Supposedly, it’s over now except that there are more bodies to be found and buried. The death toll is up to 195 people and 3 more dead hostages have been found at the Chabad House.

Daily Mail UK, 8:00 pm EST: Up to SEVEN gunmen were British and ‘came from same area as 7/7 bombers’ British-born Pakistanis were among the Mumbai terrorists, Indian government sources claimed today, as the death toll rose to at least 155. As many as seven of the terrorists may have British connections and some could be from Leeds and Bradford where London’s July 7 bombers lived, one source said. Two Britons were among eight gunmen being held, according to Mumbai’s chief minister...

Every time one of the Mumbai attack sites is reportedly pacified and over, there are more gunshots, explosions. Whereas the entire series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai is awful, I have some comments about the attack on Chabad. The Chabad siege with dead hostages is reminiscent of the 1972 Munich Olympics attack on Israeli athletes known as the Munich massacre. Probably the most aggressive thing Rabbi Holtzberg ever did was urge a Jewish man passing by to put on tefillin. This is a declaration of...

Ynet News: The two-year-old son of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka is asking about the whereabouts of his parents, his nanny told Ynet. The nanny, Sandra Samuel, is a local who had been living with the family. She and the toddler are currently staying in the Israeli Consulate in Mumbai. “The baby is okay, but I have no idea about the couple. Nobody told us anything,” she said. “In the evening his mother always puts him to sleep and now he doesn’t understand what’s...

Jerusalem Post: Siege ends at Mumbai’s Taj Hotel State official says last 3 gunmen there have been killed; 119 people dead, 288 hurt in attacks. Jerusalem Post: 8 people seen near Chabad House not hostages Foreign Ministry Spokesman refutes earlier media reports; Indian commandos still waiting for opportune moment to storm building. Jerusalem Post: MDA, ZAKA dispatch teams to Mumbai Magen David Adom dispatched a team of paramedics, medics and other professionals to Mumbai Thursday to assist...

The death toll is up to 104, so far. Ynet News: The Foreign Ministry told Ynet on Thursday afternoon that 10 to 15 Israelis are being held hostage in various locations throughout the Indian city of Mumbai following Wednesday’s combined terror attacks….20-25 Israeli nationals have yet to contact families following terror attacks in Indian city. Drama near Chabad center continues, as militant phones TV channel to offer talks with government for release of hostages. Defense Minister Barak...

They are ‘militants’ or ‘freedom-fighters’ when they create carnage among strangers far away. They are ‘terrorists’ when they create carnage among those you know and love at home. In other words, there is no difference except hypocrisy and self-delusion.

Let me make a guess that al-Qaeda or an affiliated Islamist group is involved… UPDATE 11:00 PM EST: We have an informative comment on this post from Wil Robinson in Mumbai. Jerusalem Post: ‘Indian report says three dead in Chabad House’ According to CNN/IBN, three people were killed after shots were heard in the area of Chabad House in Mumbai, Israel Radio reported Thursday morning. The dead, a couple and a 16-year-old boy, were shot inside the Chabad House, the report said. The...

Cordel Faulk – IN THE RED CORNER… Here’s the worst kept secret in politics: Presidential campaigning never ends. For periods of time it becomes quieter–a little subtler–but it never stops. Every morning 100 senators, 50 governors, quite a few grandees in the House of Representatives, and an assortment of corporate titans all hear their Rice Krispies shouting “2012!” “FORM A PRESIDENTIAL EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE!” and “RUN … YOU’RE...

Larry J. Sabato: LESSONS SPOKE TO NATION’S MOOD This article is republished courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. As routine as elections may seem, they are the seminal events in the life of a democracy. Campaigns and elections not only set the direction of the Republic, they also shed light on America’s political health. Every November we have the opportunity to take stock of what we did at the polls, and what that says about the status of the 232-year-old American experiment. The...

UPDATE: Tsunami alerts have been canceled. AP via MSNBC: JAKARTA, Indonesia – A local geological agency official says a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake has struck eastern Indonesia. A tsunami warning was immediately issued. The official, Fauzi, said the underwater quake hit off Sulawesi island. He did not have any immediate reports about damage or injuries. The U.S. Geological Survey said Monday the quake struck 13 miles (21 kilometers) beneath the sea and was centered 54 miles from Gorantalo,...

Larry J. Sabato: NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNING–WHAT’S NEW? This article is republished courtesy of the Los Angeles Times. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson endured a presidential campaign in which supporters of his opponent, President John Adams, labored mightily to convince the public that the then-vice president was an atheistic coward hell-bent on ripping Bibles from the homes of God-fearing Americans. A Jeffersonian writer, in turn, called Adams a “hideous hermaphroditical character which...

Rhodes Cook – FROM REPUBLICAN ‘LOCK’ TO REPUBLICAN ‘LOCKOUT’?: Every day since Nov. 4, the scope of Democrat Barack Obama’s victory has grown more impressive. His electoral vote total of 364 is the highest for any presidential winner since Bill Clinton’s reelection in 1996. His 53 percent share of the total popular vote is the largest since George H.W. Bush won a comparable proportion in 1988. And Obama’s popular vote margin of 8 and a quarter million...

UPDATE: As delivered, with Q&A, by Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times: PRESS CONFERENCE WITH PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA AND VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN FOLLOWING THEIR MEETING WITH THE TRANSITION ECONOMIC ADVISORY BOARD HILTON CHICAGO, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 2:53 P.M. EST, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2008 PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you very much. This morning we woke up to more sobering news about the state of our economy. The 240,000 jobs lost in October...

Larry J. Sabato – THE CRYSTAL BALL SCORES NEAR PERFECT RECORD FOR ACCURACY IN PREDICTING 2008 ELECTION OUTCOMES The Crystal Ball is proud to announce that, with only a handful of official election outcomes still pending, we recorded a nearly perfect record of accuracy in predicting the results of the 2008 Election, including the correct October prediction of the final Electoral College total of 364 Obama, 174 McCain. The 2008 predictions of the Crystal Ball also matched, exactly, the results...

PSA: It’s time to take down and throw away political campaign signs abandoned on public and commercial property.

A Line at a Polling Site (obviously, not mine): Some of you may have noticed that I did not post yesterday. I got up at 4 AM to serve as Presiding Judge (on 4 hours of training) at a precinct located in a Roman Catholic church in a poor and heavily African-American area of Cincinnati. I did not get home until approximately 10 PM and was so exhausted that I was in bed by 11 PM. We set up Monday night. I was there at the scheduled time of 6 pm but the church was locked and we waited outside 30+ minutes....

The Best News of All? Not a Single Robo-Call Today!

Larry J. Sabato – THE LAST LAST WORD: The Crystal Ball’s Final Projections for the 2008 Election If Barack Obama wins the popular vote by 7 or 8 percentage points, then he will also carry at least a couple of the following states: Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, North Dakota. If Barack Obama should end up by 3 or 4 percent of the popular vote, then it is possible that John McCain will carry a couple of the following states: Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio. The Crystal Ball...

msnbc.com: BREAKING NEWS: Barack Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died in Honolulu CNN: Sen. Barack Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died after a battle with cancer, his campaign office says.