Top Items:
NY Daily News:
FBI arrest four in alleged plot to bomb Bronx synagogues, shoot down plane — The FBI busted a homegrown terror cell late Wednesday night as the men sneaked around a Jewish temple in Riverdale planting what they thought were packages of C-4 explosives, sources told the Daily News.
Discussion:
Buck Naked Politics, MSNBC, National Post, City Room, Talking Points Memo, Stop The ACLU, Atlas Shrugs, protein wisdom, At-Largely, Weekly Standard, Gates of Vienna, The Jawa Report, Jules Crittenden, Scared Monkeys, No More Mister Nice Blog, Confederate Yankee, Jihad Watch, Don Surber, Fausta's Blog, Townhall.com, JammieWearingFool, Macsmind, Riehl World View and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
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Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Obama Is Said to Consider Preventive Detention Plan — WASHINGTON — President Obama told human rights advocates at the White House on Wednesday that he was mulling the need for a “preventive detention” system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects …
New York Times:
4 Accused of Bombing Plot at Bronx Synagogues — Four men were arrested Wednesday night in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y. — The men, all of whom live in Newburgh …
Howard Fineman / Newsweek:
Ignore the party, Rush, Newt and Cheney are the muscle — Right now there are two RNCs here in Washington, side by side. The contrast is instructive. — One, the Republican National Committee, is a clueless self-parody. The other, the (R)ush-(N)ewt-(C)heney tag team …
Discussion:
CNN, The Fix, The Opinionator, Bloomberg, Washington Times, DownWithTyranny!, Swampland and US News
Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
Poll: Favorable opinions of Cheney rise — CNN Deputy Political Director — WASHINGTON (CNN) — As Dick Cheney prepares to give a major speech on the battle against terrorism, a new national poll suggests that favorable opinions of the former vice president are on the rise.
Jules Crittenden:
Split-Screen Irony Alert — Politico on a remarkable moment in the political history of television: … That's fascinating. Couldn't agree more. Living through the last 8 years of “Bush lied, people died,” Code Pink outrages, Cindy Sheehan being a shrill demented moonbat …
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Text of Cheney's AEI Speech — THE WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained an advance copy of VP Cheney's remarks as prepared for delivery later this morning at the American Enterprise Institute. I've read it quickly. I think fair-minded people will find it very well-argued and powerful.
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama: U.S. went ‘off course’ on terror — President Barack Obama declared defiantly Thursday that the U.S. “went off course” in fighting terrorism over the past eight years, and said his policies will “better protect” the country against al Qaeda. — In a major address at the National Archives …
Discussion:
CJR, Washington Times, Taegan Goddard's …, Pat Dollard, The Politico, Weasel Zippers, BuzzFlash.org and Michael Calderone's Blog
New York Times:
Police Say Terror Suspects Acted Alone — The four men arrested Wednesday night in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y. were petty criminals who appeared to be acting alone …
Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
1 in 7 Freed Detainees Rejoins Fight, Report Finds — WASHINGTON — An unreleased Pentagon report provides new details concluding that about one in seven of the 534 prisoners already transferred abroad from the detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has returned to terrorism or militant activity …
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Obama's Speech: A Preview
Obama's Speech: A Preview
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
Tom McElroy / Associated Press:
APNewsBreak: 4 arrested in plot to bomb NYC temple
APNewsBreak: 4 arrested in plot to bomb NYC temple
Discussion:
Wake up America, Sky News, WCBS-TV, Israpundit, Sweetness & Light, Little Green Footballs and Donklephant
Bill Sammon / Fox News:
Obama ‘Distracted’ by Biden's ‘Indiscipline,’ Book Asserts — The president is so “distracted by his vice president's indiscipline” that he has been forced to rebuke privately Vice President Biden, according to a new book by Richard Wolffe. — FOXNews.com
Directorblue / Doug Ross:
Sacramento Bee publishes vicious screed bashing taxpayers, gets caught, then scrubs with milquetoast replacement — Early this morning, the failing Sacramento Bee published a “vicious screed” that pilloried taxpayers for refusing to feed California's insatiable state government.
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Randy E. Barnett / Forbes:
A Bill Of Federalism — A detailed proposal to redress the imbalance between state and federal power. — Lately some state legislatures have been considering so-called “sovereignty resolutions.” Rather than pass strictly symbolic measures, however, I recommended—in an op-ed last month …
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy
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Erika Lovley / The Politico:
Congressman: We're going to Disney — Rep. Alan Grayson was standing in the middle of Disney World when it hit him: What Americans really need is a week of paid vacation. — So on Thursday, the Florida Democrat will introduce the Paid Vacation Act — legislation that would be the first …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Obama's Pronunciations — I don't have a problem with the fact that Barack Obama says “Pah-kee-stahn” when referring to the country to the west of India. Nor do I have a problem with the fact that Obama says “Afghanistan” in the customary American manner.
Discussion:
Think Progress
The Huffington Post:
Obama Huddles With Human Rights Groups Before Security Speech — Under heavy criticism for a series of decisions on national security that resembled, for some, those of the Bush years, President Barack Obama hosted a lengthy meeting on Wednesday with the leaders of several key human rights and civil liberties groups.
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Porter Goss Won't Say Whether He And Pelosi Were Told About Use Of Torture — Porter Goss, the former GOP Congressman who was in the room with Nancy Pelosi during their 2002 CIA briefing on interrogations, is declining through a spokesperson to say whether the two of them were told that enhanced interrogation techniques had been used.
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Flip-Flops and Governance — Our president isn't quite as advertised. — Printer — Friendly — Barack Obama inherited a set of national-security policies that he rejected during the campaign but now embraces as president. This is a stunning and welcome about-face.
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy, Indecision Forever, New York Magazine and Conservatives4Palin.com
Pew Research Center:
Independents Take Center Stage in Obama Era — Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2009 — Centrism has emerged as a dominant factor in public opinion as the Obama era begins. The political values and core attitudes that the Pew Research Center has monitored since 1987 show little overall ideological movement.
Adam Nagourney / The Caucus:
R.N.C. Votes Down the ‘Democrat Socialist Party’ — The Republican National Committee backed away Wednesday from a resolution that officially called Democrats the “Democrat Socialist Party,” but instead voted to condemn Democrats for what it called a “march toward socialism.”
David S. Broder / Washington Post:
President Obama as Commander in Chief — No new president finds that every aspect of the job suits him at once; some duties are inevitably more comfortable than others. What we have witnessed in the past few weeks is Barack Obama trying on and fitting himself to the role of commander in chief.
Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
California, a Broke State, Reels as Voters Rebuff Leaders — LOS ANGELES — Direct democracy has once again upended California — enough so that the state may finally consider another way by overhauling its Constitution for the first time in 130 years. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger returned home …
Fox News:
Trebek Makes Bush Joke as Texas Teen Wins Geography Bee — WASHINGTON — The nation's top geography whiz breezed through questions about mountain ranges, rivers and world capitals Wednesday, but he was stumped when National Geographic Bee host Alex Trebek asked him to name one of his weaknesses.
Agence France Presse:
Republicans to seek Pelosi investigation: source — Republicans to seek Pelosi investigation: source — WASHINGTON (AFP) - Republicans in the House of Representatives will call Thursday for a formal probe into Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's charges that the CIA misled her on alleged torture, an official said.
Timothy J. Burger / Bloomberg:
Jesse Jackson Jr. Pays Campaign Funds to Chicago Alderman Wife — Representative Jesse Jackson Jr.'s congressional campaign organization has paid his wife at least $247,500 since 2001, including at least $95,000 after Sandra Jackson joined the Chicago City Council two years ago, according to federal election records.
Ryan Singel / Threat Level:
FCC's Warrantless Household Searches Alarm Experts — You may not know it, but if you have a wireless router, a cordless phone, remote car-door opener, baby monitor or cellphone in your house, the FCC claims the right to enter your home without a warrant at any time of the day or night in order to inspect it.
Discussion:
Raw Story