Top Items:
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Obama Cites ‘Systemic Failure’ in U.S. Security — HONOLULU - President Obama on Tuesday blamed a “systemic failure” in the nation's security apparatus for the attempted bombing of a passenger jet on Christmas Day and vowed to identify the problems and “deal with them immediately.”
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Armen Keteyian / CBS News:
U.S. Intel Lapses Helped Abdulmutallab — CBS News Exclusive: CIA Had Info on Person of Interest Dubbed “The Nigerian” in August But Officials Failed to Connect Dots — (CBS) CBS News has learned that as early as August of 2009 the Central Intelligence Agency was picking up information …
Discussion:
blogs.telegraph.co.uk, protein wisdom, Hot Air, Associated Press, The Sundries Shack and WCBS-TV
Washington Times:
Awlaki personally blessed Detroit attack — The Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner had his suicide mission personally blessed in Yemen by Anwar al-Awlaki, the same Muslim imam suspected of radicalizing the Fort Hood shooting suspect, a U.S. intelligence source has told The Washington Times.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Hot Air, Gates of Vienna, The Long War Journal, American Power and The Corner on National …
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Rove granted divorce in Texas — Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, has been granted a divorce in Texas after 24 years of marriage, a family spokesperson said. — Dana Perino, the spokesperson, said: “Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week.
Discussion:
Salon, Liberal Values, Raw Story, Newsweek Blogs, Political Byline, The Impolitic, Wonkette, The Daily Dish, TPM LiveWire and Shakesville
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Susan Crabtree / The Hill:
Sen. Feinstein: Halt transfers to Yemen — The senior Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee wants no more Guantanamo Bay detainees released to Yemen in the wake of a Christmas day terrorist attack hatched in that country. — “Guantanamo detainees should not be released to Yemen at this time …
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Wall Street Journal:
Obama Slams Security Breach — ‘Catastrophic’ Lapse Enabled Bomb Try; Father Told CIA of Suspect's Radicalization — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said a “potential catastrophic breach” allowed the alleged Christmas Day bomber to set his attack into motion, as it emerged …
Barbara Starr / CNN:
Officials: U.S., Yemen reviewing targets — Washington (CNN) — The U.S. and Yemen are now looking at fresh targets in Yemen for a potential retaliation strike, two senior U.S. officials told CNN Tuesday, in the aftermath of the botched Christmas Day attack on an airliner that al Qaeda in Yemen claims it organized.
Avi Zenilman / The Plum Line:
Skittish Democrats Refuse To Defend Obama On National Security — Are Democrats so cowed by Republican attacks on Obama's foreign policy that they're unwilling to defend him? — It's now been five days since the attempted bombing of Flight 253 in Detroit, and Congressional Democrats …
Discussion:
Pajamas Media, CNN, The Anchoress, Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, The Swamp, Talking Points Memo, ATTACKERMAN and Raw Story
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Arianna Huffington / The Huffington Post:
Move Your Money: A New Year's Resolution — Last week, over a pre-Christmas dinner, the two of us, along with political strategist Alexis McGill, filmmaker/author Eugene Jarecki, and Nick Penniman of the HuffPost Investigative Fund, began talking about the huge, growing chasm between …
Politiken.dk News in English:
Obama greater than Jesus — The U.S. president - the practical saviour of our times — He is provocative in insisting on an outstretched hand, where others only see animosity. — His tangible results in the short time that he has been active - are few and far between.
Discussion:
Hot Air, The TrogloPundit, Sister Toldjah, Is Barack Obama the Messiah? and The Jawa Report
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Deborah Solomon / New York Times:
Power of Attorney — Your new book, “Crisis and Command,” is an eloquent, fact-laden history of audacious power grabs by American presidents going back to George Washington. Which president would you say most violated laws enacted by Congress? — I would say Lincoln.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns and Money, Ezra Klein, FP Passport, Gawker, Truthdig, Main Justice, The Washington Independent and The BLT
Susananne / susananne's Diary:
Yes, Byron, The GOP Deserves Blame, But You Need to Go Further — Byron York's article in the Washington Examiner highlights Republican shortcomings in recent years causing the shift to a Democrat-controlled Congress. While I agree with some of his points, I think York needs to go further with a few critical elements.
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The Huffington Post:
The Cash Committee: How Wall Street Wins On The Hill — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — The question was simple: Should the lending practices of auto dealers be regulated? — It was already October and the 42 Democrats and 29 Republicans on the House Committee on Financial Services had spent …
Jon Walker / Firedoglake:
Medicare vs. Medicaid: A Stark Warning About Having States Execute Reform — Political map of the United States, ca. 2002 (source: Univ. of Texas at Austin) — The Social Security Act of 1965 created two public insurance programs, Medicare and Medicaid. One proved to be a big success, and the other, not so much.
Discussion:
American Power
Associated Press:
Obama Moves to Curb Federal Secrets — Move Expected to Declassify more than 400 Million Pages of Cold War-Ear Documents — (AP) President Barack Obama on Tuesday ordered the federal government to rethink how it protects the nation's secrets, in a move that was expected to declassify …
Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Obama takes the heat Bush did not — Eight years ago, a terrorist bomber's attempt to blow up a transatlantic airliner was thwarted by a group of passengers, an incident that revealed some gaping holes in airline security just a few months after the attacks of September 11.
Discussion:
Philly.com
Blue Texan / Firedoglake:
Terrorism Still Less Deadly in US Than Lack of Health Insurance, Salmonella — Since we still seem to be having a national freakout over some loser who got on a plane with a bomb in his underwear, which was apparently worthy of a presidential address, it might be a good idea to put …
Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
Published Document States Khamenei Is Planning to Escape to Russia ...Update: Khamenei's Jet Put on Standby — A letter published on the Iranian websites claims that Ayatollah Khamenei is planning a possible escape to Russia. — There were rumors floating around yesterday that Ayatollah Khamenei was preparing to flee Iran.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, rnw.nl, Planet-Iran.com, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Hot Air, The Jawa Report and Weasel Zippers