memeorandum: Sisters' Prison Release Is Tied to Donation of Kidney (Timothy Williams/New York Times)

11:50 PM ET, December 31, 2010

Top Items:

Gov. Christie praises his administration for work done after blizzard, chastises mayors for local efforts — TRENTON — At his first public event since a blizzard slammed the state, Gov. Chris Christie praised state workers and his administration for their response to the storm and said he wouldn't have done anything differently.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Thurman Hart, Paul Mulshine, Metropolis, Washington Wire and No More Mister Nice Blog

David Seifman / New York Post:

Mayor Bloomberg admits that failing to tackle blizzard was ‘character building’

David Seifman / New York Post:

Mayor Bloomberg admits that failing to tackle blizzard was ‘character building’ — The Blizzard of 2010 may have forever dented Mayor Bloomberg's popularity. — The mayor admitted today that the botched snow removal effort this week was a “character building” experience for him.

Discussion: Gothamist and Patterico's Pontifications

Jeff Poor / The Daily Caller:

Not a fan: Krauthammer calls Palin ‘rather weak’ and gives her ‘no chance of winning’ in 2012 — Is the idea that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could be America's next president laughable? Not only to many on the left, but also to conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway and The Right Scoop

Jonathan Bernstein / The Plum Line:

Is Sarah Palin toast? — Thanks, again, to Greg for inviting me and to everyone for reading — and Happy New Year to all. — Before I go, I'll just do a bit of blogging on everyone's favorite subject, the Sage of Wasilla. Nate Silver had an interesting aside in a recent post that's stuck with me over the last few days:

Discussion: The Political Carnival

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Sarah Palin's Nomination Chances: A Reassessment

Discussion: The Caucus

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The New Voodoo — Hypocrisy never goes out of style, but, even so, 2010 was something special. For it was the year of budget doubletalk — the year of arsonists posing as firemen, of people railing against deficits while doing everything they could to make those deficits bigger.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, AMERICAblog News, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Daily Kos, Prairie Weather, Economist's View, Zandar Versus The Stupid and The Confluence

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
RYAN'S RADICAL RULE?.... House Republicans quietly advanced …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, NationalJournal.com, Doug Ross and iOwnTheWorld.com

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
One Day, When The Times Has An Economist As A Columnist...

Discussion: Sky Dancing

Wall Street Journal:

The Liberal Reckoning of 2010 — The year voters saw the left's unvarnished agenda and said no. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent out a press release last week headlined “111th Congress Accomplishments.” It quoted a couple of Democratic Party cheerleaders calling …

Discussion: Moe Lane

Richard Mauer / Anchorage Daily News:

Miller ends challenge in US Senate race — Republican Joe Miller said today, nearly two months after Alaskans concluded voting, that he is giving up his fight challenging the election of Sen. Lisa Murkowski. — Miller thanked his supporters and said the time has come to accept the …

Discussion: TPMDC and Politics Daily

Derek Kravitz / Washington Post:

As frustration grows, airports consider ditching TSA — Every spring, private security officers at San Francisco International Airport compete in a workplace “March Madness"-style tournament for cash prizes, some as high as $1,500. — The games: finding illegal items and explosives in carry-on bags …

Discussion: Gizmodo, Post Tech, AMERICAblog News, Online NewsHour, The Daily Caller and The Volokh Conspiracy, more at Techmeme »

Charles Johnson / Little Green Footballs:

Fox News Stokes the Climate Change Denial Machine — Fox News continues promoting anti-science rubbish to the rubes, with an article about Eight Botched Environmental Forecasts. — What do you notice about these “botched forecasts?” The most recent one they could find dates back to 2000, and all the others are much older.

Discussion: Liberal Values, Right Wing Nut House and Clayton Cramer's Blog

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

The Senate's Long, Twisted, Bumpy Road To Filibuster Reform — At some point on January 5, Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) will take the Senate floor and begin a process that he hopes will end in the successful use of the “Constitutional option” — the prerogative of a majority of the Senate's members …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Plum Line, Zandar Versus The Stupid and Open Left

Eugene Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy:

Libel Law, Blogging About Incest, Plus Opposition to Government Regulation of Banking: “It Is of Stunning Coincidence” — Connoisseurs of odd legal arguments might appreciate this item, but unfortunately it requires a bit of background explanation. Aviation lawyer Arthur Wolk sued Overlawyered.com and its bloggers for libel.

Discussion: The Other McCain

Bridget Johnson / The Hill:

Outgoing GOP congressman: ‘Credible conservatives’ not about Obama ‘hatred’ — Outgoing Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) said Thursday that a “credible conservative” movement that doesn't focus on “hatred” of President Obama is needed. — Inglis was defeated in a landslide by Trey Gowdy in the June primary runoff.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers and Liberal Values

N.C. Aizenman / Washington Post:

Maine seeks exemption from provision of health-care law — Days before a key and controversial provision of the health-care law is set to take effect, Maine is the only state to have asked the Obama administration for an exemption, despite concerns expressed by at least a dozen states.

Discussion: Dirigo Blue, msnbc.com, neo-neocon and Balloon Juice

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Government by regulation. Shhh. — Most people don't remember Obamacare's notorious Section 1233, mandating government payments for end-of-life counseling. It aroused so much anxiety as a possible first slippery step on the road to state-mandated late-life rationing that the Senate never included it in the final health-care law.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel and New York Times

Jessica Hopper / ABCNEWS:

Gov. Bill Richardson: 'I've Decided Not To Pardon Billy the Kid' — Billy the Kid Was Promised a Pardon in 1879 — It's been a year of pardons from two Mississippi sisters paroled in exchange for one donating a kidney to another to rock singer Jim Morrison to even a presidential turkey.

Discussion: Caffeinated Thoughts, AOL News, Politics Daily, The Washington Note and The Mahablog

Marc Lacey / New York Times: No Pardon for Billy the Kid

Houston Chronicle:

Five hostages released in Pearland bank standoff — An armed robber continued to hold one person hostage in a Pearland bank Friday afternoon, four hours after two gunmen in ski masks burst into the bank and held multiple hostages. — Five hostages were released shortly after 2 p.m. from the Chase Bank.

Rasool Dawar / Associated Press:

US missiles kill 8 in northwest Pakistan — PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A U.S. missile strike killed eight suspected militants in northwest Pakistan on Friday, the final day of a year that has seen a major escalation in drone attacks targeting insurgents flowing into neighboring Afghanistan, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and 1 The Long War Journal

Timothy Williams / New York Times:

Sisters' Prison Release Is Tied to Donation of Kidney — Two Mississippi sisters serving double life sentences for their roles in an $11 armed robbery will be released, but only on the condition that the younger sibling donate her kidney to her sister, whose organs are failing, state officials said Thursday.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Guardian, The Daily Beast, Marginal Revolution, The Huffington Post and Shakesville

Byron Tau / Ben Smith's Blog:

Connecticut RNCer links Priebus and Steele — In a long missive endorsing Gentry Collins, Connecticut RNC chairman Chris Healy, who flirted with the RNC race himself, accuses Reince Priebus of being Steele's “wingman” for much of the last two years: … Full email after the jump.

Discussion: RedState and Riehl World View