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An imperfect, but not-that-bad, deal on the tax cuts — The White House and the Republicans are pretty close to a final deal on the Bush tax cuts. Here are the specifics, though it's worth saying that as near as this is to completion, it's still not done, and so it could change:
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Tax Deal Suggests New Path for Obama — WASHINGTON — President Obama announced a tentative deal with Congressional Republicans on Monday to extend the Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels for two years as part of a package that would also keep benefits flowing to the long-term unemployed …
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Paul Krugman, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, CNN, Fox News, The Atlantic Online, New York Magazine, Economix, Hot Air, Taegan Goddard's …, Guardian, The Politico, The Confluence, Capital Gains and Games blogs, The Sundries Shack, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, FiveThirtyEight, AMERICAblog News, New York Times, Hullabaloo and Unfogged


Wonkbook: Everything you need to know about the Bush tax cut deal — I'll admit it: I didn't think they had it in them. A temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts? Sure, they could manage that. Fear is a powerful motivator in Washington, and nothing scares politicians like the threat of a tax hike on their constituents.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Suburban Guerrilla, TPMDC, The Incidental Economist, The Politico, Economist's View and Eschaton

Obama sells out the left: a Republican win on taxes — There really is no other way to say it: the Republicans won, the liberal Democrats lost, and the president sided with the Republicans. The subject, of course, is an agreement to extend all the Bust tax cuts.
Discussion:
PoliPundit.com, JustOneMinute, The Politico, The Daily Beast, Firedoglake, South Capitol Street, National Review, Betsy's Page and Fox Nation

Tax-cut deal reached between Obama, Republicans — President Obama and congressional Republicans agreed Monday to a tentative deal that would extend for two years all the Bush-era income tax breaks set to expire on Dec. 31, continue unemployment benefits for an additional 13 months …


Liberal Dems to Obama: Fight harder — Resentments between President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats that began simmering even before their mid-term disaster are nearing a boil on Capitol Hill, as liberals make clear that Obama's efforts to strike a lame-duck deal with Republicans …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Hot Air and The Other McCain

Senior White House Official: ‘We Wanted a Fight,’ too. Congressional Dems 'Wouldn't Throw a Punch' — Vice President Biden heads to Capitol Hill today to lobby Senate Democrats to support the tax cut compromise, as President Obama faces criticism from congressional Democrats …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein


Obama Agrees To Extend All Bush Tax Cuts And Cut Estate Tax In Deal With Republicans — The White House just announced that it has settled on the details of the deal it has been cooking up with Congressional Republicans over the coming expiration of the Bush tax cuts.


White House Proposes Payroll-Tax Holiday
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Right Turn, Michelle Malkin, Don Surber and New York Magazine

In Tax Deal With G.O.P., a Portent for the Next 2 Years
Discussion:
ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and Arkansas Blog

Obama's tax cut extension part of strategy to show bipartisanship
Discussion:
The Hill, Right Wing News and Prairie Weather

Obama and GOP reach deal on two-year extension of Bush tax cuts for all incomes

Biden to defend tax deal on Capitol Hill
Discussion:
The Fix, NY Daily News, The Hill and National Review

Bachmann: GOP could scuttle tax deal tied to extending jobless aid
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, USA Today, Sky Dancing, Firedoglake, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos and Zandar Versus The Stupid

If This Is Working Together, I'll Take Gridlock
Discussion:
The Agonist, Real Clear Politics and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*

Statement by the President on Tax Cuts and Unemployment Benefits Room 430
Discussion:
Right Turn, The Hill, Open Congress, News Hounds, Economics Policies …, Pajamas Media and The Foundry

Why aren't the Democrats using reconciliation to pass the tax cuts?
Discussion:
The Impolitic and The Atlantic Online

Deal on Bush Tax Cuts Trims Payroll Levy
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, National Review, Online NewsHour, Philly.com, Daily Kos and AMERICAblog News

Tax Cut Deal: White House, GOP Leaders Close To Agreement
Discussion:
Washington Post, DownWithTyranny!, The Gateway Pundit and Daily Kos

Obama, GOP strike deal to extend Bush-era tax cuts by two years
Discussion:
The Nation

Britain Arrests WikiLeaks Founder in Sex Inquiry — LONDON — Police in Britain arrested Julian Assange on Tuesday on a warrant issued in Sweden in connection with alleged sex offenses, British police officials said, the latest twist in the drama swirling around the anti-secrecy group and its beleaguered founder.
Discussion:
Guardian, New York Magazine, NewsBusters.org, Raw Story, The Nation, pandagon.net, Wonkette, CNN, Boing Boing, The Lede and Prairie Weather, more at Techmeme »
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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange arrested in London — Julian Assange denies sexually assaulting the two women — The founder of the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has been arrested by police in London. — The 39-year-old Australian, who was the subject of a European arrest warrant …
Discussion:
The Other McCain, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Guardian, Gawker, Don Surber, European Tribune and Sydney Morning Herald, more at Mediagazer »


The WikiLeaks founder is an unscrupulous megalomaniac with a political agenda. — In my most recent book, I reprint some words from a British Embassy cable, sent from Baghdad to the Foreign Office in 1976. The subject is Iraq's new leader. His quiet coup d'etat is reassuringly described as …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Hot Air, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Tim Blair, Daniel W. Drezner, Right Wing News, New York Times and Telegraph

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in court — • Julian Assange arrested and taken to magistrates court — • US attorney general Eric Holder pledges to stem leaks — • Latest cables reveal US plans to defend Baltic states — • Full coverage of the WikiLeaks cables


The Wikileaks sex files: How two one-night stands sparked a worldwide hunt for Julian Assange — A winter morning in backwoods Scandinavia and the chime of a church bell drifts across the snowbound town of Enkoping. Does it also toll for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange?
Discussion:
LewRockwell.com Blog

Some thoughts on “sex by surprise”
Discussion:
Focal Point, Poynter, The Other McCain, AmSpecBlog, Whiskey Fire, Crooks and Liars, Threat Level, Shakesville and Barefoot and Progressive


Assange arrested in London on Swedish warrant
Discussion:
Parker Spitzer, Outside the Beltway and Gawker

WikiLeaks to keep releasing cables despite Assange arrest
Discussion:
New York Times, The Moderate Voice, Sky Dancing and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Some news outlets stop calling WikiLeaks a ‘whistle-blower’
Discussion:
Guardian, Salon, Crikey, CNET News, Wall Street Journal, Tom Watson, BBC, Raw Story, Cato @ Liberty, Online NewsHour and South Capitol Street, more at Mediagazer »

MasterCard pulls plug on WikiLeaks payments
Discussion:
Threat Level, BBC, Clay Shirky, Salon, The Excavator, Guardian, The Moderate Voice and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

Elizabeth Edwards gravely ill with cancer — WASHINGTON (AP) — Elizabeth Edwards over the past six years has seen her husband's presidential ambitions thwarted, retreated from public life as their marriage disintegrated over his affair, then emerged to advocate for changes …
Discussion:
WTVD-TV, TalkLeft and Balloon Juice
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Elizabeth Edwards's Cancer Spreads
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Politics Daily, WRAL-TV, USA Today, CBS News, TPMDC, About.com US Liberal Politics, Gawker, Ben Smith's Blog and New York Magazine

TRENDING: Elizabeth Edwards stops cancer treatment, releases statement
Discussion:
American Power, ABCNEWS, South Capitol Street, Suburban Guerrilla and The Page


U.S. Unloads Citi Stake for a $12 Billion Profit — The U.S. Treasury sold the last of its Citigroup Inc. common shares in a $10.5 billion offering that capped the government's biggest bank bailout of the financial-market meltdown. — The stock sale, which was finalized Monday evening …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's … and msnbc.com

Panel finds Justice reluctant to take cases of white victims — The Justice Department stonewalled efforts by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to investigate the dismissal of a civil complaint against the New Black Panther Party, leaving open the question of whether the department is willing …


TX GOP Official Opposes Jewish House Speaker: Christians ‘Are The People That Do The Best Jobs’ — Last month, several Tea Party activists formed a right-wing coalition to oust Rep. Joe Straus (R) as Texas House Speaker. They began circulating emails with anti-Semitic messages against Straus, who is Jewish.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Firedoglake, Mediaite and South Capitol Street

BIG SIS INVADES WAL-MART: ‘IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING’ — WASHINGTON — Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the expansion of the Department's national “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign to hundreds of Walmart stores across the country …
Discussion:
Big Government, Raw Story, Minnesota Independent, Shot in the Dark, YankeePhil and Don Surber