Tuesday's Daily Brief

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 Mitt Romney Tax Records Released ENTERTAINMENT Oscar Nominations Revealed POLITICS Romney, Gingrich Hit Each Other On 'Leadership,' 'Misinformation' POLITICS State Of The Union Address: Obama's Pivot Into Campaign Mode MEDIA Lara Logan's Harrowing Confession About Assault WORLD Gaddafi Loyalists Seize Key Town BLOG POSTS Robert Reich: The State of Our Disunion: A Globalized Private Sector, A Corporate-Dominated Public Sector Who should have the primary strategic responsibility for making American workers globally competitive -- the private sector or government? This will be a defining issue in the 2012 campaign. Paul Rieckhoff: It's Time for the President to Prove He's Brady or Eli for Vets As all eyes turn to Capitol Hill tonight for the State of the Union address, I'll join 20 fellow Iraq vets on the House floor and millions nationwide and overseas who are looking for crucial promises from the president. Keli Goff: Are You Smart Enough to Be a Religious Bigot in the Voting Booth? If most of us are not knowledgeable enough of our own faiths, how can a vote based in part on someone else's religion be rooted in anything other than prejudice? Religious prejudice has become one of the last bastions of voter bias. Cullen Murphy: The Top 10 Questions Everyone Has About the Inquisition In talking with audiences about my new book, "God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World," I've found that the same questions come up over and over. Here are the Top 10. Alon Ben-Meir: The Egyptian Revolution: A Year Later The United States and its allies, especially Israel, must accept the fact that in the wake of the Arab Spring, Islamic governments are likely to dominate the Arab political landscape.

MOST POPULAR ON HUFFINGTONPOST.COM Diane Lane's Classy Looks Doutzen Kroes' Glamorous Style The 10 Worst College Towns ON TWITTER McDonald's Hashtag Promotion Goes Horribly Wrong WATCH: Violinist Interrupted By Nokia Ringtone, Gives Best Reponse Ever Little To Celebrate: Osama's Legacy Is American Drift ON FACEBOOK Mitt Romney Releases Tax Returns Santorum On Opposition To Abortion In Cases Of Rape Tea Party Group Pushes For Sunnier Side Of Slavery In Textbooks

Romney Roasts 'Influence-Peddling' Newt [VIDEO]

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Big Story, By Matt Taylor At Florida Debate, Newt Plays To Tea Party's Medicare Needs A surging Newt Gingrich maintained his composure in the face of a renewed assault from Mitt Romney at the Republican presidential debate Monday night, aggressively defending Medicare in a state where the ethos of the Tea Party -- a group that is demographically dominated by older white voters who tend to support public benefits for those who they believe have earned them -- is especially powerful. In a sprawling 90 minute discussion that touched on everything from the Terri Schiavo case to cane sugar subsidies to the threat posed by Cuba as a potential launching pad for terrorist attacks on the United States, Romney went hard after Gingrich on his tenure as Speaker, his ethics violations, and his role as a "lobbyist" for Freddie Mac. But the new frontrunner did not respond with venom, like he did during last week's triumphant march through South Carolina. Instead, he slowed down the tempo of his voice and smirked at Romney's repeated attacks. He even managed to find time to praise Rep. Ron Paul. READ MORE

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Book Excerpt The Religious Right's Stealth Assault On American Children In 2009, author Katherine Stewart learned that the Santa Barbara public elementary school her children attended had added a class called "The Good News Club" to its afterschool program. Sponsored by the Child Evangelism Fellowship, the Club has established 3,500 local chapters at public schools across the country and bills itself as a straightforward program of "Bible study." But Stewart soon discovered that the Club's real mission is to convert children to a fundamentalist version of Christianity and encourage them to proselytize their "unchurched" peers -- all while promoting the false impression that its activities are endorsed by the school. READ MORE

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Can't Touch This Airport Security Detains Senator Rand Paul After He Sets Off Alarm Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the son of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul and a frequent critic of the Transportation Security Administration, was stopped by TSA officers at the Nashville airport Monday when he set off a metal detector and then declined to allow a security officer to pat him down. Police escorted Paul away, causing him to miss a vote in the Senate. The security scanner identified an issue with the senator's knee, although Paul said he has no screws or medical hardware around the joint. READ MORE

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Featured Column: Cynthia Tucker How The GOP is Losing Latinos Despite the best efforts of some of the GOP's leading strategists, who have warned against alienating a growing ethnic group, the Republican Party seems headed in a bad direction with Latinos, championing harsh rhetoric and mean-spirited policies that will poison relations with that voting bloc for generations. Compared to Romney and the other GOP contenders, President Obama has been a champion of Latino interests. And they are likely to respond by throwing their wholehearted support to the Democratic ticket, as they did in 2008. READ MORE

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Around The World Oil Prices Jump As Iran Hints At Naval Blockade Two Iranian lawmakers on Monday escalated threats that their country will close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's crude petrol flows, in retaliation for oil sanctions on Tehran. The warnings came as European Union nations agreed in Brussels to impose an oil embargo as a part of sanctions against Iran's controversial nuclear program. READ MORE

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War And Peace Mutually-Assured Super PAC Destruction In Massachusetts? In the Massachusetts Senate campaign, where Super PACs have already spent millions blanketing the airwaves in what promises to be a spectacular slugfest, Republican incumbent Scott Brown and Democratic consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren have agreed to give peace a chance. On Monday, they reached an unprecedented agreement to reject outside spending by third-party groups, whether they are official party organs like the Democratic National Committee or Super PACs like the Karl Rove-founded Crossroads GPS. The pact sounds nice, but nobody knows whether it will actually work -- and there's no way outside groups will stop raising money, just in case the campaign equivalent of nuclear war breaks out. READ MORE

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Newt: The New Nixon

Monday, January 23, 2012 THE BIG STORY, BY E.J. DIONNE Back To The Future? Newt Lifts From Nixon's Playbook Conservatives may denounce class warfare, yet by shrewdly combining the politics of class with the politics of culture, Newt Gingrich won his first election in 14 years, humbled Mitt Romney and upended the Republican Party. While drawing on resentment and class lines to corner Romney, he also tapped in to South Carolina's old racial divides. When Fox News' Juan Williams, an African-American journalist, directly challenged Gingrich about the racial overtones of Gingrich's staple reference to Obama as "the food-stamp president," the former House Speaker verbally pummeled him, to raucous cheers. As if to remind everyone of the power of coded language, a supporter later praised Gingrich for putting Williams "in his place." READ MORE Send To A Friend >> FEATURED COLUMN: DAVID CAY JOHNSTON What Will Happen When Mitt Romney Releases His Tax Returns On Tuesday? A tax return says a lot about a man, especially one aspiring to be president. If Mitt Romney makes good on his promise during Thursday night's Republican debate to release "multiple years" of his returns, it will likely stir up rather than calm the political storm -- unless he makes public all of his returns from 1984 through 1999. Those are the years when he built a fortune of more than $200 million while running Bain Capital Management. READ MORE Send To A Friend >> REPUBLICAN PRIMARY Florida: It's Different Than The Other GOP Primary States The Sunshine State is six times larger than New Hampshire, has almost five times more Hispanics than Iowa, and, with ten media markets, is much more expensive for candidates than South Carolina. The unemployment rate here is 10 percent, much higher than the national 8.5 percent jobless figure. And more than 2 percent of all housing units in Florida -- which hosts the next Republican primary on January 31 --were involved in foreclosure last year. READ MORE Send To A Friend >> ARIZONA In Surprising Announcement, Gabby Giffords Retires From Congress Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona announced Sunday she will resign from Congress this week to concentrate on recovering from wounds suffered in the assassination attempt in January 2011 that shook the country. "I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice," the Democratic lawmaker said in a video posted on her Facebook page. READ MORE Send To A Friend >> FEATURED COLUMN: LEONARD PITTS JR. Strippers, And Other Depressingly Creative Ways To Dishonor MLK, Jr. It seems that one Jeffrey Darnell Paul, a graphic artist from Miami Beach, had been tasked with creating a poster for a strip club's so-called "I Have a Dream Bash" last week in apparent "honor" of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. So this genius concocts an image of the nation's greatest human rights leader holding up a fan of hundred dollar bills like some low-rent "playa" while a scantily clad woman looks on. READ MORE Send To A Friend >> FOOTBALL Joe Paterno Dies; New York And Boston Prepare For Super Bowl Rematch Four years after New York stunned previously undefeated New England in the Arizona desert, the Patriots and Giants are going at it again at the Super Bowl -- this time in Indianapolis. And embattled former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, having been fired for his neglect in the child abuse scandal at that program, died this weekend of lung cancer. READ MORE Send To A Friend >> CARTOON OF THE DAY Send To A Friend >>

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New York, NY 10001

Monday's Daily Brief

Monday, January 23, 2012 Arianna Huffington: Bienvenue sur Le Huffington Post! Arianna Huffington: Bonjour! Le Huffington Post, an international collaboration bringing together Le Monde, Les Nouvelles Éditions Indépendantes, and the Huffington Post Media Group's signature mix of news, blogging, community, and social engagement, arrives today. While we will be importing the platform, technology, and tools from across the pond, Le Huffington Post will be rooted in French culture and will reflect France's own unique personality, rich culture, and diversity of voices. And it will do so at a time when France's fortunes, challenges, and decisions are of great consequence not only to the people of France but to all of Europe and the world beyond. For me, today's launch is the culmination of a lifetime of loving France and I'm delighted to invite readers in France and French speakers throughout the world -- as well as those who care about its people, issues, and rich culture -- to join the conversation. SPORTS Super Bowl Matchup Set UK Britain, France And US Send Warships Through Gulf POLITICS Wasserman Schultz: Rep. Giffords Decided To Resign On Anniversary Of Tucson Shootings POLITICS Romney's Weak Week Leave The Former Shoo-In Stewing, Hoping For Florida Comeback In Florida BUSINESS Scientists Debate If Another Culprit Triggered Toyota's Sudden Acceleration Problem: Tin Whiskers BLOG POSTS Anne Sinclair: Who We Are Le Huffington Post will be a place to celebrate, debate, argue, imagine and inform. The media, in whatever form, is essential to the health of a democracy. And our team is united in our plans to be a small but essential part of this. Robert Kuttner: Obama's Mixed Messages President Obama is planning to strike a "populist" note in his State of the Union Address and in his re-election campaign. But economic populism would be a lot more credible if it had been the consistent message and program of his presidency. Mark L. Walberg: What I've Learned on Antiques Roadshow I will never be an expert on antiques. I will never be able to tell you if Ben Franklin once sat in that chair, or if it's from Ikea circa last Tuesday. But thanks to the people I meet on the road, I am beginning to learn what is truly valuable. Klaus Schwab: Beating the Burnout After a year characterized by major upheavals, many feel like we are watching a global system disintegrate: financial and debt crises, unemployment, political paralysis, social inequality, food and energy crises, and the list goes on. There is an urgent need for leaders to act. Patricia Zohn: Jules and Jim -- and Catherine Today marks the 50th anniversary of Francois Truffaut's Jules and Jim.

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