memeorandum: ‘Hezbollah intends to attack Western targets ahead of Hariri killing indictments’ (Haaretz)

3:20 PM ET, April 14, 2011

Top Items:

Nancy Pelosi snaps at White House adviser Gene Sperling — In a tense moment that may well have encapsulated the frustrations of three-plus months in the minority, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi snapped at a top presidential economic adviser, Gene Sperling, during a closed-door meeting …

Discussion: Hot Air, Swampland, Weasel Zippers, Pirate's Cove, Ballot Box and The Hill

National Review:

Strike One — We initially supported the deal House Speaker John Boehner cut with the White House to cut $38.5 billion from the rest of the fiscal year 2011 budget. It was only a pittance in the context of all of Washington's red ink, but it seemed an acceptable start, even if we assumed it would be imperfect in its details.

John Bresnahan / The Politico:
GOP reaches out to Steny Hoyer for help on budget vote

Discussion: AmSpecBlog

The Hill:
WHIP COUNT: Budget deal appears to have votes to pass Congress

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Hot Air, The Hill and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Russell Berman / The Hill:
Boehner expects spending deal to pass with ‘bipartisan majority’

Discussion: The Page

Jonathan Allen / The Politico:
Nancy Pelosi fades as power player

Discussion: Fox News and FrumForum

Wall Street Journal:

The Presidential Divider — Obama's toxic speech and even worse plan for deficits and debt. — Did someone move the 2012 election to June 1? We ask because President Obama's extraordinary response to Paul Ryan's budget yesterday—with its blistering partisanship and multiple distortions …

Jeff Poor / The Daily Caller:
Krauthammer's take on Obama's budget address: ‘I thought it was a disgrace’

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Moderate Voice, Weekly Standard, Left Coast Rebel, The Atlantic Online, Bloomberg, The New Republic, The Gateway Pundit, GayPatriot, Taylor Marsh, Atlas Shrugs, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Patterico's Pontifications, Crooks and Liars and Washington Monthly

The White House:
FACT SHEET: The President's Framework for Shared Prosperity and Shared Fiscal Responsibility

Discussion: About.com US Liberal Politics, White House.gov Blog, Pirate's Cove, Questions and Observations, The Washington Current, Michelle Malkin, The Other McCain, The Incidental Economist, Opinion L.A., The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, The Enterprise Blog, Mother Jones, The Lonely Conservative, The Daily Dish and Washington Wire

Ramesh Ponnuru / National Review: Paul Ryan vs. the Mythmakers

Azi Paybarah / New York Observer:

Trump: ‘Always Had a Great Relationship With The Blacks’ — You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly. — Donald Trump speaking with Fred Dicker. — Donald Trump shot down a report claiming …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Taegan Goddard's …, The Atlantic Online, msnbc.com and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Trump and the blacks — Donald Trump was asked just now on Fred Dicker's radio show about African-American support for President Obama. — “I have a great relationship with the blacks,” he said, continuing to call the overwhelming black support for President Obama “frightening.”

Discussion: CNN, TPMDC and GOP 12

Lauraklairmont / CNN:

Trump to make announcement about announcement — Washington (CNN) - Proving once again that Donald Trump knows a bit about publicity, the business man and real estate mogul will make an announcement on the season finale of “Celebrity Apprentice” about his intentions on running for the White House.

Discussion: Wake up America, Outside the Beltway, FrumForum and GOP 12

Ronald Kessler / NewsMax.com:
Exclusive: Trump to Announce His Run for President

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Hot Air

Dennis Cauchon / USA Today:

Share of population working — Roll over each state to see the share of the population working in 2010: — Sources: USA TODAY, Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics — The share of the population that is working fell to its lowest level last year since women started entering the workforce …

Discussion: Firedoglake, National Review, The Politico, Weasel Zippers, The Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Right Wing News, Pajamas Media, msnbc.com and JammieWearingFool

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

DeMint: If vote to raise debt ceiling is GOP's Waterloo, ‘let it be’ — A top conservative senator on Thursday indicated he is willing to go to extreme lengths to prevent a vote on raising the debt ceiling, even if it hurts the Republican Party politically.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and FrumForum

Shane D'Aprile / The Hill:
Freshmen shrugging off Tea Party primary threats over spending deal

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, DownWithTyranny!, The Note and AMERICAblog News

David Weigel / Slate:
Dancing on the Ceiling — How Republicans are framing the debate …

Discussion: OpenSecrets.org, Weigel and protein wisdom

Kevin Bogardus / The Hill:

Fireworks expected as Gov. Walker heads to Hill to talk unions — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) could be in for a rowdy welcome from unions and liberal groups when he comes to Capitol Hill on Thursday to testify about his work on reducing the state's budget deficit.

Discussion: msnbc.com, ThinkProgress and ABCNEWS

Sara Murray / Washington Wire:
Gov. Walker Gets Some Awkward Questions

Discussion: Althouse

Henry Blodget / The Business Insider:

PROFESSOR: Sarah Palin Probably Staged A Gigantic Hoax About Being Trig's Mother — An interesting footnote has emerged to a theory that raged around the Internet during Sarah Palin's candidacy for Vice President: — The theory is that Sarah Palin is actually the grandmother of her purported son Trig …

Discussion: Indecision Forever and The Daily Dish

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:

Budget Confusion — Some conservatives were taken aback by the AP's report yesterday that the continuing resolution (CR) that cuts $38 billion will only reduce this fiscal year's deficit—i.e. reduce total outlays through September 30—by $352 million. — Is the CR a sham? Nope, not really.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, The Politico, hosted2.ap.org, Fox News, TPMDC, Hot Air and AmSpecBlog

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
CBO Score of Budget Deal Could Make House Passage Difficult

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post and Open Congress

New York Times:

In Financial Crisis, No Prosecutions of Top Figures — It is a question asked repeatedly across America: why, in the aftermath of a financial mess that generated hundreds of billions in losses, have no high-profile participants in the disaster been prosecuted?

Discussion: Salon, Yglesias, The Confluence, The Awl, The Big Picture, Prairie Weather, Reuters, FrumForum and The Politico

CNBC:

Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Rise; Inflation Pressure Grows — New claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, bouncing back above the key 400,000 level, while core producer prices clumbed faster than expected in March, government reports showed on Thursday.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Lonely Conservative and Scared Monkeys

Alan J. Kuperman / Boston Globe:

False pretense for war in Libya? — EVIDENCE IS now in that President Barack Obama grossly exaggerated the humanitarian threat to justify military action in Libya. The president claimed that intervention was necessary to prevent a “bloodbath” in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city and last rebel stronghold.

Discussion: Eunomia and The Daily Dish

Arianna Huffington / The Huffington Post:

About That Lawsuit... The lawsuit filed Tuesday by Jonathan Tasini is so utterly without merit, and has been so thoroughly eviscerated in the media — including being ridiculed as the “dumbest lawsuit ever” — I am hesitant to take any time away from aggregating adorable kitten videos to respond.

Discussion: Mixed Media, Left Coast Rebel, The Atlantic Online, TechCrunch, New York Times, Mediaite, Don Surber, The Daily Dish, The TrogloPundit, The Business Insider and Digits, more at Mediagazer »

Donald L. Luskin / Wall Street Journal:

Remembering the Real Ayn Rand — The author of “Atlas Shrugged” was an individualist, not a conservative, and she knew big business was as much a threat to capitalism as government bureaucrats. — Tomorrow's release of the movie version of “Atlas Shrugged” is focusing attention …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Big Hollywood and RedState

Steven E.F. Brown / bizjournals:

Marijuana causes global warming, uses 1% of U.S. electricity — People growing marijuana indoors use 1 percent of the U.S. electricity supply, and they create 17 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year (not counting the smoke exhaled) according to a report by Evan Mills …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Boing Boing and Clayton Cramer's Blog

Derek Tang / Macroadvisers:

The Economic Effects of the Ryan Plan: Assuming the Answer? — Last week the House Budget Committee, chaired by Congressman Paul Ryan (R, WI) issued a Budget Resolution for fiscal year 2012 along with a Republican blueprint for addressing the nation's long-term fiscal imbalance.

Discussion: Yglesias and Connecting.the.Dots

Myglesias / Yglesias:

The False Promise of Class Size Reduction — The idea of reducing class sizes is very popular with the public, and there's no organized interest group opposition to it. Consequently, one of the main things we've done in US education policy over the years is make class sizes smaller.

Discussion: Center for American Progress and Eschaton

iowahawk:

16 Tons — Contents © 1999-2010 by David Burge / Iowahawk. — For reprint inquiries, please contact Lynn Chu. — IOWAHAWK'S OTHER HAUNTS — BLURBS — Het Vrije Volk (Netherlands) — “Laat de rijken de crisis betalen, zegt de SP. Let's eat de rich, zegt Michael Moore.

Discussion: AMERICAN DIGEST

Ed Kilgore / The New Republic:

The Fred Thompson Effect — Why a dark-horse candidate can't save the GOP. — By now, it should be obvious that anyone hoping party insiders will draft a Jeb Bush or Chris Christie or Rick Perry to rescue the lackluster Republican 2012 field from itself is living in a hopeless fantasyland.

Jake Tapper / Political Punch:

ABC News Exclusive: Pat Tillman's Mom Wants General Stanley McChrystal Removed From White House Post — ABC News' Jake Tapper reports: — President Obama appointed retired General Stanley McChrystal to co-chair a commission on military families this week, but according to perhaps …

Discussion: Washington Post, AOL News and The Politico

Phoenix, Arizona:

Arizona Senate approves ‘birther’ bill — PHOENIX - The Arizona Senate has approved a revised bill requiring presidential candidates to prove they are U.S. citizens eligible to run for the office. — The bill approved Wednesday gives candidates additional ways to prove they meet the constitutional requirements to be president.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Outside the Beltway, Yglesias, American Times, Weigel, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Balloon Juice, Mediaite, Vox Popoli, Wonkette and Pajamas Media

Ben Terris / NationalJournal.com:

‘Patriotic Millionaires’ Ask to Be Taxed More — If President Obama's deficit-reduction speech today includes a call to end the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, there will surely be pushback; Republicans have already begun a preemptive attack on raising taxes.