The New Republic

Peter Baker's splashy new NYT magazine piece focuses in part on Obama's newly-visible counterterrorism chief: READ MORE >>

Good WSJ story on how al Qaeda operatives migrate away from U.S. military pressure, always finding the next safe haven: READ MORE >>

The only bright spot in the cases of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian who tried to blow up that Christmas Day flight, and the five men who went to Pakistan to receive terrorist training, was that members of the wannabe-terrorists' families approached authorities because of their children's behavior. READ MORE >>

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The New York Times reports that the town of George Orwell's birth plans to recognize the British author. The town is Motihari, in the Indian state of Bihar (Orwell's father was an Indian Civil Servant). READ MORE >>

On a day normally devoted to examining the past, there's one bit of news affecting the political future.  The Democratic Change Commission, set up during last year's Democratic National Convention to deal with accumulated grievances about the presidential nominating process, forwarded its recommendations to the party's Rules and Bylaws Committee.  In an extraordinarily unsurprising move, the commission recommended killing the independent voting status of convention superdelegates.  In READ MORE >>

  I’m a big fan of Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins. Unlike her colleague Michael Wilbon, she was willing to expose the utter incompetence of Michael Jordan as a sports executive during the time he ran the Washington Wizards. So I was willing to be convinced when I saw her column this morning defending Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach who was fired for punishing a player for sitting out practice after incurring a concussion. READ MORE >>

Obama’s Most Underrated Move of the Year by Noam Scheiber Will Health Reform Open the Flood Gates for Fraud? by Suzy Khimm READ MORE >>

The economists tell us that the recession is over or, at least, nearly over.  A California woman named Claudia Bruce might not agree: Claudia Bruce was laid off from her well-paying job 13 months ago after the economy fell. Now, Bruce is among a growing number of people who, in what seemed like an instant, went from middle class incomes to relying on public assistance. READ MORE >>

The Warsaw Ghetto: A Guide to the Perished City, by Barbara Engelking and Jacek Leociak READ MORE >>