memeorandum: Judge holds Interior in contempt over drilling ban (Ben Geman/The Hill)

6:05 PM ET, February 3, 2011

Top Items:

For Complete Coverage of the Crisis in Egypt, Featuring Exclusive Reporting From Christiane Amanpour, Click Here — When I asked him what he thought seeing the people shouting insults about him and wanting him gone, he said, “I don't care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country, I care about Egypt.”

Discussion: The Hill, CNN, Firedoglake, Gawker, The Other McCain, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Monthly, TPMMuckraker, Raw Story, Israel Matzav, Commentary, This Just In, AOL News, FrumForum, The Nation and Corrente

Mark Mooney / ABCNEWS:

ABC News Reporter Brian Hartman Threatened With Beheading — Attacks on Foreign Press Growing During Egyptian Uprising — A group of angry Egyptian men carjacked an ABC News crew and threatened to behead them today in the latest and most menacing attack on foreign reporters trying to cover the anti-government uprising.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Mediaite, The Wire, Maggie's Notebook, protein wisdom, Weasel Zippers, The Plum Line, Poynter and Boing Boing

New York Times:

Gangs Hunt Journalists and Rights Workers — CAIRO — Security forces and gangs chanting in favor of the Egyptian government hunted down journalists at their offices and in the hotels where many had taken refuge on Thursday in a widespread and overt campaign of intimidation aimed at suppressing reports from the capital.

Robert Springborg / Foreign Policy:

Game over: The chance for democracy in Egypt is lost — While much of American media has termed the events unfolding in Egypt today as “clashes between pro-government and opposition groups,” this is not in fact what's happening on the street. The so-called “pro-government” …

Michael J. Totten / Pajamas Media:

Sandmonkey's Last Post — The blogger known as Egyptian Sandmonkey is a friend of mine. Many Americans read him. I actually know him. I met him years ago in Cairo, and he's one of the good guys. — I don't know if what's happening in Egypt is a good thing or a bad thing because I don't know how it will end.

Discussion: Associated Press, Commentary, The Daily Dish, The Other McCain and Big Peace

TIME NewsFeed / newsfeed.time.com:

TIME Exclusive: CBS's Lara Logan and Crew Detained in Cairo As Violence Escalates — Sources have told TIME Magazine that Lara Logan, chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News, has been detained along with her crew by Egyptian police outside Cairo's Israeli embassy.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, CBS News, AOL News, HotAirPundit and Dispatch

World News:
We've compiled a list of all the journalist who have been in …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Dish, Committee to Protect …, News Desk, Poynter, TVNewser, Boing Boing, BBC, Gawker, Associated Press, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Raw Story

BlogPost:
Egypt news day 10: Army steps in; journalists arrested and more live updates

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Politics Daily and The Hill

Michael Weissenstein / Associated Press:
Journalists attacked by mobs, detained in Cairo

Discussion: Pajamas Media, ThinkProgress, Guardian, Danger Room and EA WorldView

Charles Levinson / Wall Street Journal:
ElBaradei's Role Cast in Doubt

Discussion: The Daily Caller and This Just In

Christian Hartsock / Big Government:

White Political Ralliers Call for Lynching of Black Justice (Sorry MSM, No Tea in this Blend) — I recently took a two-day trip down to Palm Springs to attend an event called “Uncloaking the Kochs” hosted by Common Cause. Accompanied by my dear friend, former assembly candidate Alvaro Day …

Discussion: The Blast, Weigel, NewsReal Blog, Mediaite, UrbanGrounds, The Right Sphere, The Powers That Be, Da Techguy's Blog, RedState, Weasel Zippers, JOSHUAPUNDIT, theblogprof, NewsBusters.org blogs and Atlas Shrugs

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Video: Koch protests include calls to lynch Clarence Thomas

Discussion: Maggie's Notebook, Breitbart.tv, Instapundit and JammieWearingFool

Jeff G. / protein wisdom:
What should we do with the Constitutionalists?

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Molly Ball / The Politico:

Charlotte charred by FLOTUS roast reference — Charlotte residents were ecstatic to hear this week that their city was selected to host the Democratic convention. But there was one line in the e-mail announcement from First Lady Michelle Obama that made locals say, “Huh?”

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Caller, JammieWearingFool and Althouse

Jamison Foser / Media Matters for America:
Like Michelle Obama, The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority Touts Area's BBQ

Discussion: The Impolitic

George Soros / Washington Post:

Why Obama has to get Egypt right — Revolutions usually start with enthusiasm and end in tears. In the case of the Middle East, the tears could be avoided if President Obama stands firmly by the values that got him elected. Although American power and influence in the world have declined …

Juan / Informed Comment:
Mubarak Defies a Humiliated America, Emulating Netanyahu

Discussion: CNN, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Booman Tribune and The Washington Note

Scott Shane / New York Times:
As Islamist Group Rises, Its Intentions Are Unclear

Discussion: RubinReports

John R. Bolton / Los Angeles Times:
Beirut calling — Lebanon, not Egypt, may determine the fate …

Discussion: Commentary and Israel Matzav

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
McCain Calls Middle East Pro-Democracy Movement A ‘Virus’

Discussion: Time, Fox News, Raw Story, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Dispatch

Jonathan Allen / The Politico:

GOP loses ‘forcible rape’ language — House Republicans plan to sidestep a charged debate over the distinction between “forcible rape” and “rape” by altering the language of a bill banning taxpayer subsidies for abortions. — The provision in question, written as an exemption from the ban …

Discussion: CNN, Runnin' Scared, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, Little Green Footballs, Balloon Juice, Outside the Beltway, Gothamist, Gawker and Open Left

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
Report: Republicans Give Up On Redefining Rape

Discussion: The Huffington Post, campusprogress.org, The Daily Dish, Raw Story, Mother Jones, Shakesville, PostPartisan, FrumForum, Mediaite, The Politico, Hullabaloo and The Daily Caller

Jonathan Allen / The Politico:
‘Forcible Rape’ Language to Change, Manchin's Maiden Speech/EPA …

Discussion: Roll Call, Open Congress, Wonkette and TPMDC

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

GOP offers $32B budget cut — House Republican leaders on Thursday said they would seek $32 billion in spending cuts from the resolution currently funding the government. — Republicans framed their proposal as cutting $74 billion from President Obama's 2011 budget request.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, RedState and National Review

David Rogers / Reuters:
GOP scales back budget cut goals

Discussion: CNN and Daily Kos

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Reid blasts House GOP proposal as ‘draconian’ and ‘unworkable’

Discussion: CNN

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
The Politics of Saving ‘Granny’

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The New Republic and And So it Goes in Shreveport

The Note:

Sarah Palin Turns Down Coveted Keynote Speaking Slot At CPAC Conference — ABC News' Michael Falcone: — UPDATED: After skipping the popular Conservative Political Action Conference for the past three years, Sarah Palin has once again turned down the invitation of CPAC officials to address the conference this year.

Discussion: CNN, Weigel, Commentary, Cubachi, Outside the Beltway, Taegan Goddard's …, Conservatives4Palin, TPMDC, GOP 12, The Daily Caller, Rumproast and FrumForum

Rachel Weiner / The Fix:

Why Sarah Palin keeps skipping CPAC — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin today turned down an invitation to speak at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference even after being offered the plum keynote speaking spot, the fourth year in a row she's turned down an offer to speak at the event.

Laurel Brubaker Calkins / Bloomberg:

U.S. in Contempt Over Gulf Drill Ban, Judge Rules — The Obama Administration acted in contempt by continuing its deepwater-drilling moratorium after the policy was struck down, a New Orleans judge ruled. — Interior Department regulators acted with “determined disregard” …

Discussion: Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications and Don Surber

Ben Geman / The Hill:

Judge holds Interior in contempt over drilling ban — A Louisiana federal judge on Wednesday held the Interior Department in contempt for re-imposing a deepwater oil-drilling ban last year after the judge had struck down an earlier version of the moratorium.

Discussion: The Politico and Maggie's Notebook

Stephen Power / Wall Street Journal:
Administration's Drill Ban Draws Blast From Judge

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy and Michelle Malkin

Stephen Lowman / Political Bookworm:

President Carter named in $5 million lawsuit over his “Palestine” book — More than four years after its publication, five disgruntled readers have filed a class-action lawsuit against President Jimmy Carter and his publisher, Simon & Schuster, alleging that his 2006 book “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid” …

Discussion: No Sheeples Here, NewsReal Blog, Raw Story, TBogg, National Review, Commentary and Yglesias

Ayaan Hirsi Ali / New York Times:

Get Ready for the Muslim Brotherhood — WASHINGTON — In 1985, as a teenager in Kenya, I was an adamant member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Seventeen years later, in 2002, I took part in a political campaign to win votes for the conservative party in the Netherlands.

Discussion: Yglesias

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Sophistry And Defining The Muslim Brotherhood, Ctd

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Dan Gilgoff / CNN:

TRENDING: Obama delivers major speech on personal faith — President Barack Obama gave an unusually personal speech about his religious faith on Thursday, saying that “it is the biblical injunction to serve the least of these that keeps me going and keeps me from being overwhelmed,” in address to a prayer breakfast in Washington.

Discussion: Politics Daily, beliefnet and Shakesville

Kevinliptak / CNN:

Huntsman to speak at jobs forum in Washington — Washington (CNN) - U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman is set to make his first public appearance since announcing plans to resign from the Obama administration last week amid chatter that he might seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:

John McCain: ‘Thank God’ Donald Rumsfeld stepped down — Sen. John McCain said he “thank[s] God” that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stepped down from the post in 2006 and didn't lead the Pentagon's strategy in Iraq during the last two years of George W. Bush's presidency.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Rumproast, Raw Story and RedState