Top Items:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
There Will Be Blood — Former Senator Alan Simpson is a Very Serious Person. He must be — after all, President Obama appointed him as co-chairman of a special commission on deficit reduction. — So here's what the very serious Mr. Simpson said on Friday: “I can't wait for the blood bath in April. ...
Blogger Bob / The TSA Blog:
Response to “Young Boy Strip Searched by TSA” — A video is being widely circulated showing a shirtless boy receiving secondary screening from a Transportation Security Officer (TSO). A passenger filmed the screening with their cell phone and posted the video on the web.
RELATED:
Jordy Yager / The Hill:
TSA kept quiet on new rules to not provide ‘roadmap’ to terrorists
TSA kept quiet on new rules to not provide ‘roadmap’ to terrorists
Discussion:
The Note and The Gateway Pundit
ABCNEWS:
TSA Pat Down Went Too Far, Agency Chief Says
TSA Pat Down Went Too Far, Agency Chief Says
Discussion:
New York Magazine and Sense of Events
Scott Shane / New York Times:
Administration to Seek Balance in Airport Screening
Administration to Seek Balance in Airport Screening
Discussion:
CBS New York, Gothamist, The Atlantic Online, The Gateway Pundit, Jezebel, The Other McCain and TPMMuckraker
Doug Mataconis / Outside the Beltway:
Obama Politically Tone Deaf On TSA Outrage
Obama Politically Tone Deaf On TSA Outrage
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Atlantic Online and CNN
Ben Smith / The Politico:
View from Middle East: President Obama is a problem — JERUSALEM — Vowing to change a region that has resisted the best efforts of presidents and prime ministers past, Barack Obama dove head first into the Middle East peace process on his second day in office. — He was supposed to be different.
Discussion:
Israel Matzav, Right Wing News, Ruby Slippers and Left Coast Rebel
RELATED:
Jackson Diehl / Washington Post:
Obama's foreign policy needs an update — For help understanding the foreign policy headlines of the past week, let's return, briefly, to the spring of 1983, when Barack Obama was a student at Columbia University. What were the burning international issues of that time?
Discussion:
Hot Air, Commentary, Pundit & Pundette and democracyarsenal.org
Suzanne Goldenberg / Guardian:
Sarah Palin drops 2012 presidency hint with staff visit to Iowa — Palin scouts for office space in early voting state, suggesting next week's visit will be ‘more than just a book signing’ — Sarah Palin has dropped another hint of her intention to run for the White House in 2012 …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, CNN, Ben Smith's Blog, Mediaite, The Political Carnival, Raw Story and ABCNEWS
RELATED:
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Palin v. Gawker
Palin v. Gawker
Discussion:
Capital New York, The Confluence and Moe Lane
The Note:
Mike Huckabee: Divided Government May Boost Obama's 2012 Re-Election Chances — ABC News' Michael Falcone reports: — It's a question that every potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate has to ask before jumping into the race: Could I beat Barack Obama?
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Ballot Box, Weasel Zippers, Raw Story and USA Today
RELATED:
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Poll finds Obama, Romney deadlocked in 2012 matchup
Poll finds Obama, Romney deadlocked in 2012 matchup
Discussion:
American Power, REPUBLICAN REDEFINED and Liberty Pundits Blog
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:
TPMMuckraker, YID With LID, Weasel Zippers, Moe Lane, Wake up America, Commentary and Power Line
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:
Moe Lane, Sweetness & Light and OpenMarket.org
RELATED:
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:
The Hill and Democracy in America
Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:
'Don't ask, don't tell' study to be released day earlier than planned — Signaling the growing seriousness of the Obama administration's commitment this year to ending the military's ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces, the Defense Department said Sunday that it will release …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Politics Daily, ThinkProgress, ChattahBox News Blog, Washington Monthly, Jezebel, TPMMuckraker, Advocate, Daily Kos, The Page and Federal Eye
Mj Lee / The Politico:
Meghan McCain: 'Kick Obama's ass' … No comments yet. Be the first!
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and The Daily Caller
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:
msnbc.com
John Cassidy / New Yorker:
WHAT GOOD IS WALL STREET? — Much of what investment bankers do is socially worthless. — A few months ago, I came across an announcement that Citigroup, the parent company of Citibank, was to be honored, along with its chief executive, Vikram Pandit, for “Advancing the Field of Asset Building in America.”
Discussion:
Money & Company and DealBook
Susan M. Cover / Portland Press-Herald:
Snowe: Constitutionality of care law is arguable — and Rebekah Metzler rmetzler@mainetoday.com — Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are co-signing an amicus, or friend of the court, brief to be submitted to the federal court in Florida that will hear a constitutional challenge of the federal health care reform law.
Discussion:
Boston Globe, The Atlantic Online, Washington Post, Taegan Goddard's … and AMERICAblog News
Vicki Needham / The Hill:
Anti-earmark amendment cedes lawmakers' powers to White House — Even if the full Senate doesn't pass an earmark moratorium, a refusal by lawmakers to direct funding to their congressional districts will likely give more spending-priority power to the Obama administration and won't do much to chip away at the federal deficit.
Discussion:
The Political Carnival, Prairie Weather and Balloon Juice
Adrian Chen / Gawker:
Special Underwear Makes Your Privates Invisible to TSA Scanners — Citizens, take heart: Even as our country falls under the total domination of our new TSA overlords, capitalism continues unabated. A Colorado man has developed undergarments with special body scanner-blocking fig leafs to hide your privates.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Balloon Juice, Israel Matzav and Outside the Beltway
Jefferson Morley / The Atlantic Online:
The Kennedy Assassination: 47 Years Later, What Do We Really Know? — Despite the enduring popularity of conspiracy theories about President John F. Kennedy's death on November 22, 1963, it's a mainstream consensus that these theories have always been essentially the work of cranks …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
HOUSE GOP QUIETLY EYEING ETHICS OFFICE FOR ELIMINATION.... The last time Republicans had a congressional majority in either chamber, the results weren't pretty — the infamous “culture of corruption,” especially in the House, ended up putting members of Congress literally behind bars.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Matt Smith / CNN:
Oklahoma's Islamic law ban heads to court — (CNN) — A federal judge will hear arguments Monday on a temporary restraining order against an Oklahoma referendum that would ban the use of Islamic religious law in state courts. — Oklahoma voters approved the amendment during the November elections by a 7-3 ratio.