Top Items:
Runnin' Scared:
Crotch-Bomber Fails to Blow Up Plane, in Yet Another Disaster for Obama — There are a few ways to look at the case of the thwarted holiday crotch-bomber. On the one hand, we have a deluded fellow who, allegedly assured of eternal glory by jihadists who bade him sew explosive chemicals into his underwear …
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog, The Moderate Voice, Gates of Vienna, CNN, The Sundries Shack, ABCNEWS and alicublog
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Kenneth Chang / New York Times:
Explosive on Flight 253 Is Among Most Powerful — Sewn into the underwear of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a powerful plastic explosive, the authorities say. — Had Mr. Abdulmutallab, sitting in seat 19A of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Friday from Amsterdam to Detroit …
New York Times:
Security System Failed, Napolitano Acknowledges — WASHINGTON — Backtracking from a widely criticized assertion over the weekend, the secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, said in a televised interview on Monday that the thwarted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner …
Discussion:
Megan McArdle, Washington Post, Jules Crittenden, Hit & Run, democracyarsenal.org, Los Angeles Times, Swampland and The Caucus
Washington Post:
Uninvestigated terrorism warning about Detroit suspect called not unusual — When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's father in Nigeria reported concern over his son's “radicalization” to the U.S. Embassy there last month, intelligence officials in the United States deemed the information insufficient to pursue.
Wall Street Journal:
The Terror This Time — Janet Napolitano says the system worked. No, we were brave and lucky. — Printer — Friendly — A U.S. government that has barred the phrase “war on terror” has nonetheless acknowledged that a failed Christmas day bomb attack on an airliner was a terrorist attempt.
Discussion:
Guardian, The Strata-Sphere, Taylor Marsh, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Israel Matzav, Cato @ Liberty and Commentary
ABCNEWS:
Abdulmutallab: More Like Me In Yemen — Accused Northwest Bomber Says More Bombers On the Way; Al Qaeda Promises to Hit Americans — American officials have cause to worry there may be more al Qaeda-trained young men in Yemen planning to bring down American jets.
Eileen Sullivan / Associated Press:
Napolitano concedes airline security system failed — Buzz up! — WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano conceded Monday that the aviation security system failed when a young man on a watchlist with a U.S. visa in his pocket and a powerful explosive hidden on his body …
Washington Wire:
Napolitano Reverses Course, Says Air Security Did NOT Work — A day after saying “the system worked” — and being pressed by CNN's Candy Crowley about how exactly that was the case — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano changed tack Monday and said that the U.S. air-travel security net …
Times of London:
Is this Iran's Berlin Wall moment? — It is time to start wondering out loud whether Iran's uprising could become one of those Berlin Wall moments. — This is not yet a counter-revolution. And the new “green movement” is a coalition of disparate factions — from former presidents to people …
RELATED:
Martin Fletcher / Times of London:At least eight dead in Tehran street battles
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Scared Monkeys, Flopping Aces, Jules Crittenden, Hot Air, Harry's Place, QandO, Doug Ross and CNN
Lydia Saad / Gallup:
“Political Winners” Circle Filled by Figures Close to Obama — Americans divided in labeling Sarah Palin as a political winner or loser — PRINCETON, NJ — In Americans' estimation, the top three political winners of 2009 are all women closely linked with the Obama administration …
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TMZ.com:
The JFK Photo That Could Have Changed History — TMZ has obtained a never-before published photograph which appears to show John F. Kennedy on a boat filled with naked women — it's a photo that could have altered world events. — We believe the photo was taken in the mid-1950s.
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Big Zero — Maybe we knew, at some unconscious, instinctive level, that it would be an era best forgotten. Whatever the reason, we got through the first decade of the new millennium without ever agreeing on what to call it. The aughts? The naughties? Whatever.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Connecting.the.Dots, The Agonist, Gawker, The Glittering Eye and Prairie Weather
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New York Times:
U.S. Widens Terror War to Yemen, a Qaeda Bastion — WASHINGTON — In the midst of two unfinished major wars, the United States has quietly opened a third, largely covert front against Al Qaeda in Yemen. — A year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency sent several of its top field operatives …
Patrick Gavin / The Politico:
MAX BAUCUS'S SPEECH UNDER CONSERVATIVE FIRE — “DRUNK WITH POWER? TOP DEM SLURS ON SENATE FLOOR...” reads the Drudge Report headline. — Newsbusters.org writes: “How can one explain this incredibly bizarre performance by Max Baucus on the Senate floor?
Jonathan Gruber / Washington Post:
‘Cadillac’ tax isn't a tax — it's a plan to finance real health reform — As we prepare for the final round of debate over health reform, perhaps the most contentious issue will be financing. Both the Senate and House agree that most of the financing for reform should come from scaling …
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