memeorandum: Obama, Karzai Say US to End Combat Operations in Afghanistan This Spring (Devin Dwyer/ABCNEWS)

4:50 PM ET, January 11, 2013

Top Items:

Jon Gillooly / mdjonline.com:

Gingrey speaks out on the issue of ‘legitimate rape’ and guns — SMYRNA — U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Marietta) tackled such sensitive topics as gun reform, abortion and rape during the Smyrna Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce breakfast which took place Thursday at the Smyrna Community Center.

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, The Atlantic Online, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', CNN, The Plum Line, The Maddow Blog, The National Memo, The Hill, NBC Politics, The Raw Story and Outside the Beltway

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:

GOP Rep: Todd Akin ‘Partly Right’ On Legitimate Rape — “Legitimate rape” is back. Just a couple months after former Rep. Todd Akin's (R-MO) famous use of the phrase helped contribute to a double-digit loss in the 2012 Missouri Senate race, a Republican congressman and medical doctor …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Taegan Goddard's …, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Mother Jones, Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

Jgalloway / Political Insider:
Your daily jolt: Gingrey open to limits on mag clips, says Todd Akin was ‘partly right’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Gawker, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, Post Politics and The Hinterland Gazette

Kevin Cirilli / Politico: Phil Gingrey: Todd Akin ‘partly right’ on rape

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Coins Against Crazies — So, have you heard the one about the trillion-dollar coin? It may sound like a joke. But if we aren't ready to mint that coin or take some equivalent action, the joke will be on us — and a very sick joke it will be, too. — Let's talk for a minute …

Discussion: Fortune, National Review, New Economic Perspectives, Business Insider, Mother Jones, NewsBusters.org, Weasel Zippers, Wonkette, Applesauce, Smartypants, The Moderate Voice, Patterico's Pontifications, Corrente, News Desk and JustOneMinute

Rep. Jerrold Nadler / Economy & Budget:

The debt ceiling must go — Here is a stubbornly well-kept secret: the debt ceiling is arbitrary, doesn't affect the deficit, and serves no real function in keeping spending down. In addition, it has recently become a cudgel which extremist Republican legislators use to beat the rest of us into submitting to political blackmail.

Discussion: Reuters, PostPartisan, Washington Examiner and National Republican …

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Top Senate Dems to White House: If you unilaterally raise debt ceiling, we've got your back — In a move that will significantly ratchet up the brinksmanship around the debt ceiling, the four members of the Senate Democratic leadership are privately telling the White House …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Maddow Blog and Eschaton

KPTV-TV:

Men armed with rifles walk through Portland to ‘educate’ — Two men carrying assault rifles on their backs said they were simply exercising their Second Amendment right, but police said they scared plenty of people. — Calls started coming in to 911 dispatchers shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Wake up America, Gawker, Shakesville, Rumproast and The Agonist

David Edwards / The Raw Story:

Portland residents panic as men armed with assault weapons ‘educate’ the city — Two men walked the streets of Portland armed with assault weapons earlier this week because they said they wanted to “educate” residents, who reacted by fleeing and calling police.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Balloon Juice

Anemona Hartocollis / New York Times:

New York City to Restrict Prescription Painkillers in Public Hospitals' Emergency Rooms — Some of the most common and most powerful prescription painkillers on the market will be restricted sharply in the emergency rooms at New York City's 11 public hospitals, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Infowars and Vodkapundit

Colin Campbell / Politicker:

Bloomberg Slaps Down Criticism of Painkiller Restriction Plan — Yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and city officials unveiled a new initiative to limit supplies of prescription painkillers in the city's emergency rooms as a way to combat what they described as a growing addiction problem in the region.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Spectacle Blog and National Review

John Bresnahan / Politico:

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller won't run in 2014 — Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller will not run for reelection in 2014, passing up a bid for a sixth term and putting in play a Senate seat in deep red West Virginia. — In an interview with POLITICO, Rockefeller …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Power Line, The Maddow Blog, Taylor Marsh, CNN, Daily Kos, The Other McCain, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway and Business Insider

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:
Rockefeller to retire, giving GOP a prime pickup opportunity

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Breaking: Jay Rockefeller to retire in 2014

Discussion: Roll Call, Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:

White House gun plan: An end run around the NRA — President Barack Obama is trying an end run around the NRA — rallying groups as varied as churches, medical organizations, retailers and the Rotary Club to build support for new gun regulations. — It's an unusual strategy …

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Los Angeles Times, Right Wing News, Weasel Zippers, The Huffington Post, The Plum Line and The Gateway Pundit

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
Strassel: The Real Gun-Control Consensus

Discussion: American Power

BBC:

France confirms Mali intervention — President Francois Hollande says French troops are taking part in operations against Islamists in northern Mali. — French troops “have brought support to the Malian army to fight against the terrorists”, Mr Hollande said.

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', National Review and The Agonist

Reuters:
France launches air strike in Mali

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Hit & Run

Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS:

Obama, Karzai Say US to End Combat Operations in Afghanistan This Spring — President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai said today that most U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan would end this spring, signaling a quickening troop drawdown that will bring the decade-long war to a close at the end of 2014.

Discussion: Reuters

New York Times:
Karzai and Obama to Meet to Discuss Forces in Afghanistan

Discussion: IHT Rendezvous, Washington Post, Daily Kos and The Caucus

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:

The Wild Origins Of The Trillion Dollar Platinum Coin — Political elites won't shut up about the trillion dollar platinum coin. — For over a week now, pundits and power brokers — including members of Congress, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office …

Discussion: Business Insider, CANNONFIRE, correntewire.com, JustOneMinute, Wired and New York Times

Paul Krugman:
Thinking About the Brink — The platinum coin discussion …

Discussion: Wonkblog, Post Politics, emptywheel, The Atlantic Online and p m carpenter's commentary

Jim DeMint / Washington Post:

Conservative ideas need a new message — Jim DeMint represented South Carolina in the Senate from 2005 to 2013 and in the House from 1999 to 2005. — The U.S. Senate reached an all-time low — a hard mark to achieve — last week as I said my goodbyes to rejoin the real world.

Discussion: The Fix, p m carpenter's commentary, Right Wing Watch, The Heritage Foundation, Booman Tribune and The Agonist

Alex Seitz-Wald / Salon:

Bachmann still hasn't paid presidential campaign staffers — Five Iowa staffers say they've waited 375 days for payment, but refuse to sign the gag order the campaign demands — Over a year after she dropped out, Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann has refused to pay five staffers …

Discussion: Wonkette, The Raw Story, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller and Gawker

Christian Newswire:
Michele Bachmann Refuses to Pay Iowa Presidential Staffers After 375 Days

Discussion: Post Politics, OpenSecrets.org, The Immoral Minority and Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

WCTI-TV:

Lesbian couple: Restaurant owner hands them letter condemning homosexuality — NEW BERN - — A lesbian couple said an owner of a restaurant handed them a letter condemning homosexuality as they were walking out of the building. — Ariel and Shawnee McPhail said they went into The Stingray Café …

Discussion: Good As You, The Raw Story, Towleroad News #gay and Gawker

Alec MacGillis / The New Republic:

The Washington Post's Confused Anti-Hagel Crusade — On December 18, the Washington Post editorial board penned an unusually forceful broadside declaring that Chuck Hagel was “not the right choice” to be secretary of defense. The chief reason, the board wrote, was that Hagel's views …

Discussion: National Review and Washington Post

The White House:

President Obama to Award Medal of Honor — On February 11, 2013, President Barack Obama will award Clinton Romesha, a former active duty Army Staff Sergeant, the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry. — Staff Sergeant Romesha will receive the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Post Politics

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:

Mississippi Governor: ‘My Goal Of Course Is To Shut Down’ The State's Last Abortion Clinic — Today marks the deadline for Mississippi's sole remaining abortion clinic, the Jackson Women's Health Organization, to comply with the restrictive, unnecessary restrictions that the state's Republican legislators imposed last summer.

Discussion: www2.wjtv.com, The National Memo and The New Republic

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:

Gun Appreciation Day Leader: If Blacks Had Guns, They Would Not Have Been Slaves — Larry Ward, chairman of the national Gun Appreciation Day gun rights advocates have planned for the weekend of President Obama's second inauguration, told CNN Friday that there never would have been slaves in America if black people had guns.

Discussion: Wonkette