Top Items:
Paul Krugman:
I Hope This Isn't True — Ezra Klein says that the shape of a fiscal cliff deal is clear: only a 37 percent rate on top incomes, and a rise in the Medicare eligibility age. — I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that this is just a case of creeping Broderism, that it's a VSP fantasy …
Discussion:
Mediaite and AMERICAblog
RELATED:
Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
The fiscal cliff deal comes clearer: a 37% top tax rate and a higher Medicare eligibility age — Something hilarious happened in the Senate on Thursday. — The White House has been pushing a plan to transfer authority for the debt ceiling to the executive.
Discussion:
Politico, National Review and Hullabaloo
Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:
Sorry, Democrats: 4 Ways Progressives Are About to Have Their Hopes Dashed — Liberals are fired up about Obama's second term and Elizabeth Warren's election. They're about to be disappointed. — Reuters/The Atlantic — Ever since Election Day, the left has been riding high.
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Jon Chait's Miserable Endorsement of Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age
Jon Chait's Miserable Endorsement of Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, New York Magazine, Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice, Wonkblog and Slate
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Supreme Court to Take Up Gay Marriage — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it would enter the national debate over same-sex marriage, agreeing to hear a pair of cases challenging state and federal laws that define marriage to include only unions of a man and a woman.
Discussion:
American Prospect, Towleroad News #gay, The Plum Line, Outside the Beltway, Mashable!, Guardian, Hot Air, The Week and Gallup
RELATED:
Kali Borkoski / SCOTUSblog:
Live blog anticipating orders, hopefully regarding same-sex marriage (sponsored by Bloomberg Law) (Update: Completed)
Live blog anticipating orders, hopefully regarding same-sex marriage (sponsored by Bloomberg Law) (Update: Completed)
Discussion:
The Raw Story, Mediaite, The Daily Dish, The Maddow Blog and Advocate
Sam Baker / The Hill:
Supreme Court to hear historic same-sex marriage cases
Supreme Court to hear historic same-sex marriage cases
Discussion:
Reuters, Washington Monthly, CNN and GOP 12
Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Supreme Court Takes Up Landmark Gay Marriage Case
Supreme Court Takes Up Landmark Gay Marriage Case
Discussion:
Zandar Versus The Stupid and Mock, Paper, Scissors
Greg Stohr / Bloomberg:
Gay Marriage Gets Supreme Court Review for the First Time
Gay Marriage Gets Supreme Court Review for the First Time
Discussion:
Washington Post, Daily Kos, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, SCOTUSblog and TBogg
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Administration Weighs Legal Action Against States That Legalized Marijuana Use — WASHINGTON — Senior White House and Justice Department officials are considering plans for legal action against Colorado and Washington that could undermine voter-approved initiatives to legalize the recreational use …
RELATED:
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Mr President, Don't Even Think About It — Charlie Savage reports on the Obama administration's response to the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington. Balko is discouraged: … Pete Guither sees the article as a trial balloon: … Well, since they're asking …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Mediaite, The Reality-Based Community, Hit & Run, Weasel Zippers and The Plum Line
Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:
Obama's Pot Problem — Now that states have started legalizing recreational marijuana, will the president continue the government's war on weed? — By — When voters in Colorado and Washington state legalized recreational marijuana in November, they thought they were declaring a cease-fire in the War on Drugs.
Emily Swanson / The Huffington Post:
Marijuana Legalization Poll Finds Americans Want Federal Government To Leave States Alone
Marijuana Legalization Poll Finds Americans Want Federal Government To Leave States Alone
Discussion:
Firedoglake, AMERICAblog and Hit & Run
Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:
‘Gangnam Style’ Singer PSY's Vitriolic Anti-American Past Revealed, Outrage Ensues — He has the most-watched YouTube video of all-time, an international phenomenon of a mega-hit in “Gangnam Style,” has made appearances on nearly every American morning talk show under the sun from Today to Ellen …
Discussion:
Power Line, NY Daily News, Twitchy, Mashable!, Red Alert Politics, Weasel Zippers, The Week, The Daily Caller, Hot Air and BuzzFeed
RELATED:
Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:
President Still Set To Attend “Gangnam Style” Artist's Performance
President Still Set To Attend “Gangnam Style” Artist's Performance
Discussion:
Mediaite, Post Politics, New York Magazine, FP Passport and Twitchy
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Republican Glasnost — Senator Marco Rubio won the Jack Kemp Foundation's Leadership Award earlier this week. In his speech accepting the award, he sketched out his Republican vision. Some of the policies he mentioned were pretty conventional for someone of his party: limiting regulations, approving the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Washington Monthly, driftglass, Crooks and Liars and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Steve Kornacki / Salon:
What Jim DeMint figured out
What Jim DeMint figured out
Discussion:
First Read, Little Green Footballs, The Plum Line and Business Insider
Nick Baumann / Mother Jones:
GOP Resurrects Plan to Rig Electoral College — After Romney got walloped on November 6, Republicans want to change how electoral votes are awarded. — In September, top Pennsylvania Republicans shocked the nation by proposing a change to the state's election rules that would have rigged …
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Zandar Versus The Stupid
John Nichols / thenation.com/blogs/117:
GOP, Koch Brothers Sneak Attack Guts Labor Rights in Michigan — In the state where workers sat down in Flint General Motors plants seventy-five years ago and emboldened the industrial labor movement that would give birth to the American middle class, Republican legislators on Thursday voted to gut basic labor rights.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Lansing State Journal, aflcio.org and Democratic Strategist
RELATED:
Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Racing To the Bottom In Michigan
Racing To the Bottom In Michigan
Discussion:
aflcio.org, The New Republic, msnbc.com and The National Memo
Dick / DickMorris.com:
Whites Stayed Home And Re-Elected Obama — Now that all the data is in, the fundamental reason for Romney's defeat is apparent, if largely unreported. It is not just that blacks, Latinos, and single women showed up in record numbers at the polls. It's that whites didn't.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Wonkette, Little Green Footballs, Business Insider and Post Politics
The Caucus:
2012 Election Ended With Deluge of Donations and Spending — The most expensive general election in history ended with a bang, according to new reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, with both presidential campaigns raising and spending huge amounts in the final two weeks before Election Day and …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
RELATED:
Donovan Slack / Politico:
Obama to take corporate cash for inauguration
Obama to take corporate cash for inauguration
Discussion:
Associated Press, Change.gov, Sunlight Foundation Blog, ABCNEWS, Weasel Zippers and The Impolitic
Dylan Byers / Politico:
Press fear Obama private swearing in — The White House Correspondents Association is strongly urging the Obama administration to allow press access to the president's official swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20, following indications from inauguration committee officials that the event could potentially be closed to the press.
Discussion:
Mediaite
Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Maher: Send Koch bros a ‘f—k you’ — Bill Maher blogged on Friday that President Barack Obama should use a fiscal cliff deal as a “personal f—k you” to the Koch brothers by doing something about global warming. — In a post Friday, Maher wrote: “Since we're looking for new revenue streams …
Discussion:
HBO, Weasel Zippers and The Raw Story
Fox News:
Cheney Takes Flamethrower To Obama — Former Vice President Dick Cheney was honored last night at the Hudson Institute's 2012 Herman Khan Award Dinner at the Pierre Hotel in New York City. Cheney was introduced by Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who spoke in detail about Cheney's life and accomplishments …
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
‘Welfare Spending Equates to $168 Per Day for Every Household in Poverty’ — The amount of money spent on welfare programs equals, when converted to cash payments, about “$168 per day for every household in poverty,” the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee finds.
Discussion:
Rush Limbaugh, Weasel Zippers and Doug Ross
CNN:
New photo shows Obama taking Romney's concession call — (CNN) - A never-before-seen official White House photo, posted online Friday, shows President Barack Obama on Election Night speaking with his freshly defeated rival Mitt Romney. — The photo was taken in the presidential suite …
Discussion:
Politico, The Hinterland Gazette, Towleroad News #gay and Truthdig
BuzzFeed:
Legislators Hope To Slip Farm Subsidies And Food Stamps Into Fiscal Cliff Deal — Agriculture Committee chairs from both chambers work out their differences in private. Easy spending cuts and deep ideological differences in Farm Bill talks. — Image by Iowa Farm Bureau, Gary Fandel / AP
Lilian Kim / KGO-TV:
Arpaio gets cold shoulder in San Francisco — immigration, san francisco news, lilian kim — SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — America's most controversial sheriff was in hostile territory Thursday night. Arizona's Joe Arpaio is in San Francisco as an invited guest, despite strong public sentiment against him.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's … and The Raw Story