memeorandum: Frederick and Kimberly Kagan: How to Waste a Decade in Afghanistan (Wall Street Journal)

7:05 PM ET, January 9, 2013

Top Items:

Biden: Obama Considering ‘Executive Order’ to Deal With Guns — Vice President Joe Biden revealed that President Barack Obama might use an executive order to deal with guns. — “The president is going to act,” said Biden, giving some comments to the press before a meeting with victims of gun violence.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN, Slate, Michelle Malkin, Sense of Events, Maggie's Notebook, Connecting.the.Dots, The Gateway Pundit, neo-neocon, protein wisdom and The Caucus

Amie Parnes / The Hill:

Biden: Obama prepared to take executive action on gun control — President Obama will likely take executive action in an effort to tamp down the recent rash of gun violence, Vice President Biden said Wednesday. — “The president is going go act,” said Biden, who is conducting meetings all week on the issue of gun control.

Discussion: CNN, Politico, ABCNEWS, The Week, The Hill and Hot Air

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:

California Town Hall Provides Glimpse At The Future Of The Gun Control Debate — Advocates on both sides of the gun control debate are prepared to make a lot of noise about the future of gun regulations in the wake of the Newtown, Conn. shooting. That's the message from the first of House …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, KGO-TV and The Plum Line

Josh Levs / CNN:

Gun debate centers on White House — On Wednesday night, Piers Morgan goes one-on-one with firearms lobbyist Larry Pratt over guns in America. “Piers Morgan Tonight” airs nightly at 9 ET. — (CNN) — President Barack Obama is exploring executive orders to help prevent mass shootings in America …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, First Read, BuzzFeed, Mediaite, The Hinterland Gazette, The Political Carnival, Twitchy, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers and This Just In, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Wire:
Wal-Mart Misses a Meeting With Biden on Gun Violence

Discussion: Forbes, AMERICAblog, The Gateway Pundit, Shakesville, The Raw Story, Business Insider, msnbc.com and Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:

The Biggest Myth About The Platinum Coin Option — The biggest and weirdest myth out there about the $1 trillion platinum coin is the idea that it would require a large quantity of platinum to make one. The National Republican Campaign Committee, for example, is out there warning that …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Wonkblog and Eschaton

Justin Sink / The Hill:
White House declines to rule out the minting of a ‘platinum coin’

Discussion: ABCNEWS and The Verge

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
He's Ready For The Clown Suit

Discussion: Associated Press, Althouse and Wonkblog

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill: White House won't deport Piers Morgan

Aaron Dykes / Infowars:
Piers Morgan and Guests Discuss Shooting Alex Jones

Discussion: LewRockwell.com Blog and Shot in the Dark

Politico:
Why President Obama is picking fights with Congress

Discussion: NBC Politics, The Hill and neo-neocon

Ryan Cooper / Washington Monthly:
Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe on the Legality of #mintthecoin

Discussion: Paul Krugman, p m carpenter's commentary, New Economic Perspectives, American Prospect, Business Insider and PostPartisan

Megan McArdle / Asymmetrical Information:
Washington Goes Platinum

Discussion: Mother Jones, American Prospect, The Reality-Based Community, A plain blog about politics, Hot Air and FP Passport

Kevin Roose / Bloomberg:

Jack Lew's Terrible Signature May Grace Dollar Bills Now — Obama's America. — Jack Lew, President Obama's reported pick to replace outgoing Treasury secretary Tim Geithner, is known as a no-nonsense backroom negotiator with wonkish tendencies, who is admired on the left and grumbled about on the right.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, msnbc.com, Economix, The Daily Caller, Post Politics, New York Times, Mediaite and The Atlantic Online

Hans Nichols / Bloomberg:

Obama Said to Name Jack Lew to Replace Geithner at Treasury — Obama Said to Name Lew Tomorrow to Replace Geithner — President Barack Obama plans to name White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew tomorrow as his choice for Treasury secretary, replacing Timothy F. Geithner, a person familiar with the process said.

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, Fox News, Mediaite, Infowars, Outside the Beltway, Capital New York, msnbc.com, The Plum Line, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh, NationalJournal.com, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice and The Hinterland Gazette

David A. Graham / The Atlantic Online:
Who Is Jack Lew, Obama's Nominee for Treasury Secretary?

Discussion: The Fix, Wonkblog, ABCNEWS and The National Memo

Manu Raju / Politico:
Senate vs. President Obama over Cabinet

Discussion: The New Republic, New York Magazine, Mother Jones, The Week, msnbc.com, Talking Points Memo and Business Insider

Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:

Inaugural Benediction To Be Delivered By Pastor Who Gave Vehemently Anti-Gay Sermon — The Presidential Inauguration Committee announced Tuesday that the President Obama has selected Pastor Louie Giglio of the Georgia-based Passion City Church to deliver the benediction for his second inauguration.

Discussion: Good As You, Advocate, Religion Dispatches, The Caucus, AMERICAblog, Towleroad News #gay and Pharyngula

Katie Glueck / Politico:
President Obama poet Richard Blanco's ‘queer shame’ pain

Discussion: Althouse and CNN

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Richard Blanco, 2013 Inaugural Poet

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Towleroad News #gay, The Political Carnival, Advocate and Colorlines

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

Labor Secretary Will Resign — Hilda Solis leaves after serving since 2009. Sebelius, Shinseki, and Holder to remain. — U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. — Image by Richard Vogel / AP — Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis resigned Wednesday afternoon, three sources told BuzzFeed.

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

David Weigel / Slate:
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis Will Resign

Discussion: msnbc.com and Daily Kos

CNN:
Labor secretary resigns ‘to begin a new future’

Discussion: Politico and This Just In

Andy Kroll / Mother Jones:

Revealed: The Massive New Liberal Plan to Remake American Politics — A month after President Obama won reelection, America's most powerful liberal groups met to plan their next moves. Here's what they talked about. — It was the kind of meeting that conspiratorial conservative bloggers dream about.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Maggie's Notebook and The Agonist

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Why Republicans Won't Bargain With Obama Again — James Capretta, writing at National Review, lays out what looks like the emerging Republican strategy on the debt ceiling. Rather than take up President Obama's offer to cut Social Security and Medicare in return for higher revenue through tax reform …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Prairie Weather and p m carpenter's commentary

Cindy Adams / New York Post:

Michael Moore raises holy hell — Michael Moore got a bad review from at least one upset critic at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards at Crimson on Monday. Moore was there to present Best First Film to David France for his doc “How To Survive a Plague,” a salute to a protest group …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, NewsBusters.org blogs and Jammie Wearing Fools

Michael Catalini / NationalJournal.com:

Are Republicans Scared of Al Franken? — SNL star-turned-senator isn't drawing much early GOP opposition. — After winning election by the narrowest of margins in 2008, Sen. Al Franken looked like one of the GOP's most inviting Senate targets in 2014. But instead, the party is facing …

Discussion: The Fix

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo! News:

Yahoo News exclusive: Trump releases birth certificate to Bill Maher, demands $5M — Donald Trump has placed himself in the middle of another controversy involving a birth certificate—this time his own. — In a letter obtained by Yahoo News, the real estate mogul and de facto leader of last year's …

Discussion: Reuters, The Political Carnival and Mediaite

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

McConnell to take lead in entitlement talks, with Boehner in back seat — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is poised to play a bigger role in negotiations to reform entitlement programs in the wake of the tax deal he helped forge last week. — Lawmakers see the passage of a bill …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Plum Line, Angry Bear, CNN, Patterico's Pontifications and Booman Tribune

Ginger Gibson / Politico:
McConnell takes a hit from the right

Discussion: Campaign for America's Future

Rosemary Regina Sobol / Chicago Tribune:

Police: Man threatened to blow up CTA bus in ‘jihad’ … A man threatened to blow up a CTA bus and told police he was “jihad against the white devil” this week, causing evening rush hour passengers to flee in fear for their lives, authorities said. — A judge set bail at $90,000 Tuesday …

Discussion: Jihad Watch, The Jawa Report and Atlas Shrugs

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

In U.S., Democrats Re-Establish Lead in Party Affiliation — In 2012, 47% identified or leaned Democratic, 42% Republican — PRINCETON, NJ — An average of 47% of Americans identified as Democrats or said they were independents who leaned Democratic in 2012, compared with 42% who identified as or leaned Republican.

Discussion: Liberal Values, The Fix, The Moderate Voice, The Political Carnival, msnbc.com, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Politico, Ballot Box, Post Politics and National Review

PopWatch:

This Week's Cover: Your first look at ‘Hunger Games’ sequel, ‘Catching Fire’ — The revolution has been sparked. In this week's cover story, EW traveled to Waikiki, Hawaii where cast and crew were in the final days of production on the eagerly anticipated Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire (in theaters Nov. 21).

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Just Jared

Amy Odell / BuzzFeed:

DC Sex Workers Prepare for Huge Influx of Inauguration Partiers — If you require the services of a stripper or dominatrix over inauguration weekend, be prepared to pay extra. — Image by Shutterstock — When Steve Baker talks about the inauguration, he gets a little giddy.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press:

Defense Nominee Hagel Lays out Stand on Iran — President Barack Obama's pick for defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, is meeting with senior Pentagon staff to try to set the record straight about his stand on Iran, saying he backs strong international sanctions against Tehran and believes all options …

Discussion: Politico