memeorandum: Judge denies Allen West's recount request; focus now on 4 p.m. canvassing board meeting (George Bennett/Post on Politics)

5:25 PM ET, November 16, 2012

Top Items:

Twinkies Maker Hostess Going Out of Business, CEO Blames Union Strike — “It's over. This is it,” Gregory Rayburn tells “Today.” — Hostess, the makers of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, is going out of business after striking workers failed to heed a Thursday deadline to return to work, the company said.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Dallas News, KCRG-TV, The Democratic Daily, iOwnTheWorld.com, Politico, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Pirate's Cove, The Lonely Conservative, Mock, Paper, Scissors, Michelle Malkin, www2.wkrg.com, The PJ Tatler, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Examiner and Guardian

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:

Union: ‘Bain-style’ killing of Twinkie — The Bain attack is back. — This time it's being used against Hostess Brands, the Twinkies and Wonder Bread maker that announced Friday it was closing. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka drew the comparison in a public statement Friday.

Discussion: CNBC, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers and The Greenroom

CNNMoney.com:

Hostess Brands closing for good — NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Hostess Brands — the maker of such iconic baked goods as Twinkies, Devil Dogs and Wonder Bread — announced Friday that it is asking a federal bankruptcy court for permission to close its operations, blaming a strike by bakers protesting a new contract imposed on them.

Discussion: Click Orlando l Orlando News …, Daily Kos, Weasel Zippers, The Seattle Times, Gawker, The Right Scoop, LewRockwell.com Blog, This Just In and Patterico's Pontifications

Hostess Brands is Closed:

Hostess Brands is Closed. — We are sorry to announce that Hostess Brands, Inc. has been forced by a Bakers Union strike to shut down all operations and sell all company assets. For more information, go to hostessbrands.info. Thank you for all of your loyalty and support over the years.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Weekly Standard, BBC, The Hinterland Gazette and Washington Examiner

Rachel Feintzeig / Wall Street Journal:

Twinkie Maker Hostess to Close — Hostess Brands Inc., the maker of iconic treats such as Twinkies and traditional pantry staple Wonder Bread, said Friday it is shuttering its plants and firing about 18,000 workers as it seeks to liquidate the 82-year-old business.

Discussion: Deal Journal, American Power, Real Time Economics, Weekly Standard, Concurring Opinions, Law Blog and Roger Ailes

Byron Tau / Politico:
Petition wants Obama to save Twinkies

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The Greenroom

Patrick Rizzo / nbcnews.com:
Hostess, maker of Twinkies and Ding Dongs, says closing business

Discussion: Firedoglake and msnbc.com

DealBook:
Hostess Brands Moves to Wind Down Operations

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Fork in the Road

AP Member Choice Limited / Reuters:
No more Twinkies? Hostess plans to shut down

Discussion: International Brotherhood …, aflcio.org, Washington Post, Washington Examiner and The Daily Caller

Fox News:

Petraeus testifies CIA's Libya talking points were changed, lawmaker says — Former CIA Director David Petraeus testified in a closed-door hearing Friday morning that his agency determined immediately after the Sept. 11 Libya attack that “Al Qaeda involvement” was suspected …

Discussion: CNN, Roger L. Simon, Politico, Hot Air, Fox News Insider, Riehl World News, The Right Scoop, National Review, Jihad Watch and Power Line

Hayes Brown / ThinkProgress:

GOP Rep Admits CIA Approved U.N. Ambassador's Talking Points On Libya — Rep. Peter King (R-NY) has admitted that the CIA and intelligence community approved U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice's talking points before she made her much-derided Sept. 16 appearance on several Sunday news shows to discuss the attacks in Benghazi.

Discussion: CNN, Little Green Footballs, Wired and This Just In

Donna Cassata / Associated Press:

DOZEN HOUSE WOMEN DEFEND RICE OVER LIBYA COMMENTS — WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators' angry criticism of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice over her initial account of the deadly Sept. 11 attack in Libya smacks of sexism and racism, a dozen female members of the House said Friday.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, Nice Deb and Althouse

Jeremy Herb / The Hill:

In testimony, Petraeus says he always saw Benghazi as terrorism — Former CIA Director David Petraeus told lawmakers at a closed-door briefing Friday the agency believed the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya was a terrorist attack from the beginning. — Petraeus also indicated …

Discussion: Politico, ABCNEWS and Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Petraeus ‘Knew Almost Immediately’ Al Qaeda-Linked Group Responsible for Benghazi

Discussion: Power Line, The Lonely Conservative, Washington Free Beacon, Weasel Zippers, Patterico's Pontifications and Outside the Beltway

Kevin Dolak / ABCNEWS:
Ex-CIA Chief Petraeus Testifies for 90 Minutes Before House Panel

Discussion: Hot Air, BREITBART.COM, The PJ Tatler, The Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Politico and Nice Deb

Associated Press:
Petraeus Says C.I.A. Saw Libya Attack as Terrorism

Discussion: Reuters, FP Passport, New York Magazine and Mother Jones

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

In U.S., Views of Obama, Democrats Improve After Election — Favorable opinions of Obama highest in three years — PRINCETON, NJ — Now that the presidential election is over, Americans look a bit more positively toward both the winner (Barack Obama) and the loser (Mitt Romney) …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico and Taegan Goddard's …

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Chris Christie unwraps Mitt Romney's ‘gift’ claim — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday joined the chorus of Republican governors and other officials criticizing Mitt Romney's assertion that “gifts” from President Barack Obama helped the Democrat win reelection.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Associated Press and Daily Kos

Chris Moody / Associated Press:
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez: Comments like Romney's set ‘us back as a party’

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, NBC Latino, msnbc.com, The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine, Election 2012 and Politico

Michael A. Memoli / Los Angeles Times:
At Republican governors' gathering, plenty of blame for Romney

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Wall Street Journal and ABCNEWS

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

The Iron Dome, Press Bias, and Israel's Lack of Strategic Thinking — Some observations as the Gaza crisis continues to unfold: — 1. The Iron Dome anti-rocket and missile defense system seems to work better than most people expected. Israel is becoming very good at shooting down missiles.

Reuters:
Erdogan: Israeli strikes a pre-election stunt

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Weasel Zippers

Matthew Duss / American Prospect:
Israel's Airstrike Gamble

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Reuters, Haaretz, World News and Washington Monthly

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:
Senate passes resolution condoning Israel's strikes on Hamas

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Washington Free Beacon

BBC:
Gaza rocket fired at Jerusalem

Discussion: The Daily Caller and New York Magazine

New York Times: Jerusalem Targeted by Rockets for First Time in Gaza Conflict

George Bennett / Post on Politics:

Judge denies Allen West's recount request; focus now on 4 p.m. canvassing board meeting — FORT PIERCE — A judge today denied U.S. Rep. Allen West's request that he order a recount of 37,379 ballots from early voting in St. Lucie County — effectively leaving the decision …

Discussion: Ballot Box, Politico and The Fix

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

Roger Ailes on Election Night: ‘Rove was wrong. He backed down. Our guys were right.’ — On election night, Fox News co-founder and chairman Roger Ailes watched election coverage in the News Corp. Sports Suite, down the hall from his second floor office.

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, JIMROMENESKO.COM and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Jon Walker / Firedoglake:

Most Republican States Won't Build Exchanges and That Is a Good Thing — Map showing party affiliation by Governors, current — Now that we have approached what should have been the deadline for states to say whether or not they plan to build state exchanges to comply with the Affordable Care Act …

Discussion: Politico

Wall Street Journal:
Deadline Delayed For a Month on Health Exchanges

Discussion: Hit & Run, Wonkblog and Hot Air

Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

When the Nerds Go Marching In — How a dream team of engineers from Facebook, Twitter, and Google built the software that drove Barack Obama's reelection — Three members of Obama's tech team, from left to right: Harper Reed, Dylan Richard, and Mark Trammell (Photo by Daniel X. O'Neil).

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Mother Jones and The Daily Dish

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Life, Death and Deficits — America's political landscape is infested with many zombie ideas — beliefs about policy that have been repeatedly refuted with evidence and analysis but refuse to die. The most prominent zombie is the insistence that low taxes on rich people are the key to prosperity.

Discussion: msnbc.com and Connecting.the.Dots

Dylan Matthews / Wonkblog:
How to sort out Social Security's finances while making it more generous

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Mother Jones

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:

Democratic Solution To The Filibuster: Make Them Talk … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Elections 2012, Harry Reid , Congress, Democrats, Elections 2012, U.S. Senate, Video, Democrats Filibuster Reform, Politics News, Democratic Filibuster Reform, Democrats Fillibuster Reform, Filibuster, Filibuster Reform, Politics News

Discussion: Addicting Info

Donovan Slack / Politico:

Broadwell, Kelley visited White House — Both women at the heart of the Petraeus scandal have visited the White House on multiple occasions, a White House official confirmed to POLITICO. — Petraeus's biographer Paula Broadwell attended an Afghanistan briefing, while Tampa socialite Jill …

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Business Insider

WWL-TV:

4 critical, 2 missing after fire and explosion on Gulf platform — OFF THE GULF COAST - Four people were in critical condition and two others were missing after a fire and explosion on a platform in the Gulf of Mexico south of Grand Isle Friday morning. — Coast Guard Incident Commander Ed Cubanski …

Discussion: WAFB-TV, Gizmodo and The Raw Story