July troop withdrawal on track, review of Afghan war strategy indicates  —  A White House review of President Obama's year-old Afghan war strategy concluded that it is “showing progress” against al-Qaeda and in Afghanistan and Pakistan but that “the challenge remains to make our gains durable and sustainable …

U.S. Tries to Build Case for Conspiracy by WikiLeaks  —  WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors, seeking to build a case against the WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange for his role in a huge dissemination of classified government documents, are looking for evidence of any collusion in his early contacts …

Poll: Obama down but not out  —  NBC/WSJ survey shows president leading in 2012 match-ups  —  Below:  —  Deputy Political Director  —  After his party's midterm losses and with the unemployment rate still hovering around 10 percent, President Barack Obama might be down.

Obama tells lawmakers not passing tax deal could end presidency, Dem says  —  In urging lawmakers to vote for his tax deal, President Obama is using one of his go-to lines from the healthcare debate, according to a Democratic lawmaker.  —  Obama is telling members of Congress that failure …

Two Californias  —  The last three weeks I have traveled about, taking the pulse of the more forgotten areas of central California.  I wanted to witness, even if superficially, what is happening to a state that has the highest sales and income taxes, the most lavish entitlements …

Servicers Downgraded Credit Score of Man Who Asked for His Note  —  (Graphic via SEIU's WheresTheNote.com site)  —  Many homeowners have taken advantage of SEIU's Where's the Note website.  It helps you generate letters to your bank to ask for evidence that they hold the mortgage note, or the IOU on the property.

Jobless Claims in U.S. Unexpectedly Fell to 420,000 Last Week  —  The number of U.S. workers filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly declined last week, pointing to a labor market that is on the mend.  —  Applications for jobless insurance payments decreased by 3,000 to 420,000 …

Updating Hotline's RNC Chairman's Race Whip Count  —  Republican National Committee members now have a total of six candidates from which to choose as they contemplate their next chairman.  And, slowly, the 168 members of the committee are making their decisions public.

God Help Me, I Agree with Greenwald  —  My feelings about U.S. Army PFC Bradley Manning are well documented by The Google, which has my blog entries Let's Try Bradley Manning for Treason and Brad Manning, I Hope They Hang You High being the #1 and #2 search results for a search on “Bradley Manning traitor.”

Michael Moore's Comments on Julian Assange Rape Allegations Spark Outrage  —  Filmmaker Michael Moore is in hot water over comments he made during Tuesday night's Countdown with Keith Olbermann.  In discussing rape allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Moore appeared to dismiss …

U.S. Rethinks Strategy for the Unthinkable  —  Suppose the unthinkable happened, and terrorists struck New York or another big city with an atom bomb.  What should people there do?  The government has a surprising new message: Do not flee.  Get inside any stable building and don't come out till officials say it's safe.

Sarah Palin goes ‘lamestream’  —  After making attacks on what she memorably labeled “the lamestream media” one of her signature issues, Sarah Palin has begun to experiment with a new strategy toward the press - engaging it.  —  The former Alaska governor has started cautiously cooperating …

Poll: Assessment of Afghanistan War Sours  —  ABC News/Washington Post Poll: Record Six in 10 Say it's ‘Not Worth Fighting’  —  A record 60 percent of Americans say the war in Afghanistan has not been worth fighting, a grim assessment — and a politically hazardous one …

Mao's Great Leap to Famine  —  HONG KONG — The worst catastrophe in China's history, and one of the worst anywhere, was the Great Famine of 1958 to 1962, and to this day the ruling Communist Party has not fully acknowledged the degree to which it was a direct result of the forcible herding …

America's Most Walkable Cities  —  The great economic reset we are in the midst of extends even to Americans' choices of places to live.  The popularity of sprawling auto-dependent suburbs is waning.  A majority of Americans—six in 10—say they would prefer to live in walkable neighborhoods, in both cities and suburbs, if they could.

The Comment Police  —  NPR says it's pleased with the results of its decision to outsource the battle against offensive online comments.  Posted: Wed, Dec. 15 2010  —  Madhu Rajaraman (mrajaraman@ajr.umd.edu) is an AJR editorial assistant.  —  It was a victim of its own success.

DeMint Drops Bid to Delay Action on New START  —  Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., backed off threats today to force a reading of the New START arms-reduction treaty after the White House assailed the delay tactic as a “new low.”  —  Senate leaders had estimated that a full reading of the accord …

Legalise drugs, says former minister  —  Bob Ainsworth describes war on drugs as ‘nothing short of a disaster’ and calls on government to look at other options  —  A former Labour minister was rebuked by Ed Miliband's office today after calling for a “grown-up debate” to consider legalising drugs …

BP blowout on Azerbaijan gas platform revealed  —  Embassy cables reveal energy firm ‘fortunate’ to have evacuated workers safely after blast similar to Deepwater Horizon disaster  —  Striking resemblances between BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster and a little-reported giant gas leak …

Liberals to take last stab at estate tax rate before Thursday vote  —  The House will vote on President Obama's tax proposal Thursday after first giving liberal Democrats one last chance to force a change to the Senate-passed agreement.  —  The key question is whether the House will send …

Orszag and Citigroup  —  James Fallows gently chides me and my paper for not writing more on Peter Orszag's decision to take an executive position with Citigroup.  He's probably right to do so, though my silence was in part motivated by terror at having to try and add anything to this brilliant post …

House Approves DADT Repeal, Gohmert Warns Of ‘End Of Existence’  —  Moments ago, in a vote of 250 to 175 the House voted to approve a stand-alone measure to repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, paving the way for Senate action in the coming weeks.  Fifteen Republicans voted for repeal …