memeorandum: SENATE KILLS ‘DREAM ACT’.... It should have been an easy one. (Steve Benen/Washington Monthly)

2:45 PM ET, December 18, 2010

Top Items:

DREAM Act dies in Senate — The weeks of rallies, hunger strikes and sit-ins and the thousands of phone calls placed to Senate offices didn't pay off for immigration activists. — The decade-old DREAM Act once again failed to break a filibuster in the Senate on Saturday morning …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Weigel, The Gateway Pundit and FrumForum

David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:

Senate Blocks Bill for Illegal Immigrant Students — The Senate on Saturday blocked a bill that would create a path to citizenship for certain illegal immigrant students who came to the United States as children, completed two years of college or military service and met other requirements including passing a criminal background check.

Discussion: neo-neocon, Truthdig, GayPatriot, The Reality-Based Community and Outside the Beltway

Andrea Nill / ThinkProgress:

As DREAM Act Fails, Graham Tells Undocumented Youth They Wasted Their Time — Today, the Senate failed to invoke cloture on the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. Fourty-one mostly Republican senators voted against a bill which would have provided young undocumented immigrants …

Discussion: The Hill and Left Coast Rebel

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

SENATE KILLS ‘DREAM ACT’.... It should have been an easy one. — Every year, tens of thousands of young illegal immigrants graduate from American high schools, but are quickly stuck — they can't qualify for college aid, and they can't work legally. America is the only home they've ever known …

Discussion: Bold Faith Type

Bridget Johnson / The Hill:

Pro-immigration groups decry ‘shameful’ vote; enforcement groups vow new push — An anti-illegal immigration group said after Saturday's defeat of the DREAM Act in the Senate that “we look forward to moving aggressively to offense.” — “Now, the next Congress can start to put unemployed Americans …

Julia Preston / New York Times:
Bill to Grant Legal Status to Immigrant Students Heads to a Vote in the Senate

Discussion: The Note, ABCNEWS, The Politico, CNN, NewsBusters.org blogs, America's Voice Blog and White House.gov Blog Feed

msnbc.com:
DREAM Act blocked in Senate

Discussion: Hot Air, Crooks and Liars, Weasel Zippers, iOwnTheWorld.com, USA Today, Wake up America and Moe Lane

Michelle Malkin:
Operation Buck Up redux: Stop the DREAM Act; Sessions' last action …

Discussion: National Review, The Hill, Examiner, Don Surber, Human Events, NumbersUSA, Get Schooled, The Gateway Pundit, TRAIL BLAZERS and Newsweek

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Advances — WASHINGTON — After a 17-year struggle, the Senate on Saturday cleared the way for repealing the Pentagon's ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military. — By a bipartisan vote of 63 to 33, the Senate acted to cut off debate …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Runnin' Scared and Outside the Beltway

The Hill:

Senate breaks GOP filibuster, advances 'Don't ask' repeal — A proposal to repeal the military's “Don't ask, don't tell” policy cleared a major hurdle in Congress on Saturday when the Senate voted to end a GOP-led filibuster. — The Senate voted 63 to 33 to advance a stand-alone bill …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Politico, The Note, The Hill, Hot Air, White House.gov Blog Feed, Weasel Zippers and National Review

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Advances In Senate — Final Vote Likely This Weekend

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, Feministing, Blue Wave News, Wake up America, FrumForum and pandagon.net

Patricia Murphy / Politics Daily:
Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Clears Major Senate Hurdle

Discussion: Balloon Juice

CNN:
Senate to hold final vote on 'don't ask, don't tell,' DREAM Act fails

Discussion: Jezebel and Washington Post

Anne Flaherty / Associated Press:
Senate advances bill to lift military gay ban

Discussion: GayPatriot and The Other McCain

Amelia Hill / Guardian:

WikiLeaks: Cuba banned Sicko for depicting ‘mythical’ healthcare system — Authorities feared footage of gleaming hospital in Michael Moore's Oscar-nominated film would provoke a popular backlash — Cuba banned Michael Moore's 2007 documentary, Sicko, because it painted such a “mythically” …

Discussion: Cubachi, Michelle Malkin, Big Hollywood, Outside the Beltway, Liberty Pundits Blog, Doug Ross, Hit & Run, Fausta's Blog, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Questions and Observations, normblog and This ain't Hell …

Michael Moore / The Huffington Post:

¡Viva WikiLeaks! Sicko Was Not Banned in Cuba — What's Your Reaction: — Yesterday WikiLeaks did an amazing thing and released a classified State Department cable that dealt, in part, with me and my film, Sicko. — It is a stunning look at the Orwellian nature of how bureaucrats …

Discussion: Hot Air, Harry's Place, Guardian and Liberal Values

Guardian:
US embassy cables: US castigates much-vaunted Cuban health system

Discussion: NO QUARTER and Hit & Run

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

DADT Breaks Filibuster — The Senate just voted 63-33 to break the filibuster on the DADT repeal bill. — Late Update: Just so we're clear. This is not the passage of the actual DADT repeal bill. This is the vote that allows a straight majority vote, which will likely come tomorrow.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and TPMDC

New York Times:

Newly Built Ghost Towns Haunt Banks in Spain — YEBES, Spain — It is a measure of Spain's giddy construction excesses that 250 row houses carpet a hill near this tiny rural village about an hour by car outside of Madrid. — Most of these units have never sold, and though they were finished …

Discussion: Clusterstock, Mish's Global Economic … and Vox Popoli

David A. Fahrenthold / Washington Post:

Lame-duck sessions supposed to be a thing of the past, historians say — Here's the funny thing about this month's lame-duck session of Congress, in which frantic lawmakers have pinballed from tax cuts to “don't ask, don't tell” to a nuclear weapons treaty: — It's not supposed to exist.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, neo-neocon, Althouse, Federal Eye and Washington Monthly

Nick Davies / Guardian:

10 days in Sweden: the full allegations against Julian Assange — Unseen police documents provide the first complete account of the allegations against the WikiLeaks founder — Documents seen by the Guardian reveal for the first time the full details of the allegations of rape and sexual assault …

Discussion: AOL News, The Reaction, ECHIDNE of the snakes, CANNONFIRE, The Confluence, Runnin' Scared, Threat Level and Hot Air

Joe Nocera / New York Times:

Explaining the Crisis With Dogma — What was that about? — I'm talking about that odd 13-page “report” issued on Wednesday by the four Republican members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. The F.C.I.C., of course, is the 10-member, supposedly bipartisan panel that was created …

Discussion: Paul Krugman, JustOneMinute, Grasping Reality … and The Big Picture

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL — DREAM Act causes ugly breakup on left — Markos Moulitsas, the influential founder of the lefty website DailyKos, used to love Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. Starting back in December 2004, when Moulitsas first praised Tester, then a farmer-turned-state-legislator …

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

‘MCWEASEL’ BLASTS 9/11 HEALTH BILL.... It's not enough for Senate Republicans to block a vote on the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. Now, members like John McCain (R-Ariz.) are condemning Democratic efforts to even try to pass the bill. … Let's unpack this a bit, because I think it's important.

Discussion: NY Daily News, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Caucus

CNN:

Richardson presents proposals to North Korea aimed at easing crisis — Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN) — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson provided North Korea with a series of proposals Saturday in what he described as a “good meeting” with the country's chief nuclear negotiator …

Discussion: The Hill