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.

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. ...

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.”

Chandra Levy verdict: Ingmar Guandique is guilty of murder  —  A D.C. Superior Court jury on Monday found Ingmar Guandique guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of former federal intern Chandra Levy.  —  The jury of nine women and three men reached its verdict after 3 1/2 days of deliberations.

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.

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 …

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.

Trains, Planes, and Pollution  —  Fun chart from my colleagues:  —  What's more, not only is intercity rail energy efficient compared to other means of transportation but it's typically electricity which can be produced with much less pollution per unit of energy output.

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 …

Meghan McCain: 'Kick Obama's ass' … No comments yet.  Be the first!

Some States Weigh Unthinkable Option: Ending Medicaid  —  Huge budget shortfalls are prompting a handful of states to begin discussing a once-unthinkable scenario: dropping out of the Medicaid insurance program for the poor.  —  Elected and appointed officials in nearly a half-dozen states …

November Raid: After WSJ Story, Feds Step Into High Gear  —  Well, that didn't take long.  —  Less than one business day after the WSJ broke news of a huge insider-trading investigation, the FBI has really stepped things up.  —  FBI agents on Monday raided the Connecticut offices …

Suck on This  —  Thomas Friedman, July 1, 2005, “Follow the Leapin' Leprechaun”: … As I've said before, the problem with this kind of punditry is that regulating your financial sector poorly so as to generate lots of bum real estate lending really does seem to be a can't lose path to growth in the short term.

Nato official clarifies Kabul child safety comment  —  Mark Sedwill: ‘Children are safer here than London, New York or Glasgow’  —  A senior Nato official who said children may be safer growing up in Kabul than London or Glasgow has sought to distance himself from his comments.

'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 …

Consensus is forming on what steps to take in cutting the deficit  —  After an election dominated by vague demands for less debt and smaller government, the sacrifices necessary to achieve those goals are coming into sharp focus.  Big cuts at the Pentagon.  Higher taxes, including those on home ownership and health care.