Top Items:
Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:
Yes, There IS Evidence Linking al Qaeda to Benghazi — Libyan militants tell the New York Times that al Qaeda is not behind the 2012 Benghazi attack. Some members of Congress have intelligence that says otherwise. — On Sunday, The New York Times published an investigation …
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Thomas Joscelyn / Weekly Standard:
The New York Times Whitewashes Benghazi
The New York Times Whitewashes Benghazi
Discussion:
Fox News, Power Line, americanthinker.com, Wizbang, BREITBART.COM, Examiner, Politico, Right Wing News, Hot Air and The Mahablog
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Obama, Clinton Continue Reign as Most Admired — Sixth year in a row for Obama, 12th straight year for Clinton — PRINCETON, NJ — For the sixth consecutive year, Barack Obama ranks as the Most Admired Man among Americans, and Hillary Clinton is again the Most Admired Woman. Both won by comfortable margins.
Discussion:
PoliticusUSA, CNN, Reuters and Talking Points Memo
New York Times:
Cost of Being Mayor? $650 Million, if He's Rich — Michael R. Bloomberg loves tropical fish. So when he was elected mayor, he installed two giant aquariums in City Hall. — The cost to him for having the tanks cleaned out every week for the past 12 years: around $62,400. — The mayor likes to nosh, too.
Discussion:
Politicker and Associated Press
Jethro Mullen / CNN:
2nd deadly blast hits Russian city of Volgograd ahead of 2014 Sochi Olympics — (CNN) — Another deadly blast has struck the southern Russian city of Volgograd, killing at least 14 people and further highlighting Russia's security challenges as it readies to host the Winter Olympics in less than six weeks.
Discussion:
RIA Novosti, Associated Press, americanthinker.com, The Jawa Report, Scared Monkeys, New Day and Atlas Shrugs
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Steven Lee Myers / New York Times:
Second Blast Hits Russia, Raising Olympic Fears
Second Blast Hits Russia, Raising Olympic Fears
Discussion:
The Week, Algemeiner.com, The Other McCain, Gawker, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, RT, WJLA-TV, Business Insider, Reuters and CNN
Juan Williams / The Hill:
Republicans to blame for the public's disgust with Congress — As the year ends, Gallup reports that public approval of Congress averaged 14 percent during 2013. This, the polling firm points out, is “the lowest annual average in Gallup's history.” — The pollsters added …
John Prager / Americans Against the Tea Party:
Watch Phil Robertson's Tips On Finding The Perfect Underage Girl To Marry! (Video) — As we've already established, Chris Hansen might enjoy it very much if Phil Robertson “took a seat over there,” based on some comments made at the Sportsmen's Ministry in Georgia in 2009.
Discussion:
Joe. My. God. and The Dish
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Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Obama's TV Picks: Anything Edgy, With Hints of Reality — WASHINGTON — War, terrorism, economic struggle, mass shootings — such is life in the Oval Office for President Obama. — Yet in his few quiet moments, this president seeks not to escape to the delicious back-stabbing of the …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Verge and New York Magazine
CNN:
CNN Poll: Afghanistan war arguably most unpopular in U.S. history — Washington (CNN) - Support for the war in Afghanistan has dipped below 20%, according to a new national poll, making the country's longest military conflict arguably its most unpopular one as well.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Post Politics, Politico and Talking Points Memo
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Fiscal Fever Breaks — In 2012 President Obama, ever hopeful that reason would prevail, predicted that his re-election would finally break the G.O.P.'s “fever.” It didn't. — But the intransigence of the right wasn't the only disease troubling America's body politic in 2012.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Prairie Weather and Daily Kos
Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:
Mike Huckabee: My adventures in radio — Huckabee said he got through the interview on air, but after it wrapped he remembered telling the producer, “Look, I don't mind doing fun stuff, I don't mind doing some stuff that's off the wall, but this is the kind of topic — this isn't going to happen again.”
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and The Raw Story
Jay Michaelson / Forward:
Obamacare ‘Pajama Boy’ Controversy Wrapped in Anti-Semitism — Right Wing Anger at ‘Jewish’ Star of Viral Health Care Ad — Surely the silliest kerfluffle of a political year that contained much silliness was the recent conservative hand-wringing over “Pajama Boy.”
Discussion:
americanthinker.com and The Other McCain
Robert J. Samuelson / Washington Post:
The good news about 2014 (maybe) — For four and a half years, we have waited for a powerful and self-sustaining economic recovery. More than once it seemed imminent. Then, for various reasons, it vanished, and we returned to a plodding expansion with too much unemployment and too little confidence.
Discussion:
Liberaland and Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire
The Hill:
Regulatory fights loom large in 2014 — Battles lines are being drawn for a series of upcoming clashes over new regulations on the horizon in 2014. — The year promises to be chock full of contentious fights over scores of new rules stemming from ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank and a host of other laws.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Robert Wilde / BREITBART.COM:
NO CHURCH FOR OBAMA FAMILY ON CHRISTMAS DAY — The President and his family, enjoying a 17-day vacation in Hawaii, did not attend Church on Christmas Day. Ironically, President Obama recently asked all Christians to remember the religious aspects of Christmas and not to exaggerate the commercial.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Americans Against the …, Liberaland and Joe. My. God.
Spiegel Online:
Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit — The insert method and other variants of QUANTUM are closely linked to a shadow network operated by the NSA alongside the Internet, with its own, well-hidden infrastructure comprised of “covert” routers and servers. It appears the NSA also incorporates routers …
Discussion:
The Verge and The Raw Story
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Spiegel Online:
Catalog Advertises NSA Toolbox
Catalog Advertises NSA Toolbox
Discussion:
Business Insider, Guardian, Gothamist, emptywheel, TechCrunch and Boing Boing