Top Items:
Michael Moore / Open Mike:
Why I'm Posting Bail Money for Julian Assange — Yesterday, in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the lawyers for WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange presented to the judge a document from me stating that I have put up $20,000 of my own money to help bail Mr. Assange out of jail.
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel, Salon, CNN, Guardian, Taylor Marsh, JammieWearingFool, The Daily Caller, Threat Level, Stop the War Coalition …, The Other McCain, NewsBusters.org blogs, AOL News, The Stir By CafeMom, National Review, Gothamist, The Nation, The Gateway Pundit, Pat Dollard, Raw Story, Shakesville, The Powers That Be and iOwnTheWorld.com, more at Mediagazer »
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Matthew Weaver / News: News blog:
Julian Assange granted bail: live updates — • Assange granted bail to cheers from supporters — • He remains in custody as Sweden says it will appeal — • Assange criticises Visa, MasterCard and Paypal from cell — • Police worked case against Madeleine McCann's parents
Discussion:
Guardian, BBC, The Atlantic Online, msnbc.com, The Lede, PC Magazine, Latest Open Salon Blog, The Nation, Tea & Tech, Raw Story, TPMMuckraker, The Firewall, The Next Web, AOL News, The Gateway Pundit, Politics Daily, Clusterstock, Online NewsHour, Boing Boing, Hit & Run, The Daily Dish, Gawker, AMERICAblog News, Reuters and American Power, more at Techmeme »
New York Times:
Release on Bail of WikiLeaks Founder Is Delayed by Appeal — LONDON — After a week in detention facing possible extradition, Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks antisecrecy group, was ordered released on $310,000 bail by a court on Tuesday as he challenges a Swedish prosecutor's demand …
Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:
Photos: Here's The Manor Where Julian Assange Will Be Staying — So, this is where Julian Assange will be vacationing from prison. It's Ellingham Hall in Suffolk, England, an estate owned by the independently wealthy journalist Vaughan Smith (and his parents, according to the UK title).
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs and NewsBusters.org blogs
Meredith Chaiken / Washington Post:
Poll: Americans say WikiLeaks harmed public interest; most want Assange arrested
Poll: Americans say WikiLeaks harmed public interest; most want Assange arrested
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Hullabaloo and Prairie Weather
The Note:
Thune vs. Romney: First Skirmish of the Campaign for 2012 GOP Presidential Nomination? — ABC News' Jon Karl reports: — We may have just witnessed one of the first skirmishes of the campaign for 2012 Republican presidential nomination. — Speaking on the Senate floor …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate Dems unveil $1.1T spending bill — Senate Democrats have filed a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that would fund the government through fiscal year 2011, according to Senate GOP sources. — The 1,924-page bill includes funding to implement the sweeping healthcare reform bill …
Discussion:
The Note, The Politico, Michelle Malkin, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Weasel Zippers and National Review
Fox News:
Revolt: Republicans Angry About Omnibus Spending Bill Decry ‘Total Mess’
Revolt: Republicans Angry About Omnibus Spending Bill Decry ‘Total Mess’
Discussion:
Associated Press, Hot Air, RedState and RealClearPolitics Video Log
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Reid threatens to keep Congress into next year
Reid threatens to keep Congress into next year
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
David Rogers / The Politico:
Democrats' budget bill: $1.1 trillion; 1,900 pages
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Amateur Hour: VA Judge Makes Elementary Error In Health Care Ruling — The Virginia federal district court judge who ruled yesterday that the individual mandate in the health care bill is unconstitutional is catching a lot of flack — and not just for having a financial interest in an anti-health care reform consulting firm.
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Washington Post:
Health reform will survive its legal fight — In March, New Hampshire preschool teacher Gail O'Brien, who was unable to obtain health insurance through her employer, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphoma. Her subsequent applications for health insurance were rejected because of her condition.
Adam Serwer / American Prospect:
Hudson And Scalia, Ctd.
Hudson And Scalia, Ctd.
Discussion:
Right Turn, A plain blog about politics, Balkinization, Hullabaloo and The Volokh Conspiracy
Jeffrey Toobin / News Desk:
With Health-Care Reform, the Judges Rule
With Health-Care Reform, the Judges Rule
Discussion:
The New Republic, The Huffington Post, ACS Blog, New York Times, The Daily Dish, The Politico and Ben Smith's Blog
Ezra Klein:
Why the tax deal might fail — I listed some of the conservative critics of the tax deal in Wonkbook today (Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, the Tea Party Patriots, Charles Krauthammer), but Playbook shows their ranks are growing: Mitt Romney has an op-ed in USA Today saying the tax deal gives “President Obama ... reason to celebrate.
Discussion:
Weigel, No More Mister Nice Blog, The New Republic, TalkLeft, The Daily Dish, TPMDC, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and Hot Air
Tyler Cowen / The American Interest:
The Inequality That Matters — Does growing wealth and income inequality in the United States presage the downfall of the American republic? Will we evolve into a new Gilded Age plutocracy, irrevocably split between the competing interests of rich and poor?
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Economix, JustOneMinute, Ross Douthat, Democracy in America, Free exchange, Marginal Revolution, The Glittering Eye and EconLog
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Marine Commandant Suggests Presence Of Gays Would Endanger The Lives Of Straight Marines — Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos — who has opposed repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell — suggested that if Congress lifts the ban against open service and allows gays …
Discussion:
Wonk Room, 67.59.172.92, Towleroad News #gay, Pam's House Blend, Dennis the Peasant and AMERICAblog Gay
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Craig Whitlock / Washington Post:
Marine general suggests repeal of 'don't ask' could result in casualties
Marine general suggests repeal of 'don't ask' could result in casualties
Discussion:
Washington Blade, Raw Story and PostPartisan
The Hill:
Liberals giving up tax fight — A House liberal who has led the effort to stop President Obama's tax compromise with the GOP says efforts to change the package are futile. — Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), who just a week ago circulated a letter signed by 54 Democrats urging opposition to the deal, now says the “die is cast.”
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Online NewsHour, Right Turn, Guardian, National Review and The Other McCain
Patrick Healy / ArtsBeat:
Actress Thora Birch Fired From ‘Dracula’ — The producers of the Off Broadway revival of “Dracula” fired their star actress Thora Birch on Friday, four days before the play's first performance, the production's director and Ms. Birch said in interviews on Monday.
Rajiv Chandrasekaran / Washington Post:
Richard Holbrooke dies: Veteran U.S. diplomat brokered Dayton peace accords — Longtime U.S. diplomat Richard C. Holbrooke, whose relentless prodding and deft maneuvering yielded the 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended the war in Bosnia - a success he hoped to repeat as President Obama's chief envoy …
Discussion:
The Politico, Checkpoint Washington, The Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, Don Surber, the brain police, Agence France Presse, msnbc.com, Los Angeles Times, TPMDC, Mudville Gazette, AmSpecBlog, FrumForum, The Atlantic Online, The American Independent, The Daily Beast, Hot Air, Nicholas D. Kristof, Weasel Zippers, BlogPost, New Atlanticist, Gothamist, PostPartisan, Online NewsHour, US Department of State, Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, Talking Points Memo, Guardian, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taylor Marsh, Salon and Wonkette
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Holbrooke's last words — The Washington Post first reported …
Holbrooke's last words — The Washington Post first reported …
Discussion:
Gawker, Washington Post, Swampland, The Huffington Post and Checkpoint Washington
Zachary M. Seward / Digits:
The Top 50 Gawker Media Passwords — Readers of Gizmodo, Lifehacker and other Gawker Media sites may be among the savviest on the Web, but the most common password for logging into those sites is embarrassingly easy to guess: “123456.” So is the runner-up: “password.”
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, PC Magazine, New York Times, Felix Salmon and The Moderate Voice, more at Techmeme »
Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:
Memo to the media: They're called “obstructionists” — That sore-loser phrase doesn't seem to get much use these days. Yet watching Senate Republicans in the minority essentially close down the chamber, not allowing any votes to proceed until their demands are met regarding tax cuts for the very wealthy …
James C. McKinley Jr / New York Times:
Atheist Ads on Buses Rattle Fort Worth — FORT WORTH — Stand on a corner in this city and you might get a case of theological whiplash. — A public bus rolls by with an atheist message on its side: “Millions of people are good without God.” Seconds later, a van follows bearing a riposte: “I still love you.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Vox Popoli, Balloon Juice and Joe. My. God.
The Huffington Post:
Obama's Judges Blocked At Historic Rate — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … As the first congressional session of Obama's presidency draws to a close, what began as a slow process of confirmation has ballooned into a full-blown judicial crisis. The Senate has overseen the slowest pace …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The New Republic, The Daily Dish, Ezra Klein, AOL News and Hullabaloo
Patrik Jonsson / Christian Science Monitor:
Census: Segregation hits 100-year lows in most American metro areas — New Census figures released Tuesday shows that 75 percent of US metro areas - most of them in the South and West - saw racial segregation drop to levels not seen for more than a century. — Atlanta
Discussion:
Hit & Run
Jeff Poor / The Daily Caller:
Scarborough blasts MSNBC's bias: They always will say ‘a George W. Bush-appointee,’ ‘a Reagan appointee’ — “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough doesn't let much slip by him - well not today, at least. — On his December 14 program, Scarborough pointed out the bias at his network, MSNBC, and even offered a particular example.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Mediaite, The Right Scoop and Weasel Zippers
Matt Bai / New York Times:
As Electoral Ground Shifts, Bloomberg Could Skip the Party — On Sunday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg flatly ruled out an independent run for president in 2012. On Monday, he appeared at the national unveiling in New York of No Labels, a group that aspires to build a grass-roots movement …
CNBC:
Moody's May Cut US Rating on Tax Package — Moody's warned Monday that it could move a step closer to cutting the U.S. Aaa rating if President Obama's tax and unemployment benefit package becomes law. — The plan agreed to by President Obama and Republican leaders last week could push up debt levels …
Discussion:
Right Wing News
Tim Cavanaugh / Hit & Run:
“Erin Brockovich” Town Shows No Cancer Cluster — Hinkley, California, the town made famous in the Oscar-winning Julia Roberts movie Erin Brockovich, does not show any evidence of an increased rate of cancers. — Pacific Gas and Electric, which released a toxic plume of hexavalent chromium 6 …
Discussion:
News Desk, Big Hollywood, Outside the Beltway and Associated Press
Paul Waldman / American Prospect:
Some Tax Context. — As we move toward some kind of resolution of the tax debate, I thought it might be worthwhile to put some things in context, particularly the question of the top marginal tax rate. That's the one conservatives are so desperate to keep low, and part of the reason liberals …
Discussion:
Yglesias
Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Carter: Biggest failure was '80 loss — Former President Jimmy Carter says his biggest failure during his term in the White House was that he didn't get to spend another four years there. — “I guess my biggest failure was not getting reelected,” he said in an interview with Big Think, referring to the 1980 presidential election.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers