Top Items:
Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:
Republican Doomsday Plan: Cave on Taxes, Vote ‘Present’ — Republicans are seriously considering a Doomsday Plan if fiscal cliff talks collapse entirely. It's quite simple: House Republicans would allow a vote on extending the Bush middle class tax cuts (the bill passed in August by the Senate) …
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Hot Air, “The Lid” and Taegan Goddard's …
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Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
White House willing to go over fiscal cliff if absolutely necessary — David Corn has a piece up this morning arguing that John Boehner is hampered in the fiscal cliff talks by his right flank — the House Tea Partyers who oppose compromise with the White House at any cost, just as they did during the 2011 showdowns.
Discussion:
Daily Kos and Hullabaloo
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Republican “Doomsday Plan” Allows Tax Increase, Uses Debt Limit For Future Leverage — Under “Doomsay Scenario,” Republicans vote “present” en masse so they don't take ownership of tax increase — Jonathan Karl has early notice of a potential “doomsday” plan devised by Republicans:
Discussion:
ABCNEWS
Ashley Killough / CNN:
Pelosi threatens House vote on tax bill
Pelosi threatens House vote on tax bill
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Campaign for America's … and Taegan Goddard's …
Peter H. Stone / The Huffington Post:
Sheldon Adelson Spent Far More On Campaign Than Previously Known … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Elections 2012, John Boehner, Mitt Romney, Campaign Finance, Elections 2012, Newt Gingrich, Video, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Las Vegas Sands, Sheldon Adelson, Fcpa, Mitt Romney 2012, Sands Casino …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, msnbc.com, Mother Jones, Post Politics, The Raw Story and Balloon Juice
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Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:
2016 contenders court mega-donors — A week after Election Day, three Republican governors mentioned as 2016 presidential candidates — Bobby Jindal, John Kasich and Bob McDonnell — each stopped by the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino to meet privately with its owner Sheldon Adelson …
Discussion:
GOP 12 and Mother Jones
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Criticized as Weak in Past Talks, Obama Takes Harder Line — WASHINGTON — Amid demands from Republicans that President Obama propose detailed new spending cuts to avert the year-end fiscal crisis, his answer boils down to this: you first. — Mr. Obama, scarred by failed negotiations …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, The Week, Daily Kos, The Hill, Washington Examiner, AMERICAblog, Mediaite, Wall Street Journal, ABCNEWS and msnbc.com
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John W. Schoen / Economy Watch:
Facing the fiscal cliff: American taxpayers have had it easy for decades
Facing the fiscal cliff: American taxpayers have had it easy for decades
Discussion:
msnbc.com and The Agonist
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Big Budget Mumble — In the ongoing battle of the budget, President Obama has done something very cruel. Declaring that this time he won't negotiate with himself, he has refused to lay out a proposal reflecting what he thinks Republicans want. Instead, he has demanded that Republicans themselves say, explicitly, what they want.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Paul Krugman, New York Magazine, msnbc.com, xpostfactoid, Discourse.net, American Spectator, Prairie Weather and Daily Kos
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Kyle Balluck / The Hill:
Republicans ready to forget Romney and embrace Rep. Ryan on Medicare — Mitt Romney's Medicare budget might be fading away just as quickly as Romney himself. — During the campaign, candidate Romney repeatedly hammered President Obama for cutting $716 billion from Medicare as part of his signature healthcare law.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Hit & Run
Frank Newport / Gallup:
Congress Retains Low Honesty Rating — Nurses have highest honesty rating; car salespeople, lowest — PRINCETON, NJ — As Congress remains involved in protracted negotiations over the pending “fiscal cliff” that could disrupt the nation's economy if not addressed by Jan. 1 …
BBC:
Prince William and Kate expecting a baby — Catherine and William were married at Westminster Abbey in April 2011 — The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby, St James's Palace has announced. — Members of the royal family and the duchess's family, the Middletons, are said to be delighted.
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Sam Jones / Guardian:
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge expecting baby - live coverage
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge expecting baby - live coverage
Discussion:
Towleroad News #gay
Christine Haughney / Media Decoder:
New York Times Seeks Buyouts From 30 in Newsroom — Aiming to cut costs in an increasingly troubled advertising environment, The New York Times announced on Monday morning that it would offer buyout packages to newsroom employees. While the primary goal of the buyout program is to trim managers …
Discussion:
Business Insider, JIMROMENESKO.COM, driftglass, Capital New York, Roger Ailes, Poynter and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »
New York Times:
Homeless Man Is Grateful for Officer's Gift of Boots. But He Again Is Barefoot. — After Officer Lawrence DePrimo knelt beside a barefoot man on a bitterly cold November night in Times Square, giving him a pair of boots, a photo of his random act of good will quickly took on a life of its own …
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, BuzzFeed, msnbc.com, Outside the Beltway, Runnin' Scared, New York Magazine and Gawker
Fox Sports:
In KC, it's no time for a game — KANSAS CITY, MO. — Football is embarrassingly tone deaf. — Jovan Belcher, a starting linebacker for the Chiefs, murdered the mother of his child shortly before 8 a.m. Saturday. He hopped in his car, drove to the Kansas City Chiefs practice facility …
Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Again, no gay marriage orders (UPDATED) — The Supreme Court on Monday released additional orders from its Friday Conference, but the list did not show any action on the ten cases dealing with the same-sex marriage issue. UPDATED: The Court later Monday morning posted on its electronic docket …
Discussion:
Advocate and Outside the Beltway
Matthew Boyle / BREITBART.COM:
WHY I'M ENLISTING IN ANDREW BREITBART'S WAR — I'm enlisting to fight in Andrew Breitbart's war. — The political class in Washington has degraded America. Republicans and Democrats blame each other, and nothing gets done. The media exacerbates the problem, fans the flames …
Discussion:
FishbowlDC and TBogg
Justin Sink / The Hill:
Santorum launches column for ‘birther’ website — Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has taken a job as a columnist for World Net Daily, a conservative website best known for articles advancing “birther” conspiracy theories about President Obama.
Discussion:
Post Politics, Politico, The Agonist and The Raw Story
Philip Pullella / Reuters:
Vatican discloses Pope's Twitter handle: @pontifex … VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - It's official. Pope Benedict's handle on Twitter will be @pontifex. — He already has 1.2 billion “followers” in the standard sense of the word but next week he will have another type when he enters …
Discussion:
LifeNews.com, Twitchy, New York Times, Guardian, The Gateway Pundit, Dependable Renegade and NewsBusters.org
Allison Samuels / The Daily Beast:
Michelle Obama's Next Move — What's next for our incredibly popular first lady? Samuel L. Jackson and other super-fans weigh in. — Chatting with a group backstage on the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in October, Michelle Obama made it clear that she wasn't thinking about what she might do in the future.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Weasel Zippers and The Daily Caller
Keegan Hamilton / The Atlantic Online:
Why Legalizing Pot Won't Curb the Drug War — Advocates may think their recent initiatives have set Mexican traffickers back, but the cartels have already moved on. — Over the course of two days in late March, a coalition of U.S. law enforcement groups rounded up more than 40 people accused …
Discussion:
The Reality-Based Community
David Remnick / News Desk:
Hillary is Running: A Dispatch from the Saban Forum — Hillary Clinton is running for President. And the Israeli political class is a full-blown train wreck. These are two conclusions, for whatever they are worth, based on a three-day conference I attended this weekend at the annual Saban Forum, in Washington, D.C.
Discussion:
BREITBART.COM, Israel Matzav, No More Mister Nice Blog, Atlas Shrugs and The Daily Caller