memeorandum: Photo of Officer Giving Boots to Barefoot Man Warms Hearts Online (J. David Goodman/New York Times)

1:15 PM ET, November 29, 2012

Top Items:

Inside the talks: Fiscal framework emerges — Listen to top Democrats and Republicans talk on camera, and it sounds like they could not be further apart on a year-end tax-and-spending deal - a down payment on a $4 trillion grand bargain. — But behind the scenes, top officials …

Discussion: Firedoglake, protein wisdom, Reuters, The Week, Talking Points Memo, NationalJournal.com, Business Insider, Washington Post, CNN, The Fix, Prairie Weather, msnbc.com, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos and ABCNEWS

Russell Berman / The Hill:
‘Disapppointed’ Boehner calls on Obama to get serious on spending

Discussion: The Page and Taegan Goddard's …

Politico:
Inside the talks: Fiscal framework emerges

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Dish

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
The GOP's Medicare confusion

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Politico and The New Republic

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Inside the ‘fiscal cliff’ haggling over Medicare

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider and Eschaton

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Romney, Ryan meet off Capitol Hill

Discussion: CNN

Washington Examiner:
Morning Examiner: We're going over the cliff

Discussion: Washington Monthly, THE WESTERN EXPERIENCE, Daily Kos and Politico

Oliver Holmes / Reuters:

Damascus fighting cuts off Internet, airport — (Reuters) - Syrian rebels battled forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad just outside Damascus on Thursday, forcing the closure of the main airport road, and the Dubai-based Emirates airline suspended flights to the Syrian capital.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Los Angeles Times, The Week, Taylor Marsh and New York Times

James Cowie / Renesys Blog:

Syrian Internet Is Off The Air — Starting at 10:26 UTC (12:26pm in Damascus), Syria's international Internet connectivity shut down. In the global routing table, all 84 of Syria's IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet.

Discussion: WorldViews, New York Times, NO QUARTER USA NET, National Review, Guardian, AllThingsD, Business Insider, Betabeat, GigaOM and WJLA-TV

Max Fisher / WorldViews:
Web monitor: 100 percent of Syria's Internet just shut down

Discussion: TechCrunch and Outside the Beltway

Renesys Events / Internet Events Bulletin:
77 networks out in Syria

Discussion: Wired and The Verge

Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:

Drive to Unionize Fast-Food Workers Begins — After three years of working at the McDonald's restaurant on 51st Street and Broadway, Alterique Hall earns $8 an hour — and is yearning for something better. — So when he heard about an unusual campaign that aims to unionize dozens …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Taylor Marsh, Washington Examiner, Weasel Zippers, Daily Kos and Jammie Wearing Fools

Sarah Jaffe / The Atlantic Online:
McJobs Should Pay, Too: It's Time for Fast-Food Workers To Get Living Wages

Discussion: The Raw Story

Josh Eidelson / Salon:
In rare strike, NYC fast-food workers walk out

Discussion: Colorlines

J. David Goodman / New York Times:

Photo of Officer Giving Boots to Barefoot Man Warms Hearts Online — On a cold November night in Times Square, Officer Lawrence Deprimo was working a counterterrorism post when he encountered an older, barefooted homeless man. The officer disappeared for a moment, then returned with a new pair of boots …

Discussion: Newsday, The Week, Weasel Zippers, Telegraph, This Just In, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Gawker, WJLA-TV, Memphis Commercial Appeal, Gothamist and New York Magazine

Scott Shane / New York Times:

Big Issues Are Lost in Focus on Libya Talking Points — WASHINGTON — Three days after the lethal attack on the American Mission in Benghazi, Libya, Representative C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, asked intelligence agencies to write …

Discussion: the daily howler and Right Wing News

Wall Street Journal:

The Trouble With Susan Rice — The would-be secretary of state's record on Iran, Israel, human rights and more. — Several Republican senators continue to oppose the possible nomination of Susan Rice, currently the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to be secretary of state in President Obama's second term.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hot Air and Cognitive Dissidence

Sharyl Attkisson / CBS News:
Who changed the Benghazi talking points?

Discussion: UrbanGrounds, National Review, The Caucus, Connecting.the.Dots, Ricochet Conversations Feed, The Other McCain, Wizbang, Politico and New York Times

Joshua Green / Business Week:

The Science Behind Those Obama Campaign E-Mails — One fascination in a presidential race mostly bereft of intrigue was the strange, incessant, and weirdly overfamiliar e-mails that emanated from the Obama campaign. Anyone who shared an address with the campaign soon started receiving messages …

Discussion: The Week, Mediaite, Washington Examiner, Taegan Goddard's … and Washington Post

Erick Erickson / RedState:

The Incestuous Bleeding of the Republican Party — If money is the root of all evil, for the Republican Party evil is located on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza, Alexandria, VA 22314. — Strip away the candidate and coalition and it is on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza …

Discussion: americanthinker.com and The Hinterland Gazette

Dane Schiller / Houston Chronicle:

Former President George H.W. Bush hospitalized in Houston — Former President George H.W. Bush remains in a Houston hospital, where he has been for seven days as doctors battle a lingering cough that has drawn concern, officials said Thursday. — Bush, 88, has bronchitis …

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, Associated Press and WJLA-TV

Joel B. Pollak / BREITBART.COM:

EXCLUSIVE: UN CONSPIRES TO EXPEL PROMINENT JEWISH GROUP FROM PALESTINE VOTE — Today, for the first time, the United Nations will name Palestine a (non-member) “observer state” by first engaging in exactly the charge that they press against Israel: apartheid.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Israel Matzav and The PJ Tatler

Jeff Dunetz / “The Lid”:
Today The UN Will Make Arafat Proud and Steal Jewish Heritage

Discussion: CAMERA Snapshots and Hot Air

Patrick Gavin / Politico:

Mitt Romney face tattoo man does an about-face — Critics of Mitt Romney accused him of being a flip-flopper. Now one of his die-hard supporters is guilty of the same charge. — Eric Hartsburg, the 30-year-old resident of Michigan City, Ind., inked the Romney/Ryan campaign's distinctive …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Mediaite, Boston Globe, Gawker, First Read and The Raw Story

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis:

National Income and Product Accounts Gross Domestic Product, 3rd quarter 2012 (second estimate); Corporate Profits, 3rd quarter 2012 (preliminary estimate) — Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States …

Discussion: Wonkblog, AEIdeas, BBC, Business Insider and Balloon Juice

Nelson D. Schwartz / New York Times:
Third-Quarter G.D.P. Growth Is Revised Up to 2.7%

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and The Maddow Blog

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Rick Warren: Churches Are ‘Probably’ Responsible For Negative Attitudes Towards Gays — Pastor Rick Warren admitted on CNN on Thursday that Evangelical churches are at least partly responsible for some of the negative attitudes towards gay and lesbian people.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Raw Story, Christian Today Australia, Shakesville and Crooks and Liars

Brady Dennis / Washington Post:

Mortgage-interest deduction could be on the table in ‘fiscal cliff’ debate — Of all the deductions woven into the sprawling U.S. tax code, few have been more fiercely guarded than the enormous tax break that lets homeowners deduct the interest they pay on their mortgages.

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, americanthinker.com and National Review

Chuck Bennett / New York Post:

David Petraeus says he ‘screwed up royally’ in letter to old Army buddy — Ex-CIA chief David Petraeus took the blame for the extramarital affair that torpedoed his career, but his forgiving wife, Holly, is sticking by him, according to a newly revealed private letter.

Discussion: WorldViews, Mediaite and New York Magazine

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Democrats, Republicans Diverge on Capitalism, Federal Gov't — Little difference on small business, free enterprise, entrepreneurs — PRINCETON, NJ — Exemplifying a major partisan divide in modern politics, Democrats react significantly more positively to the term “federal government” …

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Monthly and Washington Examiner

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

VP Biden attends Costco grand opening in DC — Vice President Joe Biden attended the grand opening of a Costco in Washington D.C. on Thursday. — According to pool reports, Biden flashed his Costco card as he walked in, was met with cheers, and an employee handled his cart as he walked the aisles.

Discussion: CNN and Politico

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Top Romney strategist: Failure to reach out to women, Hispanics biggest mistake — Mitt Romney's top political strategist on Thursday said the campaign's failure to reach out to women and Hispanic voters was their biggest mistake. — In an interview on CBS's “This Morning,” …

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN and Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

Matthew Day / Telegraph:

Zurich to open drive-in sex boxes — The Swiss city of Zurich is to open drive-in sex boxes in an attempt to rid the town of street prostitution. — Zurich council has approved a plan to build the boxes, which will, it hopes, provide a discreet location for prostitutes and their clients …