Top Items:
New York Times:
Cables Shine Light Into Secret Diplomatic Channels — WASHINGTON — A cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the past three years, provides an unprecedented look at backroom bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views …
Discussion:
The Wire, Boing Boing, Mediaite, msnbc.com and The Agonist
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Adrian Chen / Gawker:
Wikileaks' Newest Leak Leaked on Twitter — Twitter has out-leaked the leakers. About 12 hours before Wikileaks latest enormous leak was scheduled to be released, a Twitter user bought a copy of a German news magazine outlining the leak after it was placed on newstands too early.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, The Wire, YID With LID, Mediaite, The Lede, Gizmodo and Pundit Press, more at Mediagazer »
David Leigh / Guardian:
US cables leak sparks global diplomatic crisis — • More than 250,000 dispatches reveal US foreign strategies — • Diplomats ordered to spy on allies as well as enemies — • Hillary Clinton leads frantic ‘damage limitation’ — The United States was catapulted …
Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
McCain wants ‘regime change’ in North Korea — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is calling for “regime change” in North Korea - and blames the recent crisis on the failings of Pyongyang's lone international supporter, China. — “It's time we talked about regime change in North Korea …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, CNN, Outside the Beltway and Lawyers, Guns & Money
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Martin Fackler / New York Times:
China Seeks New Talks to Ease Korean Tensions
China Seeks New Talks to Ease Korean Tensions
Discussion:
CNN, New York Magazine and Gothamist
Keith B. Richburg / Washington Post:
U.S., South Korea begin military exercises, as China calls …
U.S., South Korea begin military exercises, as China calls …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh and EA WorldView
David Segal / New York Times:
A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web — SHOPPING online in late July, Clarabelle Rodriguez typed the name of her favorite eyeglass brand into Google's search bar. — In moments, she found the perfect frames — made by a French company called Lafont — on a Web site that looked snazzy and stood at the top of the search results.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Althouse, Runnin' Scared, Bark Bark Woof Woof and The New Republic, more at Techmeme »
Frank Rich / New York Times:
Still the Best Congress Money Can Buy — SO America's latest crisis — until it wasn't — was airport screeners touching our junk. As this long year lurches toward its end, we all agree that something has gone wrong in America, and we're desperately casting about for a coherent explanation for our discontent, if not a scapegoat.
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel, Daily Kos, Washington Post, The Impolitic, The Mahablog, Balloon Juice, driftglass and Suburban Guerrilla
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL — Politically correct Portland rejected feds who saved city from terrorist attack — In 2005, leaders in Portland, Oregon, angry at the Bush administration's conduct of the war on terror, voted not to allow city law enforcement officers to participate in a key anti-terror initiative …
Discussion:
A Chequer-Board of Nights … and The Gateway Pundit
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The FBI successfully thwarts its own Terrorist plot
The FBI successfully thwarts its own Terrorist plot
Discussion:
LewRockwell.com Blog, Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Gawker and Connecting.the.Dots
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Democratic South finally falls — For Democrats in the South, the most ominous part of a disastrous year may not be what happened on Election Day but what has happened in the weeks since. — After suffering a historic rout — in which nearly every white Deep South Democrat in the U.S. House …
Discussion:
Pajamas Media
Sandhya Somashekhar / Washington Post:
Despite Alaska Senate race results, Joe Miller presses on in principle — Much of America may have moved on, but Joe Miller has not. More than a week after the last vote was counted in Alaska's closely watched U.S. Senate race, the Republican nominee continues to press his case in court …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and Balloon Juice
Jeffrey Rosen / Washington Post:
Why the TSA pat-downs and body scans are unconstitutional — The protest on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was called National Opt-Out Day, and its organizers urged air travelers to refuse the Transportation Security Administration's full-body scanning machines. — But many appeared to have opted out of opting out.
Discussion:
The League of Ordinary … and The Volokh Conspiracy
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
BRODER BEING BRODER.... A week ago, David Broder mentioned in his Washington Post column that, in the post-midterm environment, there hasn't been any hint of Republicans' “willingness to compromise.” I was glad to see him notice. — But those insights didn't last.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
George F. Will / Washington Post:
Our puritanical progressives — An eminent Harvard law professor, James Thayer (1831-1902), argued that although the judicial function is “merely that of fixing the outside border of reasonable legislative action,” this still gives courts “a great and stately jurisdiction.”
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Ex-Justice Criticizes Death Penalty — WASHINGTON — In 1976, just six months after he joined the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens voted to reinstate capital punishment after a four-year moratorium. With the right procedures, he wrote, it is possible to ensure “evenhanded …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Harvard University Gazette and Prairie Weather
David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:
A G.O.P. Chairman Seeks New Power for U.S. Watchdogs — WASHINGTON — The Republican who will lead the chief investigative committee in the House is planning to vastly expand scrutiny of the Obama administration by seeking new subpoena powers for dozens of federal agency watchdogs in hopes …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Prairie Weather, Booman Tribune and Balloon Juice
Martin Wall / The Irish Times:
Ictu questions bailout terms — The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) has said that the country cannot afford to pay the terms of the proposed €85 billion EU/IMF bailout package. — Addressing the large-scale rally against the Government's planed austerity measures in Dublin today …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and Suburban Guerrilla
Wall Street Journal:
A Glossy Approach to Inciting Terrorism — Al Qaeda's edgy new online magazine is raising alarms by trying to recruit alienated American Muslims — The November special issue of Inspire, a slick new English-language Web magazine produced by Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula, aims to do more than report the news.
Discussion:
Power Line and The Wire
The Politico:
START puts Lugar on the spot — One was the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; the other, new to Washington, was a Democrat who had spent his political career in the Illinois state Senate and had no experience in arms control or foreign policy.
Discussion:
The Reality-Based Community, Washington Monthly, Economist's View and ThinkProgress
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Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Former Republican Sen. Warns GOP May 'Have Gone So Far Overboard …
Former Republican Sen. Warns GOP May 'Have Gone So Far Overboard …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Washington Post and Balloon Juice
Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Senator Lugar Charts His Course Against the Winds
Senator Lugar Charts His Course Against the Winds
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, Washington Monthly, Greg's Opinion, CNN, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hullabaloo and Raw Story