memeorandum: Sarah Palin's Mystery Research Firm (Mother Jones)

12:45 AM ET, November 23, 2010

Top Items:

White House Fights Pat-Down Backlash — The administration is quietly and aggressively defending airport security policies against what they see as a media frenzy of distorted information. — The White House and the Department of Homeland Security indicated today that they won't yield …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Emptywheel and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Drudge wins — The weekend collapse of the Administration's airline screening policy is hard to understand as a matter of messaging, with Clinton undermining the TSA's screening regime and the relevant official sending a hazy mixed message on the subject, even as the screening policy remains in place.

Discussion: Gawker, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mother Jones and The Hill

Paul Bedard / US News:

TSA Promise: No Cavity Searches — The flying public has won a small victory in the fight over airport pat downs and more intrusive searches with the Transportation Security Agency: For now, the agency isn't planning to take the next step toward body cavity searches.

Discussion: Paul Mulshine, I Will Opt Out Of TSA Scan, The Gateway Pundit and Raw Story

Tony Pugh / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

TSA chief admits he withheld information on pat-downs — WASHINGTON — Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole said on Monday that he disregarded internal advice to the contrary and decided not tell the public in advance about aggressive new screening and pat-down procedures …

Discussion: Emptywheel and The Gateway Pundit

Ashley Halsey III / Washington Post:
Scientists say they have solution to TSA scanner objections

Discussion: Politics Daily, Commentary, Sunlight Foundation, Outside the Beltway, Don Surber and JustOneMinute

ABCNEWS:
WH: Intel Spurred Pat-Down Policy

Discussion: Associated Press, msnbc.com, Hit & Run, The Note, Gothamist, Hot Air, The Hill, Guardian, The Daily Beast, Sense of Events, New York Magazine and Business Week

New York Times:

Taliban Leader in Secret Talks Was an Impostor — KABUL, Afghanistan — For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the repeated appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Gawker, Wonkette, Talking Points Memo, YID With LID, Weasel Zippers, Patterico's Pontifications and ATTACKERMAN

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:

Sarah Palin: No time for Katie Couric — Sarah Palin isn't interested in going to the mat again with Katie Couric. — The former vice presidential candidate said she's willing to talk to reporters, just not the CBS News anchor, heading into the 2012 election cycle.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Feifei Sun / The Page:

Palin Won't “Waste Time” With Couric — Alaskan tells Hannity she wouldn't do another interview with CBS anchor should she run in 2012. — Full interview to air tonight at 9 p.m. — Sarah Palin on whether she would do an interview with Katie Couric if she ran for President:

Hannity / Fox News Insider:
VIDEO - Palin: I Will Not Waste My Time With Katie Couric

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Huffington Post, NewsBusters.org and Commentary

Fhardingj / CNN: TRENDING: Palin won't ‘waste time’ on Couric

Michelle Singletary / Washington Post:

Woman who told Obama her financial fears has lost her job — Nobody is safe. — Velma Hart, who burst onto the media scene after telling President Obama she was scared about her financial future, has been laid off. Hart was let go as the chief financial officer for Am Vets, a nonprofit Maryland-based veteran services organization.

Discussion: NO QUARTER, RedState and HotAirPundit

Fhardingj / CNN:

BREAKING: Sources: Plouffe to join White House staff, Axelrod may exit sooner than expected — Washington (CNN) - President Obama is planning to bring former campaign manager David Plouffe onto the White House staff at the beginning of January to work alongside senior adviser David Axelrod …

Discussion: The Politico

Russell Berman / The Hill: Left's pressure moves Pelosi toward clashes with Obama

Whoashep / The 1600 Report:
Plouffe to White House, Axelrod may exit sooner

Discussion: The Political Carnival

Matt Welch / Hit & Run:

Editorial Boards to the Little People Complaining About the TSA: Bend Over and Take it Like a Man! — More evidence for Radley Balko's thesis that the media is more statist than liberal (and for my contention that the unsigned newspaper editorial should go the way of the dodo bird): — Los Angeles Times:

Discussion: The Agitator

Zogby:

Zogby Interactive: Obama Falls to 39%, As Support from Democrats Continues to Slide; He Trails Romney, J. Bush & Gingrich in '12 — Those Saying U.S. on Wrong Track Hits High Under Obama of 69% — UTICA, New York - President Barack Obama's job approval rating has dropped to the lowest point …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, HotAirPundit and The Gateway Pundit

Clint Hill / New York Times:

On Mrs. Kennedy's Detail — IT was with great trepidation that I approached 3704 N Street in Washington on Nov. 10, 1960. I had just been given the assignment of providing protection for the wife of the newly elected president of the United States, and I was about to meet her for the first time.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, neo-neocon, msnbc.com, American Power, The Confluence and Daily Kos

Jefferson Morley / The Atlantic Online:
The Kennedy Assassination: 47 Years Later, What Do We Really Know?

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

Mother Jones:

Sarah Palin's Mystery Research Firm — Why's an incendiary Dutch journalist on the payroll of the ex-Alaska governor's political action committee? A Mother Jones investigation. — Post Comment — In recent months, Sarah Palin's political action committee, SarahPAC …

Discussion: Firedoglake and Oliver Willis

J. David Goodman / New York Times:

Expansion of Bike Lanes Brings Backlash — Over the last four years, the streets of New York City have undergone a transformation: More than 250 miles of traffic lanes dedicated for bicycles have been created, and several laws aimed at promoting cycling have been passed.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared and City Room

Tom Perrotta / Wall Street Journal:
Cycling's New Rules of the Road

Discussion: Gothamist and New York Magazine

Jason Zengerle / New York Magazine:

The Answer Is No — New Jersey governor Chris Christie is denying money to teachers and tunnels, oxygen to Democrats, and intentions to run for president in 2012. Which is only making him more popular. — C — hris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, was trolling for clicks.

Discussion: Gawker, GayPatriot, Salon, Democracy in America and Weasel Zippers

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Christie: All Sen. Lautenberg does is ‘blow hot air’

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Gerard Wynn / Reuters:

U.S. corn ethanol “was not a good policy"-Gore — * U.S. ethanol consumes about 40 pct corn crop — Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said support for corn-based ethanol in the United States was “not a good policy”, weeks before tax credits are up for renewal.

Discussion: The Plum Line, Say Anything, The Volokh Conspiracy, Fox News, The Daily Caller, Sister Toldjah, The Powers That Be, OpenMarket.org, Hit & Run, The Jawa Report, Gawker, Moe Lane and Sweetness & Light

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air: Gore: On second thought, I was just pandering to the farm vote on ethanol

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Left accuses GOP of economic “sabotage” — It looks like some folks on the right are purporting to be really, really surprised by the suggestion being made by some liberals that Republicans will actively try to sabotage the economy in order to increase their odds of taking the White House in 2012.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Times, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Eschaton

David Frum / CNN:

The right way to honor Ronald Reagan — President Ronald Reagan speaks at a rally February 8, 1982. He was born on February 6, 1911. … Washington (CNN) — We're approaching the 100th anniversary of the birthday of Ronald Reagan: February 6, 2011. It's time to begin thinking seriously …

Discussion: GayPatriot

Chrisa / RADAR:

Charlie Sheen Files Extortion Lawsuit Against Porn Star Capri Anderson — Charlie Sheen is firing back at the porn star who claims he tried to choke her in a drug fuelled bender at a New York hotel last month. — RadarOnline.com has just obtained this paperwork filed in a Los Angeles court.

Discussion: PopEater and The Other McCain

John Avlon / The Daily Beast:

Mosque Money Shocker — The so-called Ground Zero mosque recently applied for a $5 million federal grant from a fund designed to rebuild lower Manhattan after 9/11, reports The Daily Beast's John Avlon. — Developers of the controversial Park51 Islamic community center and mosque located …

Discussion: theblogprof, Bare Naked Islam's Weblog, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Weasel Zippers, Patterico's Pontifications, New York Magazine, Gothamist, Atlas Shrugs and HillBuzz.org

BBC:

Saudi school lessons in UK concern government — Panorama went undercover to obtain the books — The government says it will not tolerate anti-Semitic and homophobic lessons being taught to Muslim children in the UK. — BBC Panorama found that more than 40 Saudi Students' Schools …

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Advocate and Harry's Place

Evan Hurst / Truth Wins Out:

SPLC Designates American Family Association, Family Research Council, Illinois Family Institute As Hate Groups — The Southern Poverty Law Center today updated its list of designated hate groups, and this year is significant in that some of the larger anti-gay outfits have made the cut.

Discussion: Holy Bullies …, AMERICAblog Gay, Little Green Footballs, Right Wing Watch and The Other McCain

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Bombshell evidence may make Waters an ethics nightmare for Dems — Apparently, the Charlie Rangel ethics trial was just the warm-up act. The New York Times reported over the weekend that the House Ethics Committee suddenly postponed the trial of Maxine Waters on ethics violation because it found …

Discussion: YID With LID, TPMMuckraker, Doug Ross, Wake up America, Moe Lane, Weasel Zippers, The Other McCain, Commentary and Power Line

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

When politics of Israel, Cuba collide — The incoming chairwoman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs helped shut down an unexpected diplomatic opening between Cuba and Israel earlier this year, sources in Jerusalem and Washington confirmed. — Israeli leaders reacted warmly …

Discussion: Yglesias, Israel Matzav and Harry's Place

Fredreka Schouten / USA Today:

Body scanner makers doubled lobbying cash over 5 years — WASHINGTON — The companies with multimillion-dollar contracts to supply American airports with body-scanning machines more than doubled their spending on lobbying in the past five years and hired several high-profile former government officials …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and The Gateway Pundit