Top Items:
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
How the fiscal cliff fight will end (unhappily for Republicans) … The word among some Senate Republicans is that a fiscal cliff deal is likely to be struck by Sunday, or Monday at the latest. (And Monday, being December 31st, is in fact the latest a deal could be struck to avoid January 1 tax increases.)
Discussion:
National Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Power Line
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Politico:
GOP unlikely to oust Boehner as speaker of the House — It's a truth that fire-breathing conservatives will have to handle: John Boehner isn't going anywhere as speaker of the House. — Boehner's grip on leadership is no doubt weaker after a faction of his caucus blocked his “Plan B” to avoid the fiscal cliff.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
Erik Wasson / The Hill:
Congress, federal workers to get raise — Members of Congress will be getting a small pay increase next year. — Under an executive order issued by President Obama on Thursday, members of Congress will join federal workers in seeing their pay rise by 0.5 percent after March 27.
Discussion:
BuzzFeed and Addicting Info
Politico:
Sunday showdown: Reid, McConnell try for small deal — Senate leaders are headed into a critical Sunday session of Congress with a singular mission to avoid historic tax hikes, setting the stage for a high-wire final act of fiscal cliff negotiating just two days before the country is hit with a series of tough austerity measures.
Discussion:
Power Line
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Leading proponent of filibuster reform claims he has 51 votes
Leading proponent of filibuster reform claims he has 51 votes
Discussion:
The Hill, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Booman Tribune, Doug Ross and Post Politics
Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Obama Gives Republicans A Tough Ultimatum On Taxes
Obama Gives Republicans A Tough Ultimatum On Taxes
Discussion:
Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and Washington Monthly
Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Fiscal Cliff Deal Not Reached, Leaders Agree To Continue Talks
Fiscal Cliff Deal Not Reached, Leaders Agree To Continue Talks
Discussion:
The Hill, Hot Air, Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Impolitic, Addicting Info, Politico and The Daily Caller
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Reid, McConnell working on fiscal cliff deal after meeting Obama
Reid, McConnell working on fiscal cliff deal after meeting Obama
Discussion:
Hot Air, Saint Petersblog and New York Times
Marc Santora / New York Times:
Woman Accused of Hate-Crime Murder in Subway Push — A 31-year-old woman was arrested on Saturday and charged with a hate crime in connection with the death of a man who was pushed onto the tracks of an elevated subway station in Queens and crushed by an oncoming train.
Discussion:
Atlas Shrugs, The Other McCain, The Gateway Pundit, The Hinterland Gazette and The Raw Story
Mary Ellen Godin / Reuters:
Claim seeks $100 million for child survivor of Connecticut school shooting — Reuters/Reuters - A U.S. flag hangs over stockings left as a memorial for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, along a fence surrounding the Sandy Hook Cemetery in Newtown, Connecticut December ...more
Discussion:
Addicting Info, The Hinterland Gazette, The Right Scoop and Outside the Beltway
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Piers Morgan / Daily Mail:
Deport me? If America won't change its crazy gun laws... I may deport myself says Piers Morgan — I have fired guns only once in my life, on a stag party to the Czech capital Prague a few years ago when part of the itinerary included a trip to an indoor shooting range.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Jammie Wearing Fools
Shushannah Walshe / ABCNEWS:
Dick Armey Defends His $8 Million Deal to Leave FreedomWorks — Former House majority leader Dick Armey says he took an $8 million consulting deal in return for leaving the conservative organization FreedomWorks because the group was “dishonest” and because he “couldn't leave with empty pockets.”
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly and Talking Points Memo
N. Gregory Mankiw / New York Times:
Wishful Thinking and Middle-Class Taxes — IN the continuing fiscal negotiations between President Obama and House Republicans, both sides have, from the very beginning, agreed on one point: Taxes on the middle class must not rise. But maybe it's time to reconsider this premise.
Discussion:
Business Insider, American Power and Greg Mankiw's Blog
Josh Barro / Bloomberg:
When Getting Your Butt Kicked Is the Strategy — Buzzfeed has one of many pieces about anonymous Republicans bemoaning their party's strategic incompetence, this time about the debt ceiling deal. They report: … Here's what Buzzfeed is missing: For Republicans, losing the political fight isn't a downside of the strategy.
Discussion:
National Review and BuzzFeed
Bloomberg:
French Court Says 75% Tax Rate on Rich Is Unconstitutional — President Francois Hollande's 75 percent millionaire-tax is unconstitutional because it fails to guarantee taxpayer equality, France's top court ruled today. — The tax, one of Hollande's campaign promises …
Discussion:
PERRspectives and National Review
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Jerusalem Post:
Egypt to pursue relationship with Hezbollah — In shift from Mubarak-era policy, Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon says Brotherhood-dominated Egypt will engage terror group. — In a dramatic policy shift, Egypt will seek to forge “tight” relations with Hezbollah, Egyptian Ambassador …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers and Israel Matzav
Mark Steyn / National Review:
Laws Are for Little People — A week ago on NBC's Meet the Press, David Gregory brandished on screen a high-capacity magazine. To most media experts, a “high-capacity magazine” means an ad-stuffed double issue of Vanity Fair with the triple-page perfume-scented pullouts.
Discussion:
Belmont Club, Twitchy, The Jawa Report, The Other McCain, Ed Driscoll and Althouse