Top Items:
Mark Hosenball / Newsweek Blogs:
EXCLUSIVE: Obama Got Pre-Christmas Intelligence Briefing About Terror Threats to “Homeland” — President Barack Obama received a high-level briefing only three days before Christmas about possible holiday-period terrorist threats against the US, Newsweek has learned.
Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:
U.S. Loan Effort Is Seen as Adding to Housing Woes — The Obama administration's $75 billion program to protect homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts now contend it has done more harm than good.
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Flashback: GOP blamed Clinton for 9/11 - Obama got regularly scheduled Dec. 22 briefing on holiday threats, but there was no warning of an attack — Tebow: ‘redemption instead of perfection’ — Mayor Bloomberg yesterday, in his third inaugural address: “We have adopted bold education reforms …
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The White House:
Weekly Address: President Obama Outlines Steps Taken to Protect the Safety and Security of the American People — WASHINGTON - In his weekly address, President Barack Obama discussed his solemn responsibility to protect the nation and the steps the administration has taken to that end.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
LIMBAUGH DIAGNOSES HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.... On Wednesday, Rush Limbaugh went to a Hawaii hospital with chest pains, and was released yesterday, with no apparent ailments. The right-wing radio host said doctors found nothing wrong with his heart or arteries, and it's still unclear what caused his pains.
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Carol E. Lee / The Politico:Rush: U.S. health system ‘just fine’
Discussion:
Think Progress, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Reaction, snooperreport.com and Townhall.com
BBC:
Somali shot in attack on cartoonist — Danish police have shot and wounded a man at the home of Kurt Westergaard, whose cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad sparked an international row. — Mr Westergaard scrambled into a panic room at his home in Aarhus after a man wielding an axe and a knife broke in.
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Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:
Nelson to McMaster: ‘Call off the dogs’ — Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) reached out Thursday evening to South Carolina GOP Attorney General Henry McMaster, the leader of a group of 13 Republican state attorneys general who are threatening to file suit against the Senate health care bill …
Discussion:
Redhot
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Scott / Power Line:
The Cornhusker Concussive — One of the disgusting features of the Senate's Obamacare bill is the payoffs extracted from taxpayers and directed to the states of senators wielding key votes. The payoffs culminated in the “Cornhusker Kickback” procured by Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson for Nebraska …
Patterico's Pontifications:
Charles Johnson Denounces the “Right-Wing Racism” of a Picture Forwarded by . . . a Democrat — Charles Johnson denounces the “right-wing racism” of the photo. — Just one problem: the worker is a registered Democrat: … Reacting to the news of the woman's party affiliation, Johnson says in comments:
Justin Berton / San Francisco Chronicle:
Biblical scholar's date for rapture: May 21, 2011 — Harold Camping lets out a hearty chuckle when he considers the people who believe the world will end in 2012. — “That date has not one stitch of biblical authority,” Camping says from the Oakland office where he runs Family Radio …
Hiroko Tabuchi / New York Times:
For Some in Japan, Home Is a Tiny Plastic Bunk — TOKYO — For Atsushi Nakanishi, jobless since Christmas, home is a cubicle barely bigger than a coffin — one of dozens of berths stacked two units high in one of central Tokyo's decrepit “capsule” hotels. — “It's just a place to crawl …
Detroit News:
Customs official confirms report of 2nd man held from Flight 253 — Detroit — A federal customs and border protection official reversed himself today, admitting a passenger from Northwest Flight 253 was placed in handcuffs, searched and released after a canine alerted officers to his carry-on luggage.
Discussion:
Redhot
Matthew L. Wald / New York Times:
U.S. Lawyers Knew About Legal Pitfalls in Blackwater Case — WASHINGTON — The sudden blow to the case against the former Blackwater security guards over a shooting that killed 17 Iraqis and wounded at least 20 may have come as a surprise to the public in Iraq and the United States …
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
How Cheney Made America A Torture Nation — The comparison with Richard Reid is, of course, instructive. The Bush administration treated the shoe-bomber exactly as the Obama administration has treated the pantie-bomber - and convicted him the way no one has yet convicted anyone directly connected to 9/11.
Neil Irwin / Washington Post:
Aughts were a lost decade for U.S. economy, workers — For most of the past 70 years, the U.S. economy has grown at a steady clip, generating perpetually higher incomes and wealth for American households. But since 2000, the story is starkly different. — The past decade was the worst …
Brendan Miniter / Wall Street Journal:
Back to GOP Basics — Virginia's governor-elect Bob McDonnell on his plans for spending cuts, offshore drilling and charter schools. — Printer — Friendly — Richmond, Va. — 'I'm sorry," Bob McDonnell says, shaking my hand. It's a recent rainy morning in Virginia's capital …
Discussion:
Commentary
Fox News:
Democrats Join Calls for Napolitano to Step Down Following Failed Attack — Democrats have joined the ranks of those calling for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to step down following the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight a week ago.
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