memeorandum: Met Office knew big freeze was coming but hushed it up (Rachel Quigley/Daily Mail)

9:40 AM ET, January 4, 2011

Top Items:

Strict Obstructionist — Mitch McConnell is a master manipulator and strategist— the unheralded architect of the Republican resurgence. Now that his relentless tactics have made his party victorious, he is poised to take down the president and win the Senate majority he covets …

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Senate Dems warn Boehner: Don't bother with healthcare repeal — The 112th Congress doesn't begin until Wednesday, but Senate Democrats are already vowing to block any attempts by the new GOP-led House to repeal the healthcare reform law. — The Senate's top Democrats, led by Majority Leader Harry Reid …

Discussion: The Politico, Don Surber, Nice Deb, Toledo Blade, PERRspectives, USA Today, Sister Toldjah, Liberty Central, Doug Ross, The Political Carnival and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Erika Niedowski / The Hill:

Obama urges House, Senate GOP leaders to put politics aside — President Obama, returning to Washington from his Christmas vacation in Hawaii, urged House and Senate GOP leaders to put partisan politics aside in the name of working to boost the economy. — The president said onboard Air Force …

Discussion: CNN and Right Wing News

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
House Republicans set Jan. 12 vote on repeal of health-care law

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hotline On Call, Big Think and Roll Call

Terry / CNSNews:
Republican Congressman: Ban Funding of Obamacare in Every …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Aharding / CNN:
House GOP to move this week on health care repeal

Discussion: The Politico, Mother Jones, Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers, Babalú Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Political Carnival and protein wisdom

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Dems playing rough on health reform?

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Wonk Room and Daily Kos

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
House to vote on health care law repeal next week

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, Right Turn, Swampland, Flopping Aces, Hot Air, AOL News, iOwnTheWorld.com, The Huffington Post, Wonk Room, Daily Kos, The Note, Washington Monthly and Right Pundits

Bloomberg:

Obama Said to Consider William Daley for Top White House Post — President Barack Obama is considering naming William Daley, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive and former U.S. Commerce secretary, to a high-level White House post, possibly as his chief of staff, people familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: The Caucus, DownWithTyranny!, Top of the Ticket, Raw Story, The Sundries Shack, Right Pundits, Political Punch, Publius Forum, Weasel Zippers, Hotline On Call, Ben Smith's Blog, The Political Carnival, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and The Page

The Politico:
William Daley in running for top White House job

Discussion: The New Republic, POWIP, Outside the Beltway, CNN and The Hill

Lynn Sweet / Politics Daily:
William Daley at Top of Obama List for White House Chief of Staff

Discussion: The Confluence

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Great news: New Obama chief of staff might be ... William Daley

Discussion: Bloomberg, Oliver Willis and Moe Lane

The Huffington Post:

Scalia: Women Don't Have Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Discussion: Scholars and Rogues, Hullabaloo and Advocate

callawyer.com:

THE ORIGINALIST — Last October marked the 24th anniversary of Justice Antonin Scalia's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. Well known for his sharp wit as well as his originalist approach to the Constitution, Justice Scalia consistently asks more questions during oral arguments and makes …

Discussion: Raw Story and Pam's House Blend

Liz Goodwin / Yahoo! News:
14 states may target birthright citizenship

Discussion: Flopping Aces, Outside the Beltway and Weasel Zippers

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Obama May Bypass Guantánamo Rules, Aides Say — WASHINGTON — President Obama's legal advisers, confronting the prospect of new restrictions on the transfer of Guantánamo detainees, are debating whether to recommend that he issue a signing statement asserting that his executive powers …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Prairie Weather and TigerHawk

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Incoming House GOP chairmen have a long list of issues to investigate — House Republican leaders announced plans Monday for congressional investigations into a wide range of issues, from corruption in Afghanistan to Washington's regulation of private industries, using the power of their new majority …

Discussion: The BLT, THEROOT.COM and The Page

Dafna Linzer / ProPublica:
Administration Prepares to Defy Efforts to Limit Obama's Options for Guantanamo

Discussion: TPMMuckraker, TalkLeft, Oliver Willis and Emptywheel

Mark Knoller / CBS News:

National Debt Tops $14 Trillion — The latest posting today of the National Debt shows it has topped $14 trillion for the first time. — The U.S. Treasury website today reported that as of last Friday, the last day of 2010, the National Debt stood at $14,025,215,218,708.52.

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh, Raw Story, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications, National Review, The Huffington Post and The Hill

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Debt-ceiling vote first test for new Republican majority?

Discussion: The Right Scoop and Right Pundits

Daniel Foster / National Review:
Why the Republicans Will Get a Lot in Exchange for Raising the Debt Ceiling

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Power Line, Crooks and Liars and Right Turn

Gideon Rachman / Foreign Policy:

Think Again: American Decline — This time it's for real. — “We've Heard All This About American Decline Before.” — This time it's different. — It's certainly true that America has been through cycles of declinism in the past. Campaigning for the presidency in 1960 …

John Rossomando / The Daily Caller: The ACLU's untold Stalinist heritage

Gil Ronen / Arutz Sheva:

Vulture in Saudi Custody Suspected as Mossad Agent — Follow Israel news on and . — Saudi Arabian security forces have captured a vulture that was carrying a global positioning satellite (GPS) transmitter and a ring etched with the words “Tel Aviv University.”

Discussion: Israel Matzav and Sense of Events

Rachel Slajda / TPM LiveWire:

There's One Huge State Budget Crisis That Everyone Is Refusing To Talk About — You know the story and you know the names: states like Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and California are supposed to be in huge financial trouble thanks to bloated governments, business-unfriendly regulations, and strong public sector unions.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Arkansas Blog

Ronald Bailey / Hit & Run:

Women or Wine? Monogamy and Alcohol — The headline is the title of an intriguing new working paper [PDF] by two University of Leuven economists Mara Squicciarini and Jo Swinnen. The two note an interesting correlation between societies that practice monogamy and those that drink alcohol.

Discussion: Hot Air and Mediaite

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Bill Daley talks West Wing with Rahm - Sperling expected to get Summers' job this week or next - House GOP to vote cuts on Day 2 - Michael Allen to House intel - Embler promoted - Emily Bittner to Man — Good Tuesday morning. CHARLES PETERS, in the new Washington Monthly …

David A. Fahrenthold / Washington Post:

Nine incoming House Democrats assume place in pecking order: the end — They call themselves “the Mighty Nine.” — Which is half true - there are, in fact, nine of them. — But “mighty” is definitely the wrong word for the nine lonely Democrats who will be sworn in as House members on Wednesday.

Discussion: The Note and USA Today

Rachel Quigley / Daily Mail:

Met Office knew big freeze was coming but hushed it up — The Met Office warned ministers to expect an ‘exceptionally cold winter’ but then kept the prediction secret from the public. — The forecaster decided not to reveal the information because it was embarrassed after wrongly predicting …

Discussion: Biased BBC and EU Referendum

Kathleen Hunter / Roll Call:

Shuler Plans Symbolic Challenge to Pelosi's Leadership — Rep. Heath Shuler plans to vote for himself rather than Rep. Nancy Pelosi during Wednesday's floor vote for Speaker, and he predicted Monday that Democratic colleagues who are similarly displeased with her past leadership as Speaker would back him as well.

Discussion: USA Today and TBogg

Erick Erickson / RedState:

Pence for President — If confession is good for the soul, let me pour out my soul for you. As I stood at the beginning of 2008, I find myself in the same position here as we now begin the very real discussions of who should be the candidate for the GOP in 2012.

Discussion: Hot Air, Conservatives4Palin, Ballot Box, Salon and GOP 12

Guy Benson / Townhall.com:

Surprise: Russian Duma To Codify Missile Defense Language in New START — Many opponents of the New START treaty with Russia argued that a significant disconnect between the two parties over defensive weapons systems should have scotched, or at least delayed, ratification.