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5:25 PM ET, December 31, 2012

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Why Is Obama Caving on Taxes?  —  The discouraging thing about the “fiscal cliff” negotiations is not that they have gone into the eleventh hour, or that they may go into the new year, or even that they won't resolve the long-term budget deficit.  It's that President Obama has retreated on his hard line on taxes.
RELATED:
Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
Why the White House thinks it's winning the ‘fiscal cliff’  —  Consider the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations from the White House's perspective.  —  The specifics of the potential McConnell-Biden deal are fluid, but the bottom line, at the moment, seems to be this: It raises taxes …
Politico:
Fiscal cliff: Major progress toward deal  —  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Vice President Joe Biden engaged in furious overnight negotiations to avert the fiscal cliff and made major progress toward a year-end tax deal, giving sudden hope to high-stakes talks …
bigstory.ap.org:
AP SOURCES: ‘FISCAL CLIFF’ DEAL EMERGING  —  You are here  —  Home » United States Congress » AP Sources: ‘Fiscal cliff’ deal emerging  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The contours of a deal to avert the ‘fiscal cliff’ emerged Monday, with Democrats and Republicans agreeing to raise tax rates …
Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Fiscal Cliff Deal Growing More Likely, Would Raise $715 Billion In Revenue … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Bush Tax Cuts, Video, Boehner Fiscal Cliff, Fiscal Cliff, Fiscal Cliff Deal, Fiscal Cliff Tax Revenues, Fiscal Cliff Taxes, Obama Fiscal Cliff, Obama Fiscal Cliff Deal, Tax Hikes, Politics News
Timothy Noah / The New Republic:
Kill This Deal … Dear House and Senate Democrats,  —  Your president has sold you out.  A deal will likely be announced today canceling the scheduled income-tax increase on all family income below $450,000, instead of the promised $250,000 threshold, which was already too high.
Matthew O'Brien / The Atlantic Online:
The Estate Tax Is a Huge Giveaway in the Fiscal-Cliff Talks  —  It will cost us $375 billion over the next decade if we keep the estate tax from going back to its Clinton-era levels.  That's twice the savings from switching to chained CPI.  —  (Reuters)  —  It's time to talk …
Discussion: Hullabaloo, Wonkblog and Post Politics
CBS News:
Finally, a “fiscal cliff” breakthrough  —  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says any potential deal will have to include a tax hike on the upper 2 percent of income earners.  But Geithner says the biggest obstacle is Republicans who refuse to budge.  Anna Werner reports on how close the parties are in reaching a deal.
Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
McConnell's Latest Gambit Is A Big Tax And Debt Limit Tell
Discussion: Daily Kos
Deirdre Walsh / CNN:
TRENDING: House unlikely to vote on any deal until after cliff deadline
Discussion: Politico and Taegan Goddard's …
Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
Republicans Lash Out At Obama, Even As Fiscal Cliff Deal Close At Hand
Discussion: Politico and The Daily Banter
Dana Bash / CNN:
Harkin: Democrats unhappy; “We may object” to suggested deal
Katie Glueck / Politico:
Grover Norquist: Tax rates won't increase
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
2 Sides in Talks Inch Closer but No Fiscal Deal on Final Day
Jamelle Bouie / The Plum Line:
Have Democrats lost their leverage on the fiscal cliff?
First Read:
First Thoughts: Farewell to the 112th Congress
Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Steny Hoyer cool to compromise
Discussion: Weasel Zippers
The European / The European Union Times:
Clinton Injured, US Navy Seal Killed In Secret US Mission To Iran  —  A new Foreign Military Intelligence (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today is saying that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [photo 2nd right] was injured, and a top US Navy Seal Commander killed …
Discussion: Weekly Standard and KTLA 5
RELATED:
Kevin Robillard / Politico:
NBC reporter raises Hillary Clinton questions  —  The top science reporter for NBC News raised questions Monday about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's hospitalization, raising the possibility the blood clot causing isn't linked to an earlier concussion.  —  “It's not exactly clear …
BuzzFeed:
8 People Who Thought Hillary Clinton Was Faking Her Concussion
Louis Michael Seidman / New York Times:
Let's Give Up on the Constitution  —  AS the nation teeters at the edge of fiscal chaos, observers are reaching the conclusion that the American system of government is broken.  But almost no one blames the culprit: our insistence on obedience to the Constitution, with all its archaic, idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions.
Don Kaplan / NY Daily News:
Political commentator Sean Hannity was one of the big losers in the 2012 election  —  The right-wing Fox News host lost half his audience in the weeks after Obama's win  —  Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity had predicted President Obama would lose in a landslide.
Suzy Khimm / Wonkblog:
Obama's wrong: This ‘cliff’ deal still raises taxes on the middle class  —  This afternoon, President Obama spoke while surrounded by an ad hoc group of “middle-class Americans” who he promised would be protected from tax hikes by the 11th-hour “fiscal cliff” proposal.  That's not what's going to happen.
RELATED:
Washington Post:
(APPLAUSE)  —  Thank you.  Please, everybody have a seat.
James Bovard / Wall Street Journal:
How the ‘Dairy Cliff’ Will Cream Consumers  —  Got milk?  Enjoy the price you paid, because federal policy, reaching its sell-by date, will have dire results.  —  If the price of milk zooms up shortly after Jan. 1, the increase will come courtesy of a venal and feckless U.S. Congress.
RELATED:
David Rogers / Politico:   Farm bill fate still up in the air
Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Barney Frank Opposes Chuck Hagel For Defense Secretary  —  “I cannot think of any other minority group in the U.S. today where such a negative statement and action made in 1998 would not be an obstacle to a major Presidential appointment,” Barney Frank says.  —  Image by J. Scott Applewhite / AP
 
 
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 More Items: 
James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:
Long Walks, Short Piers
Neil Irwin / Washington Post:
Markets aren't sweating the fiscal cliff
BBC:
Firework displays kick off 2013
Dan Munro / Forbes:
2012 - The Year In Healthcare Charts
Raf Sanchez / Telegraph:
Republican party is ‘devoid of a soul’, says Jon Huntsman
Discussion: Ballot Box, Politico and Mediaite
Dylan Byers / Politico:
Gregory under investigation, out of headlines
 Earlier Items: 
John O'Sullivan / Wall Street Journal:
Turmoil Over America's Radio Voice in Russia
Discussion: Power Line
The Week:
Gun control won't work
Discussion: Business Insider
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Citing Citizens United, Federal Appeals Court Blocks Access To Birth Control
Discussion: The Raw Story
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Max Tani / @maxwelltani:
Memo: WaPo's Matt Murray lays out plans for WP Ventures, the “third newsroom”; Krissah Thompson will be editor and Samantha Henig will be general manager

Jack Dunn / Variety:
Trump appoints Mark Burnett, the British TV executive who created and produced the reality show The Apprentice, as a special envoy to the UK

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
A deep dive into Paramount's sale to Skydance; sources: Skydance may integrate Pluto into Paramount+, and CBS head George Cheeks is expected to be head of TV
 
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