memeorandum: Fitch may downgrade U.S. credit rating (Pan Pylas/Associated Press)

11:35 PM ET, January 15, 2013

Top Items:

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:

Impeachmentum: Reagan AG Says Obama Can Be Impeached Over Guns — Former Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese, now a prominent emeritus official at the Heritage Foundation, became the latest conservative to warn that President Obama could risk impeachment if he takes executive action …

Discussion: The Raw Story, The Democratic Daily, The Week, Zandar Versus The Stupid and New York Times

CNN:
NRA airs new TV ad criticizing Obama on eve of White House gun announcement

Discussion: The Raw Story

Fox News:
White House draws criticism ahead of gun control announcement

Discussion: CNN, NO QUARTER USA NET, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Gawker and Wonkette

Associated Press:
Little-known laws shed light on NRA influence

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Politico and First Read

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Rand Paul: Obama acting ‘like a king’ on guns, vows to fight executive actions

Discussion: CBN.com and CNN

Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:
Rep. Steve Stockman threatens to impeach Obama over guns

Discussion: Post Politics, Truthdig and The National Memo

Associated Press:
Gov. Cuomo signs gun control bill making New York first state to do so since Newtown school massacre

Discussion: Capital New York, Atlas Shrugs and Taylor Marsh

Alex Seitz-Wald / Salon:

This man helped save six children, is now getting harassed for it — Gene Rosen sheltered six kids during the Sandy Hook massacre. Now he's become a target of conspiracy theorists — “I don't know what to do,” sighed Gene Rosen. “I'm getting hang-up calls, I'm getting some calls …

Discussion: Wonkette, Gawker, AMERICAblog, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Mahablog, The Raw Story, The Agonist, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos and The Plum Line

Dylan Stableford / Associated Press:

Man who helped Sandy Hook kids is harassed by conspiracy theorists — A man who found six children in his driveway in Newtown, Conn., after their teacher had been shot and killed in last month's school massacre has become the target of conspiracy theorists who believe the shootings were staged.

Discussion: neo-neocon and The Moderate Voice

Jeff Richardson / Fairbanks Daily News-Miner:

Murkowski: Country must pay its bills — FAIRBANKS — Sen. Lisa Murkowski is breaking with Republican leadership in the debate about raising the U.S. debt ceiling, saying the country has a duty to assure it can pay its bills. — Raising the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling has emerged …

Discussion: Politico, The Plum Line, Washington Examiner, Hot Air and Rush Limbaugh

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Another GOP Senator recognizes the inevitable

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Daily Kos, Financial Times and Washington Monthly

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Hoyer: Deal to raise federal debt limit must include new revenues

Discussion: The Political Carnival

Pan Pylas / Associated Press:
Fitch may downgrade U.S. credit rating

Discussion: Hot Air, msnbc.com and First Read

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Bush Speechwriter Michael Gerson Exposes Obama's Sinister Being-Reasonable Ploy — It's a trick. A very complicated one. — The Obama presidency has been an agonizing time for those few remaining moderate Republicans. They fully oppose their party's extremism, but the gravitational loyalty …

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Smartypants and Booman Tribune

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:

Politics as usual — Here is my nomination for the lowest moment of the “fiscal cliff” debate. Right before Christmas, President Obama met with House Speaker John Boehner in the Oval Office. “He told Mr. Boehner,” according to the Wall Street Journal, “that if the sides didn't reach agreement …

Discussion: Viking Pundit and msnbc.com

Sy Mukherjee / ThinkProgress:

House Republicans Can't Find Any Co-Sponsors For Their Latest Obamacare Repeal Bills — Earlier this month, Tea Party darling Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) admitted that his plan to introduce yet another Obamacare repeal bill would be unlikely to pass in the wake of President Obama's decisive re-election.

Discussion: The Political Carnival and Daily Kos

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:

DOMA: House Republicans Poised To Spend $3 Million On Legal Defense … REACT: — FOLLOW: — House Republicans, Elections 2012, LGBT, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Video, Defense Of Marriage Act, Boehner DOMA, Boehner Defense Of Marriage Act, Doma, House Republicans DOMA …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, The Hill, Daily Kos, msnbc.com, Towleroad News #gay, Advocate and PostPartisan

Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:

Utah Smoothie Shop Charges Liberals More, Donates Surcharge To Conservative Causes — A smoothie shop in Vernal, Utah is sparking outrage over an unorthodox pricing structure that charges liberals an extra dollar. The shop, tellingly named the I Love Drilling Juice and Smoothie Bar …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Joe. My. God. and Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

Geoff Liesik / KSL-TV:
Liberal tax leaves bitter taste in some smoothie drinkers' mouths

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, Gawker and The Raw Story

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Former Aide: Michele Bachmann Had “Unnatural Relationship” With Debate Coach — Peter Waldron alleges “Rasputin-like” control over the candidate. “The story is completely false,” says O'Donnell. — O'Donnell looking at Bachmann. — Image by AP / AP — Michele Bachmann's high-profile …

CNN:

House passes $50 billion-plus Sandy aid package — Washington (CNN) - Lawmakers in the House of Representatives approved measures Tuesday to send more than $50 billion in aid to the Northeastern states ravaged by Superstorm Sandy last fall, though some conservatives in the House were pushing …

Discussion: Firedoglake and This Just In

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
House panel blocks most GOP attempts to trim Sandy disaster-relief bill

Discussion: The Hill, Blue Jersey, NetRight Daily and Americans for Limited …

Thomas Kaplan / New York Times:

New York Assembly Passes Gun Legislation — ALBANY — The State Assembly, which opened its legislative session this year with a moment of silence for the victims of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., on Tuesday approved a package of gun measures that would significantly expand the state's ban on assault weapons.

Discussion: The Week, BillMoyers.com, Prairie Weather and Washington Post

New York Times:
New York Has Gun Deal, With Focus on Mental Ills

Discussion: Hit & Run, Taking Note, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, msnbc.com, Shakesville, The Raw Story, Poynter, JustOneMinute, Prairie Weather, Capital New York, Addicting Info, Associated Press, Towleroad News #gay, First Read, The New Republic and CNN, more at Mediagazer »

Marc Fisher / Washington Post:

As inauguration approaches, Obama's most virulent foes want the celebration stopped — Eldon Bell, a retired Air Force officer and physician, is making no plans to see Barack Obama's second inauguration, in part because Bell considers the president arrogant and dishonest …

Discussion: Mediaite

Galactic Empire Public Relations / The Official …:

Planet Earth Abandons Death Star Project In Face Of Superior Galactic Imperial Power — IMPERIAL CENTER, CORUSCANT - The overwhelming military superiority of the Galactic Empire has been confirmed once again by the recent announcement by the President of the United States that his nation …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, BuzzFeed, The Raw Story, Pejman Yousefzadeh, Forbes, Unfair Park, The Week, The Maddow Blog, Joe. My. God. and Hit & Run

Donovan Slack / Politico:

Obama agrees to ‘taxation without representation’ plates on presidential limo — President Obama, after a push by the D.C. Council, has agreed to affix license plates to his limo with the phrase “taxation without representation.” — The new plates will be in place beginning this weekend …

Discussion: CNN

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:

Exclusive: Secret State Department cable: Chemical weapons used in Syria — A secret State Department cable has concluded that the Syrian military likely used chemical weapons against its own people in a deadly attack last month, The Cable has learned.

Discussion: Wired, BuzzFeed, Hot Air and Weasel Zippers

Jim Geraghty / National Review:

Mark Sanford: I'm Running for Congress — A conversation with the former South Carolina governor — Mark Sanford, the three-term congressman and two-term South Carolina governor, is preparing his political comeback, running for the House in the district recently represented by Tim Scott.

Discussion: The Raw Story, CNN, Ballot Box, Post Politics, First Read, Weekly Standard and msnbc.com

Roger Kimball / Wall Street Journal:

This Metamorphosis Will Require a Permit — Sandy wrecked our house, but bureaucrats are keeping it broken. — “What sort of people were these? What were they talking about? What office did they belong to? K. was living in a free country, after all, everywhere was at peace …

Discussion: Hit & Run and Althouse

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

New Video Game Allows Players to Murder NRA President — A new online video game is taking political discourse to a whole new level. We already reported the death threats being received by NRA executives and now, a video game which allows users to shoot NRA President David Keene in the head, has been released.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and Rush Limbaugh

US News:

United States Shouldn't Hand Over Battery Technology to China — The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States must review the acquisition of U.S. battery technology by China's Wanxiang Group — Ike Skelton was a Democratic member of Congress and chairman of the U.S. House Armed …

Discussion: Power Line and Washington Free Beacon

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Ann Coulter: ‘If You Compare White Populations,’ U.S. Has Same Murder Rate As Belgium (VIDEO) — Right-wing firebrand Ann Coulter on Monday said that the United States has a demographic problem rather than a gun problem, arguing that the country has a comparable murder rate to Belgium “if you compare white populations.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Jim Forsyth / WOAI-TV:

Texas Proposal: JAIL Any Federal Officials Trying to Enforce New Gun Restrictions in the State — measure would make any federal firearms legislation passed by Congress or approved by Presidential order unenforceable in Texas

Discussion: Addicting Info, Politico, Gawker, msnbc.com and nation.foxnews.com

Garrett Epps / The Atlantic Online:

The Seventh Circuit Needs to Rein in Richard Posner — The conservative jurist made a joke out of a deadly serious case. — John Gress/Reuters — Being a judge is a pretty good job, the comedian and philosopher Peter Cook once mused. “You're not troubled by falling coal, for one thing.”

Joe Walsh / timeoutchicago.com/blogs/136511:

WIND may draft Joe Walsh as talk show host — Robservations on the media beat: — We haven't heard the last of tea party firebrand Joe Walsh. The one-term former GOP congressman, who was defeated for reelection last November by Democrat Tammy Duckworth, may be headed for a new career as a radio talk show host.