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JSOnline:
Senate advances collective bargaining changes; Democrats to return after Assembly action — Republicans advance bill curbing most collective bargaining; Maneuver ignites furious protests — By Patrick Marley and Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel — Madison — With Democrats still in Illinois …
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Ezra Klein:
What happened in Wisconsin tonight — Here's what just happened in Wisconsin: The rules of the state's Senate require a quorum for any measures that spend money. That's how the absence of the Senate's Democrats could stymie Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget law — it spent money, and thus it needed a quorum.
Discussion:
Health Care Policy …, The Plum Line, New Deal 2.0, Taegan Goddard's … and Booman Tribune
John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Breaking: Without Democrats Present, Wisconsin Senate Voting on Largely-Intact Budget Repair Bill — Update 7:33 p.m.: As I was writing this up, the state senate voted 18-1 to pass the bill described below. — Update 7:38 p.m.: Wisconsin senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald confirms …
Discussion:
Weigel, National Review, Mediaite and Pajamas Media
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Anti-Public Employee Bill Passes Senate in Wisconsin; Only the Beginning of the Fight — Wisconsin's Capitol dome in Madison (photo: WxMom) — If you've been following along in my last post, you know the news: the Wisconsin State Senate rushed through and passed a bill …
Discussion:
naked capitalism, Angry Bear, National Review, Bloomberg and The Moderate Voice
Ann Althouse / Althouse:
Protesters are locking the Capitol doors shut from the inside using metal handcuffs, Meade reports from the scene. — He told me that just now, by phone. He got out, and is warning others not to go in. Obviously, it's a terrible fire hazard to make it so people cannot get out of the building easily.
Discussion:
Pajamas Media, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers and Instapundit
Scott Walker / Wall Street Journal:
Why I'm Fighting in Wisconsin — We can avoid mass teacher layoffs and reward our best performers. But we have to act now. — In 2010, Megan Sampson was named an Outstanding First Year Teacher in Wisconsin. A week later, she got a layoff notice from the Milwaukee Public Schools.
Discussion:
FrumForum
Lee Fang / ThinkProgress:
WI Senate GOP Leader Admits On-Air That His Goal Is To Defund Labor Unions, Hurt Obama's Reelection Chances — A prank call from a man purporting to be petrochemical billionaire David Koch to Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) a few weeks ago revealed that Walker had crafted his “budget repair” bill in a bid to crush the labor unions.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, TPMDC, The New Republic, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Hullabaloo
msnbc.com:
GOP rams anti-union bill through Wis. Senate — End run around Democratic senators who left state to prevent passage — Below: — NBC News and msnbc.com — MADISON, Wis. — Republicans pushed a provision stripping public employees of their collective bargaining rights through …
Discussion:
Examiner, Associated Press, The Mahablog and Truthdig
Scott Bauer / Associated Press:
Wis. GOP bypasses Dems, cuts collective bargaining — MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Senate succeeded in voting Wednesday to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers, after Republicans outmaneuvered the chamber's missing Democrats and approved an explosive proposal …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, JammieWearingFool, JSOnline and Althouse
Monica Davey / New York Times:
Wisconsin Senate Limits Bargaining by Public Workers — CHICAGO — The bitter political standoff in Wisconsin over Gov. Scott Walker's bid to sharply curtail collective bargaining for public-sector workers ended abruptly Wednesday night as Republican colleagues in the State Senate successfully maneuvered …
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight, FrumForum and The Page
Michael A. Fletcher / Washington Post:
Republican Wisconsin senators bypass Democrats in vote on collective bargaining — Senate Republicans abruptly passed Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's plan to sharply curtail collective-bargaining rights for public employees Wednesday night, using a legislative maneuver to approve …
Discussion:
The Fix
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
Just Like That — In a brief meeting that lasted barely five minutes …
Just Like That — In a brief meeting that lasted barely five minutes …
Discussion:
TPMDC and First Draft
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Wis. State Senate Passes Anti-Union Bill, In End-Run Around Dem Boycott
Wis. State Senate Passes Anti-Union Bill, In End-Run Around Dem Boycott
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Ann Althouse / Althouse:
Chaos at the Wisconsin Capitol tonight.
Fox News:
Wisconsin Senate GOP Votes to Strip State Workers of Collective Bargaining Rights
Wisconsin Senate GOP Votes to Strip State Workers of Collective Bargaining Rights
Discussion:
UrbanGrounds
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Breaking: Wisconsin Senate GOP to split off collective bargaining bill from budget, pass it separately?
Breaking: Wisconsin Senate GOP to split off collective bargaining bill from budget, pass it separately?
WISC-TV:
Source: Republican Senators Attempting To Pass Parts Of Budget Repair Bill
Source: Republican Senators Attempting To Pass Parts Of Budget Repair Bill
Discussion:
Fox Nation, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and JSOnline
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Wisconsin Conference Committee Passes New, Stripped-Down Anti-Union Bill
Wisconsin Conference Committee Passes New, Stripped-Down Anti-Union Bill
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Adam Bernstein / Washington Post:
David Broder dies; Pulitzer-winning Washington Post political columnist — David S. Broder, 81, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post and one of the most respected writers on national politics for four decades, died Wednesday at Capital Hospice in Arlington of complications from diabetes.
Discussion:
The Fix, The Caucus, Hendrik Hertzberg, Taylor Marsh, Pajamas Media, Politics Daily, Tuned In, Ezra Klein, New York Times, msnbc.com, Achenblog, Boston Globe, The Enterprise Blog, MarkDaniels.Blogspot.com, Capitol Alert, Firedoglake, AOL News, Mediaite, FrumForum, Outside the Beltway, Gawker, The Page, FishbowlDC, Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice, NPR Topics and AmSpecBlog, more at Mediagazer »
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James C. McKinley Jr / New York Times:
Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town — CLEVELAND, Tex. — The police investigation began shortly after Thanksgiving, when an elementary school student alerted a teacher to a lurid cellphone video that included one of her classmates. — The video led the police to an abandoned trailer …
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Shakesville, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Feministing, ECHIDNE of the snakes, Feministe and AOL News
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Mac McClelland / Mother Jones:
The New York Times' Rape-Friendly Reporting — From today's New York Times: … This story from Cleveland, Texas, is beyond horrifying. Obviously. Unfortunately, further injustices have now been heaped on the victim (and the movement to end rape culture) by the article's writer and editor.
Discussion:
Shakesville
Simon Maloy / Media Matters for America:
Look At NPR's Coverage; Don't Privilege The Serial Liar — It seems that James O'Keefe won't be ignored. — The many-times discredited activist is back with yet another “sting” video, this one of NPR executive Ron Schiller speaking with what he believes to be perspective donors …
Discussion:
Riehl World View, Big Government, Firedoglake, Pajamas Media, Guardian and Media Decoder
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Zaid Jilani / ThinkProgress:
As King Targets Muslims, There Have Been Almost Twice As Many Plots Since 9/11 From Non-Muslim Terrorists — Tomorrow, Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, will hold hearings singling out the Muslim American community for supposedly aiding and abetting domestic radicalization and terrorism.
Discussion:
Associated Press, American Power, News Hounds, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, In the Arena and The Jawa Report
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Jordy Yager / The Hill:
Democrats plead with Rep. King to cancel hearing on US Muslims
Democrats plead with Rep. King to cancel hearing on US Muslims
Discussion:
The Politico, Weasel Zippers, The Note and CNN
BBC:
Gaddafi forces beat up BBC team — Goktay Koraltan and Feras Killani said other detainees had been badly beaten — Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi's security forces detained and beat up a BBC news team who were trying to reach the strife-torn western city of Zawiya.
Discussion:
War in Context, msnbc.com and FrumForum
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Mike Carter / Seattle Times:
Man charged with attempted MLK Day bombing linked to neo-Nazi group — A Stevens County man charged with the attempted bombing along the route of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Spokane has links to a neo-Nazi group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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Barbara Kay / National Post:
The day Sarah Palin kneecapped feminism — The feminist revolution began as a necessary reform movement, but unfortunately evolved into a marxism-imbued, revolutionary one. Second-wave feminism's focus soon shifted from women's equal rights (which are limited to those defined by law) …
Discussion:
The Other McCain
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Christian Heinze / Ballot Box:
Palin vs. Christie: GOP rock-star feud
Palin vs. Christie: GOP rock-star feud
Discussion:
Riehl World View, Outside the Beltway, FrumForum and msnbc.com
Kevinliptak / CNN:
Gingrich planning May presidential announcement — Washington (CNN) - In a conference call Wednesday with former staffers and supporters former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said “we are leaning toward a yes” on a presidential run, CNN has learned. — Leaning heavily.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Hot Air, AmSpecBlog, The Brody File, USA Today, bjkeefe, National Review, The Politico, Political Insider, Wonkette, msnbc.com, GOP 12, The Note, Shakesville and FrumForum
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Palin would base campaign in Scottsdale — The prospect of Sarah Palin running for president is, increasingly, dismissed by a political class that sees her facing weak poll numbers — especially in key early states — and doing nothing to correct them or to buil the infrastructure for a run.
Elizabeth Jensen / Media Decoder:
Like NPR, PBS Met With Fictional Donors — NPR was not the only media organization duped by the Republican provocateur James O'Keefe. — PBS confirmed Wednesday that like NPR, one of its executives attended a lunch with people who posed as members of the Muslim Education Action Center Trust, a fictional group.
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Wire, Mediaite, Gawker, Little Green Footballs, The Other McCain and New York Magazine