memeorandum: Military source: US arms deal continuing despite lawmakers' objections (Egypt Independent)

3:05 PM ET, January 13, 2013

Top Items:

Ginger Gibson / Politico:

Powell: GOP has ‘a dark vein of intolerance’ — While continuing to identify as a Republican, former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday criticized the GOP for a series of racist attacks against President Barack Obama. — “There's also a dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the party …

Discussion: CNN, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', The Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit and The Hinterland Gazette

Greg Clary / CNN:

Colin Powell is bucking his own party, again — (CNN) - When President Barack Obama nominated former Sen. Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense last week, criticism came in swiftly from several Republicans. But there's one member of the GOP who couldn't be more supportive of Hagel, and that's former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Discussion: Politico

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

The Two Sentences That Should Be Part of All Discussion of the Debt Ceiling — Here they are: — 1) Raising the debt ceiling does not authorize one single penny in additional public spending. — 2) For Congress to “decide whether” to raise the debt ceiling, for programs and tax rates …

Discussion: Balloon Juice and The Reality-Based Community

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:
The Fed Killed Trillion-Dollar Coin

Discussion: Business Insider

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Platinum Coin Dismissed: White House Ratchets Up Pressure On GOP To Deal With Debt Ceiling

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Political Carnival, Booman Tribune and The Reality-Based Community

Joe Weisenthal / Business Insider:
COINTASTROPHE: White House Rules Out The Trillion Dollar Coin Option To Break The Debt Ceiling

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Mediaite, Hullabaloo, Calculated Risk and msnbc.com

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
Treasury: We won't mint a platinum coin to sidestep the debt ceiling

Remember Aaron Swartz:

Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz — Our beloved brother, son, friend, and partner Aaron Swartz hanged himself on Friday in his Brooklyn apartment. We are in shock, and have not yet come to terms with his passing. — Aaron's insatiable curiosity, creativity …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Associated Press, Firedoglake, Mashable!, GigaOM, Guardian, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Taylor Marsh, The Moderate Voice, Politico, Unhandled Exception, Wonkblog, BuzzMachine, Making Light and Boing Boing, more at Mediagazer »

Zach Carter / The Huffington Post:
Aaron Swartz, Internet Pioneer, Found Dead Amid Prosecutor ‘Bullying’ in Unconventional Case

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Adventures …, The Verge, Blue Mass Group and The Moderate Voice

BBC:

Mass Paris rally against gay marriage in France — The BBC's Hugh Schofield said the organisers did not want to be seen as homophobic — Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Paris over plans to give gay couples in France the right to marry and adopt children.

Discussion: Joe. My. God. and Towleroad News #gay

Michael Barone / Washington Examiner:

History suggests that era of entitlements is nearly over … It's often good fun and sometimes revealing to divide American history into distinct periods of uniform length. In working on my forthcoming book on American migrations, internal and immigrant, it occurred to me that you could do this using …

George Stephanopoulos / ABCNEWS:

Sen. Corker Says There Are Questions About Chuck Hagel's ‘Temperament’ — ABC — This morning on “This Week,” Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee expressed concerns about the “temperament” of Chuck Hagel, the man President Obama nominated to be his next Secretary of Defense.

Discussion: The Political Carnival

ABCNEWS:
Coming Up on ‘This Week’: Sen. Jack Reed, Sen. Bob Corker, Sen. Joe Manchin and Jon Huntsman

Discussion: Politico, CBS News, The Political Carnival, Crooks and Liars and State of the Union

Ashley Killough / CNN:

Staying coy, Booker's not ‘ruling out anything’ for 2014 — (CNN) - Cory Booker revealed little Sunday about plans to explore a Senate seat next year and potentially challenge a fellow Democrat, incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg. — The Newark, New Jersey, mayor - who passed on running …

Discussion: Politico

Egypt Independent:

Military source: US arms deal continuing despite lawmakers' objections — views: — Send to friend — Egypt's negotiations with the US to acquire F-16 aircraft and M1A1 Abrams tanks are proceeding smoothly, a senior Egyptian military source has said. — The source added that the negotiations …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch

Annie Lowrey / New York Times:

The Low Politics of Low Growth — WE typically blame Washington for not doing more to help the economy grow. But what if we have it backward: What if it is the weak economy that is driving the failures in Washington? — That is what Benjamin Friedman, a Harvard economist who has studied …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

The Obama Synthesis — AS both his critics and admirers argue, the nomination of Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense last week tells us something important about Barack Obama's approach to foreign policy. But so does the man who was nominated alongside Hagel, to far less controversy and attention …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Informed Comment

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Like President Obama, Rahm Emanuel pivots on gun control — Rahm Emanuel, who put the brakes on gun control in the Obama White House, is now pushing for broad changes to firearm policies in Chicago. — Like President Obama, the Chicago mayor has long embraced gun-control policies …

Discussion: Hullabaloo