Live-blog: Ashura in Iran - December 27, 2009  —  This is a live-blog report on clashes occurring in Iran on December 27, during the Shia mourning day of Ashura.  As reports come in, they will be placed at the top of this page.  To read this in chronological order it must be read from the bottom up.

Officials: Only A Failed Detonator Saved Northwest Flight  —  Screening Machines May Need to Be Replaced; Al Qaeda Aware of ‘Achilles heel’  —  Officials now say tragedy was only averted on Northwest flight 253 because a makeshift detonator failed to work properly.

Hoekstra doubles down on criticism of Obama on airline attack  —  Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) said Sunday that it is fair to blame the Obama administration for the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Detroit on Christmas Day.  —  Hoekstra, the top Republican …

Why The President Went Golfing Today  —  In his Farenheit 9/11, filmmaker Michael Moore juxtaposes images and words of a terrorist attack in Israel with President Bush's first words about the incident, spoken to a press pool on a golf course, with him leaning casually against a tree.

Vacation's Over, Mr. President  —  UPDATE:  —  Here is an outstanding piece by a gentleman who was actually on the plane.  It's making me think, and re-think.  —  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roey- rosenblith/over-detroit-skies_b_ 404255.html  —  I will say this: Some of my initial statements …

Napolitano: “The system worked”  —  DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the thwarting of the attempt to blow up the Amsterdam-Detroit flight this week demonstrated that “the system worked.”  —  Asked by CNN's Candy Crowley on “State of the Union” how that could be possible …

Dems to W.H.: Drop cap-and-trade  —  Bruised by the health care debate and worried about what 2010 will bring, moderate Senate Democrats are urging the White House to give up now on any effort to pass a cap-and-trade bill next year.  —  “I am communicating that in every way I know how,” …

Obama scores well for first year on ethics, say watchdog groups  —  President Barack Obama scores well among ethics watchdog groups in his first year in office, though they'd still like to see more from the president.  —  Obama has wielded the power of the White House to craft an executive order …

TSA Making Flying More Miserable  —  Not surprisingly, TSA is going to make flying even more aggravating in a stupid overreaction to the Detroit terror plot. … This is mind-numbingly stupid.  As Radley Balko notes, these measures “wouldn't even have done anything to prevent the attempt over the weekend.

End the filibuster!  An interview with Sen. Tom Harkin  —  Sen. Tom Harkin has served in the Senate since 1984, and currently chairs the influential Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.  Before coming to the Senate, he served in the House of Representatives from 1975 to 1984.