Islamic Center Where Arrested Somali Worshiped Set On Fire

The Islamic center where Mohamed Osman Mahamud worshiped was set on fire Sunday. Mahamud is the Somali-born 19-year-old caught in a sting operation, accused of trying to blow up a van full of explosives during Portland’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

The fire at the Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center in Corvallis was reported at 2:15 a.m., and evidence at the scene led authorities to believe it was set intentionally, said Carla Pusateri, a fire prevention officer for the Corvallis Fire Department.

Authorities don’t know who started the blaze or why, but they believe the center was targeted because Mohamud occasionally …

Republican Grownups Abandon Republican Party

by Stuart Shapiro

Alan blogged earlier today about John Danforth’s and David Stockman’s criticisms of the Republican Party.  The abandonment of the old GOP establishment of the current leadership is even more widespread.  Brent Scowcroft has criticized Republican foreign policy:

In an attempt to rally bipartisan support for the treaty, the White House has enlisted the kind of GOP foreign policy wise men that Lugar exemplifies — among them former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and James A. Baker. But they have had no success with members of their own party, and it has left them scratching their heads over …

Reagan Budget Director Stockman Says GOP Has Abdicated Fiscal Responsibility

David Stockman, considered the financial guru of the Reagan administration when he headed the Office of Management and Budget, believes Republicans are blowing it when it comes to fiscal responsibility. And this isn’t the first time he’s been vocal about his party’s failings.  Speaking with Fareed Zakaria on CNN,  Stockman made some key points (h/t Think Progress).

Barry Mitchell’s TSA Christmas Song

Comedian Barry Mitchell has written the ultimate TSA song, “They’re Touching Our Junk For the Holidays,” which was featured on ABC’s World News Now (h/t TV Newser).

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John Paul Stevens Explains Why He Stopped Supporting The Death Penalty

In an upcoming New York Times New York Review of Books article, former Justice John Paul Stevens explains why he changes his view of the death penalty after having voted in 1976 to reinstate it. In 2008 Stevens wrote he now believed the death penalty to be unconstitutional. Now he explains his reasoning.

…he wrote that personnel changes on the court, coupled with “regrettable judicial activism,” had created a system of capital punishment that is shot through with racism, skewed toward conviction, infected with politics and tinged with hysteria.

Stevens’ explanation comes by way of a review of the book …

Rep. Issa Seeks More Subpoena Power To Go After Obama Administration

Congressman Darrell Issa, the incoming Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is seeking new subpoena powers to expand his ability to go after the Obama administration.

It is a far broader policy mandate than was embraced by predecessors in both parties, who viewed their role as chief Congressional inquisitor of the executive administration. “What my committee has to do is, it has to stretch what it has done in the past,” Mr. Issa said.

His agenda may surprise some Congressional Democrats and White House officials who are bracing for Mr. Issa to paper Washington with investigative subpoenas …

Former Senator John Danforth Says GOP May Be “Beyond Redemption”

Ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Richard Lugar of Indiana has been the one Republican who understands the importance of ratifying the START treaty with Russia, but he’s come under fire for his position by his fellow right-wingers. To former Missouri Senator John Danforth, this signals that the party may have gone “far overboard” and may be “beyond redemption.” (h/t Think Progress)

“If Dick Lugar,” said John C. Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri, “having served five terms in the U.S. Senate and being the most respected person in the Senate and the leading authority …

Time For These Tramplers To Shop Online

A man entering a Target store in Buffalo was trampled upon by a stampede of bargain hunters, oblivious to his cries of pain on black Friday. (via Gawker) Luckily, Keith Krantz is okay, but says he’s lucky to be alive.

Just minutes before Store Manager Ben Gregory went to open the doors at 4 a.m., 30 to 40 people had cut in line. And when the flood gates opened, the crowd got out of control.

An employee shouted, “Don’t run. Don’t run. Don’t run!”

As people rushed in to gobble up the sale items, one of the shoppers, …

Tides Rise In Norfolk: What Does It Mean?

by Stuart Shapiro

The New York Times has a fascinating story about rising tides in Norfolk, Virginia and the reaction of local residents.

Many Norfolk residents hope their problems will serve as a warning.

“We are the front lines of climate change,” said Jim Schultz, a science and technology writer who lives on Richmond Crescent…No one who has a house here is a skeptic.”

Now, I’m the first one to mock climate skeptics when they use a cold winter as evidence that climate change is not happening.  As the popular saying goes, “the plural of anecdote is not data.”  So …

Iraq’s Returning Refugees Leaving Again Because Of Violence And No Jobs

America’s disastrous Iraq war continues to have disastrous consequences.

A second exodus has begun here, of Iraqis who returned after fleeing the carnage of the height of the war, but now find that violence and the nation’s severe lack of jobs are pulling them away from home once again.

Since the American invasion in 2003, refugees have been a measure of the country’s precarious condition, flooding outward during periods of violence and trickling back as Iraq seemed to stabilize. This new migration shows how far the nation remains from being stable and secure.

…

Nearly 100,000 refugees have returned …

Bill Ayers Denied Emeritus Status Because Of Long-Ago Reference To Sirhan Sirhan As Political Prisoner

One-time Weather Underground radical Bill Ayers, recently retired as professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was denied the title of “professor emeritus” by the school’s board of trustees. The head of the board is Christopher Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, who was murdered by Sirhan Sirhan. Ayers’ 1974 book Prarie Fire included a dedication page that included the words, “To All Who Continue to Fight” and “To All Political Prisoners in the U.S.”  Among those listed was Sirhan Sirhan.

“My own history is not a secret,” Kennedy told fellow board members in September, explaining why …