memeorandum: The Homeland Secretary's Job Security (Tobin Harshaw/Opinionator)

11:00 AM ET, January 2, 2010

Top Items:

EXCLUSIVE: Obama Got Pre-Christmas Intelligence Briefing About Terror Threats to “Homeland” — President Barack Obama received a high-level briefing only three days before Christmas about possible holiday-period terrorist threats against the US, Newsweek has learned.

Discussion: Associated Press, Gateway Pundit, Erick's blog, Hot Air, ATTACKERMAN, Pundit & Pundette, The Strata-Sphere, Laura Rozen's Blog, Flopping Aces, Outside The Beltway, YID With LID, Riehl World View and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:

U.S. Loan Effort Is Seen as Adding to Housing Woes — The Obama administration's $75 billion program to protect homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts now contend it has done more harm than good.

Discussion: Calculated Risk, Emptywheel, The Big Picture, snooperreport.com, naked capitalism, PrairiePundit, Don Surber, Beat the Press, Flopping Aces, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Taylor Marsh

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Flashback: GOP blamed Clinton for 9/11 - Obama got regularly scheduled Dec. 22 briefing on holiday threats, but there was no warning of an attack — Tebow: ‘redemption instead of perfection’ — Mayor Bloomberg yesterday, in his third inaugural address: “We have adopted bold education reforms …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

The White House:

Weekly Address: President Obama Outlines Steps Taken to Protect the Safety and Security of the American People — WASHINGTON - In his weekly address, President Barack Obama discussed his solemn responsibility to protect the nation and the steps the administration has taken to that end.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

LIMBAUGH DIAGNOSES HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.... On Wednesday, Rush Limbaugh went to a Hawaii hospital with chest pains, and was released yesterday, with no apparent ailments. The right-wing radio host said doctors found nothing wrong with his heart or arteries, and it's still unclear what caused his pains.

Discussion: New York Times and NY Daily News

Carol E. Lee / The Politico:
Rush: U.S. health system ‘just fine’

Discussion: Think Progress, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Reaction, snooperreport.com and Townhall.com

CNN:
Tests reveal ‘nothing wrong’ with Limbaugh's heart

Discussion: Breitbart.tv

Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:

Nelson to McMaster: ‘Call off the dogs’ — Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) reached out Thursday evening to South Carolina GOP Attorney General Henry McMaster, the leader of a group of 13 Republican state attorneys general who are threatening to file suit against the Senate health care bill …

Discussion: Redhot

Scott / Power Line:

The Cornhusker Concussive — One of the disgusting features of the Senate's Obamacare bill is the payoffs extracted from taxpayers and directed to the states of senators wielding key votes. The payoffs culminated in the “Cornhusker Kickback” procured by Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson for Nebraska …

BBC:

Somali shot in attack on cartoonist — Danish police have shot and wounded a man at the home of Kurt Westergaard, whose cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad sparked an international row. — Mr Westergaard scrambled into a panic room at his home in Aarhus after a man wielding an axe and a knife broke in.

Discussion: Associated Press, Fausta's Blog, Jules Crittenden, snooperreport.com, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Power Line, Outside The Beltway and Gateway Pundit

Telegraph:
Danish police shoot man trying to enter Mohammed cartoonist's home

Discussion: The Corner on National …

CNN:
Somali shot after allegedly attempting to attack Danish cartoonist

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Patterico's Pontifications:

Charles Johnson Denounces the “Right-Wing Racism” of a Picture Forwarded by . . . a Democrat — Charles Johnson denounces the “right-wing racism” of the photo. — Just one problem: the worker is a registered Democrat: … Reacting to the news of the woman's party affiliation, Johnson says in comments:

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Conservatives4Palin.com, Little Green Footballs and KDVR

Hiroko Tabuchi / New York Times:

For Some in Japan, Home Is a Tiny Plastic Bunk — TOKYO — For Atsushi Nakanishi, jobless since Christmas, home is a cubicle barely bigger than a coffin — one of dozens of berths stacked two units high in one of central Tokyo's decrepit “capsule” hotels. — “It's just a place to crawl …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Bloomberg

Detroit News:

Customs official confirms report of 2nd man held from Flight 253 — Detroit — A federal customs and border protection official reversed himself today, admitting a passenger from Northwest Flight 253 was placed in handcuffs, searched and released after a canine alerted officers to his carry-on luggage.

Discussion: Redhot

Justin Berton / San Francisco Chronicle:

Biblical scholar's date for rapture: May 21, 2011 — Harold Camping lets out a hearty chuckle when he considers the people who believe the world will end in 2012. — “That date has not one stitch of biblical authority,” Camping says from the Oakland office where he runs Family Radio …

Discussion: Pharyngula and Stinque

Matthew L. Wald / New York Times:

U.S. Lawyers Knew About Legal Pitfalls in Blackwater Case — WASHINGTON — The sudden blow to the case against the former Blackwater security guards over a shooting that killed 17 Iraqis and wounded at least 20 may have come as a surprise to the public in Iraq and the United States …

Discussion: MyDD, Raw Story, Atlas Shrugs and The Confluence

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

How Cheney Made America A Torture Nation — The comparison with Richard Reid is, of course, instructive. The Bush administration treated the shoe-bomber exactly as the Obama administration has treated the pantie-bomber - and convicted him the way no one has yet convicted anyone directly connected to 9/11.

Discussion: Power Line, Instapundit, Riehl World View and The Moderate Voice

Fox News:

Democrats Join Calls for Napolitano to Step Down Following Failed Attack — Democrats have joined the ranks of those calling for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to step down following the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight a week ago.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Eschaton, YID With LID, The Strata-Sphere, snooperreport.com, Another Black Conservative, MyDD, Riehl World View, JammieWearingFool and Washington Post

Neil Irwin / Washington Post:

Aughts were a lost decade for U.S. economy, workers — For most of the past 70 years, the U.S. economy has grown at a steady clip, generating perpetually higher incomes and wealth for American households. But since 2000, the story is starkly different. — The past decade was the worst …

Discussion: Ezra Klein and Calculated Risk