Top Items:
Evan Newmark / Deal Journal:
Mean Street: The Sham of a Mockery of an Obama Jobs Summit — What is it about Thursday's White House “jobs summit” that rubs me the wrong way? — All presidents engage in these sorts of elaborate PR stunts. Why not just dismiss it as another meaningless piece of Washington political theater?
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The Caucus:
White House Blocks Testimony on Party Crashers — Updated | 10:22 p.m. The White House on Wednesday invoked the separation of powers to keep Desiree Rogers, President Obama's social secretary, from testifying on Capitol Hill about how a couple of aspiring reality television show celebrities crashed …
Discussion:
Top of the Ticket, Time, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Front Row Washington, Jules Crittenden, Outside The Beltway, Agence France Presse, American Power, Balkinization, White House.gov Blog Feed, Commentary, Stop The ACLU, Prairie Weather, Washington Post, PoliBlog, TPMDC, JammieWearingFool, Michelle Malkin and Shakesville
USA Today:
Mr. President, here's how to lift our economy — Today's White House jobs summit comes too late for millions of Americans who through no fault of their own have lost their jobs, their homes, their savings and, in many cases, the self-esteem and self-respect that come from work.
Discussion:
The Politico, Wall Street Journal, Another Black Conservative, The Note, The Page, GOP 12 and The Hill
Robert J. Samuelson / Washington Post:
Job creation made hard — You have to be mighty isolated not to know someone who has been laid off, was forced into early retirement or — just entering the labor market — can't find a job. Unemployment of 10.2 percent is still below the post-World War II peak of 10.8 percent of late 1982 …
Walter Alarkon / The Hill:
Job proposals from Democrats could add $300 billion in new federal spending — The cost of a new jobs bill Democrats hope to move early next year runs to nearly $300 billion when major proposals under serious consideration are added up. — Lawmakers are calling for extending aid to the unemployed …
ABCNEWS:
Obama Jobs Summit: Progress or PR Stunt? — Obama: ‘We Will Not Rest Until We Are ... Generating the Jobs That This Economy Needs’ — Is the White House jobs summit an event that will spur tangible actions or simply a glorified public-relations stunt? — Some are asking that question …
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Poll finds adults identifying as Republicans increase, while Democrats dwindle; gap closes to only 2.9% — On Nov. 4, 2008, Americans by a lopsided margin turned over complete control of the federal government to the Democratic Party — the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House …
Newsdesk / Page's Page:
Bill Ayers dumps Obama — To hear the right-wing crowd, you would think Bill Ayers and President Barack Obama were joined at the hip. — Who could forget Sarah Palin's charge that Obama was “palin' around with terrorists”? — Well, goodbye to all that.
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Eliot A. Cohen / Wall Street Journal:
A Wartime President — Obama's commitment in Afghanistan means losing old friends and winning uncomfortable new ones. — Printer — Friendly — When it comes to President Barack Obama's long-awaited decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, there are three main points to consider …
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Felix Salmon:
The return of the plutocrats — It's December, which means it's bonus season, and time for more than the usual amount of bellyaching about pay. Will Bank of America's TARP repayment give it a bit more wiggle room in terms of CEO compensation, thereby broadening the field of potential successors to Ken Lewis?
Discussion:
The Awl
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Susanne Craig / Wall Street Journal:
Goldman Takes Offensive on Pay
Goldman Takes Offensive on Pay
Discussion:
Megan McArdle, The Confluence, FT Alphaville, Wonk Room, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and The New Republic
Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Justice Dept.'s second in command is stepping aside — Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, the Justice Department's second in command, is stepping aside to return to private law practice in Washington after less than a year of service, according to two sources familiar with the move.
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Researcher: NASA hiding climate data — The fight over global warming science is about to cross the Atlantic with a U.S. researcher poised to sue NASA, demanding release of the same kind of climate data that has landed a leading British center in hot water over charges it skewed its data.
Tim Arango / New York Times:
Comcast Gets NBC From G.E. in Deal That Reshapes TV — After nearly nine months of negotiations, Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, finally reached an agreement on Thursday to acquire NBC Universal from the General Electric Company. — The deal valued NBC Universal at about $30 billion.
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Law Blog, Wall Street Journal, Free Press, Romenesko and Joe. My. God.
Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Mall of America officials backtrack on banning non-English speaking reporters from Palin's book event. — On Dec. 7, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin will be at the Mall of America to sign copies of her new book. In advance of her visit, mall officials sent out a message to reporters: If you don't speak English, stay away.
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Boxer: Hackers should face criminal probe over ‘Climategate’ — Leaked e-mails allegedly undermining climate change science should be treated as a criminal matter, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Wednesday afternoon. — Boxer, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee …
Discussion:
Donklephant, AmSpecBlog, Hot Air, Stop The ACLU, Pajamas Media, Firedoglake, Confederate Yankee, Gateway Pundit and Eschaton
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Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Washington Times cuts in staff, coverage cue new era — The Washington Times, which gained a strong foothold in a politically obsessed city as a conservative alternative to much of the mainstream media, is about to become a drastically smaller newspaper. — Nearly three decades …
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blog, New York Times, TPM LiveWire, The Corner on National … and Gawker
Christianity Today:
Q & A: Mike Huckabee — Mike Huckabee wants pastors to be more graphic about Christmas. The former Southern Baptist pastor says that the church has sanitized the holiday and should tell it like it happened. The former governor of Arkansas recently finished his 64-city book tour for his book …
Robert Draper / New York Times:
It's Just a Texas-Governor Thing — “Now I think you're on to a better subject,” declared Gov. Rick Perry aboard a private plane as the topic turned to Texas. With relish, the longest-serving governor in the state's history recounted its uninhabitable past.
Naftali Bendavid / Washington Wire:
Rep. Hoyer: 2010 Isn't 1994 — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) told a small gathering of reporters this morning that Democrats know 2010 will be a tough election year. But unlike 1994 when they were swept out of power for the first time in 40 years, they're ready this time, he said.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
Pew Research Center:
U.S. Seen as Less Important, China as More Powerful — Isolationist Sentiment Surges to Four-Decade High — The general public and members of the Council on Foreign Relations are apprehensive and uncertain about America's place in the world. Growing numbers in both groups …
Paul Schindler / gaycitynews.com:
Albany Delivers Staggering, Bitter Defeat — State Senate rejects marriage equality 38-24, with no support from Republicans — Since May, Senator Thomas K. Duane, a Chelsea Democrat and the chamber's only out gay member, has said he had the votes to pass the marriage equality bill he sponsors.
Jonathan Liew / Telegraph:
All men watch porn, scientists find — Scientists at the University of Montreal launched a search for men who had never looked at pornography - but couldn't find any. — Researchers were conducting a study comparing the views of men in their 20s who had never been exposed to pornography with regular users.
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway
Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:
Homeland Security chief warns of threat from al-Qaeda sympathizers in U.S. — Al-Qaeda followers are inside the United States and would like to attack targets here and in other countries, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday night. — The secretary's comments …