Top Items:
Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:
Anti-Gay Pastor Removed From Inaugural Program … Louis Giglio, the anti-LGBT pastor who had been announced to perform the benediction at President Obama's second inauguration, has been removed from the program, ABC News's Jonathan Karl reported Thursday. — The move came after ThinkProgress …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Salon, New York Times, msnbc.com, Joe. My. God., Good As You, Daily Kos and Towleroad News #gay
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Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:
Pastor Backs Out of Obama Inauguration Over Previous Anti-Gay Comments — Image Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images — Rev. Louie Giglio, who had been announced as the pastor to give the benediction at the presidential inauguration, has now pulled himself out of the ceremony …
Discussion:
BuzzFeed and AMERICAblog
Josh Israel / Alternet:
Anti-Gay Preacher Tapped for Obama's Inaugural Benediction Withdraws After Firestorm of Public Outrage
Anti-Gay Preacher Tapped for Obama's Inaugural Benediction Withdraws After Firestorm of Public Outrage
Discussion:
The Hill, New York Times, Religion Dispatches, First Read and Politico
petitions.whitehouse.gov:
Replace anti-gay Pastor Louie Giglio for the benediction at the inauguration with a pro-LGBT member of the clergy.
Replace anti-gay Pastor Louie Giglio for the benediction at the inauguration with a pro-LGBT member of the clergy.
Discussion:
Washington Blade, AMERICAblog, The Daily Caller, Firedoglake and Towleroad News #gay
Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:
Inaugural Benediction To Be Delivered By Pastor Who Gave Vehemently Anti-Gay Sermon
Inaugural Benediction To Be Delivered By Pastor Who Gave Vehemently Anti-Gay Sermon
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, PostPartisan, Politico, Joe. My. God., BuzzFeed, Washington Blade, Religion Dispatches, The Maddow Blog, Good As You, The Caucus, The Huffington Post, The Week, Shakesville, Post Politics, Towleroad News #gay, Advocate, NPR, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Pharyngula, AMERICAblog and The Hill
Reuters:
Giffords gun control group wants $20 million for 2014 elections — (Reuters) - A new gun control group led by Gabrielle Giffords, the former U.S. congresswoman wounded in a Tucson shooting rampage, wants to raise $20 million for the 2014 congressional elections, matching …
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, Weasel Zippers, Post Politics, The Hinterland Gazette and Washington Free Beacon
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Katie Glueck / Politico:
NRA: 100K new members in 18 days — The National Rifle Association has gained more than 100,000 new members in the last 18 days, the organization told POLITICO's Playbook on Thursday. — The number of paid new members jumped from 4.1 million to 4.2 million in that time frame.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Weasel Zippers and Mediaite
Charles M. Blow / New York Times:
Reframing the Gun Debate
Reframing the Gun Debate
Discussion:
Vox Popoli, Democratic Strategist, The Moderate Voice and CNN
Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
In campaign for tougher gun laws, Obama and allies work to tilt public opinion
In campaign for tougher gun laws, Obama and allies work to tilt public opinion
Discussion:
Right Wing News, The Fix, No More Mister Nice Blog and Post Politics
First Read:
First Thoughts: The disorganized cabinet shuffle — The Obama White House's disorganized cabinet shuffle... And some legitimate excuses for it... Obama to nominate Jack Lew for top Treasury job at 1:30 pm ET... Biden meets with the NRA and other gun-rights groups at the White House …
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, Washington Post and Booman Tribune
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Mike Allen / Politico:
11 days to inaug — NRA MEMBERSHIP SURGES — POTUS names Chief of Staff Jack Lew as Treasury …
11 days to inaug — NRA MEMBERSHIP SURGES — POTUS names Chief of Staff Jack Lew as Treasury …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Wake up America, msnbc.com, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and BuzzFeed
Los Angeles Times:
Obama Cabinet may not meet his own diversity standards
Obama Cabinet may not meet his own diversity standards
Discussion:
Washington Post, ABCNEWS, msnbc.com and Hot Air
Jennifer Epstein / Politico:
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis resigns
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis resigns
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Outside the Beltway, Taylor Marsh, This Just In, CNN and Power Line
Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Cory Booker Wrestled With His Own Homophobia — “I was disgusted by gays. The thought of two men kissing each other was about as appealing as a frontal lobotomy.” How Booker's mind was changed. — Image by Julio Cortez / AP — Newark Mayor Cory Booker's December announcement that he would …
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Op Ed / Stanford Daily:
Cory Booker: “Pointing the finger at gays” — Cory Booker's column in the April 8, 1992 Stanford Daily. … I was in my tolerance stage or the “I don't give a damn if someone is gay, just as long as they don't bother me” stage. I was well trained in my tolerance. I stopped telling my gay jokes.
Discussion:
Joe. My. God.
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:
New York Magazine, ABCNEWS, The Plum Line, Wake up America, Right Turn and p m carpenter's commentary
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Business leaders: Failure to raise debt ceiling will drive markets “haywire”
Business leaders: Failure to raise debt ceiling will drive markets “haywire”
Discussion:
Wonkblog, The Maddow Blog, Applesauce, Daily Kos, ABCNEWS and Business Insider
Steve Benen / The Maddow Blog:
Carney on coin gambit: ‘There is no backup plan’ — For all the recent scuttlebutt about resolving the Republican debt-ceiling crisis with a trillion-dollar coin, there was an elusive detail: what does the White House think about this? Yesterday, for the first time, press secretary Jay Carney was pressed for an answer.
Discussion:
The Reaction
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Edward D. Kleinbard / New York Times:
The Debt Ceiling's Escape Hatch — THE fiscal cliff may have been avoided, but an even higher-stakes political standoff — this time, over the federal debt ceiling — is just around the bend. — Congressional Republicans have said they will demand immense cuts to popular government programs …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Business Insider, Forbes, Quartz and Felix Salmon
Meenal Vamburkar / Mediaite:
Joe Scarborough Goes Off On Mika Brzezinski After She Asserts He's ‘Being Chauvinistic’ — The Morning Joe family got heated and a bit awkward this morning during a discussion about the lack of diversity in President Obama's inner circle. As Joe Scarborough pointed to the lack of outrage …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Tea Party Patriots and The Raw Story
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?
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Ted Cox / DNAinfo.com New York:
Joe Walsh Suggests Breaking Law to Fight Affordable Care Act in Chicago — CHICAGO — Tea Party favorite Joe Walsh says conservatives are losing the “war” for U.S. voters and encouraged his backers at a South Loop rally to engage in civil disobedience to defy the Affordable Care Act or new gun regulations.
Discussion:
Ballot Box and Taegan Goddard's …
Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:
For Americans Under 50, Stark Findings on Health — Younger Americans die earlier and live in poorer health than their counterparts in other developed countries, with far higher rates of death from guns, car accidents and drug addiction, according to a new analysis of health and longevity in the United States.
Discussion:
emptywheel, CNN, Global Public Square and Washington Monthly
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:
Hot Air, Politico, Weekly Standard, Patterico's Pontifications, Gawker and ABCNEWS
Jean Eaglesham / Wall Street Journal:
Bank Made Huge Bet, and Profit, on Libor — Deutsche Bank AG made at least €500 million ($654 million) in profit in 2008 from trades pegged to the interest rates under investigation by regulators world-wide, internal bank documents show. — The German bank's trading profits resulted …
Discussion:
naked capitalism and Washington Free Beacon
Steve Benen / The Maddow Blog:
Dick Armey dishes dirt accidentally — There's been a remarkable amount of drama surrounding Dick Armey's departure from FreedomWorks, culminating Friday with a stunning report from Media Matters, who interviewed the former House Majority Leader directly. Armey had all kinds of interesting insights …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Dish, The Daily Caller, Balloon Juice and The Atlantic Online
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:
Daily Kos and Washington Wire