memeorandum: White House ‘seeking clarity’ on Algerian hostage situation (Justin Sink/The Hill)

2:45 PM ET, January 17, 2013

Top Items:

Alexandra Jaffe / The Hill:

Republicans worry they'll lose House if they botch debt talks — There's growing angst among Republicans that the party's House majority could be at risk in 2014 if the deep GOP divisions that emerged during the recent “fiscal cliff” negotiations persist in looming negotiations over a slew of budgetary issues.

Discussion: New York Times, The National Memo, Daily Kos, The Plum Line, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Weekly Standard

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

Republicans Brag They Won House Majority Because Of Gerrymandering — In a classic Kinsley gaffe, the Republican State Leadership Committee released a report boasting that the only reason the GOP controls the House of Representatives is because they gerrymandered congressional districts in blue states.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Alex Isenstadt / Politico: Dems have hard road to taking House in 2014

CTPost.com:

President Barack Obama: Now is the time — As a society, our first task must be to care for our children — to shield them from harm and give them the tools they need not only to pursue their dreams, but to help build this country. That is how we will be judged.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Hill, The Democratic Daily, ThinkProgress, Angry Black Lady Chronicles and Politico

Kevin Cirilli / Reuters:
Marco Rubio: Obama lacks ‘courage’ on guns

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes', Fox News Insider and Prairie Weather

Glenn Thrush / Politico:
Why President Obama might choose to lose on guns

Discussion: USA Today, Hullabaloo, The Week, Hit & Run and Washington Post

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:
Everything You Need To Know About Obama's Gun Violence Prevention Proposals

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Alas, a Blog, NewsMax.com, Wonkblog and The Impolitic

Sari Horwitz / Post Politics:
NRA planning ‘the fight of the century’ against Obama

Discussion: The Fix, Little Green Footballs, ThinkProgress, The Week, Washington Post, msnbc.com, RedState, Washington Examiner, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and Crooks and Liars

Lamine Chikhi / Reuters:

Six hostages, 8 kidnappers killed in Algeria siege; 7 still held — (Reuters) - Six foreign hostages and eight of their captors were killed when Algerian forces fired on a vehicle being used by besieged gunmen at a gas plant in the remote Algerian desert on Thursday, a local source told Reuters.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The PJ Tatler, The Gateway Pundit, The Jawa Report and Telegraph

Justin Sink / The Hill:
White House ‘seeking clarity’ on Algerian hostage situation

Discussion: Politico

CBS News:
Militants: 35 hostages dead in Algerian copter attack

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Alan Colmes' and Hot Air

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:
US confirms Americans among hostages taken by militants in Algeria

Discussion: Associated Press and Guardian

Wall Street Journal:
Militants Grab U.S. Hostages

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Right Turn and MarketBeat

Matthew Stolle / Post Bulletin:

Franken undecided on assault weapons ban — On the day that President Obama proposed a sweeping package of gun-control measures, U.S. Sen. Al Franken signaled his support for several components of Obama's plan. — Franken, speaking during a press event in Rochester, said he supports limits …

Discussion: Wonkblog, Washington Monthly, Post Politics and Hot Air

Erica Goode / New York Times:

Even Defining ‘Assault Rifles’ Is Complicated — One obstacle President Obama may face in proposing a new federal ban on assault weapons could lie in the use of the term “assault weapon” itself. — The label, applied to a group of firearms sold on the civilian market …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Hit & Run, Hot Air, Guardian, Power Line and Washington Free Beacon

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

How Gun Culture Won Over Liberals — The new “gun nuts”: media elites, locavores, and hipster hunters. — On a Sunday morning a couple years ago, Brooklyn journalist Foster Kamer and a few of his “particularly liberal” blogger friends decided to skip brunch and hit the shooting range instead.

Discussion: Soup, The Daily Caller and Capital New York, more at Mediagazer »

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Ryan: House GOP discussing short-term hike to debt ceiling — WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - House Republicans are discussing a short-term debt ceiling increase to buy time for broader deficit reduction negotiations with Democrats, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told reporters Thursday.

Discussion: Politico

Politico:

House GOP seeks to make friends — WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — House Republicans heard it loud and clear Wednesday: They are unpopular and need to change their ways. — Speaker John Boehner's House Republican Conference is more disliked now than when it took the majority two years ago, lawmakers and aides here found out.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

John Howard / New York Times:

I Went After Guns. Obama Can, Too. — IT is for Americans and their elected representatives to determine the right response to President Obama's proposals on gun control. I wouldn't presume to lecture Americans on the subject. I can, however, describe what I, as prime minister of Australia …

Discussion: Alan Colmes', msnbc.com, Capital New York and Prairie Weather

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:

Rand Paul Plans To Nullify Obama's Gun Executive Actions — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has a plan to undo President Obama's executive actions on guns. — Paul plans to debut the proposal on Wednesday's edition of Hannity on Fox. Details of the plan shared with TPM Wednesday show Paul plans …

Discussion: protein wisdom, CNSNews, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos and Office Of The Governor

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:
Sources: Rand Paul to push legislation nullifying Obama's executive actions on guns

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Joe. My. God., Israpundit and Hot Air

Eddie Gehman Kohan / Obama Foodorama:

White House Takes Down Petition Calling For Beyoncé To Be “Disinvited” From Inauguration Due To PepsiCo Deal — White House spokesman says removal of petition from ‘We the People’ site has nothing to do with controversy...But East Wing doesn't want to discuss the optics problem for Let's Move! campaign...

Discussion: Techdirt, The Hinterland Gazette, Politico, Weasel Zippers, The Atlantic Online, Post Politics and TechPresident

voteview blog:

An Update on Political Polarization through the 112th Congress — The 112th Congress closed unceremoniously this month with a series of votes (by the House and Senate) to avert the “fiscal cliff”. With this data, we can now analyze roll call voting in the 112th Congress in its entirety …

Discussion: Wonkblog and A plain blog about politics

CNN:

Obama campaign arm begins gun control push — Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama's political operation began asking its wide network of backers Thursday to voice their support for the president's gun violence proposals, the first step in Obama for America's post-campaign iteration.

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

Infowars:

Other Tyrants Who Have Used Children As Props — Infowars.com — Obama's shameless exploitation of children as set pieces is hardly new or original. In fact, tyrants and dictators have used kids as props down through the ages. — Here are a few more recent examples: — The Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Althouse, alicublog, Moonbattery, The Hinterland Gazette and Examiner

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

What Is Driving Growth in Government Spending? — It's one of the most fundamental political questions of our time: What's driving the growth in government spending? And it has a relatively straightforward answer: first and foremost, spending on health care through Medicare and Medicaid …

Discussion: Forbes

David Edwards / The Raw Story:

Recreational assault weapons fire riddles Ohio home, narrowly misses officer — Two men were arrested in Ohio on Wednesday after their target practice with an AK-47 assault rifle accidentally shot up a woman's home and nearly hit a officer who was responding to reports of gunfire.

Discussion: WEWS-TV

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Denis McDonough to Become White House Chief of Staff — WASHINGTON — President Obama is planning to elevate a key national security deputy, Denis R. McDonough, to White House chief of staff, administration officials said on Wednesday, making perhaps his closest foreign policy adviser the gatekeeper to the Oval Office.

Discussion: Washington Post, Firedoglake and msnbc.com