Talk Me Down! Isn't the idea of indefinite preventive detention radically unconstitutional?

***We didn't present last night's opening story as a Talk Me Down segment but given the amount of reaction it has received it seems fitting to offer it for discussion.

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Talk me down! Can the U.S. afford the cost of victory in Afghanistan?

Last week, on Thursday, we reported the buzz that U.S. troops had shot down a drone over Iraq -- a drone that they said was Iranian. The U.S. military just today confirmed that the drone-shootdown did in fact happen.

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Talk me down! Is Mexico's drug trade America's biggest threat?

These days you don't have to go to South Asia to find a country our Defense Department is very worried about. You can take I-35. You can walk! Mexico has landed on the U.S. national security worry list.

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Talk me down! A democracy cannot thrive by blog alone, can it?

Left, right, and center, it's hard to find anyone who admits to being a fan of the news media.

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Talk Me Down! Has the stimulus bill had all the stimulation 'compromised' out of it?

Late today, Congressional Democrats and their coveted three Republican partners (Three! In total!) announced they made a deal to pass a plan to save the economy. Their press conference today at times seemed like a sort of Economic-Stimulus-Compromise Awards Show.

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Talk Me Down! Is the new TARP plan as bad as my (and Wall Street's) initial sense of it?

Imagine having the Treasury Secretary's job right now.

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Talk me down! Are Bush era moles distorting Obama's policies to make it look like he agrees with Bush?

You can call it paranoid pragmatism: Encouraging hope for the best... but expectation of the worst. "You deserve every good thing, honey, but it's probably never gonna happen!" That's what I tell my dog, every day, while he stares at the aquarium and drools.

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Talk Me Down! President Obama, what's with the lobbyists?

Candidate Obama on the campaign trail, NOVEMBER 3, 2007:

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Talk Me Down! Is politics still mired in Bush era scare tactics?

There are about 245 prisoners still at America's most famous offshore prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Of those 245, the Bush administration had brought charges against 21 of them. That's it.

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Talk Me Down! Is the GOP wasting precious time with petty grievances?

In his inaugural address yesterday, President Obama proclaimed an end to the "petty grievances ... that for far too long have strangled our politics." And today, what's he dealing with? What seems like a lot of seemingly petty grievances.

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Talk Me Down! Are Republicans going to play politics with the economy?

Time for a talk-me-down you might not see coming. Retail sales plunged 2.7 percent in December -- you know, the month with all the holidays and present-buying? That drop is more than double what Wall Street expected.

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Talk Me Down! Is TARP a Trap?

Ah, TARP! The Troubled Asset Relief Program. An Asset Relief Program? Supposed to be! Troubled? Totally!

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Talk me down! How can the U.S. spread democracy when we're compromising our own principles?

"Under my administration, the United States does not torture. We will abide by the Geneva Conventions, that we will uphold our highest values and ideals." -Barack Obama, January 9, 2009

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Talk me down! Is there any good solution to Afghanistan?

There's a Congressionally funded institute called the U.S. Institute of Peace.

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Talk Me Down! Can Congress get its act together fast enough to save the economy?

As if more proof were possibly needed that the economy is in dire need of immediate and massive help, look no further than the great state of North Carolina where not once, but twice this week alone, the sheer number of people seeking unemployment benefits has crashed the state's …

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Welfare Rolls See First Climb in Years

For the first time since welfare was redefined a dozen years ago, weaning millions of poor Americans from monthly government checks, the deteriorating economy is causing a surge in welfare rolls in a growing number of states.

At M.T.A. Hearing, Another Shoe Almost Dropped

One transit rider was so infuriated on Wednesday by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's decision to slash service and raise fares that he tried to follow the example set by Muntader al-Zaidi, the 29-year-old Iraqi journalist who hurled two shoes at President Bush on Sun …

Tortured reasoning

George W. Bush defended harsh interrogations by pointing to intelligence breakthroughs, but a surprising number of counterterrorist officials say that, apart from being wrong, torture just doesn't work.

MSNBC's Maddow: Did America Get Punked On the Bailout? Yes...Now Here's What to Do.

"I appeared on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show last night to discuss my latest newspaper column about the bailout. You can watch the clip here.

Nepotism Nation: Dems embrace dynasty politics

"Barack Obama's path to the presidency included beating what had been one of the nation's most powerful families. But, in an unusual twist, his election last month is helping accelerate the trend toward dynasty politics."

Bush-Era Abortion Rules Face Possible Reversal; Obama Unlikely To Let "Right of Conscience" Rule Stand

The outgoing Bush administration this week will finalize a regulation establishing a "right of conscience" allowing medical staff to refuse to participate in any practice they object to on moral grounds, including abortion but possibly birth control and other health care as well.

Talk me down! Might Blagojevich beat these charges?

When the singer R. Kelly was facing really quite mind-blowing underage sex charges, a Chicago lawyer named Ed Genson defended him successfully. Mr. Kelly was acquitted of those charges. Mr. Genson has now moved on to defending...

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Russian treason bill could target Kremlin critics

Under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, people who fraternized with foreigners or criticized the Kremlin were "enemies of the people" and sent to the gulag. Now there's new legislation backed by Vladimir Putin's government that human rights activists say could throw Russia back to the days of the Great Terror.

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Fannie Mae Lets Renters Stay Despite Foreclosures

In a move that provides relief to thousands of renters who face eviction but draws the federal government even deeper into the housing market, the loan giant Fannie Mae said Sunday that it would sign new leases with renters living in foreclosed properties owned by the company.

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