memeorandum: U.S. teenager tortured in Kuwait and barred re-entry into the U.S. (Glenn Greenwald/Salon)

5:50 PM ET, January 6, 2011

Top Items:

Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:

CBO's Preliminary Analysis of H.R. 2, the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act — The House of Representatives is planning to consider a bill (H.R. 2) to repeal the major health care legislation enacted last March—that is, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) …

Jake Sherman / The Politico:

GOP bends its own new House rules — Just hours after taking control of the House, Republicans passed a sweeping set of rules promising transparency and reform. — But the new majority is already showing these promises aren't exactly set in stone. — After calling for bills to go through …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CNN, The Huffington Post, Wonk Room, The Note, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Oliver Willis and Washington Monthly

Sarah Kliff / The Politico:
CBO: Health law repeal adds $230 billion to deficit

Discussion: The Daily Caller, New York Magazine and GayPatriot

The Note:
Speaker Boehner Dismisses CBO's Report Health Care Repeal Increases Deficit

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Post and AmSpecBlog

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
BREAKING: CBO Paints Grim Picture of Repeal

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Ezra Klein and The Daily Dish

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
Democrats Plan Attack on Republican Repeal Effort

Discussion: The Plum Line, Washington Post, Taegan Goddard's …, Pajamas Media, The Politico and National Review

Jonathan Allen / The Politico:

‘Birther’ arrested during Constitution reading — A woman was arrested in the House gallery Thursday after interrupting a reading of the Constitution by yelling out her belief that President Barack Obama is not a natural born citizen of the United States. — When Frank Rep. Pallone …

Discussion: CNN, AOL News, Emptywheel, USA Today, Althouse, Weasel Zippers, The Right Scoop, The Hill, Phronesisaical and Towleroad News #gay

ABCNEWS:

Constitution Reading on House Floor Mired by Yelling, Objections — Members of the House of Representatives today read the Constitution on the floor of the House chamber, marking a first for Congress. While lawmakers read the amended version to skirt the original's controversial passages …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Theo Spark

Ryan J. Reilly / TPMMuckraker:

Birther Interrupts House Reading Of Constitution, Yells ‘Help Us Jesus’ (VIDEO) — An apparent member of the birther movement seated in the gallery of the House of Representatives on Thursday interrupted a reading of the Constitution. The woman yelled out “Except Obama, except Obama …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Magazine, Slate, Joe. My. God., Little Green Footballs and Indecision Forever

Chris Moody / The Daily Caller:
Original U.S. Constitution will not be read in entirety on House floor

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, TPMDC, Daily Kos, Top of the Ticket, Balkinization, No More Mister Nice Blog, Weigel, Patterico's Pontifications and Washington Post

Danny Yadron / Washington Wire:
House Reads Constitution, Gets Civics Lesson

Discussion: The Foundry

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

The problem with William Daley as new chief of staff — So it now appears to be official: Obama has chosen William Daley as his new chief of staff. — There's been a lot written about how this pick is sure to anger the liberal base, because the optics of appointing a banker as chief …

Discussion: Associated Press, TalkLeft, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Ben Smith's Blog, Washington Post, AOL News, National Review, PostPartisan, The Daily Dish, driftglass, The Page and TPMDC

Ezra Klein:

The mystery of Bill Daley — Imagine I told you that one of the candidates President Obama is considering for chief of staff opposed the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, opposed doing health-care reform and led the Chamber of Commerce's effort to loosen the post-Enron regulations …

Discussion: The Caucus, The Huffington Post, The Impolitic, The Nation, Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, The New Republic, CNN, The Reid Report, Gawker, AOL News, Political Punch, Swampland and Wonkette

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
In '88, Daley deplored ‘black party’

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Gawker

Eric Lipton / New York Times:
Business Background Defines Chief of Staff

Discussion: The Fix, A plain blog about politics, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, Shakesville, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post:
Daley: Double Rahm

Discussion: PostPartisan and Hullabaloo

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
Daley Is Obama's New Chief

Discussion: Fortune, NationalJournal.com, Taylor Marsh and Prairie Weather

First Read / msnbc.com:
First thoughts: Now what?

Discussion: Roll Call, Associated Press, NewsBusters.org blogs and Open Left

Mark Memmott / NPR:

Review Of Juan Williams' Firing Done; NPR News Exec Resigns — NPR just released two statements — one on the completion of an independent review of the dismissal of news analyst Juan Williams and another on the resignation of Senior Vice President for News Ellen Weiss:

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, NewsBusters.org blogs, Weasel Zippers, AOL News, Fox Nation, National Review, Poynter and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

Fox News:
NPR Boss Who Fired Juan Williams Resigns

Discussion: Don Surber, HillBuzz.org and Tammy Bruce

Associated Press: Jump to explainer Talking a fine line: When pundits go too far

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Strange bedfellows: U.S. Chamber and AFL-CIO may team up against House GOP infrastructure cuts — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO — two powerful players that are often at each other's throats — are considering teaming up for a campaign against the House GOP's planned cuts …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and National Review

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Republicans introduce bill to eliminate presidential ‘czars’

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Pat Garofalo / Wonk Room:
MSNBC Chyron Falsely States That House Republicans Will Require …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Media Matters for America and Associated Press

Craig Whitlock / Washington Post:

Pentagon to cut spending by $78 billion, reduce troop strength — The Pentagon will have to cut spending by $78 billion over the next five years, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday, forcing the Army and Marine Corps to shrink the number of troops on active duty and eventually imposing …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Atlantic Online, Washington Examiner, JustOneMinute, Raw Story and New York Magazine

Erik Wasson / The Hill:
Gates surprises lawmakers with plan to cut $78 billion from defense budget

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Helen Thomas / FCNP:

Privatizing Social Security Again? — This year, 2011, marks the beginning of baby boomers receiving Social Security checks and they should be alerted of past perennial Republican attempts to partially privatize the program. — Heaven forbid that plans prevail to invest a certain amount …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Media Decoder, Mediaite and Raw Story

FCNP:
Veteran Journalist Thomas Resumes Column Today in News-Press

Discussion: Politics Daily, OpenSecrets.org, Mediaite, Gawker and The Daily Caller

Jonathan Allen / The Politico:

Republican lawmakers miss oath, vote on floor anyway — Two Republicans, including a member of the GOP leadership, voted on the House floor several times despite not having been sworn in, throwing the House into parliamentary turmoil Thursday — the same day the Constitution was read aloud on the floor.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Note, Ben Smith's Blog, Washington Monthly and New York Magazine

Anna Palmer / Roll Call:
Sessions' Blunder Puts Brakes on House Work

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Outside the Beltway

The Fix:

Democrats' defection from Pelosi is historic — How divided are Democrats' right now? — With 19 Democrats withholding support from Nancy Pelosi for House speaker on Wednesday, it represented the largest defection from a party's speaker nominee in nearly a century.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Firedoglake, Politics Daily, The Hill, Ballot Box, NewsBusters.org blogs, Des Moines Register, The Sundries Shack, The Note, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, Washington Post, Indecision Forever, The Politico, Commentary, Right Turn and Gallup

James Warren / The Atlantic Online:

No Pity for Robert Gibbs and His ‘Modest’ Salary — Perhaps it was the long flight back from Hawaii. But President Obama's first full day back on the job suggested a slight case of tone deafness. — In bidding a sort-of farewell to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, he noted the …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Proof Positive, Outside the Beltway and Weasel Zippers

Adam Serwer / The Plum Line:

Huck Finning the Constitution — Earlier this week, there was an uproar over a publisher's plans to release an edition of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that would replace the N-word with the word “slave” in order to make the book more “appropriate” for schoolchildren.

Discussion: Ezra Klein, New York Times, Salon, The Maddow Blog, The Reid Report, Commentary, Colorlines and Scholars and Rogues

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
The 'people's House' takes up ‘We the People’ with symbolic floor reading

Discussion: The Note, Hot Air, CNN, The Sundries Shack, Bob Goodlatte, The Politico, The Caucus, Cato @ Liberty, New York Magazine, Gawker, Wonkette, Runnin' Scared, The Daily Dish, Yglesias and Vanity Fair

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

U.S. teenager tortured in Kuwait and barred re-entry into the U.S. — (updated below) — Gulet Mohamed is an 18-year-old American citizen whose family is Somalian. His parents moved with him to the U.S. when he was 2 or 3 years old, and he has lived in the U.S. ever since.

Discussion: New York Times, Truthdig and Emptywheel

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

McCain says he'll make 'Don't ask' repeal work — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday he would work to help implement the repeal of the military's “Don't ask, don't tell” policy, despite his opposition to that legislation. — McCain signaled he had made peace with the lame-duck bill …

Discussion: The Politico, Pam's House Blend, TPMMuckraker, Wonkette, GayPatriot and Towleroad News #gay

Simon Johnson / Economix:

Why Are Taxpayers Subsidizing Facebook, and the Next Bubble? — Simon Johnson, the former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, is the co-author of “13 Bankers.” — Goldman Sachs is investing $450 million of its own money in Facebook, at a valuation that implies the social-networking company is now worth $50 billion.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Huffington Post, DealBook, The Baseline Scenario, AmSpecBlog, Media Decoder, The Confluence and Gawker, more at Techmeme »

Todd Wright / NBC Miami:

Florida Professor Arrested for Having a “Suspicious” Bagel on a Plane — Passengers claimed man had suspicious package in the overhead compartment — A Florida professor was arrested and removed from a plane Monday after his fellow passengers alerted crew members they thought he had a suspicious package in the overhead compartment.

Discussion: Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Commentary and Discourse.net

Rachel Slajda / TPMMuckraker:

King: Babies In Garbage Cans Prove Health Reform Is Unconstitutional (VIDEO) — Rep. Steve King (R-IA), master of the pithy C-SPAN clip, made an original argument today for why health care reform is unconstitutional during an emergency House rules meeting about the GOP's upcoming vote to repeal it.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo and Wonkette

Sarah Ellison / Vanity Fair:

The Man Who Spilled the Secrets — The collaboration between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the Web's notorious information anarchist, and some of the world's most respected news organizations began at The Guardian, a nearly 200-year-old British paper. What followed was a clash of civilizations …

Discussion: Guardian, Slate, Felix Salmon, New York Magazine, Raw Story, Harry's Place, Crooked Timber, Media Decoder, Threat Level, The Nation, Boing Boing and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

wbaltv.com:

Source: Explosions Reported At 2 State Buildings — Fire Crews, Hazmat Sent To MDOT, Jeffrey Building — HANOVER, Md. — Officials are investigating explosions at the Maryland Department of Transportation's headquarters in Hanover and a state government building in Annapolis that have injured a few people.

Discussion: WTOP.com, Post Now, The Jawa Report, The Gateway Pundit and The Other McCain