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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.
New York Times:
Living on Nothing but Food Stamps — CAPE CORAL, Fla. — After an improbable rise from the Bronx projects to a job selling Gulf Coast homes, Isabel Bermudez lost it all to an epic housing bust — the six-figure income, the house with the pool and the investment property.
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Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:
Real Estate in Cape Coral, Fla., Is Far From a Recovery — FELLOW adventurers, refugees from winter and armchair archaeologists, we are here on this shiny green tour bus to embark on a safari of sorts. We'll be exploring the local habitat, as upended and reconfigured by an epochal real estate fiasco.
Associated Press:
US, UK close Yemen embassies over al-Qaida threats — Buzz up! — SAN'A, Yemen - The U.S. and Britain closed their embassies in Yemen on Sunday in the face of al-Qaida threats, after both countries announced an increase in aid to the government to fight the terror group linked …
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Sudarsan Raghavan / Washington Post:
Al-Qaeda benefits from a decade of missteps to become a threat in Yemen — SANAA, YEMEN — Nearly a decade after the bombing of the USS Cole, a combination of U.S. and Yemeni missteps, deep mistrust and a lack of political will have allowed al-Qaeda militants here to regroup and pose …
Steven Erlanger / New York Times:
Yemen's Chaos Aids Evolution of Qaeda Cell
Yemen's Chaos Aids Evolution of Qaeda Cell
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Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Brennan responds to Cheney: He's either ‘willfully mischaracterized’ Obama or is ‘ignorant of the facts.’ — Earlier this week, former Vice President Dick Cheney joined the GOP's hypocritical attacks against President Obama's response to the attempted Christmas day terror attack, claiming that …
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Newsweek Blogs:
White House Adviser Briefed in October on Underwear Bomb Technique
White House Adviser Briefed in October on Underwear Bomb Technique
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
OUR STUNTED DISCOURSE.... For over a week now, the right has been working aggressively to go after President Obama over national security policy. But since the failed Christmas-day plot, conservatives haven't quite come up with a coherent line of attack. Indeed, nine days later …
Robin Sidel / Yahoo! Finance:
Banks Roll Out New Check, Card Fees … The nation's banks will be bombarding customers with new fees and products in 2010 as they try to replace more than $50 billion in revenue wiped out by new rules that clamp down on certain business practices. — So far, the changes are mostly concentrated in checking accounts and credit cards.
Tyler Cowen / New York Times:
Fruitful Decade for Many in the World — IT may not feel that way right now, but the last 10 years may go down in world history as a big success. That idea may be hard to accept in the United States. After all, it was the decade of 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the financial crisis, all dramatic and painful events.
Mark Steyn / National Review:
The Joke's on Us — The Pantybomber wasn't the big joke. We are. — On Christmas Day, a gentleman from Nigeria succeeded (effortlessly) in boarding a flight to Detroit with a bomb in his underwear. Pretty funny, huh? — But the Pantybomber wasn't the big joke. The real laugh was the United States government.
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GINA COBB
Bono / New York Times:
Ten for the Next Ten — IF we have overindulged in anything these past several days, it is neither holiday ham nor American football; it is Top 10 lists. We have been stuffed full of them. Even in these self-restrained pages, it has been impossible to avoid the end-of-the-decade accountings …
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 …