–updated– Having been removed in favor of Israeli nationalist Jews, members of the Palestinian Ghawi family have been sheltering this winter in a tent on the sidewalk opposite their home of more than five decades in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Other people, including many Israelis, have been taking part in a weekly protest [...] [...more]
–updated– The allegations surrounding the former lawmaker date back at least a year, and involve “a pattern of behavior and physical harassment,” according to one source. The new claims of alleged groping contradict statements by Massa, who resigned his office on Monday after it became public that he was the subject of a House ethics committee [...] [...more]
–originally posted on Huffington Post– The Roman Catholic bishops signaled Thursday that if agreement is reached with House leaders on anti-abortion language, the church would work to get the votes needed to protect the provisions in the Senate — and thereby advance the shared goal with Democrats of health care reform. “We would strongly urge everyone, [...] [...more]
–updated– Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Poor Speaker Pelosi. Karma’s come back to bite her. Or actually it’s not Karma, it’s Bart. But she shouldn’t feel bad, Pres. Obama’s got his own problems. He started solving them late yesterday by patting progressives on the head, while asking them to [...] [...more]
Well, whether you love or hate Pres. Obama, what Republican could have pulled off almost a 7-hour policy debate? The bad news is that he’s the president, so he shouldn’t have to play mediator or “moderator.” He’s supposed to lead. Other than that… The Wall Street Journal’s Susan Davis has put together “The Best Tweets [...] [...more]
About Pres. Obama’s seriousness on terrorism, comeuppance delivered. Dick Cheney will be so depressed. From the New York Times: The Taliban’s top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials. The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan [...] [...more]
Watch CBS News Videos Online Marc Ambinder has written a very interesting post today on the devilish prowess of Sarah Palin, someone I’ve continually covered since the 2008 election ended. For good reason. There is no one who fits the mood or the times or fills the current political vacuum better than Sarah Palin. There has [...] [...more]
–bumped– via TPM Obama makes a joke at his own expense today at the annual prayer breakfast, but as you can see in the video, his laugh isn’t full, but instead an afterthought, because the President knows all too well the dangers underlying the subtext of his material. Republican Rep. Mark Kirk won the Illinois primary in a [...] [...more]
–updated– The video is a demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem that ended in arrests and detentions, which caused quite a stir back in January. Discontent in some quarters is rising in Israel over freedom of speech and assembly issues, but also the rights of women, including a dispute about bus segregation that’s turned into quite [...] [...more]
Obama comes to the rescue of Martha Coakley in Boston. Will it work? Ben Smith tweets what I’ve been hearing. Charlie Cook’s predictable pronouncement, via Mike Allen: “This past Thursday, Jan. 14, The Cook Political Report moved the open Massachusetts Senate seat rating from lean Democrat to toss-up, having moved it from solid Democrat to lean Democratic [...] [...more]
bumped Daniel Levy, Director of the Middle East Task Force at the New American Foundation, conducted a “short-notice” conference call today, with Alon Liel, former Israel Ambassador to Turkey, and Bülent Aras, Professor of International Relations at Istanbul Technical University and the Foreign Policy Coordinator of the SETA Foundation in Ankara. At issue: Can these relations [...] [...more]
What word hasn’t been used for the awful aftermath in Haiti? The usual suspect, Pat Robertson, waded in with his signatured insulting, tone deaf rantings of a mad old man (video), this time invoking some Satanic pact, who even with Joe Scarborough’s compassionate tweets, couldn’t be saved from himself. However, Robertson got company when Rush [...] [...more]
updated below Bob McDonnell won the Virginia governorship because he was running against a pitifully weak Democratic candidate, but also because he used economic discontent, something Frank Rich talks about today, which extends to health care, while utilizing Democrats in Washington as the target model, tapping into what independents are feeling right now, while simultaneously capitalizing [...] [...more]
The bomber appears to have been invited to an operational planning meeting on al Qaeda, a former senior U.S. intelligence official said. “It looks like an al Qaeda double agent,” the former official said. “It’s very sophisticated for a terrorist group that’s supposedly on the run.” – CIA Blast Blamed On Double Agent It certainly was. [...] [...more]
–video update in comments– There are reports that Mousavi’s nephew, Seyyed Ali Mousavi was shot and killed today. There are even unconfirmed reports pouring in of people heading toward Sina Hospital, where it is assumed Ali Mousavi’s body is. – Iran News Now At the climax of Ashura, violence in Iran explodes. From the BBC: Opposition sources in Iran [...] [...more]
