memeorandum: We Don't Have a Spending Problem. We Have an Aging Problem. (Kevin Drum/Mother Jones)

9:30 AM ET, January 5, 2013

Top Items:

Schumer: Dems Won't Negotiate With GOP On Debt Ceiling — Echoing President Obama's refusal to negotiate on the debt limit, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned Republicans on Friday that Democrats have no intention of giving in to any of their demands in exchange for lifting the nation's borrowing limit to pay its bills.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Slate, ProfessorBainbridge.com, Politico, Forbes, Hullabaloo, Off the Charts Blog, Daily Kos, The Plum Line and Booman Tribune

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Boehner absolves GOP defectors, seeks to reassert his command — Battered by division and defections, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is setting out to re-unify his conference and prove to Democrats in the White House and the Senate that he can command a governing majority of the House.

Wall Street Journal:

The Outrageous Sandy Outrage — House Speaker John Boehner is getting all sorts of grief these days, but there's one decision for which taxpayers should thank him: putting the brakes on a $60 billion relief bill for the victims of Hurricane Sandy that has become cover for Congress to revive earmarks and the pork machine.

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Examiner, Investor's Business Daily, Politicker, Hot Air, Right Turn, Betsy's Page and Capital New York

United States Senator John Cornyn, Texas:

Cornyn: Partial Government Shutdown May Be Needed to Restore Fiscal Sanity — WASHINGTON - The following article, authored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Finance and Judiciary Committees, was published today in the Houston Chronicle: — Obama Must Engage Congress

Discussion: Economist, American Prospect, ABCNEWS, Washington Wire and Business Insider

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
Harry Reid Would Back Obama If He Bucks GOP On Debt Ceiling: Source

Discussion: Reuters, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Right Turn, The Plum Line, National Review and Politico

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn / Houston Chronicle:
Obama must engage Congress

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', msnbc.com, Politico, Trail Blazers Blog and Post Politics

Alec MacGillis / The New Republic:
How Washington Learned to Love Hostage-Taking

Discussion: The Reaction, Washington Monthly, PERRspectives, Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones and The Huffington Post

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:

Obama expected to pick Hagel as opponents prepare for a fight — President Barack Obama is expected to name Chuck Hagel as his choice for defense secretary as early as Monday, as critics of the former Nebraska senator prepare to go to war to fight his expected nomination.

Discussion: Power Line, The Daily Beast, BuzzFeed, Weekly Standard, National Review, Algemeiner.com, The PJ Tatler, Washington Free Beacon, Israpundit and Gestetner Updates

First Read:
Hagel likely to be nominated for Defense Secretary next week

Discussion: Hot Air, BuzzFeed, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Outside the Beltway, Gestetner Updates, Right Turn and Washington Free Beacon

Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:
Obama Poised to Name New Defense, Treasury Chiefs

Discussion: ABCNEWS and CNN

CNN:
Hagel expected to be nominated as Defense Secretary

Discussion: This Just In and Politico

Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:
OBAMA TO PICK HAGEL

Discussion: Guardian, Truthdig, Algemeiner.com, Weekly Standard and Gestetner Updates

Fox News:

Inmates using newspaper's gun owner map to threaten guards, sheriff says — Law enforcement officials from a New York region where a local paper published a map identifying gun owners say prisoners are using the information to intimidate guards. — Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco …

Discussion: Power Line

Jana Winter / Fox News:
Ex-Burglars Say Newspaper's Gun Map Would've Made the Job Easier, Safer

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs and Weasel Zippers

Andy Kroll / Mother Jones:

Powerful Tea Party Group's Internal Docs Leak—Read Them Here — FreedomWorks bills itself as a grassroots outfit, but it's bankrolled mostly by big-money donors. — FreedomWorks, the national conservative group that helped launch the tea party movement, sells itself as a genuine grassroots operation …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Slate, The National Memo and The Raw Story

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Americans Have Mixed Reaction to Fiscal Cliff Agreement — Democrats much more positive about agreement than Republicans — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans have a decidedly mixed reaction to the “fiscal cliff” agreement reached by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama this week …

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, CNN, The Hill, Politico, Post Politics and Christian Science Monitor

KGO-TV:

SF buses help teach what ‘jihad’ really means — SFMTA, san francisco news, ama daetz — Ama Daetz — , Ama Daetz biography — More: Bio, E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, News Team — SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Buses in San Francisco are carrying messages of jihad, but it's not what you might think.

Discussion: Right Wing News, Jihad Watch, Weasel Zippers and Atlas Shrugs

Matt Cover / CNSNews:

Unemployment Rises for Women, African-Americans in December — (CNSNews.com) - Government unemployment numbers for December showed that while the general unemployment rate remained flat at 7.8 percent, unemployment for women and African-Americans rose despite an economy that created 155,000 jobs.

Discussion: Daily Pundit and Weasel Zippers

Bill McBride / Calculated Risk:
December Employment Report: 155,000 Jobs, 7.8% Unemployment Rate

Discussion: AEIdeas, Weasel Zippers, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Los Angeles Times and Business Insider

WSB-TV:

Woman hiding with kids shoots intruder — Police investigate a home invasion in Walton County — LOGANVILLE, Ga. — A woman hiding in her attic with children shot an intruder multiple times before fleeing to safety Friday. — The incident happened at a home on Henderson Ridge Lane …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Instapundit, UrbanGrounds and Cold Fury

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Scare Amplifies Fears That Clinton's Work Has Taken Heavy Toll — WASHINGTON — When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton fractured her right elbow after slipping in a State Department garage in June 2009, she returned to work in just a few days. Her arm in a sling …

nbcconnecticut.com:

Lawmaker Proposes Publicizing Gun Owners' Names — Lawmakers across the state are taking on gun control issues in the aftermath of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on Dec. 14. — State Rep. Stephen Dargen, a Democratic legislator from West Haven …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

Club for Growth will punish members voting for Sandy flood aid — The conservative Club for Growth said Friday that it will punish House members who voted for a flood insurance measure aimed at helping pay for Hurricane Sandy's damage. — The Club will “key-vote” the measure, using it to compile an annual rating for each lawmaker.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Political Carnival, Liberal Values, The Impolitic, Capital New York, Business Insider, New York Times, Mediaite, ABCNEWS and No More Mister Nice Blog

Rebekah Metzler / US News:
House Set to Vote on Partial Sandy Relief Bill

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Right Wing News, Forbes and Politicker

John Zaremba / Boston Herald:

Welfare recipients ‘missing’ — State scrambles as voter mail exposes holes in system — Red-faced state officials admitted last night they are trying to find as many as 19,000 missing welfare recipients — after the controversial taxpayer-funded voter registration pitches the state mailed …

E.J. Graff / American Prospect:

Purity Culture Is Rape Culture — Indian women offer prayers for a gang rape victim at Mahatma Gandhi memorial in New Delhi. — Her intestines were removed because the six men used a rusty metal rod during the “rape.” — That fact—the rusty metal rod—is what's haunted …

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and Washington Monthly

Pew Internet:

Arts Organizations and Digital Technologies — A survey of a wide-ranging mix of U.S.-based arts organizations shows that the internet, social media, and mobile connectivity now permeate their operations and have changed the way they stage performances, mount and showcase their exhibits …

Discussion: Mashable! and The Huffington Post

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

We Don't Have a Spending Problem. We Have an Aging Problem. — Ever since Ronald Reagan first said it, Republicans have been fond of insisting that “we don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.” But it turns out that isn't true. Let's take a look at the raw data. — Spending first.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and msnbc.com