Wiretap: Vanishing airlines and buckets of ice water everywhere: Recapping the year that was

There’s no good explanation for anything that happened in 2014. But that doesn’t stop Dave Barry from cataloguing the strangeness, the good, bad and the ugly. It’s his annual year in review, and, because he’s still Dave Barry, the review is just as funny as the year was not. Via the Washington Post.

Krugman: Maybe you missed what has happened to the economy. It’s a swing and a hit. Via the New York Times.

If the American economy is taking off — while much of the rest of the advanced world struggles — should Obama get the credit? What do you think? Via the Boston Globe.

Two flights go missing, but their stories are not the same. Via the New York Times.

If you’re a liberal and you think the prospect of 2015 is scary, wait until you read this National Journal piece on the Supreme Court. It’s even worse than you thought.

The big news in Moscow, of course, is the collapse of the ruble. The big question in Moscow, now, is why didn’t anyone know it was coming. Via the New Yorker.

For years now, Americans have been driving less and less. Now along comes the return of cheap gas. Will that change anything? Via Vox.

Is the most powerful conservative in America losing his edge? Via the Atlantic.

Santa: Another epic fail, reindeer and all. Via P.J. O’Rourke at the Daily Beast.

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