memeorandum: The Blur Between Spending and Taxes (N. Gregory Mankiw/New York Times)

12:40 PM ET, November 21, 2010

Top Items:

Could She Reach the Top in 2012? You Betcha — “THE perception I had, anyway, was that we were on top of the world,” Sarah Palin said at the climax of last Sunday's premiere of her new television series, “Sarah Palin's Alaska.” At that point our fearless heroine had just completed a perilous rock climb …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, LewRockwell.com Blog, Alternate Brain, Daily Kos, Balloon Juice, Prairie Weather and No More Mister Nice Blog

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

AN UNLIKELY VORACIOUS READER.... The New York Times' Sunday magazine has a lengthy piece from Robert Draper today on a certain former half-term governor. The piece covers quite a bit of ground — and should probably dispel any lingering doubts about Sarah Palin's national ambitions — but a couple of things stood out.

Discussion: Washington Post and Balloon Juice

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Gawker loses round with Sarah Palin — A federal judge on Saturday ordered the website Gawker to pull down unauthorized excerpts from Sarah Palin's forthcoming book, “America By Heart,” until a hearing scheduled for Nov. 30. — On Saturday evening, the link was broken to Gawker's scoop …

Discussion: Media Decoder, Outside the Beltway, Wake up America, iOwnTheWorld.com, Gothamist, TechCrunch, Mediaite, Runnin' Scared, MediaMemo, CNN, HotAirPundit, Cubachi and Hot Air, more at Mediagazer »

CBS News:
Sarah Palin Wins Round in Gawker Lawsuit

Discussion: The Confluence

Associated Press:
NY judge orders Gawker to pull Palin book pages

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Daily Caller, Patterico's Pontifications, MediaMemo, The Other McCain, Ruby Slippers and Taylor Marsh

Harriet Baskas / msnbc.com:

TSA pat-down leaves traveler covered in urine — ‘I was absolutely humiliated,’ said bladder cancer survivor — Below: — A retired special education teacher on his way to a wedding in Orlando, Fla., said he was left humiliated, crying and covered with his own urine after an enhanced pat …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Scared Monkeys, The Gateway Pundit, Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, Pundit & Pundette, RedState, Left Coast Rebel, Raw Story, Boing Boing and Mock, Paper, Scissors

msnbc.com:
Obama: TSA pat-downs frustrating but necessary

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Paul Mulshine and Mock, Paper, Scissors

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
TSA Agents Absolutely Hate New Pat Downs, Find Them Disgusting And Morale Breaking

Discussion: Gawker, Guardian and Balloon Juice

The Hill:

Report: N. Korea makes ‘stunning’ leaps in ‘astonishingly modern’ nuclear facility — A report that North Korea has made alarming, secret progress in its nuclear enrichment activities sparked alarm about Pyongyang's “belligerent behavior,” in the words of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen.

Discussion: CNN

David E. Sanger / New York Times:
North Koreans Unveil Vast New Plant for Nuclear Use

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Foundry and Washington Post

Landon Thomas, Jr / New York Times:

Ireland Asks for Aid From Europe, Minister Says — DUBLIN — Ireland has formally applied for a bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, Brian Lenihan, the country's finance minister, said Sunday. — Speaking on Ireland's RTE radio, Mr. Lenihan said the application …

RTÉ:
Lenihan: Ireland to apply for rescue package

Discussion: Telegraph

Tammy S. Schultz / Washington Post:

Why are the Marines the military's biggest backers of 'don't ask, don't tell'? — After 17 years, “don't ask, don't tell” may finally be on its way out. Even if the Senate resists the latest efforts to end the policy, it appears that most members of the military - from the chairman …

Discussion: AMERICAblog Gay, Prairie Weather and Federal Eye

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

TRENDING: Clinton: I'm not running for president — (CNN) - Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton is not running for president - just ask her. — “I am not in any way interested in or pursuing anything in elected office,” Clinton said on “Fox News Sunday.” — Clinton laughed off speculation that she might run for president in 2012.

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL — Top political scientist: U.S. voters are ‘pretty damn stupid’ — Political reporters often rely on University of Wisconsin political scientist Charles Franklin for expertise. In just the past few months, his insights have appeared in articles in the New York Times …

Discussion: Althouse

CNN:

Afghan Christian faces trial for alleged conversion from Islam — From Matiullah Mati for CNN: — An Afghan Christian, detained for months for allegedly converting to Christianity from Islam, could face trial as early as next week - and could face a potential death penalty, officials said Sunday.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Nuking the White House — You know you're in trouble when you need Henry Kissinger to vouch for you. — But there was the one formerly known as “The One” sitting at a table with a bunch of old, white, Republican dudes, choosing the most abstruse issue on the agenda for his moment to Man Up.

Discussion: Commentary, Eunomia and Vox Popoli

Jeff Sommer / New York Times:

A Forecast That Obama Could Love — THINGS are looking up for Barack Obama. — You might not think so, given the flow of news lately. His foreign policy has met with limited success, at best. And, back home, unemployment is mired at 9.6 percent. Earlier this month, in a major political blow …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taegan Goddard's … and NewsBusters.org

Jordy Yager / The Hill:

Analyst: TSA methods ‘will kill more Americans on highway’ — The recent public ire toward the TSA's new pat-down and body imaging screening methods is likely to cause more people to drive automobiles and forego airline travel, say two transportation economists who have studied the issue.

Discussion: Raw Story

Reuters:

Obama's Democrats in disarray over expiring tax cuts — (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats in the U.S. Congress, many upset with him for election losses, are in disarray over what to do about tax cuts for millions of Americans that are set to expire on December 31.

Discussion: Commentary