In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama discusses the act of terrorism on the Christmas Day flight to Detroit, and his broader strategy to fight Al Qaeda.
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?! What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? …
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii today.
He has no scheduled public events.
The Obamas are staying in a private residence in Kailua on the Windward side of Oahu during their vacation in the president’s home state. Kailua is a 30-minute drive from downtown Honolulu.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings there this morning.
The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than that in California. It is GMT -10.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen. New sanctions are coming against Iran for its renegade nuclear program.
Obama has closed the US embassy in Yemen in anticipation of terrorist attacks.
Britain has also closed its embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
Back in Washington on Tuesday, Obama will meet with top intelligence and security officials to review the situation and make further decisions on Al Qaeda and airline security.
Incidentally, an assassin from Somalia, who reportedly says he is with Al Qaeda, tried to kill one of the Danish cartoonists who incited Islamic rage five years ago with disrespectful depictions of the Prophet Mohammed. The attempt, which involved the axe-wielding assassin breaking into the cartoonist’s home and chasing him and his daughter into a safe room, was unsuccessful. The suspect was apprehended.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in California with First Lady Maria Shriver and the family.
He has no scheduled public events.
In this radio address, Schwarzenegger outlines priorities for the new year.
Says Schwarzenegger: My Number One priority is jobs, jobs, jobs.
And in my State of the State Address next week, I will announce a job creation package to help spur job growth and jumpstart our economy.
The other thing we must do this year to help our economy, is reform California’s broken budget and tax systems.
I will talk more about this in my State of the State but the bottom line is, our budget and tax systems are the root of a lot of our state’s fiscal problems. Over the years they have led to volatile swings in revenue and massive deficits.
They have led to painful spending cuts and tax increases. This holds our economy back from its full potential.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii today.
He has no scheduled public events.
The Obamas are staying in a private residence in Kailua on the Windward side of Oahu during their 10-day vacation in the president’s home state. Kailua is a 30-minute drive from downtown Honolulu.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings there this morning.
The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than that in California. It is GMT -10.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen.
Obama will move soon for a new round of sanctions against Iran for its ongoing intransigence with regard to its nuclear program.
And Obama is dealing with the Christmas Day attack by a Nigerian Islamic terrorist on a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit.
Back in Washington on Tuesday, he will meet with top intelligence and security officials to review the situation and make further decisions on Al Qaeda and airline security.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in California with First Lady Maria Shriver and the family.
He has no scheduled public events.
From New Zealand to London and then on to New York City and California, the world has entered both a new year and a new decade. Here are sights and sounds from New Year’s 2010.
** MARK TWAIN ON NEW YEAR’S DAY.
Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient short comings considerably shorter than ever. We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time. However, go in, community. New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion.
– from the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise
Nevada Territory
January 1, 1863
** OBAMA TODAY – FRIDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii today.
He has no scheduled public events.
The Obamas are staying in a private residence in Kailua on the Windward side of Oahu during their 10-day vacation in the president’s home state. Kailua is a 30-minute drive from downtown Honolulu.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings there this morning.
The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than that in California. It is GMT -10.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen.
He received briefings yesterday on how a 23-year old Nigerian terrorist with an explosives pack got on board a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Christmas Day.
He then issued this statement:
“I anticipate receiving assessments from several agencies this evening and will review those tonight and over the course of the weekend. On Tuesday, in Washington, I will meet personally with relevant agency heads to discuss our ongoing reviews as well as security enhancements and intelligence-sharing improvements in our homeland security and counterterrorism operations.”
On a lighter note, Obama and his family went to see Avatar on New Year’s Eve.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – FRIDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in California with First Lady Maria Shriver and the family.
He has no scheduled public events.
Schwarzenegger has protested and vowed to appeal a ruling issued late yesterday by an Alameda County judge to block his practice of furloughing state workers to save money during the ongoing budget crisis.
His appeal will stay the order.
The Taliban claimed responsibility Thursday for a suicide bombing at a forward operating base in eastern Afghanistan that killed eight American civilians and one Afghan, the worst loss of life for the U.S. in the country since October. The targets were CIA agents, and the killer may have been an Afghan soldier.
** OBAMA TODAY – THURSDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii today.
He has no scheduled public events.
The Obamas are staying in a private residence in Kailua on the Windward side of Oahu during their 10-day vacation in the president’s home state. Kailua is a 30-minute drive from downtown Honolulu.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings there this morning.
The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than that in California. It is GMT -10.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen.
So far at least, Iranian security forces seem to be handling the latest outbreak of protest against the regime, in their usual bloody fashion.
Obama will move soon for a new round of sanctions against Iran for its ongoing intransigence with regard to its nuclear program.
Pakistani police will reportedly seek life imprisonment for five Americans from the Washington, D.C. area accused of planning attacks. They say they have proof that the so-called “DC Five” were in touch with Taliban and other militants in tribal regions and were carrying maps to nuclear installations when captured.
And Obama is dealing with the Christmas Day attack by a Nigerian Islamic terrorist on a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit.
He will today receive a report on how intelligence and diplomatic officials allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to nearly carry out his deadly plan.
In brighter news, the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level since July 2008, a sign the job market is healing as the economy slowly recovers.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – THURSDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is out of state with First Lady Maria Shriver and the family.
He has no scheduled public events.
Dealing with highly partisan criticism that did not attend a very similar incident in 2002, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that “a systemic failure” allowed the attempted Christmas Day attack on a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam. He called it “totally unacceptable.”
** OBAMA TODAY – WEDNESDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii today.
He has no scheduled public events.
The Obamas are staying in a private residence in Kailua on the Windward side of Oahu during their 10-day vacation in the president’s home state. Kailua is a 30-minute drive from downtown Honolulu.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings there this morning.
The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than that in California. It is GMT -10.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen.
So far at least, Iranian security forces seem to be handling the latest outbreak of protest against the regime.
And Obama is dealing with the Christmas Day attack by a Nigerian Islamic terrorist on a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit.
Yesterday, he made his second statement in two days on the event and its evident causes.
When British national Richard Reid, also known as Abdul Raheem and Tariq Raja, who traveled freqently to Pakistan, tried to blow up a transatlantic flight right before Christmas 2001, he tried to use the same sort of explosive.
Then President George W. Bush, vacationing at his Texas ranch, said nothing for six days. He then made a few rather noncommittal remarks. Democrats made nothing of this.
Reid, incidentally, was sentenced to life in prison by a federal court in Boston in 2003. He’s in federal prison in Colorado.
In contrast, Obama has been attacked by Republicans since the incident in the skies near Detroit. Ex-Vice President Dick Cheney sent a statement to the conservative outlet Politico overnight blasting Obama for being soft on terrorism.
“We are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe,” Cheney said in a statement to POLITICO. “Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war? It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency — social transformation — the restructuring of American society.”
As it happens, Obama has accelerated drone aircraft and special ops strikes against terrorist targets and dramatically escalated the near failed war in Afghanistan which he inherited from Cheney and Bush, as well as repeatedly saying that we are at war.
And Cheney presided over the release in 2007 of prisoners from Guantanamo Bay who reportedly planned the 12/25 operation.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – WEDNESDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is out of state with First Lady Maria Shriver and the family.
He has no scheduled public events.
Schwarzenegger made a raft of appointments yesterday to the bench and also announced a slew of renewable energy projects.
Pakistanis are burying their dead in the wake of Monday’s terrorist attack on a Shiite procession in Karachi. Fires were still burning Tuesday following riots after the bombing, and officials said the death toll had climbed to 43.
** OBAMA TODAY – TUESDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii today.
He has no scheduled public events.
The Obamas are staying in a private residence in Kailua on the Windward side of Oahu during their 10-day vacation in the president’s home state. Kailua is a 30-minute drive from downtown Honolulu.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings there this morning.
The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than that in California. It is GMT -10.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen.
And he is dealing with the Christmas Day attack by a Nigerian Islamic terrorist on a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit.
He lived in Yemen for for months prior to leaving on his fateful flight to Detroit.
The Al Qaeda group which reportedly provided him with training and explosives was reportedly headed by two former Guantanamo Bay prisoners.
They were released in November 2007 to their native Saudi Arabia.
After reportedly going through art rehabilitation therapy, they went to Yemen where they became leaders of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
In other action, Vice President Biden is vacationing with his family in the Virgin Islands.
And aides to leaders from the Senate and the House have begun work on merging the two versions of the national health care reform bill which have passed both houses.
While nothing goes on in California politics, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons and First Lady Dawn Gibbons have reached a divorce settlement. Lawyers and the first couple emerged from a Reno courtroom Monday morning after meeting with a judge to iron out a deal and avoid a public trial. The Republican’s re-election prospects are poor, and he faces a primary.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – TUESDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is out of state with First Lady Maria Shriver and the family.
He has no scheduled public events.
** DOCTOR WHO: THE ENDING IMPENDING. … From my December 28th essay.
** THE COMMON THREADS OF AVATAR. Is Avatar the future of cinema? Probably. There has to be something to draw people away from their computers and home entertainment centers, and with television series now generally at least as good as if not better than feature films, there are fewer reasons to drive to a theater. But you’ll never see anything at home like Avatar, which nonetheless holds common thematic threads going back to the beginning of the director’s career. … From my December 22nd essay.
** COPENHAGEN BLUES: OBAMA’S WEAK HAND ON CLIMATE, AND THE CALIFORNIA OPTION. As he prepares to go to Copenhagen for the deeply troubled UN climate change summit, President Barack Obama does so with a weak hand. He has no enacted legislation to brandish, no binding agreements on big greenhouse gas cuts with some of the biggest polluters, and no big financing to aid the developing world of poorer nations.
Aside from that, it’s really great.
Obama has cobbled together some impressive looking cards. But starting from the zero point that was bequeathed him by the Bush/Cheney Administration, and with far less congressional support than many imagine, he’s nowhere near ready to sign a new Copenhagen Protocol, were one to emerge, which it will not. … From my December 16th column.
** OBAMA’S LINCOLNESQUE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. Who expected, two months ago when the surprise award was announced, that President Barack Obama, in accepting his Nobel Peace Prize, would deliver a speech that in many respects is about the ethics of war? …
But Obama’s emergence as more the liberal warrior than the reflexive dove surprises me not in the least, for I was paying close attention to what the president said and wrote before and during his campaign. … From my December 11th column.
** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. How did former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown clear the Democratic field for governor of California over half a year before next year’s primary election? Without even announcing his candidacy for governor? Let’s count the ways as we set the stage for one of the biggest races in America next year.
Most California political experts did not expect this result. The state’s much diminished press corps anticipated a big primary fight. Nor was Jerry Brown expected to be the easy winner. In fact, a site run by well-known state Democratic consultants put up an online poll in early 2007 to gauge early insider support for possible candidates. And, amusingly, neglected to include Brown. Despite the fact that the two-term former governor, two-time Democratic presidential runner-up, and two-time mayor of rugged Oakland had just won the biggest victory of any contested statewide race. Bigger even than Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s landslide 17-point romp over his Democratic challenger. … From my December 9th column.
** BARACK OBAMA’S WAR: 10 KEY THINGS TO KNOW. … From my December 4th column.
** NORTH BY NORTHWEST‘S 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION: ENDURING APPEAL AND THE MAD MEN FACTOR. … From my December 2nd essay.
** HEADS SHOULD ROLL OVER OBAMA STATE DINNER SECURITY BREACH. … From my November 27th column.
** TONY BLAIR’S CAUTIONARY TALE FOR OBAMA. … From my November 24th column.
** MAD MEN: THREE SEASONS ON AND LOOKING FORWARD. … From my November 21st essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation. You can listen to my recent video webchat with Schwarzenegger here.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is closed on Thursday at $79.36 per barrel. Energy markets are closed for New Year’s weekend.
This is up about $45 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
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| Comments (73) |
The Beatles are the biggest band of the decade? Wow! What do we call that decade, anyway?
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?! What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? …
From my January 1st essay.
We call that decade crap-tastic.
…
Норм …
I love the essay on the Beatles, and that they are still so big after all these years.
Happy New Year to American friends.
New video today?
Crank.
Boy this is a great way to start the year.
BB: Obama has closed the US embassy in Yemen in anticipation of terrorist attacks.
Britain has also closed its embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
“We call that decade crap-tastic.”
Seconded. Ayes?
At least it’s not the Eagles.
lorena says:
January 2, 2010 at 2:54 pm
I love the essay on the Beatles, and that they are still so big after all these years.
Am I the only one getting a very bad feeling about 2010? It’s early days and it already seems to be primed for spinning out of control.
“Incidentally, an assassin from Somalia, who reportedly says he is with Al Aaeda, tried to kill one of the Danish cartoonists who incited Islamic rage five years ago with disrespectful depictions of the Prophet Mohammed.”
What new video today?
Seems Bill is passing behind the dark side of the moon. Hopefully radio contact will resume soon…
It was happening as this was posted …
I’ve been talking Iran crisis for a long while now.
Elizabeth Miller says:
January 3, 2010 at 6:23 pm (Edit)
Am I the only one getting a very bad feeling about 2010? It’s early days and it already seems to be primed for spinning out of control.
“Incidentally, an assassin from Somalia, who reportedly says he is with Al Aaeda, tried to kill one of the Danish cartoonists who incited Islamic rage five years ago with disrespectful depictions of the Prophet Mohammed.”
It had its great moments, too.
> Brasky says:
January 3, 2010 at 12:44 pm (Edit)
“We call that decade crap-tastic.”
Seconded. Ayes?
And three more closed today.
> Capitol Boy says:
January 3, 2010 at 11:54 am (Edit)
Boy this is a great way to start the year.
BB: Obama has closed the US embassy in Yemen in anticipation of terrorist attacks.
Britain has also closed its embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.Capitol Boy says:
January 3, 2010 at 11:54 am (Edit)
Boy this is a great way to start the year.
BB: Obama has closed the US embassy in Yemen in anticipation of terrorist attacks.
Britain has also closed its embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
Thanks, I appreciate it!
> lorena says:
January 2, 2010 at 2:54 pm (Edit)
I love the essay on the Beatles, and that they are still so big after all these years.
We call it the Noughties …
> Capitol Boy says:
January 2, 2010 at 11:36 am (Edit)
The Beatles are the biggest band of the decade? Wow! What do we call that decade, anyway?
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?! What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? …
From my January 1st essay.
Øèðîêèé ñïåêòð ñîâðåìåííîãî øàõòíîãî è ãîðíîîáîãàòèòåëüíîãî îáîðóäîâàíèÿ íàñ÷èòûâàåò áîëåå 100 íàèìåíîâàíèé…
âèáðàòîðû, ãðîõîòû, æåëåçîîòäåëèòåëè…
àñôàëüòîóêëàä÷èêè, àâòîêðàíû, áóëüäîçåðû, ãðåéäåðû, êàòêè, ïîãðóç÷èêè, ýêñêàâàòîðû…
Ïîãðóç÷èêè èñïîëüçóþòñÿ äëÿ çàñûïêè, ðàñêîïêè, âûðàâíèâàíèè è äðóãèõ ðàáîò ñ ðàçëè÷íûìè ìàòåðèàëàìè…
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