Check out Mini-memeorandum for simple mobiles or memeorandum Mobile for modern smartphones.
12:40 PM ET, January 21, 2009

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
CNN:
Change In the Air(waves)  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Welcome to the YouTube White House.  —  In one of many signs of “change” in the air, President Obama has officially tweaked the name of a White House institution, the Weekly Radio Address, which has been heard on stations across the nation each Saturday for years.
RELATED:
Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:
President Obama's First Day  —  Press Office Opens |
Brian Ross / ABCNEWS:
On the Money Trail: Lobbyists Are People Too, Reid Says
Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Quickfire for the new press secretary
Discussion: The Swamp, TIME.com and Wake up America
Associated Press:
AP Poll: People optimistic on Obama by 3-1 margin
Discussion: TIME.com, Reuters and The Politico
Peter Finn / Washington Post:
Obama Seeks Halt to Legal Proceedings at Guantanamo  —  In one of its first actions, the Obama administration instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — a clear break with the approach of the outgoing Bush administration.
RELATED:
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Mohammed Jawad and Obama's efforts to suspend military commissions  —  (updated below)  —  This is a very good and important step — not only because of its substance, but also because it was something Obama did almost immediately, even before his first full day in office:
Discussion: Harper's and Hullabaloo
CNN:
Obama calls for halt to Gitmo prosecutions
Discussion: Hot Air
Ralph Z. Hallow / Washington Times:
Gingrich urges GOP to fight Geithner  —  Wants ‘tax evader’ disqualified  —  Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is challenging Senate Republicans to take on President Obama's nomination of Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary.  —  Mr. Gingrich said Mr. Geithner's failure to pay Social Security …
RELATED:
Carolyn Lochhead / San Francisco Chronicle:
Experts say Obama should retake the oath  —  (01-21) 04:00 PST Washington - — Several constitutional lawyers said President Obama should, just to be safe, retake the oath of office that was flubbed by Chief Justice John Roberts.  —  The 35-word oath is explicitly prescribed in the Constitution …
BBC:
Dutch MP faces anti-Islam charges  —  A Dutch court has ordered prosecutors to put a right-wing politician on trial for making anti-Islamic statements.  —  Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders made a controversial film last year equating Islam with violence and has likened the Koran to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.
RELATED:
Robert / Jihad Watch:
Outrage: Dutch court to prosecute Wilders for Fitna
Discussion: Atlas Shrugs
NY Daily News:
Human rights honcho in kiddie porn bust  —  A high-ranking human rights worker with ties to the United Nations was nabbed at Kennedy Airport Tuesday with kiddie porn in his suitcase, officials said.  —  Clarence Dias, 65, president of the International Center for Law in Development …
RELATED:
Lawhawk / A Blog For All:
UN Human Rights Bigwig Arrested On Kiddie Porn Charges
Discussion: Don Surber
Denver Post:
Is dissent still patriotic?  —  Do all Americans truly have a yearning to fundamentally “remake” our nation?  There must be a subversive minority out there that still believes the United States — even with its imperfections and sporadic recessions — is, in context, still a wildly prosperous and free country worth preserving.
RELATED:
MsUnderestimated:
DAILY SHOW - WHAT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BUSH & OBAMA?  (VIDEO)  —  Tonight Jon Stewart rightly pointed out that there really are no differences when it comes to philosophy about national security, and he demonstrates it with sequential video clips, comparing Barack's speech with past Bush speeches.
Discussion: NewsBusters.org
Juan Williams / Wall Street Journal:
Judge Obama on Performance Alone  —  Let's not celebrate more ordinary speeches.  —  With the noon sun high over the U.S. Capitol, Barack Obama yesterday took the oath of office to become president of the United States.  On one level, it was a simple matter of political process — the symbolic transfer of power.
The Politico:
Seven reasons for healthy skepticism  —  Even in a city of cynics, the Inauguration of a new president — and the infusion of new ideas, new personalities and new energy that comes with it — summons feelings of reverence.  —  Barack Obama, especially, is the object of inaugural good feelings.
Naftali Bendavid / Wall Street Journal:
GOP Calibrates Role as Opposition  —  WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader John Boehner recently attacked the potential “wasteful spending” and “mountains of debt” in President Barack Obama's stimulus plan.  A few days later, he warmly invited Mr. Obama to address House Republicans, saying …
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan / Heard on the Runway:
Michelle Obama Picks Jason Wu For The Inaugural Balls  —  First Lady Michelle Obama stuck with her penchant for going off the beaten fashion path by picking emerging designer Jason Wu for her inaugural ballgown.  —  The cream-colored one-shouldered dress, which had a fitted bodice and flared skirt …
RELATED:
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
White House Cheat Sheet: The Debut  —  Welcome to the newest Fix feature — our daily rundown of the news you need to know about the White House of President Barack Obama.  —  We started the cheat sheet during the party conventions over the summer and had so much fun with it that we thought …
Discussion: Federal Eye and Townhall.com
Anita Chang / Associated Press:
Chinese translation cuts out parts of Obama speech  —  BEIJING - The official Chinese translation of President Barack Obama's inauguration speech omitted his references to communism and dissent, and a live broadcast on state television Wednesday quickly cut away to the anchor when sensitive topics were mentioned.
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Exit the Boy King  —  It was the Instant the Earth Stood Still.  —  Not since Klaatu landed in a flying saucer on the Ellipse has Washington been so mesmerized by an object whirring through the sky.  —  But this one was departing, not arriving.  —  As W. ceased to be president …
Discussion: MSNBC
Andy Levy / Big Hollywood:
My “To Don't” List for the Right  —  The only thing worse than bad winners are sore losers, and we've had enough of them for the past eight years.  So with that in mind, in the wake of today's historic inauguration, here's my Handbook For The Loyal Opposition, 2009 edition - a “To Don't List,” if you will.
Mark McKinnon / Blogs and Stories:
Aboard the Bush Plane  —  Britain's Leading Historian on the Genius of Obama's Unsoaring Inaugural  —  Full Coverage: Obama Inauguration, Bush Farewell  —  Blogs and Stories  —  In a Daily Beast exclusive, a former Bush advisor files his account—and his photos—from aboard the former president's flight back to Texas.
Kenneth Lovett / NY Daily News:
Paterson has Hillary Clinton's Senate replacement in mind - but wants to think about it more  —  ALBANY - Gov. Paterson said Tuesday he has finally zeroed in on a candidate to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate - but wants to mull it over a few more days.
Discussion: Buck Naked Politics and TIME.com
 
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of memeorandum at 12:40 PM ET, January 21, 2009.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 Who's Hiring in Media? 
 
 See Also: 
memeorandum: site main
memeorandum River: reverse chronological memeorandum
memeorandum Mobile: for phones
memeorandum Leaderboard: memeorandum's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
memeorandum RSS feed
memeorandum on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Associated Press:
Supreme Court won't revive online content law
Discussion: Ars Technica
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
“No Words That Will Be Quoted In A Hundred Years”
Discussion: New Yorker and Althouse
Washington Post:
Security Efforts Are Mostly a Success, Officials Say
Discussion: Guardian
Washington Post:
Obama Begins Day With National Prayer Service
Discussion: TIME.com and The Caucus
Noam N. Levey / Los Angeles Times:
A record crowd for inauguration? Hard to say
Discussion: BuzzFlash.org and RedState
Ernesto Londoño / Washington Post:
Iraq Accuses Iranian Exiles of Plotting Attack
Discussion: Informed Comment
 Earlier Items: 
Wall Street Journal:
Let's Stimulate Private Risk Taking
Discussion: EconLog
Martin Fletcher / Times of London:
Israel ‘admits’ using white phosphorus munitions
Etgar Lefkovits / Jerusalem Post:
Norwegian envoy: Israel, Nazis the same
Gregg Levine / Firedoglake:
Worst. Inauguration. Ever.
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

Kent Walker / The Keyword:
Google says the DOJ's “wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision”, would hurt US consumers, and jeopardize the US' global tech leadership

 
Sister Sites:

Techmeme
 Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web
Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page