BAGHDAD, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Al Qaeda videos seized by U.S. forces show Iraqi children younger than 11 carrying out mock kidnappings and attacks, the U.S. military and Iraqi officials said on Wednesday. Videos played to media showed about 20 boys, mostly under 11, wearing balaclavas and brandishing AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers almost as big as themselves. MORE
THIS JUST IN: We Are The Decider Now
POLITICO: Hillary Clinton survived a Super Tuesday scare. But there are five big reasons the former first lady should be spooked by the current trajectory of the campaign. Although the friends did not have details, they believe she may go ahead with the campaign shake-up she had been planning just before her surprise victory in New Hampshire. Her team is girding for trench warfare, telling reporters that the nomination will not be decided until at least the Pennsylvania primary on April 22, if then. MORE
CYCLONE RANGER: Tornadoes Kill 50 Over 5 States
ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS: Killing The Blues BLOOMBERG NEWS: The deadliest tornado outbreak in almost a decade tore across the southern U.S. late yesterday, killing at least 50 people, sparking a pipeline explosion in Tennessee and destroying homes from Alabama to Kentucky. The “extremely dangerous” tornadoes, spawned by unseasonably warm temperatures, prompted the first high-risk weather alert issued in February in 10 years, AccuWeather.com said. Heavy rain, winds and hail are possible from the Carolinas to southern New Jersey, forecasters said. The 24-hour toll makes it the deadliest day of tornadoes since May 3, 1999, when 46 people died […]
THE EARLY WORD: Here Comes The Goon Squad
Before Monty Python invaded television, The Goon Show – famed not only for its surreal humor, puns, and catchphrases but also for its groundbreaking sound effects – made an entire nation laugh week after week. The Goons met in the 1940s, and like many of the post war entertainers, they all began performing while serving in World War II. Running from 1951 – 1960, the show changed the face of British comedy and greatly influenced Python, the Beatles, and many others. Monty Python star Michael Palin has said, “For me, the Goons were to comedy what Elvis was to music.” […]
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs
HOLD THE PHONE: Obama Claims Delegate Lead Over Clinton In a surprise twist after a chaotic Super Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) passed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in network tallies of the number of delegates the candidates racked up last night. The Obama camp now projects topping Clinton by 13 delegates, 847 to 834. NBC News, which is projecting delegates based on the Democratic Party’s complex formula, figures Obama will wind up with 840 to 849 delegates, versus 829 to 838 for Clinton. Clinton was portrayed in many news accounts as the night’s big winner, but Obama’s campaign says […]
WORTH REPEATING: Imperial Hubris
FRESH AIR Journalist Fred Kaplan offers a scathing critique of the Bush administration’s foreign policy initiatives in his new book, Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power. Here is an excerpt: Nearly all of America’s blunders in war and peace these past few years stem from a single grand misconception: that the world changed after September 11, when in fact it didn’t. Certainly things about the world changed, not least Americans’ sudden awareness that they were vulnerable. But the way the world works—the nature of power, warfare, and politics among nations—remained essentially the same. A real change, […]
YANKEE DOODLE FOXTROT: Not So Fast
WASHINGTON POST: After the Clinton campaign sent out a press release this evening claiming a win in Missouri, under the heading “Hillary’s Big Night,” the lead in the Show-Me State flipped — with Barack Obama moving ahead by a few thousand votes to claim victory. WIKIPEDIA: The Missouri bellwether is a political phenomenon that notes that the state of Missouri has voted for the winner in every U.S. Presidential election beginning in 1904 except in 1956. Between 1960 and 2004, Missouri’s popular vote was within about one and a half percent of the national popular vote margin. Missouri’s 96% accuracy […]
COLLATERAL NEWS: Something Strange Has Happened To The Internet, And Official Explanations Don’t Add Up
RELATED: CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — A repair ship began work Tuesday at the site where an Internet cable was cut last week in the Persian Gulf, and a second vessel was to arrive later that day at the spot north of Egypt where two other cables were cut just two days earlier, FLAG Telecom said. The cuts have disrupted Internet services across a large swath of the Middle East and India, slowing down businesses and hampering personal Internet usage. There has been wide speculation that the cuts were caused by ships’ anchors dragged along the bottom of the sea in […]
FOLLOW THE MONEY: Dirty Is As Dirty Does
RELATED: Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton has raised more money from lobbyists than any other presidential candidate, while Republican John McCain has more of them assisting his campaign, according to a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. Clinton took in $823,087 from registered lobbyists and members of their firms in 2007; McCain, the second-biggest recipient, took in $416,321, reported the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political giving. Democrat Barack Obama doesn’t take money from registered lobbyists, though he received $86,282 from employees of firms that lobby, according to the center. McCain has 26 registered lobbyists as campaign advisers or fund-raisers, compared with 11 […]
I, VOTER: These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty!
As I write this, the polls here in New Jersey are still several hours from opening for their Super Tuesday vote-a-thon. This is handy, as it gives me yet more time to torture myself as I decide whether to vote for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, picking between two historic choices presented to me in this fifth presidential contest in which I am eligible to cast a ballot. It’s funny, though. Perhaps naively, I thought the choice would be easier when the time came that I had the opportunity to cast a meaningful, non-symbolic vote for […]
WINGBOWL ’08: Heavy Metal Barfing Lot
VIDEO: ScrappleTV at Wingbowl 2008
HOT DOCUMENT: Rick Santorum Robo-Slimes McCain
Per Romney sources, the call is going into California, Colorado, Alaska and a few other Super Tuesday states: “Hello, this is Senator Rick Santorum calling to let you know I am supporting Mitt Romney and urging you to support him next Tuesday. “As Republican leader in the U.S. Senate, I worked hard to stop the democrats and help pass a conservative agenda. A few senators like John McCain stood in our way. John McCain voted against the president’s tax cuts, worked with Ted Kennedy to pass what many people call amnesty for illegal aliens and he even opposes the marriage […]
OBAMELOT: Robert DeNiro Is Tired Of Waiting
NEW YORK TIMES: 1:11 p.m. — As the crowd at the Meadowlands awaited Mr. Obama’s arrival, Mr. De Niro made a surprise appearance and received a thunderous welcome. Mr. De Niro said he’d never before made a political speech, and the actor made a special appeal to the young people and first-time voters, saying that Mr. Obama gave them someone to gather behind. “You wanted to vote, you just didn’t have anyone to vote for,” he said. ” Well you know what? I felt the same way. Until now.” Mr. De Niro introduced Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts; his niece […]