HMM: “A protest against Israeli operations in Gaza was called off because not enough Palestinians showed up.”

“So not only are the Saudis and others dragging their feet, but the meeting on Gaza will be a side show to more pressing business – an economic summit. What we are seeing is a realignment of Middle East interests.”

THIS SOUNDS LIKE A POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT: “The so-called ‘Iranian Unit’ of Hamas has been destroyed, according to Gaza sources cited Thursday by the Haaretz daily. The sources said most of the unit’s 100 members were killed in fighting in the Zeytun neighborhood of Gaza City.”

Plus, this from a captured terrorist: “Hamas took a gamble. We thought, at worst Israel will come and do something from the air – something superficial. They’ll come in and go out. We never thought that we would reach the point where fear will swallow the heart and the feet will want to flee. You [Israel] are fighting like you fought in ’48. What got into you all of a sudden?”

IN THE MAIL: Thomas Barnett’s Great Powers: America and the World After Bush.

Plus, an elaborate photographic tribute album, Yes We Can: Barack Obama’s History-Making Presidential Campaign. Inspirational photos from the campaign, with glowing blurbs from leading journalists.

ANDY KESSLER: The End of Citi’s Financial Supermarket.

A FIRSTHAND LOOK AT the real Guantanamo.

OBAMA CONSIDERS SUBSTITUTING “other mechanisms” for Card Check.

FINE CORINTHIAN LEATHER: Remembering Ricardo Montalban. With video.

ARE POLICE TAKING SIDES in anti-Israel protests? It’s all about who they’re afraid of, ultimately.

RADLEY BALKO: A (Mild) Defense of the Cop in the BART Shooting. No, really.

A LOOK AT OBAMA’S FOREIGN POLICY: “The Bush Doctrine is alive and well.” We’ll see.

HOPE AND CHANGE: Obama gives green light to coal energy.

DAVID HARSANYI: Debate Over: It’s Freezing.

Me, I’m grateful for all the carbon emissions from the Obama inaugural. The world’s looking more and more like Fallen Angels all the time.

ARE WE SPENDING ENOUGH YET?

UPDATE: A suggestion from Jerry Pournelle.

CLOSING the innovation gap.

THE TWENTY most gerrymandered Congressional districts. Note the party distribution.

MICKEY KAUS ON LABOR POLITICS: “Old Rules: You demanded higher wages and held rallies against your employer. … New Rules: You demand higher wages, help drive your employer into bankruptcy, and then you hold rallies against the government that bailed you out.”

HOPE MEETS CHANGE: “A few days ago, Obama was promising that 95% of working people would get a tax cut. The House has scaled that back to make it more affordable. It will be interested to see how the burgeoning young professional class that disproportionately supported Obama–the folks who are making good money, but living in expensive cities and still struggling with rent and loans–will take this.”

ROBERT REDFORD: Enemy of the poor? “Clergymen link famed moviemaker’s stance to racism.”

D.C. EXAMINER: Obama Should Give Geithner the Hook.

A PACK, NOT A HERD:

After a stricken US Airways jet made an extraordinary emergency landing in the Hudson River on Thursday, a flotilla of commuter ferries, water taxis and other boats plucked all 155 passengers and crew — many shivering as they stood on the plane’s wings — to safety in as little as five minutes. . . .

Once the plane was down, the ferries and other boats immediately went into action.

“Hurry up, guys! Man overboard!” shouted Vince Lombardi, the captain of the ferry Thomas Jefferson. Lombardi and his crew were among the first at the scene and rescued 56 people, he said. “They were shouting ‘I’m cold, I’m cold.’ “

I’ll bet they were. And Vince Lombardi? You gotta love that. Meanwhile, the New York-area waterfolk distinguished themselves on September 11, and they did it again, yesterday.

SENATE GIVES OBAMA use of a bailout.

“IT IS FRIGHTENING:” The spending plan is out.

HEH: Situational Partisan Inaugural Outrage.

DOGGONE IT, just get the puppy already.

JOE THE PLUMBER ANSWERS HIS CRITICS: And with more class than was displayed by Mr. Sanchez, who comes across as something of an ass. And a self-important one, at that. But, then, self-importance goes with “status anxiety.”

UPDATE: Professional journalism in its glory.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader C.J. Burch emails: “Which media people do a ‘great job’ exactly? I keep hearing about these people that are doing a great job, but I keep seeing Sanchez and Olberman. Maybe that’s something the people that are doing a ‘great job’ should try to straighten out.”