Top Items:
Joe Holley / Houston Chronicle:
Cornyn: Congress will not allow default — Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the Republican whip, said in Houston Thursday that Congress will not allow an impasse over raising the debt ceiling to result in the federal government defaulting on its spending obligations. — “We will raise the debt ceiling.
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Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
A new strategy for the GOP — It has become conventional wisdom that Republicans are suffering an internal split that President Obama is successfully exploiting to neuter the Republican House. It is not true, however, that the Republican split is philosophical and fundamental.
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Talking Points Memo, Weekly Standard, PostPartisan, The Week, neo-neocon, Taylor Marsh, Prairie Weather, Economist's View, Wall Street Journal, Right Turn, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Betsy's Page, The Right Scoop, Business Insider, Vodkapundit, Post Politics, FreedomWorks blogs, Hot Air and New York Times
Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
GOP De-Escalates Debt Limit Fight — The jig is up. Republicans are going to increase the debt limit. Probably for free. — And in the end, their change of heart took about two weeks. — Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who on January 4 warned that Republicans might force the country past the debt limit …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Bloomberg, Taegan Goddard's … and The Caucus
Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:
House Republicans agree to vote on bill to raise debt limit for 3 months
House Republicans agree to vote on bill to raise debt limit for 3 months
Discussion:
PostPartisan, Booman Tribune, Right Turn, The National Memo, The Page and Post Politics
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
House G.O.P. Agrees to Lift Debt Ceiling for 3 Months
House G.O.P. Agrees to Lift Debt Ceiling for 3 Months
Discussion:
msnbc.com
Politico:
Up next for Obama: A looming Democratic divide — As President Barack Obama approaches his second inaugural on Monday, he presides over a party that has largely papered over its divisions for the past four years thanks to the president's commanding popularity.
Discussion:
New York Times, Capital New York, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, The Week, msnbc.com, First Read and Lynn Sweet
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Hayes Brown / ThinkProgress:
New Study Highlights Threat From Far Right-Wing Groups In U.S. — A new study from a think tank connected to the West Point Military Academy highlights the threat of violent far-right movements in the United States, leading to the conclusion that, while diverse in in their causes …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Agonist, Booman Tribune, Mediaite and Alan Colmes'
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Rowan Scarborough / Washington Times:
West Point center cites dangers of ‘far right’ in U.S.
West Point center cites dangers of ‘far right’ in U.S.
Discussion:
protein wisdom, National Review, Infowars and Weasel Zippers
Jeff Plungis / Bloomberg:
Naked-Image Scanners to Be Removed From U.S. Airports — The U.S. Transportation Security Administration will remove airport body scanners that privacy advocates likened to strip searches after OSI Systems Inc. (OSIS) couldn't write software to make passenger images less revealing.
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Techdirt, The Daily Caller, The Raw Story and Hot Air
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Hugo Martin / Los Angeles Times:
TSA ends contract with Rapiscan, maker of full-body scanner
TSA ends contract with Rapiscan, maker of full-body scanner
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online and Eschaton
Politico:
FishbowlDC sued for libel — Washington, D.C.-based publicist Wendy Gordon is suing FishbowlDC, the local media gossip site, for waging “an unprovoked, online smear campaign” against her. — Gordon filed a libel lawsuit on Thursday, the Legal Times reported, and it names FishbowlDC editor Betsy Rothstein …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
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Zoe Tillman / The BLT:
D.C. Media News Website Sued for Libel
D.C. Media News Website Sued for Libel
Discussion:
Poynter, more at Mediagazer »
Politico:
Obama unveils ‘Organizing for Action’ — President Barack Obama on Friday announced the relaunch of his remaining campaign apparatus as a new tax-exempt group called Organizing for Action that will “play an active role” in “mobilizing around and speaking out in support of important legislation” during his second term.
Discussion:
The Plum Line, The National Memo, CNN, msnbc.com and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
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Matea Gold / Los Angeles Times:
Seeking to harness Obama's campaign resources for a second term
Seeking to harness Obama's campaign resources for a second term
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed, Mother Jones, The Hill, TechPresident, Politico, Daily Kos, Ballot Box, Prairie Weather and Mediaite
Michael Kunzelman / Associated Press:
Ray Nagin, Former New Orleans Mayor, Indicted On 21 Corruption Charges, Including Bribery, Fraud — FOLLOW: — Video, Mayor Ray Nagin, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Ray Nagin, Ray Nagin Charges, Ray Nagin Corruption, Ray Nagin Indicted, Ray Nagin New Orleans, Ray Nagin New Orleans Mayor, Politics News
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Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:
Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theories Edge Toward The Mainstream — “By far the hottest topic of the moment.” Ignore it and it won't go away. — There are two kinds of conspiracy theories: The ones about the Illuminati and about mysterious “chemtrails,” which lurk forever in the online twilight zone …
Discussion:
snopes.com, The Week and Glenn Beck
Brent Schrotenboer / Associated Press:
Lance Armstrong to Oprah: Story was ‘one big lie’ … Saying his “mythic, perfect story” was “one big lie,” Lance Armstrong admitted that he cheated during most of his famed cycling career and that he bullied people who dared to tell the truth about it. — After denying doping allegations …
Discussion:
The Heritage Foundation, The New Republic, Infowars, msnbc.com, American Power and Taylor Marsh
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Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Americans Call for Term Limits, End to Electoral College — Virtually no partisan disagreement on these long-discussed constitutional reforms — PRINCETON, NJ — Even after the 2012 election in which Americans re-elected most of the sitting members of the U.S. House and Senate …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, CNN, Politico and The Hill
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Next Four Years — President Obama's second inaugural comes at an interesting moment, what you might call the end of the era of the Grand Bargain. Throughout his first term, Democrats and Republicans didn't achieve a Grand Bargain on spending and taxes, but there was a sense that history was moving in that direction.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Washington Monthly, Wonkblog, Mother Jones, No More Mister Nice Blog and msnbc.com
Mark Hemingway / Weekly Standard:
Whoops: PolitiFact's ‘Lie of the Year’ Turns Out to Be True — Last month, PolitiFact selected its “Lie of the Year.” Given PolitiFact's dubious record of singling out Republicans for lying far more often than Democrats, you probably could have guessed the winner of this particular sweepstakes was a Mitt Romney campaign ad:
Discussion:
Reuters
Mickey Kaus / The Daily Caller:
The Education of Ezra Klein (and Barack Obama) continues: In 2007, Young Ezra Klein was full of enthusiasm about the cost-saving potential of electronic record keeping in the health industry. The failure to rapidly adopt this new technology was nothing less than an indictment of the American way of Medicine:
Discussion:
FishbowlDC, Washington Examiner and The Atlantic Online
GOProud, Inc.:
GOProud Statement on Marriage and Relationship Recognition — Statement of the GOProud Board of Directors — (Washington, D.C.) - On Saturday January 12th, the GOProud Board of Directors met in Washington, D.C. and adopted the following resolution regarding the issue of marriage and relationship recognition:
Discussion:
The New Civil Rights Movement
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Daniel W. Drezner:
How the current GOP thinks like revolutionaries — and why that's a bad thing — In an exit interview with the Wall Street Journal, outgoing U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said some provocative things about the state of America's political system and how that affects our standing in the world.
Discussion:
The Agonist, The Hill, Portland Press-Herald, A plain blog about politics, Washington Wire, Right Turn and Politico
Steve Contorno / Washington Examiner:
Virginia lawmaker's AK-47 sparks gun debate on House floor … A Richmond-area lawmaker brandished an AK-47 on the floor of the Virginia House of Delegates on Thursday in a wild stunt aimed at rallying support for tougher gun laws. — Del. Joe Morrissey, D-Highland Springs …
Discussion:
Politico, Weasel Zippers and ABCNEWS
John R. MacArthur / Harper's:
Google's Media Barons … I had to cheer when I read the news the other week about a French company that's selling an ad-blocking service on the Internet. Xavier Niel, the entrepreneurial owner of the web-service provider Free, is threatening to smash the advertiser-supported “free-content” model.
Discussion:
The Verge, Boing Boing, Balloon Juice and Hit & Run, more at Mediagazer »