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Big Boost for Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal: Brown Backs Senate Bill — ABC News' Matthew Jaffe reports: — Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown today voiced his support for a stand-alone repeal of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, bringing the bill one vote over the 60-vote threshold …
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GOP will paralyze Senate floor with reading of 1,924-page spending bill — Republicans will paralyze the Senate floor for 50 hours by forcing clerks to read every single paragraph of the 1,924-page, $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill. — Senate clerks are expected to read the massive bill …

Do The Math — In a minor miracle considering last week's defeat, DADT repeal now appears to have the 60 votes needed for Senate passage. Scott Brown, Lisa Murkowski and Olympia Snowe have all pledged their unconditional support, meaning three no votes have flipped from last week's tally.
Discussion:
TPMDC, Ben Smith's Blog and Lawyers, Guns & Money

COUNTING VOTES (AND IGNORING GOHMERT).... [Update: Revised head count here.]
Discussion:
Political Correction RSS, Washington Post and AMERICAblog Gay

OBNOXIOUS DELAYS FOR THE SAKE OF OBNOXIOUS DELAYS.... The irony is …
Discussion:
Pat Dollard, Balloon Juice and The Caucus


Scott Brown And Lisa Murkowski Back Standalone DADT Repeal Bill
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Gawker, Booman Tribune, The Note and The Hill

BROWN BACKS DADT REPEAL.... There's no longer any question …
Discussion:
TPMDC, Indecision Forever and AMERICAblog Gay

Sen. DeMint: 'We're trying to run out the clock' on omnibus
Discussion:
The Reaction, Foreign Policy, The Politico and FrumForum

Hoyer: Senate Has Votes Needed To Repeal DADT [UPDATED]
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Advocate

Biden scolds GOP on treaty: ‘Get out of the way’
Discussion:
Pat Dollard, The Hill and Washington Monthly

U.S. Tries to Build Case for Conspiracy by WikiLeaks — WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors, seeking to build a case against the WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange for his role in a huge dissemination of classified government documents, are looking for evidence of any collusion in his early contacts …
Discussion:
American Prospect, Firedoglake, The Politico, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, Ben Smith's Blog, zunguzungu, National Review, hrw.org, AOL News, Balkinization, Threat Level, Politics Daily, Online NewsHour, Lawfare, newsfeed.time.com, American Power, Gawker, Boing Boing, Wonkette, Liberty Pundits Blog, Suburban Guerrilla, Raw Story, The Page, The Huffington Post and Salon, more at Techmeme »
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Julian Assange granted bail at high court
Discussion:
BBC, Crooks and Liars, Bloomberg, Raw Story, The Lede, AOL News, Threat Level, AMERICAblog News, Parker Spitzer, Balloon Juice and TalkLeft, more at Techmeme »


WikiLeaks Founder Is Released on Bail
Discussion:
BBC, AOL News, Gothamist, The Lede, Boing Boing, The Awl and Telegraph, more at Mediagazer »

Getting to Assange through Manning
Discussion:
news.firedoglake.com, Guardian, GayPatriot and The Other McCain

House tax vote could be delayed — A final House vote on President Obama's tax proposal could be delayed after Democratic leaders were forced to pull a procedural measure off the House floor Thursday. — The House was set to vote on the rule governing debate on the broad tax bill …
Discussion:
CNN, Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers, The Page, Hot Air, Shopfloor and Nice Deb
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House Democrats Must Delay Tax Bill — House Democrats were forced to delay consideration of the president's tax bill on Thursday as party leaders figure out a way to mollify the bill's opponents. — The delay isn't expected to scuttle the tax package. “The bill is gonna pass,” …
Discussion:
Say Anything and Pajamas Media


Could there be a Tet Offensive in Afghanistan? — Once when the French statesman Duc de Richelieu (1766-1822) was planning a military campaign, an officer placed a finger on a map, saying: “We shall cross the river at this point.” Richelieu replied: “Excellent, sir, but your finger is not a bridge.”
Discussion:
Guardian, The Nation and Vox Popoli
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Poll: Assessment of Afghanistan War Sours
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, AOL News and Outside the Beltway

Afghan Report Sees July Troop Pullouts Despite Perils
Discussion:
Politics Daily, FP Passport, Wonk Room and Wonkette

AND YET APOLOGISTS IN AMERICA WERE COMPARING HIM TO THE EARLY CHRISTIANS: Mao's Great Leap To Famine: “The worst catastrophe in China's history, and one of the worst anywhere, was the Great Famine of 1958 to 1962, and to this day the ruling Communist Party has not fully acknowledged the degree …
Discussion:
Moe Lane
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Mao's Great Leap to Famine — HONG KONG — The worst catastrophe in China's history, and one of the worst anywhere, was the Great Famine of 1958 to 1962, and to this day the ruling Communist Party has not fully acknowledged the degree to which it was a direct result of the forcible herding …
Discussion:
Fausta's Blog and Althouse


John Boehner's Crying: Is He Drinking Too Much? … Incoming House Speaker John Boehner's recent interview on “60 Minutes” with Lesley Stahl, where he once again cried publicly, has created a minor controversy among pundits, with observers trying to figure out the cause of his unusual behavior.
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The Crying Game — We've had to adjust to so many strange developments lately.
Discussion:
Brilliant at Breakfast, Daily Kos and Shakesville


The Daily Beast Has Stopped Editing Meghan McCain — Meghan McCain is the illiterate daughter of a ruined man, which makes her “column” for the Daily Beast something of a challenge for her editors. But by the looks of today's offering, they've given up. — Were you wondering what McCain thinks …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast and Mock, Paper, Scissors

Two Californias — The last three weeks I have traveled about, taking the pulse of the more forgotten areas of central California. I wanted to witness, even if superficially, what is happening to a state that has the highest sales and income taxes, the most lavish entitlements …
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel, Sense of Events, protein wisdom, Pajamas Media, Right Wing News and Cold Fury


Orszag and Citigroup — James Fallows gently chides me and my paper for not writing more on Peter Orszag's decision to take an executive position with Citigroup. He's probably right to do so, though my silence was in part motivated by terror at having to try and add anything to this brilliant post …
Discussion:
Yglesias, The Atlantic Online, Grasping Reality …, Ben Smith's Blog and Clusterstock


U.S. Rethinks Strategy for the Unthinkable — Suppose the unthinkable happened, and terrorists struck New York or another big city with an atom bomb. What should people there do? The government has a surprising new message: Do not flee. Get inside any stable building and don't come out till officials say it's safe.
Discussion:
Instapundit, Gothamist, AOL News, Gizmodo, Pajamas Media and Unfogged


Sarah Palin's mainstream media détente — After making attacks on what she memorably labeled “the lamestream media” one of her signature issues, Sarah Palin has started to experiment with a new strategy toward the press — engaging it. — The former Alaska governor …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Ben Smith's Blog, The Page, Conservatives4Palin.com and Ballot Box, more at Mediagazer »

The Strange Case for Mitt Romney — David Frum, puzzling over the inconsistencies in Mitt Romney's recent op-ed attacking the tax deal: … I hear similar things from Romney supporters (or people trying to convince themselves to be Romney supporters) with remarkable frequency.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, The New Republic and Commentary

Freshman Democrats Want Filibuster Reform in January — Before heading into a caucus meeting, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) briefed reporters today on ideas for introducing a “constitutional option” to reform the Senate in the next session of Congress.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Plum Line and The Agonist

GOP looks to box in Obama on $1.1 trillion government spending bill — Republicans are trying to box President Obama in on congressional Democrats' $1.1 trillion spending bill by dredging up the president's past statements. — The GOP is pointing to the president's previous remarks …
Discussion:
The Powers That Be, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Washington Monthly


Servicers Downgraded Credit Score of Man Who Asked for His Note — (Graphic via SEIU's WheresTheNote.com site) — Many homeowners have taken advantage of SEIU's Where's the Note website. It helps you generate letters to your bank to ask for evidence that they hold the mortgage note, or the IOU on the property.
Discussion:
CNBC, AMERICAblog News and The Big Picture

Liberals cut down to size — Enough! — You can have your own politics, my liberal friends, you aren't entitled to your own facts. And your claims about the Obama/GOP tax deal are pure, fact-free fantasy. — Yesterday morning I endured watching a fertilizer-filled conversation on Fox 25 …
Discussion:
Sense of Events, Cold Fury and Cafe Hayek