Underpants Bomber Indicted, Investigating The TSA, C-SPAN Broken Promise, Yemen 101, Whale Wars, and Isaac Mizrahi

Hi everyone. We're still on the terrorism beat. The Underpants Bomber has been indicted and this, apparently, is an excellent opportunity to head to the Magic Wall. Anderson Cooper breaks down the charges. Then it's on to discussion with Jeffrey Toobin, David Gergen, and Fran Townsend. Not much to write home about here.

Of note, is the Gerg seeming to equate Nidal Hasan and Underpants guy. Maybe I missed it, but I wasn't aware they ever found a firm connection between Hasan and a terrorist organization. Anyway, we also got this surprising info from Toobin: "There hasn't been a successful military tribunal for terrorism since World War II." Hear that, conservatives? Finally, it's the general consensus that no one in the Obama Administration is getting fired over the debacle. Oh, Anderson will not be pleased.

On now to a Randi Kaye piece that tries to determine at just what level of incompetence the TSA is currently operating. Forgive me for slightly mixing my government bureaucracies, but we're at Code Orange here, people. All that money. All that training. What do we have? A system that routinely notifies airport police of illegal activity way after-the-fact and cameras that don't tape. Those puffer machines? Don't work. Pat downs? Nope. Bomb sniffing dogs? No so much--at least not all the time.

Perhaps if they actually had a TSA head, they could get a handle on this stuff. But the Party of No, otherwise known as Republicans, are blocking the current nominee. Eh, well, it's just a national security position. What could go wrong? After Randi's piece, she and Anderson are sure to reiterate that not all TSA people are bad. Yeah, some of their closest friends are TSA people! Kidding aside, yes, there's no reason to go all uber-reactionary on the TSA. Keep 'em honest for sure--they clearly need it, but everyone should remember their job is hella hard. They have to be successful all the time; the people they're trying to stop only have to be successful once.

Next up, a broken promise on health care transparency. Recently, the good geeks over at C-SPAN requested access to the inner workings of the health care reform reconciliation process. They want to show us the sausage being made, people. The White House response? Erm, they'll get back to us. Thing is though, deliberations on C-SPAN was a specific campaign promise made by Obama. The 360 kids give us a little reminder of this Daily Show-style, with a series of clips of the then-candidate basically saying, "We'll do it live! (On C-SPAN.)"

Joe Johns then joins us with more. Perhaps my partisanship is showing, but this whole thing irks me. Don't get me wrong, this is clearly a campaign promise (at this point) broken, and 360 is absolutely in the right to call a spade a spade. In fact, I think the White House is wrong here. Yet, this is such a small issue, and when I think of all the huge issues the media snoozed through during the last administration, well, my head explodes. But until they build time machines, eh, what are you gonna do? I do, however, wish some context was added by pointing out that though this promise was broken, the Obama administration is still leaps and bounds ahead of the last guys when it comes to transparency.

The Gerg then pops back in to in so many words tell us, "yeah, the public doesn't care about C-SPAN." (But I do!) He then goes back to his recently-set default of concern trolling. Topic? Health care reform polls, and how they're not so hot for the Obama camp. Asks our anchor, "What did they do wrong?" Oh, Anderson. Sure, they did lots of things wrong, but what I think people are forgetting--what I myself keep forgetting--is that no matter what, this was going to be UNBELIEVABLY hard. Yeah, we've all been through the ringer. A lot of people are now ticked for a myriad of reasons. It's not surprising, actually. Hell, even I flirted with the "kill the bill" side. That they've gotten this far at all is amazing.

Hey, remember when a week or so ago I said that Yemen was going to be the new "it" country? Well, buckle up for Yemen Terror 101. Your instructor is Anderson Cooper (oooh!) and your blackboard is the Magic Wall. The Bin Laden family's home town. The USS Cole. You get the drift.

From there we go to a piece from Paula Newton, actually set in Yemen. It's good to see 360 using these pieces. CNN has phenomenal international resources, yet the domestic channel seems to rarely use them except during breaking news. In her piece, Paula travels to an institute that Underpants Bomber guy attended and talks with the director. She also talks with an American studying in the country who says she could get explosives no problem. Oh, yay. Makes you feel all warm inside. But for some funny, Paula notes that prior to all this, when you mentioned Yemen to Americans, they'd think of this episode of "Friends." It's true! Yemen used to be the place you escaped to in order to hide from your girlfriend with the unbelievably annoying voice! Byyyyyy Yemen!

Next up, Anderson talks with Captain Paul Watson by phone about an incident that occurred in the Arctic Ocean between his boat and a Japanese whaling ship. Basically, the whaling ship rammed Captain Watson's boat (full of anti-whaling activists), cutting it in half and causing it to sink. One person was injured. The Japanese say unavoidable accident; the activists say deliberate attack. All this is documented by that show "Whale Wars" on Animal Planet. According to Watson, they're just trying to stop illegal whaling in an established sanctuary. The video is pretty crazy. I watched that show once. It was an episode where a whale was brutally killed, and they couldn't stop it, and a lot of them were just crying watching and, yeah, I haven't watched since. Important work though.

Moving on to the next segment of the "What's Next" series. Tonight's interview: Isaac Mizrahi. Yep, fashion. It was a fun little interview, but it didn't leave me with anything particularly insightful to say. I like how Anderson's mind is so blown over the concept that clothes look stupid to us with the passage of time. It's true though. Somewhere there exists a picture of a tweenage me in neon spandex shorts. Yes, I know. Also? Anderson is still "obsessed" with the Olsen twins? C'mon now.

In the "360 Bulletin" we got a clip of Richard Heene on Larry King Live. As much as I loath any mention of the Balloon Boy story, I have to admit, I cracked up over his overly dramatic crocodile tears. "Come on. What?" says our anchor. Exactly. We then get a little "Who the hell is Wolf?" because at this point, it's mandatory.

The "shot" tonight is kinda horrible video of a girl doing a back flip into a TV. That sooo could have easily ended in a serious injury or even death. Anderson, who claims this is the first time he is seeing the video, is horrified. Horrified! But then wants to see it again. Did I mention he's laughing? Our anchor is a terrible person. Good thing he's so hot. (Kidding, people. Kidding!)

The show was pretty good. Some reporting, honesty-keeping, and outside-the-box programming. Bravo. That'll do it.

Las Vegas Courthouse Shooting, Inaugural Threat, More On The Underpants Bomber, Cheney Emerges (Again), And A Medical Mystery Of The Positive Variety

Hi everybody. First review of the decade! Unfortunately, I think it's going to have to be of the bare bones variety. Your blogger is tired and still fighting what I've begun to refer to as "the sickness." I believe some of you out there on the interwebs know what I'm talking about. So, grab some tissues and a big bowl of chicken noodle soup. Time to get this pathetic little party started.

There's nothing like ushering in a new year with a good old fashioned shooting. *sigh* We're kicking off the broadcast with the news that 66-year-old Johnny L. Wicks opened fire at a Las Vegas courthouse, killing security officer Stanley W. Cooper, and wounding a a deputy United States marshal, before being taken out himself. Reportedly, Wicks was angry about a lost Social Security case.

Though an important story on its own, what no doubt specifically struck our news peeps' fancy is the fact that there's video. Pretty intense. Also? They've got the yellow "breaking news" chyron up, when this is soooo not "breaking." This will teach me not to praise them about that stuff.

On now to Anderson Cooper telling us that there's a new report out that shows an increase in threats against judges and prosecutors. This segues into an interview with Judge Suzanne Childers of Jefferson County, Alabama. Judge Childers doesn't just pack a gavel; she's packing heat. According to her, judges no longer have the security they once did. A tad disturbing.

Transitioning to New York Times reporter Peter Baker calling in to talk about the revelation of an inaugural day plot against Obama. I have yet to read Baker's piece, but it sounds like it's worth doing. The part about the "poison pen" is particularly interesting, though perhaps a little disappointing, seeing as though I initially thought he meant a literal poison pen. Very James Bonds-y! Don't judge me, people. I'm sick.

Moving on to some Magic Wall action to examine the frequent flyer miles of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. I gotta say, that name is waaaay too long. So what are we calling this guy? The Underwear Bomber? Captain Crotchfire? Flamey McExplosive-Nuts? Vote now! I'm going with Underpants Bomber unless otherwise corrected by the Internets. Anyway, Peter Bergen and Nic Roberson follow this up with discussion, but I'm going to have to take a pass.

Well, it's that time again. Lord Cheney has slithered out of his lair to tell lies and other related-BS to those good little stenographers over at Politico, who helpfully refrain from that bit of nastiness often known as "a follow up." Then, instead of shunning them as the link/click-bait whores that they are, the rest of the media eagerly gobbles up the Politico's "reporting" and serves it to We the People, who are so sick of this crap. Seriously, those people are an embarrassment to their profession. At least Chris Matthews seems to be on to their game. Watch him call out Jonathan Martin. I guess the idiom is right, even a broken clock is right twice daily.

As for 360, they played the big media circle jerk game, but oh, they went rogue! Instead of just regurgitating the BS, we get a piece from Joe Johns that fact-checks Cheney's statements that insinuate Obama is weak on terror. Hey guess what, Bush also released detainees! Hey guess what, Obama continually says we're at war! I'm assuming there was more, but I had to take a phone call. So...good. I loves me a fact-check, though I'm honestly torn on whether I want the media to play it this way or just stop acting like the man is relevant. Because he's not. And Politico can quote me on that.

Moving on now to a positive piece from Tom Foreman. Yes, positive pieces apparently exist. On Christmas Day, Tracy Hermanstorfer "died" while in labor with her son Coltyn. After several failed minutes of trying to revive her, the doctors quickly performed an emergency c-section to at least give Coltyn a chance. Unfortunately, he too appeared lost. But just when it looked like it was going to be the worst day of Mike Hermanstorfer's life, mom and baby came back from the dead. Yay!

The "Big 360 Interview" is then with the Hermanstorfer family. Well, okay, Coltyn's there, but he's not doing much talking. No one really has an explanation for what happened, though it is interesting that Tracy's troubles started right after the epidural. But I'm no doctor. I think you know what's coming, right? Sanjay Gupta to explain! Except, well, he doesn't know anything either. He did, however, write a whole book that nicely relates to this kind of thing. How convenient! Book pimping ensues.

I'm skipping the "shot" because it was sporty and I'm just not in the mood. The show wasn't bad. My commentary pretty much speaks for itself, though I will note that at this point I have no idea what they mean by "Big 360 Interview." At first it was just really important news makers (I think Clinton once), but lately they've also been adding in human interest story players. Not a big deal. I'm just saying the segment feels less like "Big 360 Interview" and more like "People We Could Get." That'll do it.

Check out my NYE post if you missed it. There's pictures!

Analyzing Intelligence Failures, The Yemen Factor, Sanjay Gupta's Year In Review, And Charlie Sheen Arrested

Hi everyone. Your blogger is feeling a little under the weather, so this will be another one of those less than thorough posts. But my snark can easily withstand the sniffles. Don't be going anywhere. Tonight Erica Hill continues her reign in the anchor chair. Anderson Cooper better watch it; she's getting pretty good at his gig.

We kick things off with the news that the father of attempted-bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab not only reported his son's radicalization to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, some of those communications involved CIA officials. From Jeanne Meserve we learn that there was even a report sent to the agency's headquarters in Langley, but it was never received by the wider intelligence community. Ohhhh bureaucracy, you're going to be the literal death of us, aren't you? I'm so glad we spent all those kazillions of dollars to take care of this stuff. Man, I need one of those stress balls.

Next up, we're joined by Barbara Starr, who has more on what is sure to be the first "it" country of 2010. Move over Iraq. Step out of the spotlight Afghanistan. As is the American custom of learning our geography through conflict, Yemen seems to be the next candidate the masses will soon be able to locate on a map. Barbara tells us that the U.S. is looking to hit back at the country, which appears to be where this latest attack attempt originated. Now, were we still under the last administration, this news would have me thinking "Oh God, now we're going to invade Yemen." What a difference a little over a year makes.

Peter Bergen then talks more about the strikes against Yemen targets, which we've actually already been conducting on the relative down low. This leads us into discussion with Frances Townsend, and Jeffrey Goldberg, author of that amazing piece on the TSA that I linked to yesterday. Frances has absolutely no credibility with me. Plus her status as a CNN contributor, coupled with her direct involvement in this story, makes this all very weird, if not outright conflict of interest-y. She should be held to account, yet she has this relationship with CNN. I guess everything is incestuous like that these days.

As for Jeffrey, he makes the excellent point that if a terrorist makes it to the airport, it's probably too late to stop him. In other words, our focus needs to be on things that occur way before we're taking off our shoes in the security line. The panel also talks about ramping things up in Yemen.

Moving on to a Randi Kaye piece on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's online activity. Apparently, he was lonely. I'd recommend Cymbalta over blowing up a plane full of people, but hey, that's just me. From here we talk with Peter Bergen and Kirk Lippold, former commander of the USS Cole. They discuss Al Qaeda recruitment and it's noted that the reason Umar joined up probably can't be pinpointed. Kirk is adamantly against returning Gitmo detainees to Yemen right now, which I suppose sounds reasonable.

Transitioning to Sanjay Gupta's Year in Review! How'd Sanjay get to be so special? Will we have a Gary Tuchman year in review? Randi Kaye? Anyway, Octomom. Natasha Richardson. Swine Flu. Mammograms. Oh my! Save the untimely death of Natasha, Sanjay has seen his share of freak out stories. Remember the very initial swine flu reporting when the media was like, "Zoh my God, swine flu!!" Dun dun dun!! Good times.

Next up, we have an Erica Hill piece on Charlie Sheen, who apparently got himself arrested for assaulting his wife. And I guess we're all supposed to care or something. I mean, don't get me wrong, domestic violence=very bad, but I'm not sure why I need to know about this specific couple. I do, however, appreciate the "History of Violence" graphic. Clever. In the piece, we learn that years ago Sheen shot then girlfriend Kelly Preston in the arm. This is relevant to me because a couple of months ago I went to a trivia night and it was one of my questions. Yeah, I got it wrong. Too late!

The "shot" tonight is a mashup of Billboard's top 25 hits, which Jack Gray has been rather enthusiastically pimping out on Twitter. It's pretty cool. Though I have to say, when it comes to videos that make me smile, this one-shot done to the Black Eye Pea's "I've Gotta Feeling" (Billboard's #4) totally takes the cake. No, it's not perfect, but it's a lot of fun.

The show was okay. Kinda veered off in the second half there with the Sanjay and Charlie Sheen stuff. But eh, holiday week. Guess we can't expect much different. That'll do it.

Terror Does Not Take A Holiday: The Attempted Explosion Of Northwest Delta Flight 253

Hi everyone. For those who celebrated, I hope you had a nice Christmas. I had a great time with family, and was still riding high with holiday spirit when I went to check out the latest happenings on Twitter. Always nice to get rudely slapped in the face with reality. Le sigh. For those who have blessedly been rock-dwelling these past few days, the basics: on Christmas day, a 23-year- old Nigerian named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to bring down Detroit-bound Northwest Delta Flight 253 by lighting a-flame explosives sewn into his underwear. Yes, his underwear.

To tell the truth, I've pretty much been avoiding all television news since this story broke. That tends to be where the majority of the inevitable stupidity is concentrated. The show tonight doesn't really fall in that realm of utterly ridiculousness, but I still think I'm going to bulldoze through it. I just can't get into this coverage. Intellectually, I know this is very important and the topics being discussed absolutely should be investigated. Yet I can't help feeling a visceral reaction of "meh." And I blame Bush.

Yes, scoff if you must. But I've realized that after everything we went through under that administration, I am no longer capable of believing anything I'm told about terrorism plots. My default is now stuck on "bullshit" and I don't know how to turn it off. I think my apathy also comes from a strong desire to just skip the political and media ridiculousness that always follows these types of incidents. Can someone just please let me know when the world becomes semi-rational again?

Anyway, Erica Hill, who appears to have a cold, is manning the ship tonight for an absent Anderson Cooper. Remember those explosive underwear I mentioned? CNN has pictures! Yeah, okay. Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula is claiming responsibility for the attack, but eh, it's too early to really pin that down.

We then move on to a Randi Kaye piece about all of the failures that allowed the suspect to get as far as he did. It really is jaw-dropping. The guy was on a Watch list, his own father reported him to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria...I mean, c'mon! But I suppose this shouldn't be surprising. I've always regarded the TSA as a joke. You really think taking your shoes off makes us safer? It's theater. The perception of safety; not actual safety. Check out this must read piece from the Atlantic published last year. When will we ever learn?

After Randi's piece, there's discussion with Ben Venske of IntelCenter, Jeanne Meserve, and Peter Bergen. Topics include underwear and crotch areas. This is really just a weird dream I'm having, right?

Erica then talks with some of the passengers on the flight. Again, this is information I can't quite believe. I can't help but wonder if they're embellishing to get on TV or maybe even simply misremembering certain facts. I don't want to assume these things, but you learn to be skeptical. As for the flight's hero, Jasper Schuringa (he tackled the guy), he wasn't on 360, but you might be interested to know he's making a pretty penny. The whole thing makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, huh?

Next up, a Candy Crowley piece on the response from President Obama. Oh my God, he waited three days before saying anything AND he didn't wear a tie! Personally, I didn't need him to say anything at all. The attack wasn't successful, and it's not like it was ongoing either (think Katrina). But from a PR standpoint, probably not a good move. And Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano screwed up big time by initially saying the system worked. Um, if a working system results in a dude almost blowing up his underwear, we're more screwed than I thought.

Moving on now to the requisite explosive demonstration. This is not the first time 360 has blown something up for our viewing benefit. Nic Robertson is our tour guide. I like how he runs away, but expert dude just kinda calmly walks. Anyway, ka-boom! End package.

We wrap things up with a Joe Johns piece on, well, that ridiculousness that I talked about previously. Now the TSA has even more rules AND there's talk of 3D body scans. Yes, that means naked you at the airport. It always flabbergasts me how quickly people will give up their rights for a little perception of security. As one of the guys in the piece says, at the airport, "we are essentially searched without a warrant."

I'm not an irrational person. Some security is definitely needed. But where does it end? How long before we're all handcuffed to our chairs in our skivvies? Back when Richard Reid made us all take off our shoes, some jokingly pondered what would happen if someone put a bomb in their underwear. Well folks, we're here. Are we all going to be required to go commando now? You know, at a certain point it becomes clear that we've stopped defending ourselves against terrorism and simply surrendered to it. All they have to do is send one yahoo who isn't even successful, and suddenly we're changing our way of life. Smart prevention. Some day maybe we'll try that way.

The "shot" tonight is Jib Jab's end of the year video. Most of that stuff I'd like to forget. That'll do it.

Edited to add: Another reason I can't get my freak out on over this latest incident: According to stat guru Nate Silver "you could board 20 flights per year and still be less likely to be the subject of an attempted terrorist attack than to be struck by lightning."