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 …

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.

Tea Partiers To Republicans: You Better Call For Full Repeal of Reform, Or Else  —  It's now becoming clear that this could be a major issue for Republicans in 2010: the Tea Party movement, as well as high-profile conservatives, are going to demand that candidates call for a full repeal …

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?

GOP blame at TSA?  —  As Republicans seek to put the blame for the widespread perception of ineptness at the Transportation Security Administration on the Obama administration, Democrats are arguing that Republican legislators bear part of the blame and that they're politically vulnerable on the subject.

“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 …

Two al Qaeda Leaders Behind Northwest Flight 253 Terror Plot Were Released by U.S.  —  Former Guantanamo Prisoners Believed Behind Northwest Airlines Bomb Plot; Sent to Saudi Arabia in 2007  —  Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet …

Transcript of Obama remarks on airline security and terror watch lists  —  President Obama's remarks Monday about airline security and this weekend's protests in Iran.  The Washington Post maintains a full database of Obama's speeches here.  —  Good morning, everybody.

Administration Won't Estimate Total Losses of Fannie and Freddie  —  It's a favorite government trick to announce bad news on a Friday afternoon, so it appears in Saturday's paper, the least likely edition to be read.  By Sunday and Monday, it's old news.  The Obama Treasury just went one better …

Andy Martin, GOP Senate Candidate, Accuses Opponent Mark Kirk Of Homosexuality  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  If there was any question whether or not the 2010 election season was heating up, it was dispelled on Monday morning when a Republican Senate candidate from Illinois released …

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.

Son of Obama's Friend Injured in Hawaii  —  Updated |  5:37 p.m. President Obama was rushed away unexpectedly from a Hawaii golf course on Monday and brought back to the beachfront compound where he has been staying because the son of one of his friends was hurt and needed stitches.

What are the odds that the best chess player in the world has never played chess?  —  The more general issues are how well the modern world allocates talent and how much exposure you need to something you eventually will be very good at.  —  My view is that people who are born into a reasonably …

Andrew Sullivan, Hannah Rosenthal and Neocons  —  Andrew Sullivan writes, in reference my charge that Hannah Rosenthal, the State Department's anti-anti-Semitism czar, made as her “first target” of criticism Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, for refusing to speak at the J Street conference:

Where Have They Taken Him?  —  There are two critical lines that were crossed yesterday.  The first was widespread savagery and violence by the junta on the day of Ashura.  This breaks a profound taboo, violates the integrity and core meaning of the religious festival, and places the regime symbolically as the enemy of Shia Islam.