Top Items:
Telegraph:
‘Anarchists’ launch bomb attacks on two Rome embassies — Anarchists are suspected of having launched parcel bomb attacks on the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome. — The first explosion, which occurred at midday (11amGMT) seriously injured a caretaker at the Swiss embassy.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Scared Monkeys
RELATED:
Eric Reguly / Globe and Mail:
Explosion rocks Chile embassy in Rome, second blast of day
Discussion:
FrumForum and Fausta's Blog
Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
BOMBS EXPLODE At SWISS & CHILEAN Embassies in Rome …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Wake up America and Fox Nation
Dan Friedman / NationalJournal.com:
Senate's Returning Democrats Unanimously Favor Filibuster Reform — All except Dodd sign a letter urging Majority Leader Harry Reid to change the rules. — All Democratic senators returning next year have signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urging him to consider action …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Washington Monthly, Yglesias, Wake up America, The Daily Dish, The New Republic, Guardian, Outside the Beltway, The Nation, The Greenroom, Donklephant, TPMDC, Questions and Observations, The Reality-Based Community, Suburban Guerrilla, Mother Jones, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Raw Story, Hullabaloo and Firedoglake
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Richard E. Cohen / The Politico:
Democrats push to speed up slow Senate — Senate Democrats spent the lame-duck session slogging through endless motions to break filibusters, yet they're quietly maneuvering to curtail these Senate stall tactics - even though they'll have a weaker caucus next year.
Discussion:
CNN
Ezra Klein:
Senate Democrats support filibuster reform
Discussion:
ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and RedState
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Schumer predicts bipartisanship early in 112th Congress
Discussion:
TPMDC
David House / Firedoglake:
Bradley Manning Speaks About His Conditions … Sign the letter to the Commanding Officer of Bradley Manning's brig urging for Bradley's unnecessary POI order to be lifted — Bradley Manning, the 23-year-old Army private accused of leaking classified information to Wikileaks …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Raw Story, Boing Boing and NewsReal Blog
nbcdfw.com:
Muscle Car Roars Onto Lawn of Bush's Dallas Home — Driver says his gas pedal became stuck — Authorities have detained someone whose car apparently ran off the road and onto former President George W. Bush's lawn Wednesday night. — The Secret Service and Dallas police questioned …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, The Hill, Weasel Zippers, Wonkette and AOL News
RELATED:
Jennifer Epstein / Reuters:
Car crashes onto George W. Bush's lawn — Former President George W. Bush had an unexpected and unwanted pre-Christmas surprise Wednesday night when a car crashed on the lawn of his suburban Dallas home. — Though officials initially classified the incident as an “executive threat” …
Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Barack Obama's plan to close Gitmo ‘in shambles’ — Nestled among a string of improbable victories President Barack Obama racked up in the lame-duck Congressional session is legislation containing the most debilitating setback to date to his plan to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay …
Discussion:
New York Magazine, The Foundry and FrumForum
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Peter Landers / Wall Street Journal:
Congress Bars Gitmo Transfers — Congress on Wednesday passed legislation that would effectively bar the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. for trial, rejecting pleas from Obama administration officials who called the move unwise. — A defense authorization bill passed by the House …
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Right Wing News, New York Times and Guardian
Tom Diemer / Politics Daily:
Oprah: Sarah Palin Presidential Run ‘Does Not Scare Me’ … And now we have Oprah Winfrey's take on Sarah Palin's presidential ambitions. — In an interview with Parade magazine, Winfrey said America could “fall in love” with the former Alaska governor as a television personality …
Discussion:
CNN and The Politico
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Sean Cockerham / Anchorage Daily News:
Supreme Court rules against Miller — The Alaska Supreme Court today ruled against Joe Miller on all counts, a decision that leaves his challenge of Sen. Lisa Murkowski's victory on life support. — “There are no remaining issues raised by Miller that prevent this election from being certified …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Politics Daily, Associated Press, The BRAD BLOG, Daily Kos, Election Law, FrumForum, The Moderate Voice, TPMDC and Conservatives4Palin
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Melissa Bell / BlogPost:
Pat Robertson: supporter of legalized pot? — The 700 Club, a Christian talk show program hosted by staunch conservative Pat Robertson, is not the place you'd expect to find sympathy for the marijuana-legalization movement. But that's exactly what happened this week when Robertson started talking …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and FrumForum
RELATED:
Stephen C. Webster / Raw Story:
Shock: Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson favors marijuana legalization — Robertson a welcome addition to drug reform circles, former narc tells Raw Story — Count this among the 10 things nobody ever expected to see in their lifetimes: 700 Club founder Pat Robertson …
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy, Mediaite, JustOneMinute, Sky Dancing, Hot Air and Fox Nation
New York Times:
Alabama Town's Failed Pension Is a Warning — PRICHARD, Ala. — This struggling small city on the outskirts of Mobile was warned for years that if it did nothing, its pension fund would run out of money by 2009. Right on schedule, its fund ran dry. — Then Prichard did something …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Other McCain, National Review, Viking Pundit and Calculated Risk
BBC:
North Korea ‘ready for sacred war’ with the South — Invited dignitaries watched the live exercises along with the South Korean president — North Korea is ready for a “sacred war of justice” using a nuclear deterrent, its armed forces minister has said.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Under ‘High-Tech House Arrest,’ WikiLeaks Founder Takes the Offensive — BUNGAY, England — When Julian Assange wakes these days, he looks out from a three-story Georgian mansion house overlooking a man-made lake. Under a blanket of snow, the 650-acre Ellingham Hall estate …
Discussion:
The Wire, The Nation, Firedoglake and American Power, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Ewen MacAskill / Guardian:
UN looking into Manning treatment
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Salon and Associated Press
Chicago Sun Times:
Hearing officer: Let Rahm Emanuel run for mayor — Former White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel early Thursday survived the pivotal first round of a residency challenge that will determine whether his name remains on the ballot for mayor of Chicago. — “The name of Rahm Emanuel shall appear …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, New York Magazine, Lynn Sweet and FrumForum
RELATED:
Erika Niedowski / The Hill:
Official: Emanuel can be on Chicago's mayoral ballot
Discussion:
The Note, CNN and Associated Press
Christian Science Monitor:
Six big achievements of a surprisingly ‘do something’ Congress — The outgoing 111th Congress is among the most productive in history, in spite of its reputation for gridlock and 13 percent approval rating. Democrats controlled the House and the Senate, and used their large majorities …
Discussion:
The Agonist
Carol E. Lee / The Politico:
For Obama vacation, comfort is key — HONOLULU - For Ronald Reagan it was riding horses on his California ranch. For George W. Bush it was clearing brush and biking around his Crawford, Texas, estate. For Barack Obama, the signature image of his presidential vacationing, so far …
Discussion:
The Caucus and Taegan Goddard's …
Justin Gillis / Green:
Climate Change and ‘Balanced’ Coverage — In an article this week on the relentless rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, I outlined one of the canonical projections of climate science: if the amount of carbon dioxide doubles, the average surface temperature of the earth is likely …
Discussion:
Stop The ACLU, JustOneMinute, New York Times and The Other McCain
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