memeorandum: With Kirk's swearing-in, GOP formally claims Obama's old seat (J. Taylor Rushing/The Hill)

7:20 AM ET, November 30, 2010

Top Items:

Sarah Palin / Facebook:

Serious Questions about the Obama Administration's Incompetence in the Wikileaks Fiasco — We all applaud the successful thwarting of the Christmas-Tree Bomber and hope our government continues to do all it can to keep us safe. However, the latest round of publications …

Discussion: CBS News, No More Mister Nice Blog, Taylor Marsh, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, The Moderate Voice, The Right Scoop, The Daily Caller, Riehl World View, Salon, Liberty Pundits Blog, The Page, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Cubachi and Politics Daily

blogs.forbes.com:

Andy Greenberg — When will WikiLeaks return to its older model of more frequent leaks of smaller amounts of material? — If you look at the average number of documents we're releasing, we're vastly exceeding what we did last year. These are huge datasets. So it's actually very efficient for us to do that.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Mother Jones, Gawker and Hullabaloo

Reuters:

WikiLeaks plans to release a U.S. bank's documents — (Reuters) - The founder of whistle-blower website WikiLeaks plans to release tens of thousands of internal documents from a major U.S. bank early next year, Forbes Magazine reported on Monday. — Julian Assange declined in an interview …

Washington Post:

WikiLeaks founder could be charged under Espionage Act — Federal authorities are investigating whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange violated criminal laws in the group's release of government documents, including possible charges under the Espionage Act, sources familiar with the inquiry said Monday.

Discussion: Federal Eye and The Other McCain

Andy Greenberg / The Firewall:

An Interview With WikiLeaks' Julian Assange — Admire him or revile him, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange is the prophet of a coming age of involuntary transparency, the leader of an organization devoted to divulging the world's secrets using technology unimagined a generation ago.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, msnbc.com, New York Times, Washington Post, Doug Ross, Newshoggers.com, Alastair Campbell, American Power and The Independent

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:

Sarah Palin blasts Obama administration for WikiLeaks ‘fiasco’ — Sarah Palin says the U.S. government's inability to stop the latest WikiLeaks release is all President Barack Obama's fault. — Sunday's document dump of classified State Department cables is the result of the …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Note and Wonkette

Andy Greenberg / The Firewall:
WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Wants To Spill Your Corporate Secrets

more at Mediagazer »

Scott Neuman / NPR:
Clinton: WikiLeaks ‘Tear At Fabric’ Of Government

Discussion: Politics Daily, Slate, NBC Connecticut, Swampland, Salon, DAWN.COM and Mondoweiss

DEBKAFile:

Nuclear scientist killed in Tehran was Iran's top Stuxnet expert — World Exclusive from DEBKAfile's intelligence sources: — Prof. Majid Shahriari, who died when his car was attacked in North Tehran Monday, Nov. 29, headed the team Iran established for combating the Stuxnet virus rampaging through its nuclear and military networks.

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Pajamas Media, National Review, Maggie's Farm and POWIP

Laura Rozen / The Politico:
Iran a focal point of documents

Discussion: The New Republic, Guardian and Foreign Policy

Ben Birnbaum / Washington Times:
Ahmadinejad: U.S. orchestrated WikiLeaks release

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and FrumForum

Raymond Bonner / The Atlantic Online:
‘By Whatever Means Necessary’: Arab Leaders Want Iran Stopped

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Tablet Magazine, Wonk Room, Solomonia, RubinReports, Yourish.com and Guardian

Daily Mail:
Iranian nuclear scientist killed and another wounded in separate bomb attacks

Discussion: Hot Air and Daled Amos

Thomas Erdbrink / Washington Post:
Iranian nuclear scientist killed, another injured in Tehran bombings

Discussion: PostPartisan, Threat Level and Gawker

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

Everyone Hates Obama's Pay Freeze Plan... Except Republicans — The early reviews of President Obama's plan to freeze federal worker pay are in — and it gets a resounding “F” from just about everybody outside of GOP leadership. — Michael Linden, a budget expert at the liberal Center …

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Washington Post, Mother Jones, The New Republic, Yglesias, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Wonk Room, The Monkey Cage, Don Surber and Daily Kos

Digby / Hullabaloo:

With friends like these — When the only people who defend you are the Villagers, you know you're on the wong track — With Friends Like These ... I'm watching an exasperated John King on CNN right now visibly stunned that the liberals don't see the savvy genius of Obama's move to freeze Federal Workers' pay.

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Amid Deficit Fears, Obama Freezes Pay

Scarecrow / Scarecrow's myFDL diary:
Obama Flunks Economics with Pointless Federal Wage Freeze

Discussion: American Spectator, The White House, The Politico, AmSpecBlog, Daily Kos, New York Times and Economist's View

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Obama's Federal Worker Pay Freeze Was Blasted By Democrats Months Ago

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Ezra Klein and The Atlantic Online

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Netflix Partner Says Comcast ‘Toll’ Threatens Online Video Delivery — Level 3 Communications, a central partner in the Netflix online movie service, accused Comcast on Monday of charging a new fee that puts Internet video companies at a competitive disadvantage.

Discussion: Zandar Versus The Stupid, Seeing the Forest and Gizmodo, more at Mediagazer »

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

In Which I Become a Conservative — Ross Douthat, an Atlantic alumnus, contends in the NY Times that the recent controversy over “enhanced” TSA procedures illustrates the dominance of partisan reflex in today's politics. Liberals complained about excessive state power when Bush and Cheney were in charge …

Discussion: Winds of Change.NET, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Eunomia, The Daily Dish, New York Times, Brilliant at Breakfast and Salon

Simon Tisdall / Guardian:

China ‘ready to abandon North Korea’ — Leaked dispatches show Beijing is frustrated with military actions of ‘spoiled child’ and increasingly favours reunified Korea — China has signalled its readiness to accept Korean reunification and is privately distancing itself from the North Korean regime …

Discussion: New York Times, Hot Air, FP Passport, News: News blog, Washington Post, Daniel W. Drezner, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, YID With LID, This Just In and CNN

New York Times:
U.S. and South Korea Balk at Talks With North

Discussion: Guardian and FrumForum

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

A Witness Lies, the Court Shrugs and Veterans Are Outraged — Elven J. Swisher wore a replica of a Purple Heart on the witness stand when he testified that the defendant had tried to hire him to kill three federal officials. — Asked about the medal, Mr. Swisher pulled a document …

Penny Starr / CNSNews:

Smithsonian Christmas-Season Exhibit Features Ant-Covered Jesus, Naked Brothers Kissing, Genitalia, and Ellen DeGeneres Grabbing Her Breasts — WARNING: This story contains graphic photographs of items on display in an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, alicublog, Weasel Zippers and Daily Pundit

J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:

With Kirk's swearing-in, GOP formally claims Obama's old seat — Senate Republicans on Monday formally claimed President Obama's former Senate seat with the swearing-in of Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). — As is customary, Kirk was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden twice — once on the Senate floor …

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Americans not impressed with Bloomberg — Massive amounts of attention have been given over the last few years to a possible Michael Bloomberg Presidential run in 2012. And a new PPP poll finds that he is indeed a unifier- Democrats, Republicans, and independents all don't like him.

Discussion: Hot Air and Gothamist

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Palin not seen as electable

Discussion: TBogg, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Outside the Beltway

Washington Post:

Where we and Democrats can work together — When congressional leaders of both parties meet at the White House today, all of us will have an opportunity to show the American people that we got the message of the elections earlier this month. — Republicans heard the voters loud and clear.

Discussion: The Fix, The Hill and The Hill

Directorblue / Doug Ross:

Say, About That Old ‘Bush Lied’ Trope, Looks Like Wikileaks Proved Obama Repeatedly Lied About Middle East Policy — Runner-up headline: Obama lied, diplomacy died — Anyone remember that exactly one year ago President Obama's original deadline for Iran expired?

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Jon Bershad / Mediaite:

Why Nothing Gets Done? Sen. Harry Reid Tells A 5-Minute College Football Story On Senate Floor — This weekend, the University of Nevada won a big upset against Boise State. It was an exciting upset and a great game between conference rivals. Why am I discussing this here and not over at SportsGrid?

Discussion: Breitbart.tv and Hot Air

James C. McKinley Jr / New York Times:

Judge Blocks Oklahoma's Ban on Using Shariah Law in Court — HOUSTON — An Oklahoma constitutional amendment aimed at stopping the use of Islamic law in its courts was dealt a serious blow on Monday when a federal judge temporarily blocked the state from putting it into effect.

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs

Debra J. Saunders / Townhall.com:

You Can Stop Paying for Al Gore's Mistake — In Greece earlier this month, Al Gore made a startling admission: “First-generation ethanol, I think, was a mistake.” Unfortunately, Americans have Gore to thank for ethanol subsidies. In 1994, then-Vice President Gore ended a 50-50 tie …