Top Items:
Politico:
Obama libre — The last five weeks of the president's year were better than almost all the rest. — If President Barack Obama's year ended in November, it would have been one of the worst of his presidency. — Good thing he had the last five weeks. — Story Continued Below
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
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Washington Post:
Obama gives the Castro regime in Cuba an undeserved bailout — IN RECENT months, the outlook for the Castro regime in Cuba was growing steadily darker. The modest reforms it adopted in recent years to improve abysmal economic conditions had stalled, due to the regime's refusal to allow Cubans greater freedoms.
Rich Lowry / Politico:
The Castros finally hit the jackpot — Even if you oppose the isolation of Cuba, this is not a good trade. — Candidate Barack Obama said that, as president, he would talk to anti-American dictators without precondition. He didn't mention that he would also give them historic policy concessions without precondition.
Discussion:
National Review
Lauren French / Politico:
How Republicans could stop Obama's Cuba play — Hill Republicans started making a to-do list immediately. — President Barack Obama's plan to normalize relations with Cuba has hit a familiar roadblock: Republicans on Capitol Hill. — Just hours after Obama announced that a prisoner swap …
Discussion:
Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Mahablog, FiveThirtyEight, Talking Points Memo and Balloon Juice
Steve Benen / msnbc.com:
Republicans hardly unanimous on new Cuba policy — We've grown accustomed to some clear divisions among Republicans on foreign policy, with the Dick Cheney wing of the GOP aggressively at odds with the Rand Paul wing. It's not exactly a 50-50 split - the former contingent is vastly larger than the latter …
Discussion:
The Hill, Daily Kos, Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, BuzzFeed and Hinterland Gazette
Dan Roberts / Guardian:
US-Cuba deal: a marriage 18 months in the making, blessed by Pope Francis — Nothing about the past year and a half, from the secret talks in Canada to the public handshake at Nelson Mandela's funeral, happened by accident — If ever there was a lingering illusion that Barack Obama might have …
Discussion:
Althouse
Peter Schroeder / The Hill:
Can Obama lift Cuba embargo alone?
Discussion:
Instapundit and Daily Kos
Politico:
The Democrats' risky Cuba bet
Discussion:
The Hill, NPR, Associated Press, Slantpoint, Washington Post and Hot Air
New York Times:
Mr. Obama's Historic Move on Cuba
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Nation, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Huffington Post, Gawker, Addicting Info, Fausta's Blog and The Daily Banter
Eli Lake / Bloomberg View:
Obama Gives Rubio a Gift From Cuba
Discussion:
New York Times, Daily Kos, Washington Post, BREITBART.COM, Reuters and ABC News
New York Times:
U.S. Said to Find North Korea Ordered Cyberattack on Sony — WASHINGTON — American officials have concluded that North Korea ordered the attacks on Sony Pictures's computers, a determination reached as the studio decided Wednesday to cancel the release of a movie comedy about the assassination …
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ThinkProgress, Guardian, The Daily Beast, Motherboard, National Review, CNN, Fox News, The Verge, The Daily Banter, Tech Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hit & Run, Hot Air, Wall Street Journal, Talking Points Memo, FiveThirtyEight, Shakesville, Mashable, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Twitchy, ABC News, BuzzFeed, CANNONFIRE, Variety, CNNMoney.com, Vox, The Hill, Mediaite, Slantpoint, Inside Movies, EW.com, TIME, Outside the Beltway, The Moderate Voice, Gawker, Nerdist, Boing Boing, Hullabaloo, Addicting Info, JustOneMinute and Hollywood Reporter, more at Mediagazer »
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Erik Hayden / Hollywood Reporter:
Texas Theater to Show ‘Team America’ In Place of ‘The Interview’ — After Sony canceled the release of the North Korea assassination comedy The Interview, a Texas theater said it would swap the film with Paramount's 2004 film Team America: World Police for one free screening.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, CNN, National Review, Hit & Run, Nerdist, The Verge, The Daily Caller, Truth Revolt, Inside Movies, Jezebel and NPR
NY Daily News:
Terrorists 1, Hollywood 0 — Sony Pictures buckles to faceless …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
David Auerbach / Slate:
The Sony Hackers Are Terrorists
Discussion:
BillMoyers.com, Tech Times, The Verge, Mashable, The Daily Banter and Hollywood Reporter, more at Mediagazer »
Mike Fleming / Deadline:
North Korea-Based Thriller With Gore Verbinski And Steve Carell Canceled
Discussion:
Vox, Hollywood Reporter, The Dish, The Daily Banter, Commentary Magazine, New York Times, Gawker, ThinkProgress, Taylor Marsh, The Wrap, Mashable, Mediaite, Slantpoint, CBS Philly, EW.com, Ed Driscoll, National Review, The PJ Tatler, Hit & Run, Inside Movies, Washington Post, The Verge and The Daily Beast
Ted Bridis / Associated Press:
Sony emails show a studio ripe for hacking
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Associated Press and abc11.com
Dennis Romero / LA Weekly:
Killing The Interview Opens Studios to Terrorist Manipulation
Discussion:
New York Times, Wired, Hot Air and Power Line
Associated Press:
AP source: North Korea linked to Sony hacking
Discussion:
Associated Press, ABC News and abc11.com
Reuters:
Sony cancels North Korea movie in apparent win for Pyongyang hackers
Discussion:
National Review, The Great Debate and TalkLeft
Christopher Rosen / The Huffington Post:
Sony Cancels Plans To Release ‘The Interview’ On Christmas Day
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Tech Times, Slantpoint, Variety, Washington Post, Associated Press and CBS Philly
Robert Schmidt / Bloomberg Politics:
Lawrence Summers' $28 Million Payday, Courtesy of Elizabeth Warren — Senator Elizabeth Warren famously declared “there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own.” — That truism presumably includes President Barack Obama's former economic chief Lawrence Summers …
Discussion:
Booman Tribune
CNN:
Officials: Boko Haram kidnaps 185 women and children, kills 32 people — Kano, Nigeria (CNN) — Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped at least 185 women and children, and killed 32 people in a raid in northeastern Nigeria this week, local officials and residents said.
Discussion:
The Jawa Report and The Daily Caller
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Lanre Ola / Reuters:
Suspected Boko Haram gunmen kidnap 100 women, children in Nigeria — (Reuters) - Suspected Boko Haram gunmen kidnapped more than 100 women and children and killed 35 other people on Sunday during a raid on the remote northeast Nigerian village of Gumsuri, a security source and resident said on Thursday.
Discussion:
Gawker and Shakesville
USA Today:
Putin: West wants to put Russian bear ‘on a chain’ — The collapse in Russia's rouble slows for a while, but fears of how the crisis will hit not only Moscow but its trade partners are deepening. As Ciara Lee reports, the repercussions could be felt far and wide. Video provided by Reuters Newslook
Discussion:
kyivpost.com
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Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Obama's Had a Helluva Good Month Since the Midterms — So how have things been going for our bored, exhausted, and disengaged president? He's been acting pretty enthusiastic, energized, and absorbed with his job, I'd say. Let us count the things he's done since the November 4th midterm elections:
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Prairie Weather
Joe Arnold / WHAS-TV:
Grimes pledges legal challenge if Paul attempts simultaneous races — Alison Lundergan Grimes says she will challenge Senator Rand Paul if he tries to get on the ballot for both Senate re-election and president — FRANKFORT, Ky. (WHAS11) — Six weeks after she lost her own bid for the U-S Senate …
Nick Hanauer / The Hill:
Give Americans the overtime pay they've earned — Progressives are angry at the president for caving in to Republicans on the CRomnibus budget bill, and rightly so—the rollback of post-Great Recession regulations on financial derivatives is simply inexcusable.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
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