memeorandum: Leave It Alone; It's Irrelevant to the Deficit (New York Times)

1:35 PM ET, January 3, 2013

Top Items:

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Time Warner Cable Drops Current TV Upon Sale To Al Jazeera … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Al Jazeera, Current TV, Al Jazeera Buys Current, Al Jazeera Current, Al Jazeera Current Tv, Calderone: The Backstory, Time Warner Al Jazeera, Time Warner Cable Current TV, Time Warner Cable Drops Al Jazeera …

Discussion: The Other McCain, Israel Matzav, Weasel Zippers, Guardian, Progressive Change …, Taylor Marsh, Media Decoder, NewsBusters.org blogs, DealBook, Politico and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:

Al-Jazeera to Buy Current TV — News network al-Jazeera agreed to purchase Current TV, the current affairs channel partly owned by Al Gore, seeking to boost its presence in American television. — Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but a person familiar with the matter …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Politico, Glenn Beck, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Al Jazeera Seeks a U.S. Voice Where Gore Failed — 9:16 p.m. | Updated Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news giant, has long tried to convince Americans that it is a legitimate news organization, not a parrot of Middle Eastern propaganda or something more sinister. — It just bought itself 40 million more chances to make its case.

Madeleine Morgenstern / TheBlaze.com:
AL GORE'S CURRENT TV REBUFFS ADVANCES BY THEBLAZE, AGREES TO SELL CHANNEL TO AL JAZEERA

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Week and Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

New York Times:

Leave It Alone; It's Irrelevant to the Deficit — Dean Baker, an economist and the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, is the author of “The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive.” — Millions of people are rightly outraged to hear that Social Security …

Discussion: JustOneMinute and The Agonist

Politico:

Obama's debt problem — President Barack Obama won't be able to enjoy much of a victory lap from his win over congressional Republicans on the fiscal cliff fight. — There are about 16.4 trillion reasons why. — The staggering national debt — up about 60 percent from the $10 trillion Obama inherited …

Discussion: American Prospect, The Maddow Blog, Associated Press, Business Insider and Hot Air

David Leonhardt / New York Times:
For Obama, a Victory That Also Holds Risks

Discussion: USA Today, msnbc.com, The Plum Line, Prairie Weather, The Page, The Week, Forbes, National Review and Wonkblog

First Read:

First Thoughts: Boehner boxed in — As 113th Congress begins, Boehner finds himself boxed in like never before... But he will still likely win re-election as speaker... The 113th Congress, by the numbers... Assessing the aftermath of the fiscal-cliff deal: Obama emerges as a winner …

Discussion: Roll Call, The Week, Taegan Goddard's … and Politico

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Boehner tells GOP he's through negotiating one-on-one with Obama — Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is signaling that at least one thing will change about his leadership during the 113th Congress: he's telling Republicans he is done with private, one-on-one negotiations with President Obama.

Sen. Mitch McConnell / Reuters:
Fiscal cliff deal not great, but it shields Americans from tax hike

Discussion: The Hill, CNN, The Maddow Blog, BBC, Daily Kos, Reuters, msnbc.com, EconoSpeak and Politico

Ezra Klein / Bloomberg:

Good Riddance to Rottenest Congress in History — On January 3rd, the 112th Congress of the United States of America finally ends. Thank God. — To properly evaluate the 112th, consider the record of its predecessor, the 111th Congress, which ran from January 2009 to January 2011.

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Open Congress, The Week, Los Angeles Times and American Prospect

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Andrew Sullivan's Ad-Free Publishing Experiment Sees Six-Figure Revenue In First Six Hours — When political blogger Andrew Sullivan announced this morning that he's leaving The Daily Beast and launching an independent company called Dish Publishing, the most provocative bit of news was his intended business model.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Dish, The Hinterland Gazette, BuzzFeed, Poynter, PandoDaily, Guardian, Felix Salmon, Althouse and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

House GOP's rules package calls for another reading of the Constitution — The House rules package for the 113th Congress that is expected to be approved on Thursday calls for another reading of the U.S. Constitution from the chamber floor. — The rules package for the the 112th Congress …

Sunlen Miller / ABCNEWS:

Meet the New Class: The Senate Swears in a Historic 20 Female Senators — Today the Senate will make history, swearing in a record-breaking 20 female senators - 4 Republicans and 16 Democrats - in office. — As the 113th Congress is sworn in today on Capitol Hill, ABC “World News” …

Discussion: Ballot Box, Taylor Marsh and Booman Tribune

Laura Bassett / The Huffington Post:

House GOP Lets Violence Against Women Act Passed By Senate Die Without A Vote … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Eric Cantor, Patty Murray, GOP, Video, Women's Rights, Eric Cantor Vawa, Patty Murray Vawa, The Violence Against Women Act, Vawa, Vawa 2012, Vawa Reauthorization, Vawa Reauthorization 2012 …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Washington Post, Towleroad News #gay, Politico, The New Civil Rights Movement, Taylor Marsh and The Reality-Based Community

NY Daily News:
In an about face, House Speaker Boehner promises quick action on $60 billion in Hurricane Sandy aid

Discussion: Business Insider, Politicker, msnbc.com, The Fix, The PJ Tatler and Balloon Juice

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Democrats ready gun-control legislation that would ban high-capacity magazines — House Democrats will waste no time in the new Congress pushing legislation to tighten the nation's gun laws. — Reps. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) will introduce a proposal Thursday …

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and The Raw Story

Katie Glueck / Politico:
FBI: Record number of gun background checks

Discussion: Fox News and Hot Air

Reuters:

Senate panel to examine CIA contacts with “Zero Dark Thirty” filmmakers — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After the Senate Intelligence Committee's chairwoman expressed outrage over scenes that imply “enhanced interrogations” of CIA detainees produced a breakthrough in the hunt for Osama bin Laden …

Discussion: Reuters, The Daily Dish, Mediaite, BBC and Guardian

John Stanton / BuzzFeed:

Republicans Open New Congress Slamming “Lapdog” Democrats With Corgis — “Nancy Pelosi's Obedience School.” — Image by Joshua Roberts / Reuters — WASHINGTON — House Republicans Thursday are rolling partisan welcome mat for newly elected Democrats, circulating a tongue-in-cheek guide …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Wall Street Journal:

Crony Capitalist Blowout — A tax increase for everyone but the favored wealthy few. — In praising Congress's huge new tax increase, President Obama said Tuesday that “millionaires and billionaires” will finally “pay their fair share.” That is, unless you are a Nascar track owner …

Discussion: Right Turn

Washington Post:

How McConnell and Biden pulled Congress away from the fiscal cliff — With just 35 hours left, there was a phone message for Vice President Biden. — About an hour later, after talking to President Obama, Biden called back. He heard a familiar drawl: “Does anyone down there know how to make a deal?”

Discussion: Wonkblog, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite and Politico

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Reid will postpone filibuster reform

Discussion: Booman Tribune

ThinkProgress:

Ten People We Are Grateful Are No Longer Members Of Congress — Under the Twentieth Amendment, “[t]he terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January.”

Keith Humphreys / The Reality-Based Community:

The Strangely Underreported Decline in the Incarceration Rate — I hereby submit my nomination for the most underreported public policy story of the past year: The continuing decline in the number of Americans who are behind bars or on probation/parole. Both the change itself and low level …

Discussion: Hit & Run and Marginal Revolution

Amie Parnes / The Hill:

Obama signs ‘fiscal cliff’ bill using autopen — President Obama on Wednesday signed legislation that raises taxes on the wealthiest Americans and avoids the so-called “fiscal cliff,” which threatened to send the economy into decline. — The White House said late Wednesday that Obama reviewed …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Twitchy and The Daily Caller

Skip Navigation / ACLU:

NDAA Prevents Closing Guantanamo, Could Protect Right to Discriminate — Obama Jeopardizes Ability to Close Guantanamo While Raising Discrimination Concerns in the Military — CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org — WASHINGTON - President Obama has signed the National Defense Authorization Act …

Discussion: Firedoglake, msnbc.com and The Raw Story

Daily Mail:

Hillary Clinton ‘will testify about Benghazi consulate security shambles’ despite concussion and blood clot — Hillary Clinton will testify in front of Congress about the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya - despite receiving a concussion and being hospitalized for a blood clot, it was revealed on Thursday.

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and Weasel Zippers

Sara Forden / Bloomberg:

Google Said Poised to Resolve FTC Antitrust Probe Today — Google Inc. (GOOG) will resolve a 20-month antitrust probe by U.S. regulators today with a voluntary agreement and a consent decree on the company's alleged misuse of patents, three people familiar with the matter said.