Top Items:
Newsweek Blogs:
White House Adviser Briefed in October on Underwear Bomb Technique — White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan was briefed in October on an assassination attempt by Al Qaeda that investigators now believe used the same underwear bombing technique as the Nigerian suspect who tried …
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David Leppard / Times of London:
MI5 knew of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's UK extremist links — The security services knew three years ago that the Detroit bomber had “multiple communications” with Islamic extremists in Britain, it emerged this weekend. — Counterterrorism officials said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was …
Steven Erlanger / New York Times:
Yemen's Chaos Aids Evolution of Qaeda Cell — SANA, Yemen — Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has rapidly evolved into an expanding and ambitious regional terrorist network thanks in part to a weakened, impoverished and distracted Yemeni government. — While Yemen has chased two homegrown rebellions …
Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:
Low favorables: Dems rip Rasmussen — Democrats are turning their fire on Scott Rasmussen, the prolific independent pollster whose surveys on elections, President Obama's popularity and a host of other issues are surfacing in the media with increasing frequency.
Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
A New Low... Charles Johnson Now Supporting Child Porn in Classrooms & Fisting Kits at School Functions — Sick. Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs reached a new low yesterday. — Johnson attacked this blog for reporting again on Barack Obama's safe schools czar.
Chuck Bennett / New York Post:
Wacky jihad therapy failed to ‘cure’ plane-bomb plotter — A cushy Saudi Arabian “rehab” center where terrorists are encouraged to express themselves through crayon drawings, water sports and video games is under scrutiny after one of its graduates re-emerged as a leader …
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Telegraph:
Barack Obama is vulnerable on terror - and he knows it — Barack Obama is playing politics over the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack and Republicans sense he is weak on the issue, writes Toby Harnden in Washington — In his weekly radio address yesterday, President Barack Obama patted himself …
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RedState
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New York Times:
U.S. Sees Window to Pressure Iran on Nuclear Fuel — WASHINGTON — As President Obama faces pressure to back up his year-end ultimatum for diplomatic progress with Iran, the administration says that domestic unrest and signs of unexpected trouble in Tehran's nuclear program …
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Wall Street Journal:
Why the Health-Care Bills Are Unconstitutional — If the government can mandate the purchase of insurance, it can do anything. — Printer — Friendly — President Obama's health-care bill is now moving toward final passage. The policy issues may be coming to an end …
Atheist Ireland / blog.atheist.ie:
25 Blasphemous Quotations — 1. Jesus Christ, when asked if he was the son of God, in Matthew 26:64: “Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
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BBC:
Charges for cartoonist ‘attacker’ — The 28-year-old Somali was carried into court on a stretcher — A Somali man has been charged with trying to kill a Danish artist whose drawing of the Prophet Mohammed sparked riots around the world. — The suspect, who was shot …
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ABCNEWS:
Exclusive: CIA Attacker Driven in From Pakistan — Suicide Bomber Was a Regular CIA Informant, Had Been to Chapman Base Multiple Times — The suicide bomber who killed at least six Central Intelligence Agency officers in a base along the Afghan-Pakistan border on Wednesday was a regular CIA informant …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Why the Budget Will Never Be Balanced — To review some recent political history, after Ronald Reagan's election in 1980, conservatives enacted budgetary measures that led to large and growing deficits. These were scaled back to some extent on a bipartisan basis in the late 1980s and during …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Justin Lahart / Wall Street Journal:
Secrets of the Economist's Trade: First, Purchase a Piggy Bank — Academic economists gather in Atlanta this weekend for their annual meetings, always held the first weekend after New Year's Day. That's not only because it coincides with holidays at most universities.