Top Items:
Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:
To the Rescue: Bush to Give Low-Interest Loans to Carmakers — Obama Team Agrees to Bush's Strategy — The White House has decided to come to the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler by providing them with $17.4 billion in low-interest loans to keep them afloat, ABC News has learned.
RELATED:
John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:
Auto Makers to Get $17.4 Billion — The White House announced a $17.4 billion rescue package for the troubled Detroit auto makers that allows them to avoid bankruptcy and leaves many of the big decisions for the incoming Obama administration. — Speaking from the White House …
The Politico:
Bush announces $17.4 billion auto bailout — President Bush stepped in Friday to keep America's auto industry afloat, announcing a $17.4 billion bailout for GM and Chrysler, with the terms of the loans requiring that the firms radically restructure and show they can become profitable soon.
CNN:
Bush: Feds to lend $13.4 billion to automakers — WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush said Friday the federal government will provide $13.4 billion in loans to automakers General Motors Corp. and Chrysler to prevent “an unacceptably painful blow” should the Detroit giants fail.
New York Times:
Bush Approves $17.4 Billion Auto Bailout — WASHINGTON — President Bush on Friday announced $13.4 billion in emergency loans to prevent the collapse of General Motors and Chrysler, and another $4 billion available for the hobbled automakers in February with the entire bailout conditioned …
Tim Weiner / New York Times:
W. Mark Felt, Watergate Deep Throat, Dies at 95 — W. Mark Felt, who was the No. 2 official at the F.B.I. when he helped bring down President Richard M. Nixon by resisting the Watergate cover-up and becoming Deep Throat, the most famous anonymous source in American history, died Thursday.
Discussion:
The Politico, Guardian, JammieWearingFool, Gawker, Gateway Pundit, Ed Driscoll.com and Romenesko
RELATED:
Patricia Sullivan / Washington Post:
‘Deep Throat’ Mark Felt Dies at 95 — W. Mark Felt Sr., the associate director of the FBI during the Watergate scandal who, better known as “Deep Throat,” became the most famous anonymous source in American history, died yesterday. He was 95. — Felt died at 12:45 p.m. at his home in Santa Rosa, Calif.
Johanna Neuman / Los Angeles Times:
W. Mark Felt, ‘Deep Throat’ in Watergate reports, dies
W. Mark Felt, ‘Deep Throat’ in Watergate reports, dies
Discussion:
Hot Air
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Madoff Economy — The revelation that Bernard Madoff — brilliant investor (or so almost everyone thought), philanthropist, pillar of the community — was a phony has shocked the world, and understandably so. The scale of his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme is hard to comprehend.
Joe Solmonese / Washington Post:
Obama's Inaugural Mistake — It is difficult to comprehend how our president-elect, who has been so spot on in nearly every political move and gesture, could fail to grasp the symbolism of inviting an anti-gay theologian to deliver his inaugural invocation. And the Obama campaign's response to the anger about this decision?
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Note, HRC Back Story, AMERICAblog News and Lynn Sweet
RELATED:
Jeff Poor / The Business & Media Institute:
CNN Meteorologist: Manmade Global Warming Theory ‘Arrogant’ — Network's second meteorologist to challenge notion man can alter climate. — Business & Media Institute — Unprecedented snow in Las Vegas has some scratching their heads - how can there be global warming with this unusual cold and snowy weather?
The Politico:
Labor ties drive Solis pick — Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-Calif.) will take over the Labor Department in an imploding job market, while Big Labor is licking its chops for payback in Washington. — So why is she giving up a potential leadership track in the House for one of the more daunting cabinet jobs?
Discussion:
TPM Election Central
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Advocates for Action on Global Warming Chosen as Obama's Top Science Advisers — President-elect Barack Obama has selected two of the nation's most prominent scientific advocates for a vigorous response to climate change to serve in his administration's top ranks, according to sources …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Boston Globe, Environmental Capital, Stop The ACLU, Oliver Willis and Firedoglake
RELATED:
Richard A. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:
The Employee Free Choice Act Is Unconstitutional — Free speech and the takings clause are at stake. — A top priority of the incoming Democratic Congress and Obama administration is the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act. The EFCA, as is well known, introduces a card-check procedure …
Discussion:
Babalu Blog, LiberalOasis, Betsy's Page, Chronicle of the Conspiracy, RedState and Power Line
Josh Kraushaar / The Politico:
Coleman leads Franken by just 2 votes — Two votes is all that stands between Minnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken, according to the Associated Press tally in the state's still-unresolved Senate race. — Coleman's shrinking lead, combined with a state Supreme Court decision handed …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Democrats Are the New Ethics Story — Blagojevich is just the tip of the iceberg. — A note to all those visitors who will soon flood Washington for the inauguration: Be careful of the “swamp.” — That would be the swamp Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to drain when she led her party to victory in 2006.
Chris Vogel / Houston Press:
Police Get The Wrong House In Galveston, Allegedly Assault 12-Year-Old Girl — It was a little before 8 at night when the breaker went out at Emily Milburn's home in Galveston. She was busy preparing her children for school the next day, so she asked her 12-year-old daughter, Dymond, to pop outside and turn the switch back on.
Kathleen Parker / Washington Post:
Caroline Kennedy Is No Sarah Palin — WASHINGTON — It is a legitimate question: Why is the resume-thin Caroline Kennedy being treated seriously as a prospective appointee to the U.S. Senate when the comparatively more-qualified Gov. Sarah Palin received such a harsh review?
Scott Horton / Harper's:
“The American Public has a Right to Know That They Do Not Have to Choose Between Torture and Terror": Six questions for Matthew Alexander, author of How to Break a Terrorist — At 5:15 p.m. on June 7, 2006, two American F-16 fighters dropped 500-pound bombs on a farmhouse about five miles north of the Iraqi town of Baqubah.