memeorandum: Chávez, or at Least His Sash, Is Set for Venezuela Inauguration (William Neuman/New York Times)

9:55 AM ET, January 10, 2013

Top Items:

David Weigel / Slate:

What Crazy Fascist Executive Orders Might Obama Use to Take Away Your Freedoms? — The Drudge Report is America's leading source of hyperlinks to Alex Jones articles, so I'm not sure why this splash page so shocked Washington. (Apparently there are reporters who still use Drudge as a sort of homepage?

Discussion: Politico, ABCNEWS, p m carpenter's commentary, The Week, CANNONFIRE, The New Republic, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo and The Gateway Pundit

Charles M. Blow / New York Times:

Reframing the Gun Debate — This time things are different. — This time, nearly a month after the horrible mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., the public attention hasn't ricocheted to the next story. On the contrary, sorrow has hardened into resolve. — This time, something can and must be done.

Discussion: The Fix, Vox Popoli, Daily Kos, Democratic Strategist, The Moderate Voice and CNN

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Biden: Obama Considering ‘Executive Orders’ 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: National Review, The Mahablog, FP Passport, Betsy's Page, The Other McCain, Talking Points Memo, Maggie's Notebook, The Gateway Pundit, neo-neocon, CNN, Sense of Events, Connecting.the.Dots, protein wisdom, Michelle Malkin, Washington Examiner and The Caucus

Reuters:
Biden says Obama could use executive orders to restrict guns

Discussion: Politicker and TalkLeft

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:
GOP Rep: An Executive Order On Guns Smacks Of ‘Dictatorship’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Truthdig

Amie Parnes / The Hill:
Biden: Obama prepared to take executive action on gun control

Discussion: CNN, Weasel Zippers, Politico, ABCNEWS, Hot Air, The Hill, The Democratic Daily and The Week

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:
California Town Hall Provides Glimpse At The Future Of The Gun Control Debate

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

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:
The Inside Story of How Obama Could Have Gotten a Better Tax Deal Without Biden

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Hullabaloo

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

Obama Will Keep His “Heat Shield” — Eric Holder is the Obama Administration's indispensable man. — Image by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images — Eric Holder may be the least popular member of the Obama cabinet. He is at the center of many of the Administration's ugliest fights with left and right …

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis resigns — Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said Wednesday she is resigning from the administration, a decision that comes as President Barack Obama is filling out his second-term Cabinet. — Solis was the first Hispanic woman to lead a major federal agency …

Discussion: CNN, This Just In and Power Line

Talking Points Memo:
Hilda Solis Resigns

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Ken Thomas / Associated Press:
Obama Cabinet: Eric Holder, Kathleen Sebelius, Eric Shinseki Staying On For Second Term

Discussion: New York Times, emptywheel and The Daily Caller

Bobby Cervantes / Politico:
Mike Huckabee: Obama's own ‘war on women’

Discussion: Mediaite

Democratic Strategist:
Lessons of 2012, Part II: Obama's Grand Strategy Worked, Romney's Didn't

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Mother Jones

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: JustOneMinute, Wonkblog, Mother Jones and Eschaton

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

Discussion: The Reaction, Booman Tribune, The Verge and ABCNEWS

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

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Mashable! and Wonkblog

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

Linda Greenhouse / Opinionator:

Robert Bork's Tragedy — Even before Robert Bork died last month, he had achieved something close to martyrdom. In the quarter-century since the Senate rejected his Supreme Court nomination, successive generations of conservative lawyers and activists have carried the torch …

Jess Bravin / Wall Street Journal:
Court Wary on Warrantless DUI Tests

Discussion: New York Times

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Argument recap: Compromise on DUI blood tests?

Discussion: ABCNEWS and The Volokh Conspiracy

New York Times:

Obama's Pick for Treasury Is Said to Be His Chief of Staff — WASHINGTON - President Obama will announce on Thursday that he intends to elevate his chief of staff and former budget director, Jacob J. Lew, to be his next secretary of Treasury, according to officials familiar with the decision.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Rational Irrationality, Gawker, Calculated Risk, Wonkblog, Bloomberg, Economix and Wall Street Journal

Washington Post:

Obama selects White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew to head Treasury — President Obama recently said he would love to hire a top executive into his administration. But for the job of Treasury secretary, he didn't pick a corporate executive, a famous economist or a former politician …

Discussion: msnbc.com, National Review, Daily Mail, The Fix, Post Politics, The Agonist, Hot Air, Politico and The Atlantic Online

Suzanne Goldenberg / Guardian:
Barack Obama ‘seriously considering’ hosting climate summit

Discussion: Daily Kos and Truthdig

John Cornyn / CNN:

Cornyn: Why I can't support Hagel — Editor's note: John Cornyn, a Republican, is the senior United States Senator from Texas. — (CNN) — To the surprise of many, including me, President Barack Obama has nominated former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel to be his next defense secretary.

Discussion: Politico, Hot Air, Weekly Standard, Gawker and ABCNEWS

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: petitions.whitehouse.gov, Washington Blade, AMERICAblog, The Week, The Caucus, Good As You, Towleroad News #gay, BuzzFeed, Firedoglake, New York Times, Advocate, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Politico, NPR, Pharyngula and The Hill

Catalina Camia / USA Today:

Bill Clinton to receive Father of the Year award … Former President Bill Clinton hailed President Obama during remarks at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. (Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY) — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Former president Bill Clinton can add Father of the Year …

Discussion: Newsday, Power Line, The Daily Caller and Jammie Wearing Fools

Rolling Stone:

Hank Greenberg Should Be Shot into Space For Suing the Government over the AIG Bailout — A lot of people are wondering what to think about the news that the board of AIG is considering joining the lawsuit filed by former AIG head Maurice “Hank” Greenberg against the Fed and the U.S. government …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

A GOP Strategy for the Debt-Ceiling Fight — The House should pass a bill pairing spending cuts with a dollar-for-dollar debt-ceiling increase. — President Obama says he won't negotiate with Republicans over his proposed more than $1 trillion increase in the debt ceiling as a matter …

Discussion: Right Turn

Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:

Virginia Democrat Wants To Roll Back Key Environmental Rules: 'I'm Not Going To Be Here' To Suffer Consequences … As Virginia's state legislature considers whether to lift a decades-old ban on uranium mining in the Commonwealth, Senate Democratic Leader Richard “Dick” Saslaw has been among the most vocal proponents of such a move.

Discussion: Firedoglake

Jennifer Emert / WIS-TV:

Midlands teacher accused of stomping on American flag in class — At least one parent calls the actions of a Chapin High School English teacher disrespectful and unpatriotic. — The Lexington-Richland District 5 teacher is accused of throwing down the American flag and stomping on it in front of his honors English classes.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Eric Owens / The Daily Caller:
South Carolina teacher on leave for stomping on American flag in front of class

Discussion: Joanne Jacobs

Joe Picard / The Hill:

Boehner takes flak from defense hawks on sequester stance — House Republican defense hawks are pushing back strongly against Speaker John Boehner's claim that he has GOP support to allow steep automatic budget cuts to take effect if President Obama does not agree to replace them with other reductions.

Discussion: Washington Wire