memeorandum: N. Korea Says Dictator, Kim Jong-il, Dies (New York Times)

7:45 AM ET, December 19, 2011

Top Items:

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il, 69, Has Died — SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader, has died. He was 69. — Kim's death was announced Monday by state television from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

Discussion: WORLD, Deadspin, The Atlantic Online, Bob Owens, Los Angeles Times, Outside the Beltway, Blogs of War, Taylor Marsh, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Gawker, Israel Matzav, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Balloon Juice

BBC:

N Korean leader Kim Jong-il dies — North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died at the age of 69, state-run television has announced. — His death was announced in an emotional statement read out on national television. — The announcer, wearing black, said he had died on Saturday of physical and mental over-work.

Discussion: News Desk, Hot Air, Catholic Bandita, Tim Blair, his vorpal sword, The Other McCain, ThinkProgress, Gothamist and The Duck of Minerva

CNN:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il dead, state TV reports — (CNN) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is dead, North Korean state TV said Monday. — Kim, 69, died Saturday, state TV said. — South Korean news agency Yonhap — which based its reporting on its monitoring off North Korean state television …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Scared Monkeys, China Real Time Report, The Atlantic Online, Weasel Zippers, This Just In, Boing Boing, The Moderate Voice, The Spectacle Blog, Michelle Malkin and CANNONFIRE

New York Times:

N. Korea Says Dictator, Kim Jong-il, Dies — SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader who realized his family's dream of turning his starving country into a minor nuclear-weapons power even as the isolated nation sank further into despotism, died on Saturday of a heart attack …

Discussion: World Now, NO QUARTER, Towleroad News #gay and The Informer

Bill Austin / Bloomberg:

Kim Jong Il, North Korea's ‘Dear Leader’ Dictator, Dead at 70 — Kim Jong Il, the second-generation North Korean dictator who defied global condemnation to build nuclear weapons while his people starved, has died, Yonhap News reported. He was 70. — The news came in a radio broadcast …

Discussion: CNN, Don Surber, Doug Ross and neo-neocon

Reuters:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il dead, son hailed as heir — (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack while on a train trip, state media reported on Monday, sparking immediate concern over who is in control of the reclusive state and its nuclear program.

Discussion: Mashable!, Ed Driscoll, The PJ Tatler and Sister Toldjah

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Paul leads in Iowa — Newt Gingrich's campaign is rapidly imploding, and Ron Paul has now taken the lead in Iowa. He's at 23% to 20% for Mitt Romney, 14% for Gingrich, 10% each for Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry, 4% for Jon Huntsman, and 2% for Gary Johnson.

Discussion: GOP 12, Firedoglake, Outside the Beltway, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taegan Goddard's …, Talking Points Memo, Political Mojo and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Washington Examiner:

GOP will take off the gloves if Ron Paul wins Iowa — The Republican presidential primary has become a bit feisty, but it will get downright ugly if Ron Paul wins the Iowa caucuses. — The principled, antiwar, Constitution-obeying, Fed-hating, libertarian Republican congressman …

Discussion: LewRockwell.com Blog

E.J. Dionne / The Moderate Voice:

Newt and the Revenge of the Base — WASHINGTON — It is one of the true delights of a bizarrely entertaining Republican presidential contest to watch the apoplectic fear and loathing of so many GOP establishmentarians toward Newt Gingrich. They treat him as an alien body whose approach to politics they have always rejected.

Lucy Madison / CBS News:
Gingrich: Gov't branches should rule 2 out of 3

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Instapundit, FiveThirtyEight, The Atlantic Online and Caffeinated Thoughts

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
Quote of the Day — At this week's debate for Republican …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Political Mojo and The Hill

Alexander Bolton / Ballot Box:
Gingrich: Congress can send Capitol Police to arrest rogue judges

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:
Newt Gingrich says he'd defy Supreme Court rulings he opposed

Discussion: Hullabaloo, CBS News, A Blog For All, The Moderate Voice, Little Green Footballs, Outside the Beltway, The Strata-Sphere, Towleroad News #gay, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Taylor Marsh

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

Payroll Tax Cut Rejected by House Republicans — WASHINGTON — The House Republican leader on Sunday flatly rejected a short-term, bipartisan Senate measure to extend a payroll tax break and unemployment insurance, setting the stage for a bitter year-end Congressional collision and the potential loss …

Discussion: The Impolitic, ThinkProgress, Booman Tribune, Balloon Juice and AMERICAN FUTURE

David M. Drucker / Roll Call:
John Boehner: House GOP Will Reject Extenders Bill

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Associated Press:
House GOP demands new payroll tax cut bill

Discussion: The Mahablog

Russell Berman / The Hill:
Speaker Boehner opposes Senate's two-month payroll tax cut extension

Discussion: The Politico and RedState

Reuters:

Callista Gingrich: A force behind the scenes for Newt — Callista's husband recently suggested to ABC News that she's an amalgamation of Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush, perhaps with a touch of Jackie Kennedy mixed in. — Kellyanne Conway, Gingrich's pollster and a friend of the couple, said …

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Will China Break? — Consider the following picture: Recent growth has relied on a huge construction boom fueled by surging real estate prices, and exhibiting all the classic signs of a bubble. There was rapid growth in credit — with much of that growth taking place not through traditional banking …

Discussion: naked capitalism, Prairie Weather and Political Mojo

Chris Edwards / Townhall.com:

Unemployment Insurance is an Expensive Free Lunch — Extending the extra unemployment insurance benefits would be bad for the federal budget and bad for the economy, and there is a better long-term solution for unemployment than the current UI system. — With respect to the budget …

Discussion: American Spectator