Top Items:
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New Speaker Vows to Share Power—a Tricky Proposition — When John Boehner takes over one of the most powerful jobs in Washington this week, he says his first order of business is to make himself less powerful. — On Wednesday the new speaker of the House of Representatives plans to offer …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Hot Air, A plain blog about politics, Publius Forum, protein wisdom and Althouse
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House freshman throws a party - and GOP cringes
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Post, Hot Air, Firedoglake, National Review, Weigel, The Political Carnival and Weasel Zippers
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Boehner fires back at Dem senators with vow to push forward with repeal
Boehner fires back at Dem senators with vow to push forward with repeal
Discussion:
Cubachi, Weasel Zippers and Liberty Pundits Blog
Lbentzterp / CNN:
Boehner to livestream opening day of new Congress on Facebook
Boehner to livestream opening day of new Congress on Facebook
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, gopleader.gov, Mashable!, Gawker, Mediaite, ReadWriteWeb and Washington Post, more at Techmeme »
Lbentzterp / CNN:
Boehner working behind-the-scenes for RNC candidate
Boehner working behind-the-scenes for RNC candidate
Discussion:
The Hill, Ballot Box and TPMDC
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Upcoming NewSouth ‘Huck Finn’ Eliminates the ‘N’ Word — Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic by most any measure—T.S. Eliot called it a masterpiece, and Ernest Hemingway pronounced it the source of “all modern American literature.” Yet, for decades …
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Keith Staskiewicz / EW.com:
New edition of ‘Huckleberry Finn’ to lose the ‘n’ word
New edition of ‘Huckleberry Finn’ to lose the ‘n’ word
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, JONATHAN TURLEY, The Moderate Voice, Firedoglake and neo-neocon
Alexander Mooney / CNN:
Palin re-tweet raises questions — (CNN) - Normally, it's what Sarah Palin tweets that makes news. This time it's what she has re-tweeted. — The former Alaska governor Monday relayed a comment from gay conservative pundit Tammy Bruce, who was expressing her criticism …
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Santorum Takes Aim at Romney, Palin — Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., at a Capitol Hill coffee shop, trying to give a jolt to his presidential ambitions. — Rick Santorum the senator didn't shy from controversy. Apparently, neither will Rick Santorum the presidential candidate.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and GOP 12
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Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Huckabee's the best bet for now — My main thought on the Republican Presidential field as 2011 begins is that the party needs someone outside the current top 4 of Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich to come out of the pack and win the nomination.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, TPMDC and GOP 12
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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 …
Discussion:
Yglesias, PostPartisan, Washington Monthly and The Politico
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Mitch McConnell / Washington Post:
A power grab that the GOP avoided — When the 112th Congress convenes Wednesday, some of us will be thinking back to a vote that occurred 15 years earlier to the day. Just two months after securing a congressional majority for the first time in 40 years, Republicans strode into the Senate chamber …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Blogcritics, TPMDC and The Hill
Tom Udall / Washington Post:
A Senate new year's resolution: Fixing a broken set of rules
A Senate new year's resolution: Fixing a broken set of rules
Discussion:
Wonk Room, The Plum Line and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Schumer: Health care foes should forgo coverage — New York Senator Chuck Schumer is pushing Republican members of Congress who oppose last year's health care legislation to decline health coverage for themselves and their families. — Democrats have been trying to cast Republican members' acceptance …
Discussion:
The Politico, NationalJournal.com, CNN, Don Surber, YID With LID, Scared Monkeys, TPMDC, ThinkProgress, PERRspectives, National Review and Toledo Blade
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David Weigel / Weigel:
Eric Cantor: Health Care Repeal Will Happen Because “It Was Litigated …
Eric Cantor: Health Care Repeal Will Happen Because “It Was Litigated …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, The Plum Line and ThinkProgress
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Obama weighs major reshuffling of staff — As President Obama returns from Hawaii, he is weighing a major reshuffling of his staff that could see as many as eight people playing new key roles in the weeks ahead, Democrats familiar with the process said. — Obama has been mulling for months …
Discussion:
The Fix, National Review, Hot Air, The Daily Caller and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
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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:
The Huffington Post, Law Blog, PostPartisan, Feministing, Balkinization, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Jack & Jill Politics, Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, The Mahablog, Donklephant, Gothamist, Outside the Beltway, The BLT, Confederate Yankee, Shakesville, Law Librarian Blog, Wonkette, ACS Blog, TalkLeft, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Towleroad News #gay, TPMDC, Arkansas Blog, Daily Kos, Scholars and Rogues, Raw Story, Althouse, Hullabaloo, Above the Law, Pam's House Blend and Advocate
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Emi Kolawole / Washington Post:
Scalia: Constitution does not protect women against discrimination
Scalia: Constitution does not protect women against discrimination
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Ben Smith's Blog, Salon, Politics Daily and AOL News
Roger Pilon / Wall Street Journal:
Congress Rediscovers the Constitution
Congress Rediscovers the Constitution
Discussion:
protein wisdom, National Review, sisu, Betsy's Page and Cold Fury
William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
9th Circuit Sends Prop. 8 Case Back To California Supreme Court On Certified Question — I just received an automated e-mail from the 9th Circuit, as follows (emphasis mine): … Here is the certified question centering on whether the proponents of Prop. 8 have standing under California state law:
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications, Outside the Beltway and Althouse
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Robert Cruickshank / Calitics:
Prop 8: 9th Circuit Appears Ready to Grant Proponents Standing to Appeal
Prop 8: 9th Circuit Appears Ready to Grant Proponents Standing to Appeal
Discussion:
Daily Kos and Pam's House Blend
Bob Egelko / San Francisco Chronicle:
Court OKs searches of cell phones without warrant
Court OKs searches of cell phones without warrant
Discussion:
Post Tech, JONATHAN TURLEY, Raw Story and Boing Boing
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G.O.P. Sets Up Huge Target for Budget Ax — WASHINGTON — The incoming Republican majority in the House is moving to make good on its promise to cut $100 billion from domestic spending this year, a goal eagerly backed by conservatives but one carrying substantial political and economic risks.
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Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
GOP Plans To Implement The ‘Demon Pass’ They Once Decried
GOP Plans To Implement The ‘Demon Pass’ They Once Decried
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Outside the Beltway, Washington Monthly and Arkansas Blog
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Why Journalists Aren't Standing Up for WikiLeaks — Three reasons that efforts to prosecute Julian Assange aren't drawing more of an outcry about the First Amendment. — If you think prosecuting journalists is the province solely of the sort of authoritarian governments in the developing world …
Discussion:
Salon, The Nation, American Power, The Confluence, TalkLeft and NewsBusters.org blogs
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Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:
Judith Miller responds to criticism over Assange slight
Judith Miller responds to criticism over Assange slight
Discussion:
Gawker, Mediaite, TPMMuckraker and DownWithTyranny!, more at Mediagazer »
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Is Kathy Griffin Going Too Far Targeting 16-Year Old Willow Palin? — Kathy Griffin was booed by U.S. troops when she made “fat jokes” about Bristol Palin at a Dec. 4, 2010 VH1 event. (Reuters) — Kathy Griffin announced her New Year's resolution to continue a verbal assault on the Palin family.
Discussion:
iOwnTheWorld.com, NewsBusters.org blogs and JammieWearingFool
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Mass La. bird deaths puzzle investigators — LABARRE — Hundreds of dead and dying birds littered a quarter-mile stretch of highway in Pointe Coupee Parish on Monday as motorists drove over and around them. — State biologists are trying to determine what led to the deaths …
Discussion:
New York Times, New York Magazine, POWIP, Gothamist, The Impolitic, The Maddow Blog and LewRockwell.com Blog
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Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions — Faced with growing budget deficits and restive taxpayers, elected officials from Maine to Alabama, Ohio to Arizona, are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions, particularly those representing government workers, in collective bargaining and politics.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Federal Eye, Economix, Mish's Global Economic …, Gawker and The Moderate Voice
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With New Heart Pump, Cheney Resumes Old Life — By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, HELENE COOPER and MICHAEL D. SHEAR — WASHINGTON — A few days before Christmas, former Vice President Dick Cheney emerged from several months of a self-imposed political sabbatical to headline a fund-raiser for Maria Cino …
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared, Oliver Willis and New York Magazine
Susan Crabtree / The Hill:
Rep. Peter King has ‘nothing but contempt’ for New York Times — Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the incoming chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, ripped into The New York Times Tuesday for telling him in a weekend editorial to tone down his rhetoric. — From King's response, there is no indication he will do anything of the sort.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and New York Magazine
The Huffington Post:
Holly Petraeus To Be Elizabeth Warren's Pick For Top Post In New Consumer Protection Agency (EXCLUSIVE) — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … Elizabeth Warren, the Obama administration appointee now establishing a consumer financial protection agency, plans to name the wife of General David Petraeus …
Discussion:
The Politico, DealBook, Jay Bookman, Wonk Room, Politics Daily and The Nation
JTA:
Bibi sends Obama letter requesting Pollard release — WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Neyanyahu wrote President Obama urging clemency for Jonathan Pollard. — “At the time of his arrest, Jonathan Pollard was acting as an agent of the Israeli government,” Netanyahu wrote in his letter, sent Tuesday.
Discussion:
The Washington Note and Ben Smith's Blog
James Meikle / Guardian:
Gerry Rafferty dies aged 63 — Singer-songwriter behind Stuck in the Middle with You and Baker Street endured battles with music industry and alcohol — The singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty, whose songs such as Stuck in the Middle with You, Baker Street and Get it Right Next Time soundtracked the 1970s …
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Theater Audience Boos Tea Party Billionaire David Koch — David Koch masks his role as one of the top financiers of the Tea Party movement and pro-polluter front groups by loudly tacking his name to more laudable charities, like the New York city ballet. Koch, who has professed his devotion to …
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Obama Job Approval Reaches 50% for First Time Since Spring — Returns to that level for first time since late May/early June 2010 — PRINCETON, N.J. — Barack Obama's job approval rating reached the symbolic 50% mark in the latest three-day average from Gallup Daily tracking.
Discussion:
PostPartisan, A plain blog about politics, The Fix, The Daily Dish, Mediaite, First Draft and Real Clear Politics