tom Goldstein / SCOTUSblog:
The Surpassing Significance of Herring — By way of full disclosure, I was one of the defendant's lawyers in the Herring case, though my involvement in it was very limited. I am not an expert on the Fourth Amendment, but my preliminary reaction is that we will at some point soon regard …
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David Stout / New York Times:
Justices Say Evidence Is Valid Despite Police Error
Justices Say Evidence Is Valid Despite Police Error
Discussion:
The Swamp
Quinnipiac University:
Kennedy Fades As New Yorkers Back Cuomo For Senate, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; More Voters Don't Think Kennedy Is Qualified — New York State voters have cooled on Caroline Kennedy and more voters now prefer State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo 31 - 24 percent for Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate seat …
Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:
Poll: Broad Backing for Obama, Stimulus — WASHINGTON — Americans support the economic-stimulus plan being pushed by President-elect Barack Obama but worry the government will spend too much money and widen the budget deficit, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found.
Daily Mail:
It's an injustice to NOT marry girls aged 10, says Saudi cleric … Saudi Arabia's most senior cleric has told followers it is permissible for ten-year-old girls to marry and anyone who think they are too young are doing the youngsters ‘an injustice’. — Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh …
Discussion:
Pat Dollard
Andrew Roberts / Telegraph:
History will show that George W Bush was right — The American lady who called to see if I would appear on her radio programme was specific. “We're setting up a debate,” she said sweetly, “and we want to know from your perspective as a historian whether George W Bush was the worst president …
Discussion:
Power Line
Dave Rochelson / Change.gov:
New official portrait released — Today we are releasing the new official portrait for President Barack Obama. — It was taken by Pete Souza, the newly-announced official White House photographer. — It is the first time that an official presidential portrait was taken with a digital camera.
Salon:
Obama's early stumbles — Longtime listener, first-time caller. Although I wasn't yet alive in the times it describes, I too was blown away (pun intended) by “The Weather Underground” film, not so much by the namby-pamby William Ayers — who for all his scandalous reputation …
Discussion:
Vox Popoli
Scott Thill / The Underwire:
R.I.P. Patrick McGoohan, The Prisoner's TV Visionary — “I am not a number, I am a free man!” Patrick McGoohan's character Number Six shouted at the panoptic eye in the sky at the beginning of every episode of the revolutionary '60s sci-fi TV series The Prisoner.
Dexter Filkins / New York Times:
Afghan Schoolgirls Undeterred by Attack — KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — One morning two months ago, Shamsia Husseini and her sister were walking through the muddy streets to the local girls school when a man pulled alongside them on a motorcycle and posed what seemed like an ordinary question.
Alexander Mooney / CNN:
Ex-Bush aide takes blame for ‘Mission Accomplished’ — (CNN) - It's a moment President Bush has repeatedly called a mistake: Delivering a speech on board the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Spring of 2003 with a “Mission Accomplished” banner featured prominently behind him.
Geoff Boucher / Hero Complex:
Nick Fury no more? Samuel L. Jackson says 'Maybe I won't be Nick Fury' — EXCLUSIVE AND UPDATED — Samuel L. Jackson, clearly bristling, said today that negotiations to put him in the role of Nick Fury have broken down because “there seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world.”
Newsdesk / Clout St:
Senate takes oath as Blagojevich impeachment jurors — SPRINGFIELD—The Illinois Senate took an oath today to be sworn in as jurors in the historic impeachment trial of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, hours after he made his first Capitol appearance since his arrest last month on federal corruption charges.
Marc Ambinder:
The House Republicans Propose A Stimulus Alternative — There is no pride of authorship, President-elect Barack Obama said last week. His economic team is open to and all ideas, regardless of progenitor. — So — the Republican Study Committee in the House has come out with an all-tax, no spending variant.
Hugh Hewitt / Townhall.com:
“And What Do We Have To Show For It?” The Nuclear Opportunity Before The New President — In that question is the new president's greatest political danger. He's about to oversee the spending of an unthinkable $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars ($350 billion in the second half of the bank bailout …
Nikki Tait / Financial Times:
Czech art spoof sparks EU outrage — As if the Russian gas crisis and war in Gaza were not headache enough, the Czech Republic, which took over the rotating EU presidency at the start of the year, has been landed with a cultural debacle. — Sited prominently in the headquarters of the EU Council …
Discussion:
FP Passport
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
New York Mag to Writers: You're Keeping Your Jobs, Getting a Pay Cut — Media layoff stories are, depressingly, old hat by now (but be ready for more). Less common: tales of media companies asking their surviving employees to take pay cuts. — But that's what New York Magazine …
Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Bush Presidency Closes With 34% Approval, 61% Disapproval — Three-quarters of Republicans approve of Bush, up slightly from recent months — USA - Democrats - Government and Politics - Independents - Presidential Job Approval - Republicans - The Presidency - Americas - Northern America