Top Items:
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
GOP POISED TO KILL TAX-EXTENDERS BILL.... For weeks, Senate Democrats have tried to pass what's called the “tax-extenders bill” — a key economic package that extends unemployment benefits, maintains popular tax breaks, protects doctors from Medicare cuts, and boosts state aid to prevent massive job layoffs in the states.
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Ezra Klein:
The Senate unemployment bill founders — Before talking about what's happened to the Senate jobs bill, it's worth first talking about what's in the Senate jobs bill. — The biggest and most important item is the extension of unemployment insurance. This comes in a few different parts …
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Senate Republicans Team Up With Ben Nelson to Strangle Economic Recovery — Arthur Delaney reports that “Democratic leaders in the Senate have apparently failed to win enough support to overcome a Republican filibuster of a bill to help the poor, the old and the jobless …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, Wonk Room, Doug Ross, The Impolitic, New Deal 2.0 and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Jay Heflin / The Hill:
Senate Dems fail to advance tax extenders bill for the third time — Senate Democrats on Thursday failed for a third time to advance legislation to extend unemployment benefits through November. — In a 57-41 vote, the Senate failed to end debate on the legislation.
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
The Night Beat: Obama Borrows the Military Back — Good evening. — THE PRESIDENT'S POINT: Beginning in the early afternoon, a cadre of military and civilian soldiers loyal to Gen. Stanley McChrystal began to spread rumors throughout the capital city: that ground commanders in Afghanistan …
Discussion:
National Review, Balloon Juice, The Corner on National …, Moonbattery, The Moderate Voice, Pajamas Media, Gateway Pundit and VetVoice
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Gates advocated keeping McChrystal, source says — Washington (CNN) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates backed keeping Gen. Stanley McChrystal on the job because he was vital to the war effort in Afghanistan, but Gates was overruled, a senior Pentagon official told CNN's Barbara Starr.
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
McChrystal's Social Liberalism and the Integration of Gays in the Military
McChrystal's Social Liberalism and the Integration of Gays in the Military
Discussion:
Wonk Room
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Justices Limit Use of ‘Honest Services’ Law Against Fraud — WASHINGTON — Ruling for two prominent corporate executives in prison for fraud, the Supreme Court on Thursday dramatically narrowed the scope of a law often used by federal prosecutors in corruption cases.
Discussion:
Washington Post, TalkLeft, Law Blog, SCOTUSblog, Sentencing Law and Policy, Prairie Weather and First Draft
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Josh Gerstein / Josh Gerstein's Blog:
Supreme Court, 8-1, upholds petition disclosure — The Supreme Court, by a vote of 8 to 1 and with nearly as many opinions as there are justices, has upheld a Washington state law that requires the public disclosure of the names and addresses of referendum petition signers.
The Smoking Gun:
Al Gore A “Crazed Sex Poodle?” — Masseuse's claims read like R-rated vice presidential fan fiction — In a bizarre statement to police, the Oregon woman who claims that Al Gore fondled and groped her during a massage session described the former Vice President as a giggling “crazed sex poodle” …
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Sarah Palin is toxic — Commentators keep telling us how influential Sarah Palin's endorsements are, and even if the whole “mama grizzly” meme is clearly overstated, there's no quibbling with the fact that Palin has pull among GOP primary voters. — But the more interesting point …
Discussion:
CNN, Left Coast Rebel, Newsbroke, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Ben Smith's Blog and Des Moines Register
Michael Memoli / The Swamp:
Senate Dems vow action on energy bill — Moved by photos of the devastation from the Gulf oil spill, Democratic senators emerged this afternoon from a caucus-wide meeting determined to tackle a comprehensive energy bill this summer — regardless of legislation's ability to win the 60 votes needed to pass.
Discussion:
D.C. Now
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BayouBuzz:
Judge Faces Death Threats After BP Gulf Oil Drilling Moratorium Ruling — New Orleans—While many Americans undoubtedly agree with the decision of U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman to overturn the Obama administration's moratorium on deep water drilling, not everyone is happy.
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Harris: Obama knew of Blagojevich plot — A top aide to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he believed Barack Obama knew of Blagojevich's plot to win himself a presidential Cabinet post in exchange for appointing Valerie Jarrett to the U.S. Senate. — John Harris, Blagojevich's former chief of staff …
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Scarborough: “Why is Joe Barton being allowed to keep his job?” — “Why is Joe Barton being allowed to keep his job, when Joe Barton apologized to a corporation that is destroying my home town's economy, and is destroying the environment across the Gulf Coast?”
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Ben White / The Politico:
Bank execs panic over proposed change to orderly liquidation authority — Dodd unhappy with Brown — Zero hour arrives as derivatives, ‘Volcker rule’ remain unresolved — Presented by Merchants Payments Coalition — DOUBLE SIREN EXCLUSIVE - Bank executives were panicking last night …
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Harkin hints ‘card-check’ bill could move during lame-duck session of Congress — Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) suggested Thursday that Democrats might attempt to move “card-check” legislation this year, perhaps during a lame-duck session. — Harkin, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education …
Discussion:
Beltway Confidential
Kirsten Grieshaber / Associated Press:
Group of youths attack Jewish dance group — BERLIN - A Jewish dance group was attacked with stones by a group of children and teenagers during a performance at a street festival in the Germany city of Hannover, police said Thursday. One dancer suffered a leg injury and the group then canceled their performance.
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Video-Rep. Kanjorski: ‘Finance bill will help good Americans, not minorities or defective people’ — Connie Hair at Human Events has posted this shocking video of Rep. Paul Kanjorski, Pennsylvania Democrat, at a Wednesday conference committee hearing to merge the House and Senate versions …
Discussion:
Human Events, Hot Air, The Blast, Gawker, theblogprof, Washington Post, Pajamas Media, The Corner on National …, Breitbart.tv, RedState and Gateway Pundit
Anill / Think Progress:
Fox News Owner Rupert Murdoch Says Media Should Be Used To Push For Legalizing Undocumented Immigrants — This morning, on Fox & Friends, anchor Steve Doocy interviewed Fox News Channel owner Rupert Murdoch and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on immigration.
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Texas Republicans' Idea of “Small Government”: Criminalizing Homosexuality, Blow Jobs — I keep hearing that the Teabaggers lean libertarian and are supposedly the future of the GOP - but apparently no one's told the Republican Party of the nation's second-largest state. … Nice.
Frank Jack Daniel / Reuters:
Venezuela to nationalize U.S. firm's oil rigs — CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela will nationalize a fleet of oil rigs belonging to U.S. company Helmerich and Payne, the latest takeover in a push to socialism as President Hugo Chavez struggles with lower oil output and a recession.
Ben Gruber / Reuters:
Oil sludge washes in Florida, dolphin stranded — Fla., June 23 (Reuters) - Florida saw its worst impact yet from the BP (BP.L) (BP.N) oil spill as thick oily sludge washed ashore on Pensacola Beach on Wednesday and emergency workers found an oil-covered dolphin stranded on the shore.
The Hill:
Liberal Dems' battle to cut defense spending reaches a turning point — A growing number of centrist Democrats say they're open to trimming Pentagon spending in the face of record budget deficits and mounting public debt. — Liberal Democrats for years have called for cuts to the massive defense budget to no avail.