Top Items:
ABCNEWS:
'Underwear Bomber's' Alarming Last Phone Call — Abdulmutallab Called His Father to Say It Would Be Their Last Contact — The accused “underwear bomber” made a dramatic final call to his father that he found so alarming, the father approached Nigerian officials who took him directly …
RELATED:
Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:
Is This Really an Intelligence Failure? Real Talk on Abdulmutallab — In an appearance on “Democracy Now!” yesterday morning to discuss Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, I made the point that Abdulmutallab's ability to board Northwest Airlines Flight 253 demonstrates a policy failure more than an intelligence failure.
Patrick Gavin / The Politico:
DIVERSE REACTIONS TO LIMBAUGH — As news broke Wednesday night of radio show host Rush Limbaugh's hospital visit due to chest pains, many of his political counterparts on the left put down their ideological swords and wished him well on Twitter. — “All best wishes to Mr. Limbaugh tonight …
Discussion:
RADAR, OpEdNews, The Reaction, PERRspectives, NewsBusters.org, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Raw Story, The Radio Equalizer and Riehl World View
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Bill Shireman / The Huffington Post:
Get Well, Mr. Limbaugh, But Don't Rush Back — The talk show host …
Get Well, Mr. Limbaugh, But Don't Rush Back — The talk show host …
Sarah Netter / ABCNEWS:
Rush Limbaugh Undergoing Tests at Hospital
Rush Limbaugh Undergoing Tests at Hospital
Discussion:
The Reaction, The Huffington Post, American Power, Althouse, Atlas Shrugs, snooperreport.com and FishBowlDC
Click2Houston.com:
Rocket Launcher Found In Apartment — No Charges Filed — HOUSTON — Police went to a southwest Houston apartment to break up a disturbance but ended up finding something else, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday. — A woman called police on Monday and said a man was forcing his way into her apartment in the 5300 block of Elm Street.
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Robert / Jihad Watch:
Houston: Rocket launcher, jihadist writings found in apartment — no charges filed — Rocket launcher? Check. Jihadist writings? Check. But no worries — the Feds found no ties to terrorism! — Keystone Kops Alert from Houston: “Rocket Launcher Found In Apartment: No Charges Filed …
Rasmussen Reports:
58% Favor Waterboarding of Plane Terrorist To Get Information — Fifty-eight percent (58%) of U.S. voters say waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques should be used to gain information from the terrorist who attempted to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day.
John Cole / Balloon Juice:
A Thing of Beauty — This Chris Matthews quote is a Palinesque work of art: … Yes, Gerald. I hope you and your loved ones have a Happy New Year, even though we live under the grave threat of KUNG FU FIGHTING TERRORISTS!
Discussion:
The Reaction
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Bill Roggio / Weekly Standard:
Did The Obama Administration Violate An Executive Order By Releasing Qais Qazali? — Did the Obama administration, by releasing Qais and Laith Qazali and more than 100 members of the Iranian-backed Asaib al Haq, violate an executive order put in place by President Ronald Reagan to prevent negotiations with hostage takers?
Discussion:
Guardian
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Micah L. Sifry / techPresident:
The Obama Disconnect: What Happens When Myth Meets Reality — “Collectively all of you, most of you whom are, I'm not sure, of drinking age, you've created the best political organization in America, and probably the best political organization that we've seen in the last 30, 40 years.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Tom Watson, The Confluence, Ben Smith's Blog, Taylor Marsh, AMERICAblog News and Newshoggers.com
Aaron Blake / The Hill:
Dem recruits continue to head for exits — Democrats have lost yet another touted recruit, this time in Kansas. — State Sen. Laura Kelly (D) just announced her withdrawal from the race to face Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.). She becomes the fifth formidable recruit to bow out in recent weeks.
Paul / Power Line:
What ever happened to the “Duke 88”? — The “Duke 88” consisted of 88 Duke professors who signed an ad which implicitly assumed that Duke lacrosse players raped a black stripper, an allegation that proved to be entirely fraudulent. The ad praised protesters who had put lacrosse players' photos on …
The Huffington Post:
DCCC Chair: GOP Opposition To National Security Funds Will Be Issue In 2010 — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Democratic leadership in Congress is pledging to make Republican votes against key national security and defense funding measures a feature in the upcoming congressional elections …
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CNN:
'Sent from the candidate's BlackBerry.' Really? — (CNN) - A mass e-mail was sent on Tuesday from Carly Fiorina's senatorial campaign, appearing to not only come from the candidate herself, but from her personal BlackBerry. — While most campaigns send e-mails appearing to be written from the candidate …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
What Might Have Been — Looking back over a decade that was pretty great for China, India, much of Eastern and Central Europe, Brazil, and some parts of Africa but bad for the United States, it really is sobering to reflect on how contingent it all was. — As you know, I'm a firm believer …
Discussion:
Dave Weigel
Judy Fahys / Salt Lake Tribune:
Snowstorm squelches climate change protest — A downtown protest of the climate change talks in Copenhagen became a victim of Wednesday's snowstorm. — “Not many people showed up because of the blizzard conditions,” said organizer Clea Major, an international studies student at the University of Utah.
Del Quentin Wilber / Washington Post:
Judge dismisses all charges in Blackwater shooting — A federal judge on Thursday threw out charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of killing 14 people in a 2007 shooting in downtown Baghdad. — In a 90-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Comic Book Adaptation of the Decade — We had a lot of comic book adaptions in the zeros, and the best of them, contrary to what you might have heard, is Iron Man. I promise you that this is a better movie than The Dark Knight. Go back and watch them again if you don't believe me.
Justin Elliott / TPM LiveWire:
The End Of TheConservatives.Com: Wash Times Cancels Site — TheConservatives.com, the Washington Times Web project that was billed as an ambitious “multiplatform” venture to allow “the Joe the Plumbers of the world to speak up to major thinkers, like Newt Gingrich,” has gone silent.
Eric Zimmermann / The Hill:
Obama to review intelligence report on New Year's Eve — President Barack Obama will review intelligence assesments Thursday evening on the failed Christmas Day airline bombing. — Obama had set a Thursday deadline for the initial assessment. Earlier on Thursday, the White House …
SusanAnne Hiller / Big Government:
Democrats Officially Kill Successful DC Voucher Program — This is big government at its finest hour. The Democrats have officially killed a successful private school voucher program banishing more than 3,300 low-income children back to the DC schools they so desperately wanted to escape.
Discussion:
RedState