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David Gregory will not host this Sunday's ‘Meet The Press’ — NBC's David Gregory, the subject of a now-popular police investigation, is on vacation and will not host this Sunday's edition of “Meet The Press.” — The Washington Metropolitan Police Department launched an investigation …
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‘Meet the Press’ Got the Green Light for Magazine Demo with David Gregory — For Magazine Demo — EXCLUSIVE — An official from the D.C. police told a member of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that David Gregory COULD display a high capacity magazine on “Meet the Press” Sunday ... TMZ has learned.


Cops told NBC not to use gun clip — NBC was told by the Washington, D.C., police that it was “not permissible” to show a high-capacity gun magazine on air before Sunday's “Meet the Press,” according to a statement Wednesday from the cops. — “NBC contacted [the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department] …


The White House's Kent Conrad problem — On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), the outgoing chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, made a proposal to solve the “fiscal cliff.” The proposal isn't going anywhere, but its specifics explain something important about the White House's negotiating strategy.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Daily Kos, Mother Jones and Balloon Juice
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Source: Reid looking for votes on fiscal cliff package — Washington (CNN) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in conjunction with the White House, is working to see if the scaled back fiscal cliff package President Barack Obama laid out last week can get through Congress before December 31st.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Gallup and The Reaction

Why John Boehner Wants Action to Move to the Senate
Discussion:
Mother Jones and The Plum Line


Schatz picked by Abercrombie to replace Inouye in U.S. Senate — Gov. Neil Abercrombie today selected Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz to replace the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye in the Senate. — Schatz, 40, said he will fly to Washington tonight and be sworn in Thursday so he can participate …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's … and Business Insider
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Hawaii Gov. Names Sen. Inouye Replacement — A supporter congratulates then-Lt. Gov.-elect Brian Schatz, center, as his wife Linda looks on at the Neil Abercrombie-Brian Schatz Hawaii governor's post election party in Honolulu, Nov. 3, 2010. Schatz was appointed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie …
Discussion:
CNN, Associated Press, Post Politics and Washington Examiner

Dems choose Hanabusa, Kiaaina, Schatz as finalists for Inouye Senate seat
Discussion:
Daily Kos

Geithner: US will hit $16.4 trillion debt limit on New Year's Eve — The United States will reach its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit on Dec. 31 and undertake “extraordinary measures” to avoid default, the Treasury Department informed congressional leaders in a letter on Wednesday.
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Timothy Geithner: Debt Limit Will Be Reached December 31
Discussion:
Washington Post, Mediaite and Outside the Beltway


Treasury Secretary: U.S. To Hit Debt Ceiling On Monday
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog

Treasury: U.S. will hit debt limit New Year's Eve
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Truthdig


Piers Morgan: Bible And Constitution ‘Inherently Flawed,’ ‘Time For An Amendment To Bible’ — On Monday, CNN host Piers Morgan invited Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren on his program to discuss gay marriage and the bible. Fresh off his feud with Second Amendment rights activists following …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Red Alert Politics and The Hinterland Gazette


Virginia embodies GOP's woes — Given a question on immigration, the attorney general puzzled attendees by discussing human trafficking and repeatedly using the word “illegals.” — Other Republicans, worried Cuccinelli is micro-managing his own campaign, recoiled at a curt note …
Discussion:
Daily Kos

Benghazi penalties are bogus — The four officials supposedly out of jobs because of their blunders in the run-up to the deadly Benghazi terror attack remain on the State Department payroll — and will all be back to work soon, The Post has learned. — The highest-ranking official caught …
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First Fighting Islamists, Now the Free Market — CAIRO — Hamdeen Sabahi was the most popular leader in the fight against Egypt's new Islamist-backed constitution. Now he is preparing for his next battle: against Islamist leaders' plans for Western-style free-market reforms.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
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The N.R.A. at the Bench — There has been plenty written about the National Rifle Association in recent days. But nothing that I've seen has focused on the gun lobby's increasingly pernicious role in judicial confirmations. So here's a little story. — Back in 2009, when President …

3 senators want in on detention arguments — Three Republican senators are asking that their lawyer be allowed to make a presentation when a federal appeals court hears oral arguments on the scope of a provision regarding law-of-war detention that Congress passed last year.


Our History, and Theirs — Here in Minnesota, there has been a political skirmish over the Department of Education's adoption of new K-12 educational standards for social studies, including history. The current revision has been drafted by education professionals and is proceeding through …

Ex-President Bush in guarded condition in ICU with elevated fever — Former President George H.W. Bush was in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital Wednesday night battling a fever, his spokesman said. — The 41st president has been at Methodist hospital for more than a month now.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
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Let's Come Together, America — Posted by Howard S., Starbucks chairman, president and chief executive officer — There are moments in our lives when we have an opportunity to ignite tremendous positive change—not just in the lives of the customers and communities we serve every day, but in our country.


PSY CHRISTMAS SHOW BOMBS — The 31st annual “Christmas in Washington” concert on TNT December 21 suffered a dramatic 25 percent loss in viewers from the previous year, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 2011 cablecast of “Christmas in Washington” drew 1.5 million viewers.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller

A cost savings everyone should endorse — The cliff talks have disintegrated, victim of the Crazy Caucus also known as the Republican House. But eventually they will resume, and with them discussion of a way to raise billions in tax revenue — an approach on which House Speaker John Boehner …
Discussion:
CEPR, Jared Bernstein, Crooks and Liars and PERRspectives