memeorandum: When indeed? — TYLER COWEN tweets: … One can't be sure … (Free exchange)

12:00 PM ET, December 1, 2012

Top Items:

Michael Grunwald / TIME:

Fiscal Cliff Fictions: Let's All Agree to Pretend the GOP Isn't Full of It — It's really amazing to see political reporters dutifully passing along Republican complaints that President Obama's opening offer in the fiscal cliff talks is just a recycled version of his old plan …

Discussion: Prairie Weather, CANNONFIRE, The PJ Tatler, Firedoglake, Balloon Juice, The Reaction, Mother Jones and Weekly Standard

New York Times:

In Latest Campaign, Obama Takes Deficit Battle to the Public — HATFIELD, Pa. — The blue “Forward.” signs with the lonely period were gone. But U2's “City of Blinding Lights” once again blared over the loudspeakers, and some in the audience broke into a chant of “fired up, ready to go!”

Guy Benson / Townhall.com:

Republicans' Ace in the Hole: Simpson-Bowles? — Democrats appear to have the upper hand on the politics of the fiscal cliff, which might explain their brash pronouncements and mind-blowing conceptualization of “compromise.” This morning I outlined three possible contingencies for Republicans, none of which is especially attractive.

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Hot Air and National Review

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Mitch McConnell makes an offer

Discussion: The Maddow Blog and Balloon Juice

Wall Street Journal:
GOP Takes Aim at Entitlements

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Los Angeles Times, Wonkblog, Washington Wire, Hot Air, Washington Post and Daily Kos

Jake Sherman / Politico:
Fiscal cliff: John Boehner declares stalemate

Discussion: CNN, Reuters and Daily Kos

Matt K. Lewis / The Daily Caller:
On the fiscal cliff, Republicans are so screwed

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Lonely Conservative and Business Insider

Paul Finkelman / New York Times:

The Monster of Monticello — Durham, N.C. — THOMAS JEFFERSON is in the news again, nearly 200 years after his death — alongside a high-profile biography by the journalist Jon Meacham comes a damning portrait of the third president by the independent scholar Henry Wiencek.

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy

Hans Bader / Col·lege In·sur·rec· tion:

School Quotas and Speech Codes May Result From Senate Amendment to Defense Bill — Suing schools and colleges has nothing to do with supporting our troops. — But that didn't stop Senators from seeking to add a harmful amendment to the 2013 Defense Authorization bill on Thursday …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Bfearnowcbs / CBS DC:

Study: American Households Hit 43-Year Low In Net Worth — WASHINGTON (CBS DC) - The median net worth of American households has dropped to a 43-year low as the lower and middle classes appear poorer and less stable than they have been since 1969. — According to a recent study …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, The Gateway Pundit and The Lonely Conservative

Free exchange:

When indeed? — TYLER COWEN tweets: … One can't be sure, but the point Mr Cowen seems to be making is that America's 2.7% annual growth rate in the third quarter would seem to be fast enough to accept most of the fiscal cuts that are due to hit at the end of the year.

Discussion: Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong

David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:

Nate Silver: Politico Covers Politics Like Sports But ‘Not In An Intelligent Way At All’ — New York Times polling guru Nate Silver took aim at Politico's brand of reporting on Friday, saying the Washington-based news outlet covers politics like sports but “not in an intelligent way at all.”

Discussion: ESPN, Business Insider and Hullabaloo

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

House cuts back on Fridays — The House is scheduled to be in session on only 15 Fridays in 2013, an almost 30 percent drop from 2011, according to the calendar released by House Majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Friday. — In 2011, there were 21 scheduled Fridays, against only 15 planned for 2013.

Jodi Rudoren / New York Times:

Israel Moves to Expand Settlements in East Jerusalem — JERUSALEM — As the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to upgrade the Palestinians' status Thursday night, Israel took steps toward building housing in a controversial area of East Jerusalem known as E1 …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Israpundit, The Week, Washington Post, Power Line, Politico and Prairie Weather

Ronald D. White / Los Angeles Times:

Small union is causing big problems for ports — A strike by about 800 clerical workers is disrupting the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and costing them an estimated $1 billion a day. Above, trucks line up Thursday to enter Pier J at the Port of Long Beach. (Bob Chamberlin, Los Angeles Times / November 30, 2012)

Democracy Now:

Accused WikiLeaks Whistleblower Bradley Manning Testifies He Thought He Would “Die in Custody” … Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army private accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, has testified for the first time since he was arrested in May 2010.

Discussion: Informed Comment, Firedoglake, Boing Boing, The Raw Story and Mashable!