Top Items:
Politico:
Fiscal cliff: House will come back on Sunday — House Republican leaders are bringing the House back into session on Sunday, lawmakers were told in a Thursday conference call. — one day before the nation reaches the fiscal cliff.
Discussion:
Guardian, Business Insider, CNN, The National Memo, Daily Kos and Slate
RELATED:
Garrett Epps / The Atlantic Online:
Federal Court Won't Rescue the Senate From Its Own Incapacity — Senators must tame the filibuster or it will destroy them — and the Congress they serve in. — Joshua Roberts/Reuters — Federal Judges rarely play Santa Claus, and U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan declined to brighten the holiday for Senate Democrats.
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Outside the Beltway and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Rebecca Berg / BuzzFeed:
Scott Brown Breaks News Of Nonexistent Fiscal Cliff Offer — The senator's scoop falls flat. “Not true,” an aide to Harry Reid responds. — Image by Charles Krupa, File / AP — WASHINGTON — With a post to his Facebook page Thursday, Sen. Scott Brown sent Washington scurrying …
Discussion:
Hot Air and Daily Download
Steve Kornacki / Salon:
Triumph of the Tea Party mindset — Don't be fooled by those who say it's dying: The fiscal cliff impasse proves its spirit dominates the GOP — Two stories that might seem to contradict each other ran in the New York Times this week. One declared the Tea Party movement “significantly weakened” …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, BREITBART.COM, msnbc.com, The Mahablog, Bluestem Prairie, The Plum Line, No More Mister Nice Blog, American Power and CNN
Reuters:
Fiscal cliff deal increasingly unlikely — Nearly all the major players in the fiscal cliff negotiations are starting to agree on one thing: A deal is virtually impossible before the New Year. — Unlike the bank bailout in 2008, the tax deal in 2010 and the debt ceiling in 2011 …
Deirdre Walsh / CNN:
TRENDING: Hoyer compares GOP debt limit tactics to hostage taker threatening to shoot child
TRENDING: Hoyer compares GOP debt limit tactics to hostage taker threatening to shoot child
Discussion:
Twitchy
Lisa Mascaro / Los Angeles Times:
Mitch McConnell lies low as ‘fiscal cliff’ nears
Mitch McConnell lies low as ‘fiscal cliff’ nears
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Roll Call, The Maddow Blog and New York Times
Brett LoGiurato / Business Insider:
HARRY REID: ‘It Looks Like’ We'll Go Over The Cliff Because Of Boehner's ‘Dictatorship’
HARRY REID: ‘It Looks Like’ We'll Go Over The Cliff Because Of Boehner's ‘Dictatorship’
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars
Washington Post:
Obama reaches out to congressional leaders on ‘fiscal cliff’ talks
Obama reaches out to congressional leaders on ‘fiscal cliff’ talks
Discussion:
First Read, The Plum Line, WorldViews, Post Politics and Hot Air
Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Senate Leader Says Deal Is Unlikely Before Fiscal Deadline
Senate Leader Says Deal Is Unlikely Before Fiscal Deadline
Discussion:
Prairie Weather, The Caucus and Gothamist
CBS News:
The “fiscal cliff”: What to expect if there's no deal
The “fiscal cliff”: What to expect if there's no deal
Discussion:
Lynn Sweet and Daily Kos
Mark Arsenault / Boston Globe:
US Rep. Markey to run in Senate special election — US Representative Edward Markey, dean of the state's Washington delegation, will run in 2013 for the US Senate seat expected to open with the nomination of US Senator John Kerry to head the State Department.
Discussion:
Politico, The Plum Line, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Roll Call and First Read
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Talking Points Memo:
Rep. Markey To Run For Kerry's Senate Seat — Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) will run for the Senate seat expected to be vacated by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) who was nominated to be secretary of state, he told the Boston Globe. A special election to fill Kerry's seat will likely take place in June.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Wall Street Journal:
Free David Gregory — Moving right along in America's gun control, er, “conversation,” we now have the illuminating debate over the alleged criminality of “Meet the Press” host David Gregory. Somehow this seems appropriate to the quality of the rest of the gun debate.
Discussion:
Politico, Mediaite, The Huffington Post and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Howard Kurtz / Daily Download:
Why David Gregory Shouldn't Be Behind Bars
Why David Gregory Shouldn't Be Behind Bars
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, National Review, Michelle Malkin, NewsBusters.org, Gretawire and TVNewser, more at Mediagazer »
Dylan Byers / Politico:
WSJ ed board: ‘Free David Gregory’
WSJ ed board: ‘Free David Gregory’
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CNN, Mediaite and The Agonist, more at Mediagazer »
John M. Broder / New York Times:
E.P.A. Chief to Step Down, With Climate Still Low Priority — Lisa P. Jackson is stepping down as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency after a four-year tenure that began with high hopes of sweeping action to address climate change and other environmental ills but ended …
Discussion:
New Jersey Online, The Hill, Daily Kos, Hot Air, First Read, Washington Examiner, The Raw Story, protein wisdom and Mother Jones
RELATED:
Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed:
Departing Environmental Chief Suggests Obama Has Failed On Climate
Departing Environmental Chief Suggests Obama Has Failed On Climate
Discussion:
yosemite.epa.gov
Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Report: Mike Crapo drank vodka shots — Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) drank multiple vodka shots before he was arrested for driving under the influence early Sunday morning in Alexandria, according to public court documents. — Crapo, 61, has a court date set for Jan. 4, according to news reports.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs
RELATED:
Drew Hansen / Del Ray, VA Patch:
Sen. Crapo Consumed Vodka Prior to Arrest in Del Ray
Sen. Crapo Consumed Vodka Prior to Arrest in Del Ray
Discussion:
Mediaite and The Raw Story
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Changing History — Some fascinating findings from Pew's on-going number crunching of the 2012 election. African-Americans, for the first time ever, may have voted at higher rates than American whites. — From Pew ... Pew goes on to note that while participation rates for Hispanics …
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog
RELATED:
Jennifer Martinez / The Hill:
Feinstein defends foreign surveillance program amid criticism — Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Thursday pushed back against claims made by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that a counterterrorism surveillance law lacks sufficient oversight.
Discussion:
Electronic Frontier Foundation and Lawyers, Guns & Money
RELATED:
Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
Senator calls for oversight of agencies that might be monitoring Americans
Senator calls for oversight of agencies that might be monitoring Americans
Discussion:
Guardian
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
As Swing Districts Dwindle, Can a Divided House Stand? — In 1992, there were 103 members of the House of Representatives elected from what might be called swing districts: those in which the margin in the presidential race was within five percentage points of the national result.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and The Plum Line
David Bauder / Associated Press:
Matthews raises profile during campaign — NEW YORK (AP) — To his boss, Chris Matthews has become a statesman. His critics probably have other words. — The veteran MSNBC host raised his profile as much as any member of the television commentariat during the presidential campaign.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Sister Toldjah and Washington Examiner
Edward Glaeser / Bloomberg:
2013 Is the Year to Go to Work, Not Go on Disability — The National Bureau of Economic Research declared that the U.S. recession ended in June 2009, yet 2012 didn't look like much of a resurgence. — To me, the number that sums up the year's doldrums is the 1.27 million increase in the number …
Discussion:
Eschaton and Weekly Standard
Joyce Lee Malcolm / Wall Street Journal:
Two Cautionary Tales of Gun Control — After a school massacre, the U.K. banned handguns in 1998. A decade later, handgun crime had doubled. — Americans are determined that massacres such as happened in Newtown, Conn., never happen again. But how? Many advocate more effective treatment …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, BizzyBlog and LewRockwell.com Blog
Pew Internet:
E-book Reading Jumps; Print Book Reading Declines — Findings — The population of e-book readers is growing. In the past year, the number of those who read e-books increased from 16% of all Americans ages 16 and older to 23%. At the same time, the number of those who read printed books …
Discussion:
The Verge, The Daily Caller, TechCrunch, NYT Bits and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »
Kirk Johnson / New York Times:
Washington State Senators Cross Aisle and Tilt Ideological Balance — OLYMPIA, Wash. — From the governor-elect on down, through both chambers of the Legislature, a tincture of blue political monoculture drifts through Washington State politics like mist through the pines.