memeorandum: The fiscal cliff deal comes clearer: a 37% top tax rate and a higher Medicare eligibility age (Ezra Klein/Wonkblog)

11:20 PM ET, December 7, 2012

Top Items:

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, AMERICAblog and Balloon Juice

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: The Moderate Voice, 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.

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:
Biden Says Obama Could Deal On Tax Rates

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Jon Chait's Miserable Endorsement of Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age

Discussion: New York Magazine, Hullabaloo, Crooks and Liars, 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: Towleroad News #gay, American Prospect, The Plum Line, Outside the Beltway, Mashable!, Guardian, Hot Air, The Week and Gallup

Kali Borkoski / SCOTUSblog:

Live blog anticipating orders, hopefully regarding same-sex marriage (sponsored by Bloomberg Law) (Update: Completed) — We anticipate orders this afternoon, including likely in the same-sex marriage cases. Our list of “Petitions to watch” for this Conference is here.

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

Discussion: Reuters, CNN, GOP 12 and Washington Monthly

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
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

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, SCOTUSblog and TBogg

BuzzFeed:
Supreme Court To Hear Gay Couples' Marriage Cases

Discussion: New York Magazine and The Daily Dish

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: Twitchy, Red Alert Politics, Weasel Zippers, The Week, The Daily Caller, Gawker, Hot Air and BuzzFeed

Hadas Gold / Politico:
PSY apologizes ahead of D.C. show

Discussion: Power Line and LewRockwell.com Blog

Rolling Stone:
Psy Apologizes for Anti-American Performances

Discussion: NY Daily News, Mashable! and The PJ Tatler

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:
President Still Set To Attend “Gangnam Style” Artist's Performance

Discussion: Mediaite, Post Politics, New York Magazine, FP Passport and Twitchy

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 …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hot Air, TalkLeft, Economix, Hit & Run, ACS Blog, The Impolitic, Drug WarRant, The National Memo, New York Magazine, Balloon Juice, Business Insider, Cato @ Liberty, Eschaton, The Democratic Daily, Shakesville and Associated Press

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.

Discussion: Hit & Run and The Week

Emily Swanson / The Huffington Post:
Marijuana Legalization Poll Finds Americans Want Federal Government To Leave States Alone

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hit & Run and AMERICAblog

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

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Racing To the Bottom In Michigan

Discussion: aflcio.org, The New Republic, The National Memo and Unionosity

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 …

Donovan Slack / Politico:
Obama to take corporate cash for inauguration

Discussion: Associated Press, Sunlight Foundation Blog, ABCNEWS, Change.gov, 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

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

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

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

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

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

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 …, The Snitch and The Raw Story

Bill McBride / Calculated Risk:

November Employment Report: 146,000 Jobs, 7.7% Unemployment Rate — From the BLS: … Click on graph for larger image. — There was uncertainty about this report because of Hurricane Sandy. — The headline number was above expectations of 80,000, but both September and October payroll growth was revised down.

Discussion: Wonkblog, Hot Air, aflcio.org, Red Alert Politics, AEIdeas, Economix, The Democratic Daily, Business Insider and National Review

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:
November Jobs Report: Another nasty, ‘new normal’ month for US workers

Discussion: Power Line, CNSNews, Real Time Economics, Jared Bernstein, Business Insider, The Daily Dish and Outside the Beltway

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