It’s a story of jihadism born in a Paris park and fueled in the prison yard. Many were just teenagers in 2005 when the Buttes-Chaumont group was broken up and many went to prison for their roles in sending young French Muslims to fight U.S. troops in Iraq. The arrests seemingly shattered the group. Ten years later, we know better. Via the New York Times.
The “unemployed” teen “delinquent” who was allegedly the third man in the Charlie Hebdo massacre wasn’t any of those things. Why was everyone so certain he was? Via Amy Davidson at the New Yorker.
Who is Hayat Boumeddiene, the most-wanted woman in France/the world? BBC: “She’s the 26-year-old widow of Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who held hostages in a Jewish supermarket and was shot dead by police on Friday. Boumeddiene is now in Syria, having crossed the border from Turkey, officials there say. She wears a full veil, which is banned in public in France, a decision that cost her a job as a cashier, French press reports say. She grew up in Val-de-Marne, to the south of Paris, and has six sisters and brothers…”
French prime minister: If 100,000 Jews leave France, France will no longer be France. Via the Atlantic.
One of the big stories in national politics today is the emerging pragmatism of the new class of Republican governors. But we could see a sequel very soon. The next question will be what happens when these governors face off with the more conservative members of their state legislatures? Via the New York Times.
Obama can’t avoid Keystone XL decision any longer. Via the National Journal.
How our reluctance to talk about death hurts the elderly. Via Vox.
Dan Balz on the Denver-area focus group conducted by Peter Hart: They don’t like dynasties. And they especially didn’t like the idea of a Bush dynasty. Via the Washington Post.
Ed Rogers writes in the Washington Post that the GOP field is actually winnowing — and that it won’t be the clown car field that Democrats are hoping for.
Is this the end for Peyton Manning? Via the New York Times.
[ Top photo: An alleged image of Hayat Boumeddiene, 2010 ]
