memeorandum: KBR, Guilty In Iraq Negligence, Wants Taxpayers To Foot The Bill (Ryan J. Reilly/The Huffington Post)

5:10 PM ET, January 10, 2013

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: The Plum Line, Breaking News …, Religion Dispatches, Mediaite, Balloon Juice, Washington Monthly, PostPartisan, msnbc.com, Washington Blade, Joe. My. God., The Democratic Daily, The Week, Good As You, The Daily Caller, Shakesville, BuzzFeed, Daily Kos and Pharyngula

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, Alternet, AMERICAblog, The Hill, First Read, Advocate and The Hinterland Gazette

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Minister Pulls Out of Inauguration After Outcry

Discussion: Firedoglake, National Review and Gawker

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Louie Giglio, Inaugural Pastor, Criticized for Antigay Sermon

Discussion: Salon, The Daily Caller, Guardian, Advocate, petitions.whitehouse.gov, American Power, Post Politics, The Maddow Blog, Good As You, AMERICAblog, The Caucus and Firedoglake

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: The Moderate Voice, The Hill, Washington Post, Politico, The Hill, Weasel Zippers, The Plum Line, Post Politics, Washington Free Beacon and The Hinterland Gazette

videocafe.crooksandliars.com:

Unhinged Tactical Response CEO Threatens to ‘Start Killing People’ Over Obama's Gun Control … Warning: Language NSFW. — The CEO of a Tennessee company that specializes in weapons and tactical training is threatening to “start killing people” if President Barack Obama moves forward with gun control measures.

Discussion: AMERICAblog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Post Politics, Hullabaloo and The Raw Story

Politico:
Expectations low for Joe Biden, NRA talks

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Daily Kos, The Week, Connecting.the.Dots, msnbc.com, New York Times and Public Policy Polling

The Atlantic Wire:
Don't Worry, NRA: Obama Can't Do Much on Guns by Himself

Discussion: The Raw Story, The Mahablog, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Politico and Talking Points Memo

Katie Glueck / Politico:
NRA: 100K new members in 18 days

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and Mediaite

Charles M. Blow / New York Times:
Reframing the Gun Debate

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

EndPlay / KERO-TV:

Report: At least two people shot at Taft High School — TAFT, Calif. - Officials have said that at least two people were shot at Taft High School. — The shooting happened at about 9 a.m., and reports indicate that at least two people were shot. — The shooter was taken into custody at about 9:20 a.m. officials said.

Discussion: KGET-TV, This Just In, PIX 11, The National Memo, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wake up America, L.A. NOW, Gawker, KABC-TV, The Raw Story, The Moderate Voice, WTVR-TV and The Hinterland Gazette

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Biden's Gun Violence Event Interrupted By News Of Another School Shooting — On Thursday afternoon, CNN showed footage of Vice President Joe Biden meeting with gun rights groups and talking to reporters about his ongoing efforts to curb gun violence in the United States.

Discussion: Firedoglake, ABCNEWS and The Agonist

Glenn Thrush / Politico:

Replacing David: Plouffe-by-committee? — Obama's right hand man in the West Wing and campaign consigliere, David Plouffe, has basically left the building, according to several White House sources who say they haven't seen him around much since the fiscal cliff deal.

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

Sessions: Lew must ‘never’ be Treasury secretary — The top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee will oppose Jack Lew's nomination to be Treasury secretary. — Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has prepared a statement saying “Jack Lew must never be Secretary of Treasury.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico, The Hill, NewsBusters.org, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos and The New Republic

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate Republicans: Lew will have to answer for White House tactics

Discussion: Politico, Bernie Sanders, Forbes, OpenSecrets.org, The Maddow Blog and PostPartisan

First Read:
First Thoughts: The disorganized cabinet shuffle

Discussion: Washington Post, Hot Air, The Hill, Politico, Salon and Booman Tribune

Wall Street Journal:
Team of Liberal Loyalists

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs

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. and Post Politics

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Cory Booker Wrestled With His Own Homophobia

Discussion: Post Politics and Gothamist

Nicholas D. Kristof / New York Times:

In Defense of Hagel for Defense — Critics are pounding President Obama's choice for defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, as soft on Iran, anti-military and even anti-Semitic. This is a grotesque caricature of a man who would make a terrific defense secretary.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, NewsBusters.org blogs, Mondoweiss, p m carpenter's commentary, The Back Channel, Firedoglake and Guardian

John Cornyn / CNN:
Cornyn: Why I can't support Hagel

Discussion: Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications, Gawker and ABCNEWS

Politico:
Chuck Hagel may regret not having made more Senate pals

Discussion: Algemeiner.com and msnbc.com

Thomas F. Schaller / Sabato's Crystal Ball:

Democrats Dread 2014 Drop-Off — At first blush, Saxby Chambliss and the Michigan right-to-work episode seem completely unrelated. Most Republicans approve of both, of course, but there is a deeper connection. The Georgia senator and Michigan's effort to restrict organized labor's power …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Politico

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Biden Hints at Outlawing Unregulated ‘Private’ Gun Sales — Vice President Joe Biden, in remarks today before a meeting on guns, suggested the Obama administration is seriously considering outlawing unregulated “private” gun sales: — /p> — “And so the kinds of things that there's …

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:
Joe Biden eyes background checks, bans on clips

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and CNN

Ezra Klein / Bloomberg:
Loyal Joe Biden Is Presidential Contender

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Reality-Based Community

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: TBogg, Los Angeles Times, Taylor Marsh, The Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Tea Party Patriots

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

Obama Signs Bill Giving Himself And George W. Bush Lifetime Secret Service Protection — Black SUVs for life! — Image by Charles Dharapak / AP — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama signed legislation giving himself and former President George W. Bush lifetime Secret Service protection Thursday …

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette

CNN:
Obama signs bill, gets Secret Service protection for life

Discussion: Politico

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: NationalJournal.com, Wonkblog, Washington Monthly, The Week, Business Insider, National Review, Outside the Beltway, Quartz, Forbes, Hot Air and Felix Salmon

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, The Plum Line, ABCNEWS, Daily Kos, Right Turn, Wake up America, The Agonist and p m carpenter's commentary

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 …

Ryan J. Reilly / The Huffington Post:

KBR, Guilty In Iraq Negligence, Wants Taxpayers To Foot The Bill … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Video, Justice, Kbr Guilty, Kbr Harmless, Kbr Indemnification, Kbr Indiana, Kbr Iraq, Kbr National Guard, Kbr Negligence, Kbr Negligence Iraq, Kbr Oregon, Kbr Soldiers, Kbr Toxic Chemical, Kbr Verdict, Politics News

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and Crooks and Liars