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5:00 PM ET, December 26, 2009

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Passengers Took Plane's Survival Into Own Hands  —  Despite extensive spending since 2001 on intelligence and counterterrorism programs, sophisticated airport scanners and elaborate watch lists, it was something simpler that averted disaster on a Christmas Day flight to Detroit: alert and courageous passengers and crew members.
RELATED:
Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Hoekstra Quickly Politicizes Attempted Terrorist Attack, Suggests Obama's Clueless On National Security  —  Yesterday, the White House announced that there had been “an attempted act of terrorism” aboard a trans-Atlantic Northwest Airlines flight arriving from Amsterdam as it was preparing to land in Detroit.
ABCNEWS:
Investigators: Northwest Bomb Plot Planned by al Qaeda in Yemen  —  Officials Say Bomb Materials Sewn Into Suspect's Underwear by Top Terror Bomb Maker  —  The plot to blow up an American passenger jet over Detroit was organized and launched by al Qaeda leaders in Yemen who apparently sewed bomb materials …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
PETE HOEKSTRA, SHAMELESS BUFFOON.... Speculation about terrorist plots based on limited information is a fool's game.  We know very little about Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempts on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 yesterday, though there are some pretty obvious questions about how he got materials on board …
New York Times:
Restrictions Rise After Terrorism Attempt  —  Transportation authorities began imposing tighter security measures at airports on Saturday and ordered new restrictions governing the activities of passengers during flights as investigators conducted searches to learn more about the Nigerian …
New York Times:
Terror Attempt Seen as Man Tries to Ignite Device on Jet
Samuel Goldsmith / NY Daily News:
Father of Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, Nigerian terror suspect in Flight 253 attack, warned U.S.  —  The terror suspect who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound plane is the son of a Nigerian banker who alerted U.S. authorities to his “extreme religious views” months ago, it was reported Saturday.
RELATED:
Tom Liddy / New York Post:
Terror hero: I didn't hesitate  —  A Dutch airline passenger told The Post how he leapt into action when an alleged Muslim terrorist tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner packed with 300 people just moments before landing.  —  Chaos erupted as alleged terrorist Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab …
Soraya Roberts / NY Daily News:
Jasper Schuringa subdued alleged terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Northwest Airlines 253  —  The passenger who tackled a suspected terrorist on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 said Saturday that he's “happy” to be alive.  —  Jasper Schuringa, a video director and producer from Amsterdam …
CNN:
Airline passenger says he helped foil attack
Discussion: The Huffington Post
Fox News:   Official: U.S. Knew for 2 Years Suspect Could Have Terror Ties
Ezra Klein:
The rise of the filibuster: An interview with Barbara Sinclair  —  Barbara Sinclair is a political scientist at UCLA who specializes in Congress.  She's also one of relatively few scholars to have quantified the rise in the filibuster over the previous few decades.
RELATED:
Ezra Klein:
After health-care reform, Senate reform  —  This column appears on the cover of Sunday's Outlook section.  —  On Dec. 8, 1964, Mike Manatos wrote a letter that explains what's wrong with the Senate in 2009.  This wasn't, of course, the subject of his letter.
Discussion: RedState and Alas, a blog
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Rise of the Filibuster
Ann Althouse / Althouse:
Let the President stay in the White House — or, at most, retreat to Camp David.  —  “President Barack Obama's Christmas Day began with a briefing about a botched attack on an airliner in Detroit and ended with a visit to a dining hall for members of the military.
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Kucinich: Generals who spoke publicly on Afghan strategy should lose jobs  —  Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) this week said that U.S. generals who spoke publicly about the nation's Afghan strategy during the president's deliberations should lose their jobs.  —  Kucinich, who is known …
David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Catholic Group Supports Senate on Abortion Aid  —  WASHINGTON — In an apparent split with Roman Catholic bishops over the abortion-financing provisions of the proposed health care overhaul, the nation's Catholic hospitals have signaled that they back the Senate's compromise on the issue …
Alissa J. Rubin / New York Times:
Taliban Shows Video of Captured G.I.  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban released a video of a captured American soldier on Friday, the second to surface since he was seized in southern Afghanistan about six months ago.  —  Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, 23, of Idaho, was captured in late June in Paktika Province …
Discussion: The Daily Dish
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Commander to Rescind a Provision on Pregnancy
Discussion: RHRealityCheck.org
 
 
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 More Items: 
James Freeman / Wall Street Journal:
The World's District Attorney
Discussion: Emptywheel
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
White House: Obama will continue to ‘actively monitor’ airline attack probe
Discussion: ABCNEWS
Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:
Obama faces tough fight in Senate to deliver on climate pledges made overseas
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
The Obama Way  —  Every presidency is the subject of competing caricatures.
Discussion: TPMCafe and marbury
 Earlier Items: 
Walter Alarkon / The Hill:
Obama falls short on pledge to curtail earmarks, fiscal hawks say
Discussion: Hot Air and Riehl World View
Keith Bradsher / New York Times:
Earth-Friendly Elements, Mined Destructively