memeorandum: Bloomberg wants to change the GOP (Jason Horowitz/Washington Post)

12:25 PM ET, January 14, 2013

Top Items:

Double trouble: House GOP eyes default, shutdown — House Republicans are seriously entertaining dramatic steps, including default or shutting down the government, to force President Barack Obama to finally cut spending by the end of March. — The idea of allowing the country to default …

Wall Street Journal:
Ugly Choices Loom Over Debt Clash

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Wire, Washington Examiner, Via Meadia and BuzzFeed

Wall Street Journal:

Legal Case Strained Troubled Web Activist — Just days before he hanged himself, Internet activist Aaron Swartz's hopes for a deal with federal prosecutors fell apart. — Two years ago, the advocate for free information online, who was known to have suffered from depression …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Althouse, Mashable!, Associated Press, Patterico's Pontifications, Betabeat, The Moderate Voice, AllThingsD, The Verge, MIT and Lawyers, Guns & Money, more at Mediagazer »

Orin Kerr / The Volokh Conspiracy:

The Criminal Charges Against Aaron Swartz (Part 1: The Law) — The Internet activist Aaron Swartz has died from an apparent suicide. Swartz was facing a criminal trial in April on charges arising from his effort to “liberate” the JSTOR database, and there has been a lot of commentary accusing …

Discussion: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Associated Press, Hit & Run, BBC, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, AllThingsD, CNET and PointOfLaw Forum

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
MIT president orders review of Aaron Swartz episode

Discussion: emptywheel, Opinionator and Associated Press

Chris Cassidy / Boston Herald: MIT regrets any role in tragedy

Noam Cohen / New York Times:
A Data Crusader, a Defendant and Now, a Cause

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation Blog, San Francisco Chronicle, CNET, The Jawa Report, The Week, The New Civil Rights Movement, American Power, TechCrunch, Media Decoder, Poynter, Balloon Juice and NYT Bits, more at Mediagazer »

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Americans' Dissatisfaction With Gun Laws Spikes to 38% — Close to four in 10 say gun laws should be stricter, up from 25% in 2012 — PRINCETON, NJ — In the aftermath of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings, and as Vice President Joe Biden leads a federal task force that will recommend ways …

Discussion: First Read, msnbc.com, Business Insider, CNN, Hot Air and Politico

Washington Post:

Maryland Gov. O'Malley to push for tougher gun-control rules — Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley will seek to institute some of the nation's strictest gun-licensing requirements, ban assault weapons and restrict visitor access to schools in one of the most expansive government responses sought …

Discussion: ABCNEWS and Post Politics

Michael Isikoff / Open Channel:
Newtown police chief adds voice to call for assault weapons ban

Discussion: National Confidential, Business Insider and The Raw Story

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
Maryland's Gov. O'Malley to push for new gun control

Discussion: Ballot Box, Hullabaloo and The Hill

Jason Horowitz / Washington Post:

Bloomberg wants to change the GOP — Matt McClain/For The Washington Post - Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, poses for a portrait at New York City Hall on Friday January 11, 2013. He has been outspoken on the issue of gun control. — NEW YORK — Michael Bloomberg …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Post Politics and Taegan Goddard's …

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

Lies on Gun Background Checks Are a Focus Both Sides Agree On — WASHINGTON — Nearly 80,000 Americans were denied guns in 2010, according to Justice Department data, because they lied or provided inaccurate information about their criminal histories on background-check forms.

Discussion: Hot Air, Center for American Progress, Right Wing News and The Maddow Blog

David Jackson / USA Today:
Biden to present gun package this week

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', The Hill, Washington Post, msnbc.com, CBS New York and New York Times

Wall Street Journal:
Gun Violence Focus Set to Shift to Congress

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

In California, It's U.S. vs. State Over Marijuana — STOCKTON, Calif. — Matthew R. Davies graduated from college with a master's degree in business and a taste for enterprise, working in real estate, restaurants and mobile home parks before seizing on what he saw as uncharted territory …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Hit & Run and Althouse

Molly Davies / The Huffington Post:

A Letter to the President: My Husband Is Not the “Bigger Fish to Fry” in Your Drug War — Dear Mr. President: — I am writing to you as a wife and mother of two young daughters, whose 34-year old husband, Matthew Davies, faces 10 years or more in federal prison for providing medical marijuana …

George Packer / New Yorker:

SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT — The New Year's Day vote in Congress that brought a temporary truce to the fiscal wars showed the Republicans to be far more divided than the Democrats, and the division broke along regional lines. House Republicans from the Far West and from the Northeast favored …

Discussion: Historiann, Prairie Weather and First Read

Newsday:

Journal News gun permit map used by burglars to target White Plains home? — A White Plains residence pinpointed on a controversial handgun permit database was burglarized Saturday, and the burglars' target was the homeowner's gun safe. — At least two burglars broke into a home on Davis Avenue …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, nysenate.gov, NewsBusters.org, TBogg, Hot Air, BuzzFeed, CBS New York, The Verge, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, UrbanGrounds and National Review, more at Mediagazer »

Juro Osawa / Wall Street Journal:

Apple Cuts Orders for iPhone Parts — Apple Inc. has cut its orders for components for the iPhone 5 due to weaker-than-expected demand, people familiar with the situation said Monday. — Apple's orders for iPhone 5 screens for the January-March quarter, for example, have dropped to roughly half …

Discussion: AllThingsD, BGR, National Confidential, The Next Web, The Verge, TechCrunch, Vodkapundit and Business Insider

Jennifer Rubin / Right Turn:

Meet the softball: David Gregory and Colin Powell — “Meet the Press” isn't what it used to be. After a remarkably softball interview with President Obama on New Year's Day, moderator David Gregory on Sunday let former secretary of state Colin Powell filibuster through one question after another …

Discussion: American Spectator and Washington Free Beacon

David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:

Scarborough Apologizes To Mika Brzezinski For Rant On ‘Morning Joe’ (VIDEO) — Joe Scarborough on Monday apologized to his “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski for accusing her of hypocrisy over the lack of women in President's Obama's inner circle last week.

Discussion: The Raw Story

Patrick Gavin / Reuters:

‘Game Change’ scores at the Golden Globes — HBO's “Game Change,” based on the 2008 campaign book by journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, took home three Golden Globes at Sunday's ceremony, including in the category of best television miniseries or television movie.

Discussion: Deadline.com, CNN and Business Insider

CNN:
Surprise! Bill Clinton appears at the Golden Globes

Discussion: Politico

Denise Smith Amos / Cincinnati.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Teacher claims discrimination over fear of kids — MARIEMONT — A longtime French and Spanish high school teacher is suing the Mariemont school district, alleging it discriminated against her because she has a disability - she has a phobia of young children.

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and The Raw Story