memeorandum: Cheers, New Year's Eve-style countdown as pot use becomes legal in Washington state (AP Member Choice Limited/Chicago Tribune)

1:30 PM ET, December 6, 2012

Top Items:

Sen. Jim DeMint to Head Heritage Foundation — South Carolina U.S. Senator Jim DeMint will replace Ed Feulner as president of the Heritage Foundation. Mr. DeMint will leave his post as South Carolina's junior senator in early January to take control of the Washington think tank, which has an annual budget of about $80 million.

Manu Raju / Politico:

Jim DeMint to resign to head Heritage Foundation — Sen. Jim DeMint abruptly announced plans to resign his South Carolina Senate seat to run the conservative Heritage Foundation, a stunning move that could have repercussions in the chamber and in Senate GOP primaries across the country.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Red Alert Politics and Connecting.the.Dots

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

11 Reasons You're Glad Jim DeMint Is Leaving The Senate — In an unexpected move, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), an arch-conservative and leader of the Tea Party movement, is resigning his seat in order to head up the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington DC.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and American Prospect

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:

Sources: DeMint wants Rep. Tim Scott to take his place in Senate — Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has made it known in South Carolina that he wants Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to replace him in the Senate, two state Republican sources tell The Hill. — The sources, requesting anonymity to speak candidly …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The State, theGrio, Ricochet Conversations Feed and The PJ Tatler

Jim DeMint / CNN:

BREAKING: Sen. Jim DeMint will step down from Senate — Washington (CNN) - Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina will resign from his Senate seat as of Dec. 31 to take over as head of the Heritage Foundation, his office announced Thursday. — “I honestly believe that I can do a lot …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Heritage Foundation and The Political Carnival

Aaron Blake / The Fix:
Gov. Nikki Haley to fill DeMint's seat by appointment

Discussion: Post Politics and Sister Toldjah

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Jim DeMint resigns from Senate

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box: South Carolina's GOP chairman: DeMint resignation ‘a shocker’

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo: WSJ: Jim DeMint To Leave Senate, Lead Heritage Foundation

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

Boehner Gains Strong Backing of House G.O.P. — WASHINGTON — With a daunting fiscal crisis looming and conservatives outside the House torching him at every turn, Speaker John A. Boehner might be assumed to have a shaky hold on his gavel. Instead, it appears he is enjoying the broadest support …

Discussion: Wake up America, Daily Kos, The Fix, Booman Tribune, The Caucus and Prairie Weather

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Republicans wave the white flag — Speaker John Boehner emerged from his weekly huddle with House Republicans on Wednesday morning to take his place behind a mahogany lectern in front of a brown backdrop. The dark tones provided ideal camouflage for the deeply tanned speaker — as though he were trying to vanish into the background.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly and The New Republic

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

The Political Risks of Cliff-Diving — Republicans will get the blame, but it is the president who will be weakened most. — President Barack Obama has clear advantages in the public-opinion contest over the fiscal cliff. He recently won re-election, Democrats increased their Senate majority and the GOP controls only the House.

Discussion: Politico, Right Turn, msnbc.com and TheBlaze.com

Connie Cass / Associated Press:
HOW FAR OVER THE ‘FISCAL CLIFF’ COULD THEY GO?

Discussion: Federal Eye

Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS:
WH ‘Absolutely’ Willing To Go Off ‘Fiscal Cliff’

Discussion: Wake up America, CNBC, The Democratic Daily, The Reaction, ABCNEWS, Reuters, Washington Examiner, Taylor Marsh, Questions and Observations, Politico, New York Times, Crooks and Liars, Washington Free Beacon, The Moderate Voice and Speaker.gov

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
Trio of polls: Support for raising taxes on wealthy

Discussion: The Political Carnival

Washington Post:
Some in GOP urge lawmakers to back tax hikes for changes in safety-net programs

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Plum Line, Post Politics, Sun-Times Politics, The Week, Think Tanked, Daily Kos, Los Angeles Times, National Review, msnbc.com, Wonkblog and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Josh Tyrangiel / Business Week:

Tim Cook's Freshman Year: The Apple CEO Speaks — Prior to his death on Oct. 5, 2011, Steve Jobs made sure that the elevation of Tim Cook—his longtime head of operations and trusted deputy—to Apple chief executive officer would be drama-free. “He goes, ‘I never want you to ask what I would have done,’” recalls Cook.

Discussion: New York Times, Guardian, The Verge, New York Magazine, The Week, AllThingsD, BBC, The Consumerist, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, The Tell, Engadget, GigaOM and Mashable!, more at Mediagazer »

Ronnie Polidoro / Rock Center with Brian Williams:

Apple CEO Tim Cook announces plans to manufacture Mac computers in USA — In an exclusive interview with Brian Williams airing tonight at 10pm/9c on NBC's “Rock Center,” Apple CEO Tim Cook announced one of the existing Mac lines will be manufactured exclusively in the United States next year.

Discussion: Politico, The Verge, GigaOM, Engadget and VentureBeat

Bloomberg:
Apple to Invest in Manufacturing Macs in U.S., Cook Says

Discussion: CNN, The Week and Fortune

New York Times:

U.S.-Approved Weapons Transfer Ended Up With Libyan Jihadis — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, The Jawa Report, The Right Sphere, Weasel Zippers, Right Wing News, Hot Air, Vox Verax, Jihad Watch and Lawfare

Bill Gertz / Washington Free Beacon:
Politicizing the Truth — The CIA removed references to al Qaeda …

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Judy Kurtz / The Hill:

Lawmaker chews out staffer for riding on members-only elevator — Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) chewed out a House staffer after catching her riding on a “members only” elevator, according to an ITK tipster who was on the scene. — But Foxx's office is calling our lookout's description of events in the elevator an “exaggeration.”

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Gawker

Jenny Marlar / Gallup:

U.S. Unadjusted Unemployment Shoots Back Up — Unemployment situation best for college grads, whites, men, and older workers — WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, was 7.8% for the month of November, up significantly from 7.0% for October.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Business Insider and The PJ Tatler

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

How Democrats' Main Filibuster Reform Would Work — Senate Democrats who support reforming the filibuster when the new Congress convenes next month insist their ideas are fairly modest. Their farthest-reaching proposal, they say, would be to end the era of silent obstruction …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, American Prospect, Daily Kos, ACS Blog and The Plum Line

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:
Reid blocks Senate vote on Obama's deficit-reduction plan

Discussion: Politico, Michelle Malkin, Roll Call, Scared Monkeys and Weekly Standard

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:

Olive Garden Suffering From Bad PR After Anti-Obamacare Comments — Darden Restaurants, Inc. — owner of Red Lobster and Olive Garden — is battling back negative press attention in light of its October announcement that the company will use Obamacare as a reason to shift to part-time employees.

Discussion: Business Insider, Daily Kos and The Hill

World News:

Syria loads chemical weapons into bombs; military awaits Assad's order — Pentagon sources tell NBC News that the Syrian military is awaiting final orders to launch chemical weapons against its own people after precursor chemicals for deadly sarin gas were loaded into aerial bombs.

Discussion: Fox News, The Jawa Report, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh, The Daily Caller, News Desk, BuzzFeed, msnbc.com, Telegraph and The Agonist

David Bauder / Associated Press:

FOX'S CORRESPONDENT ON FRONT LINES WITH OBAMA — NEW YORK (AP) — Ed Henry's assignment covering the White House would be a challenge for any journalist, no matter his employer. — Yet Henry works at Fox News Channel, home base for viewers who longed for President Barack Obama's defeat.

Discussion: Politico and Mediaite

AP Member Choice Limited / Chicago Tribune:

Cheers, New Year's Eve-style countdown as pot use becomes legal in Washington state — Tribune wire report — The crowds of happy people lighting joints under Seattle's Space Needle early this morning with nary a police officer in sight bespoke the new reality: Marijuana is legal under Washington state law.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Ethan Roeder / New York Times:

I Am Not Big Brother — I'VE grown accustomed to reading inaccurate accounts of my day job. I'm in political data. — If I'm not spying on private citizens through the security cam in the parking garage, I'm probably sifting through their garbage for discarded pages from their diaries …

Discussion: Mother Jones and Post Politics

Wallace C. Turbeville / Demos:

CRACKS IN THE PIPELINE: RESTORING EFFICIENCY TO WALL STREET AND VALUE TO MAIN STREET — This is the first article in the “Financial Pipeline Series,” which will examine the underlying validity of the assertion that regulation of the financial markets reduces their efficiency.

Discussion: Politico and American Prospect