memeorandum: China launches ‘Red Twitter’ (Malcolm Moore/Telegraph)

4:25 PM ET, December 15, 2010

Top Items:

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

DeMint will force readings of START Treaty and omnibus bill — Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) will force readings of both a nuclear arms treaty and $1.1 trillion spending bill that could eat up hours of the remaining lame-duck Congress. — DeMint will invoke a senatorial privilege to ask …

Wall Street Journal:

Harry Reid's Holiday Jam — What the Senate wants to pass while you're not paying attention. — In the famous formulation often attributed to George Washington, the U.S. Senate is the saucer designed to cool the drink before it becomes law. In Majority Leader Harry Reid's rush to beat …

Discussion: Right Turn, Washington Post, protein wisdom, National Review and Betsy's Page

Carrie Budoff Brown / Reuters:

Tax-cut plan clears Senate easily — The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to advance President Barack Obama's tax package to the House, where the $858 billion bill is expected to receive a final vote Thursday. — The Senate vote was 81-19, with 13 Democrats, five Republicans and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) voting no.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Manu Raju / The Politico:

DeMint calls votes before Christmas ‘sacrilegious’ — Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) called Democrats' push to force through an arms control treaty and an omnibus spending bill right before Christmas “sacrilegious,” and warned he'd draw the process out to wage his objections.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, CNN, TPMDC, Fox Nation and FP Passport

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate GOP leaders take heat over earmarks

Discussion: ABCNEWS and The Gateway Pundit

Associated Press:
Senate moves ahead on arms treaty

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Latest Open Salon Blog and Hot Air

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
McCain cools to ratifying New START this year

Discussion: Wonk Room, The Foundry and TPMDC

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Jim DeMint's office: Reading full START treaty is a delaying “tool”

Discussion: Salon, The Politico, iOwnTheWorld.com, Raw Story and TPMDC

Ben Dimiero / Media Matters for America:

FOXLEAKS: Fox boss ordered staff to cast doubt on climate science — In the midst of global climate change talks last December, a top Fox News official sent an email questioning the “veracity of climate change data” and ordering the network's journalists to “refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Guardian, Salon, Comments from Left Field, Wonk Room, Liberal Values, News Hounds, Little Green Footballs, Raw Story, Mediaite, Washington Monthly, Weasel Zippers, Confederate Yankee, TPMMuckraker, Climate Progress, Blue Virginia and Informed Comment

Al Gore / Al's Journal:

Fox News Manipulates Climate Coverage — Today, Media Matters posted an alarming email sent by Bill Sammon, the Washington, DC, managing editor at Fox News. Sammon sent the email to Fox News producers on December 8, 2009 - just as the Climate Conference in Copenhagen was beginning …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Media Matters for America and Raw Story

Keach Hagey / The Politico:
Fox editor urged climate skepticism

Discussion: The Daily Caller, NewsBusters.org blogs and Media Matters for America

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Congress' Job Approval Rating Worst in Gallup History — Thirteen percent approve of the way Congress is handling its job — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' assessment of Congress has hit a new low, with 13% saying they approve of the way Congress is handling its job.

Washington Post:

Post-ABC Poll: Public not yet sold on GOP — Republicans made major gains in the November elections, but they have yet to win the hearts and minds of the American people, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. — The midterm elections - where Republicans gained 63 seats …

Discussion: Roll Call, The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, protein wisdom, Outside the Beltway, Politic365, The Enterprise Blog, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress, Front Row Washington, NewsBusters.org blogs, Weigel, Behind the Numbers, The Politico, iOwnTheWorld.com and Politics Daily

Federal Eye:
Most back repealing 'don't ask, don't tell,' poll says

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Moderate Voice, Right Wing Watch, Raw Story, Open Left, TPMDC, Outside the Beltway, Washington Monthly, AMERICAblog News and The Daily Dish

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Poll finds voters not impressed with Republicans' House takeover …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Fox News, Wake up America, Pat Dollard and Michelle Malkin

Reuters:

Financial Crisis Panel In Turmoil As Republicans Defect; Plan To Blame Government For Crisis — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … The four Republicans appointed to the commission investigating the root causes of the financial crisis plan to bypass the bipartisan panel and release their own report Wednesday …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, Yglesias, Sky Dancing, PERRspectives, Ezra Klein, Hullabaloo, Calculated Risk, The Daily Caller, Guardian, Emptywheel, Paul Krugman, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and Daily Kos

Sewell Chan / New York Times:
G.O.P. Panelists Dissent on Cause of Crisis

Discussion: naked capitalism, The Big Picture, DealBook and Prairie Weather

Jonathon M. Seidl / The Blaze:

FL SCHOOL BOARD SHOOTER POSTED SUICIDE NOTE RAILING AGAINST THE RICH, LINKING TO MEDIA MATTERS — Clay Duke, the man who opened fire on a Florida school board Tuesday, posted a “last testament” on Facebook decrying the wealthy and linking to a slew of progressive sites including theprogressivemind.info and MediaMatters.org.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and The Right Scoop

Nick Gillespie / Hit & Run:
This is What a School-Board-Meeting-Shooter's Facebook Page Looks Like

Discussion: AOL News, The Other McCain, theblogprof and Hot Air

Meredith Jessup / The Blaze:
SHOCK VIDEO SHOWS FLA. GUNMAN OPENING FIRE ON SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Moonbattery, The Stir By CafeMom and Patterico's Pontifications

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention — (updated below) — Bradley Manning, the 22-year-old U.S. Army Private accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, has never been convicted of that crime, nor of any other crime. Despite that, he has been detained …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, the brain police, The Other McCain and LewRockwell.com Blog

Lev Grossman / Time:

Mark Zuckerberg — On the afternoon of Nov. 16, 2010, Mark Zuckerberg was leading a meeting in the Aquarium, one of Facebook's conference rooms, so named because it's in the middle of a huge work space and has glass walls on three sides so everybody can see in.

David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:

Senate Passes Compromise Tax Plan by Wide Margin — WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday approved the $858 billion tax plan negotiated by the White House and Republican leaders — the first concrete product of a new era of divided government and acid compromise.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Hill, protein wisdom, Wake up America and The Plum Line

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
House Democrats consider amendments to estate tax

Discussion: Washington Wire, Politics Daily, Iowa Independent, Daily Kos, Wonk Room, Ezra Klein, TPMDC, CNNMoney.com, The Huffington Post and FrumForum

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate passes tax package 81-19, sending Obama deal to the House

Discussion: msnbc.com

Myglesias / Yglesias:

The Christmas Session — Jon Kyl, rather preposterously, suggests that Harry Reid is somehow disrespecting Christmas by talking about scheduling votes between Christmas and New Year's. Obviously it's unfortunate any time the precious members of the US Senate need to do actual work …

Discussion: A plain blog about politics

David M. Herszenhorn / The Caucus:
Dreaming of a Post-Christmas Congress

Discussion: TPMDC, The Politico, Ben Smith's Blog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Indecision Forever, Washington Monthly, Gawker, ThinkProgress, The Impolitic, The Reality-Based Community and democracyarsenal.org

MinnPost:

With Steele in, Norm Coleman says he will not run for RNC chairman — Norm Coleman: “I've said if Steele was running, I wouldn't run against him.” — WASHINGTON — Norm Coleman will not run for chairman of the Republican National Committee, the former Republican senator confirmed to MinnPost today …

Discussion: The Note, The Politico, CNN and Ballot Box

National Review:
Anybody but Steele

Discussion: The Note, The Politico, USA Today and Ben Smith's Blog

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Wire:

START Passage Looks Dead for 2010 — In what looks like a decisive blow, at least eight Republican senators - including some the White House was counting on - will announce this afternoon they cannot vote to ratify President Barack Obama's New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia this year.

Discussion: Weigel, Eunomia and National Review

David Cay Johnston / Nieman Reports:

It's Scary Out There in Reporting Land — ‘Beats are fundamental to journalism, but our foundation is crumbling.’ — To understand how badly we're doing the most basic work of journalism in covering the law enforcement beat, try sitting in a barbershop. When I was getting my last haircut …

Discussion: Suburban Guerrilla and Balloon Juice

Brad Phillips / Mr. Media Training:

2012 Election Preview: The Final Rankings — Editor's Note: This morning, we issued a press release on the national wires that ranks the 18 most likely 2012 Republican contenders - and President Obama - on their communications skills. Below, you'll find the full text of that release.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and National Review

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Brown could be in trouble — Sherrod Brown hasn't proven to have much appeal to Republicans or independents during his first four years in the Senate and as a result he could be vulnerable for reelection in 2012 if the GOP runs a strong candidate against him.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

The Politico:

Obama plans 2011 staff makeover — President Barack Obama has delayed the most significant staff shuffle of his presidency until after New Year's — but the changes may be more sweeping than anticipated and could include the hiring of high-profile Democrats defeated in the midterms.

Discussion: The Note, Ben Smith's Blog, Hot Air, Connecting.the.Dots and FrumForum

The Huffington Post:

Tom Harkin: ‘Fireworks’ And Shot At Filibuster Reform Coming Jan. 5 — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats will make a dramatic effort to reform the rules of the chamber when the next Congress begins, one of the body's primary filibuster-reform advocates said Wednesday morning.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Hill, Balloon Juice and Fix the Senate Now News

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

Why Are Bankers So Rich? — Tyler Cowen has a big piece about income inequality in The American Interest that's well worth reading. However, it's not really about the growth of inequality. It's about Wall Street. In particular, it's about this question: why do financial professionals make so damn much money?

Discussion: Rortybomb, Yglesias, Balloon Juice and Outside the Beltway