If you go to the Drudge Report right now, you'll see the teaser:

PAPER: Soros 'at center of hedge funds plot to cash in on demise of the euro'...

If you click on the link, you'll see the Mail Online headline:

Man who broke the Bank of England, George Soros, 'at centre of hedge funds plot to cash in on fall of the euro'

If you read the lead paragraph, you'll see:

A secretive group of Wall Street hedge fund bosses are said to be behind a plot to cash in on the decline of the euro.

And if you read the entire story, you'll see it is spun entirely around a private dinner meeting that Soros himself did not attend: [Read more]

The disconnect never fails to amaze me. Death on a personal level is a heart-wrenching, life-altering affair. The recovery is a long process, filled with grief. Losing a loved one stays with you until you finally join them. But being part of the machine that gives others the same grief on a spectacular level has little to no effect.

I’d like to say I brim with outrage every time I see mention of civilian casualties during war time. I’d like to say I vehemently protest each unmanned drone that takes out a village along with a terrorist, leaving carnage and heartache in its wake. [Read more]

As Iran is in the midst of severe domestic turmoil and an uprising of its populace, Senate Republicans are prepared to do whatever it takes to save the brave American populace from the clutches of evil dictator President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his boss, the Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Because for them, the situation in Iran has aways been about democracy. [Read more]

The far right, convinced that Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were planning to destroy the world today with its massive, unchecked nuclear arsenal, can rest easy thus far, as Iran seems only intent on showing the world it’s military might by making life Hell for its own people.

In his address, Mr. Ahmadinejad praised the achievements of the Iranian people and railed against the West. [Read more]

Louie Psihoyos wants to win an Academy Award. For the Director of the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Cove,” being nominated is great, but when the envelope is opened, he wants to hear his film called out. Mind you, Psihoyos doesn’t much care about the award itself (“I’d probably give it to the crew,” he said.), but he wants what he sees as the biggest benefit an Oscar offers – a massive audience. [Read more]

Listening to Marketplace this evening, I heard guest Tyler Cowen mention that the people of Haiti are literally eating mudcakes.  This struck me as astonishing, so I immediately employed the use of Google to verify whether this was true.  Well, it turns out that it is:

At first sight the business resembles a thriving pottery. In a dusty courtyard women mould clay and water into hundreds of little platters and lay them out to harden under the Caribbean sun. [Read more]

There was a time not long ago that Osama bin Laden was the world’s most feared man. The 9/11 mastermind was “Wanted: Dead or Alive.” He was the devil incarnate.

Now, he’s an environmentalist. From the Washington Post:

CAIRO — Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has called in a new audiotape for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and other industrialized countries for global warming. [Read more]

CAVE 11, Pakistan – Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, upset that his most recent video failed spectacularly, has announced plans to “retool” his show. [Read more]

Last Thursday, I received a phone call from my friend, Lily, a San Francisco native halfway through her kindergarten year. In truth, we are more than friends. We married in an unofficial ceremony during the summer of 2008, and over a few brief hours of marital bliss and several cups of imaginary tea, we were blessed with four or five children, one of whom resembled a furry red monster. But alas, the marriage could not survive the age and geographical distances. We drifted apart. Lily claims not to remember the wedding, and the kids are stuffed in a box somewhere. [Read more]

Just thinking … [Read more]

As the world tries to comprehend just how horrifying the situation is in Haiti, news of the fall-out from the 7.0 Earthquake has steadily been coming in throughout the early morning. [Read more]

Ok, maybe not quite that over the top, but the Intelligence Industry really dropped the ball on the Underpants Terrorist kid. And by “dropped the ball,” I mean “Put thousands in needless risk.” I do expect there to be attempted attacks that will get past authorities somehow, but this is sounding quite abysmal.

That aside, Yemen.

–WKW [Read more]

ITALY - Blogger William K. Wolfrum today sent Happy New Years greetings to all his friends, family and readers. Upon hearing this news, U.S. officials quickly surmised that the greeting likely originated in Yemen.

"At this point it may be too early to tell, but we have it on good authority that the New Years greetings in question more than likely originated in Yemen," said an anonymous U.S. official. "Al Qaeda has a stronghold in Yemen, and the recent attempted terrorist attack came from someone in Yemen. Yemen." [Read more]