memeorandum: Liberals to interrogate Obama's CIA pick (Carlo Muñoz/The Hill)

9:05 AM ET, February 7, 2013

Top Items:

Southern Poverty Law Center website triggered FRC shooting … The Family Research Council shooter, who pleaded guilty today to a terrorism charge, picked his target off a “hate map” on the website of the ultra-liberal Southern Poverty Law Center which is upset with the conservative group's opposition to gay rights.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Right Wing News, Jammie Wearing Fools, Patterico's Pontifications, Power Line, Washington Free Beacon, Poor Richard's News, his vorpal sword, The Lonely Conservative, CNN and NewsBusters

Steven Ertelt / LifeNews.com:
Shooter at Pro-Life Office Pleads Guilty, Used Liberal Site to Target

Discussion: RedState, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, The Other McCain and Clayton Cramer's Blog

Crimesider / CBS News:
Floyd Lee Corkins pleads guilty in Family Research Council shooting

Discussion: Jihad Watch and americanthinker.com

WJLA-TV:
Floyd Corkins pleads guilty to Family Research Council shooting

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, iOwnTheWorld.com, Bob Owens, NewsBusters and Joe. My. God.

Ann E. Marimow / Washington Post:
Family Research Council shooter pleads guilty to three felonies, including terrorism charge, in federal court

Discussion: The Daily Caller and nation.foxnews.com

Jordy Yager / The Hill:
US Attorneys' office links shooting at FRC, high-capacity magazines

Discussion: Politico

Carlo Muñoz / The Hill:

Liberals to interrogate Obama's CIA pick — President Obama's nominee for CIA director will be bombarded with questions Thursday in a Senate hearing that could bring new revelations about the targeted killings of U.S. citizens overseas. — Opposition to the nomination of John Brennan …

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Politico:

Obama yields on drones — President Obama has reversed course and agreed to provide the congressional intelligence committees with classified Justice Department legal advice authorizing the use of drones to kill U.S. citizens abroad, two administration officials said Wednesday evening.

Discussion: CNN, PERRspectives and The Democratic Daily

New York Times:

Congress to See Memo Backing Drone Attacks on Americans — WASHINGTON — The White House on Wednesday directed the Justice Department to release to the two Congressional Intelligence Committees classified documents discussing the legal justification for killing, by drone strikes and other means …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, msnbc.com, The Week, Politico, News Desk and Daily Kos

Becky Bratu / NBCNews.com:
White House: Congress to get classified drone info

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, NPR, American Thinker, Mediaite, Hullabaloo and Gawker

Humberto Sanchez / Roll Call: Wyden Hints at Brennan Filibuster

Washington Post:

Sen. Menendez contacted top officials in friend's Medicare dispute — Sen. Robert Menendez raised concerns with top federal health-care officials twice in recent years about their finding that a Florida eye doctor — a close friend and major campaign donor — had overbilled the government …

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air and Jammie Wearing Fools

The Daily Caller:

FBI sources: Menendez investigation moved to Newark, NJ — Two FBI sources have told The Daily Caller that the bureau's inquiry into Democratic New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is now based in New Jersey, not Miami. One added that pressure is mounting from the highest levels of the Justice Department to pursue the investigation.

Discussion: The Other McCain and Fire Andrea Mitchell!

Politico:
Robert Menendez fights back

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Rubio to deliver GOP response to Obama's State of the Union — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) will deliver the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address on February 12. — Rubio's response will be delivered in both English and Spanish, according to Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) office.

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Politico, CNN, Hot Air, Poor Richard's News and The Reaction

Tim Mak / Politico:

Hagel committee vote delayed — The Senate Armed Services Committee will not vote this week on whether to confirm Chuck Hagel as the next secretary of Defense amid unrelenting pressure from Republicans over his financial disclosures. — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky …

Discussion: alan.com, BuzzFeed, CNN and Pat Dollard

Steve Clemons / The Atlantic Online:
Strange Days in the Senate: Could Ted Cruz Do What He Is Asking of Hagel?

Discussion: The Dish, Taylor Marsh, CNN and Post Politics

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:
Hagel Tells Lawmakers He Can't Provide Details On Speaking Engagements, Foreign Funders

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Hot Air, Israel Matzav, The Lonely Conservative, “The Lid”, Power Line, Weekly Standard and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Biden delivers impassioned plea to House Democrats on gun control — LEESBURG, Va. - Vice President Joe Biden delivered an impassioned and at times emotional plea to House Democrats to rally around the Obama administration's gun-control proposals, telling lawmakers they can't rely on political excuses for inaction.

Discussion: Politico, CNN and The Reaction

Russell Berman / The Hill:

House Democrats unimpressed by Cantor's support of DREAM Act — LEESBURG, Va. - House Democratic leaders weren't impressed with Majority Leader Eric Cantor's (R-Va.) endorsement of citizenship for undocumented immigrant students, saying the country had “moved on” and now wants comprehensive immigration reform.

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

4th Annual TV News Trust Poll — PPP's annual poll on TV news finds that there's only one source more Americans trust than distrust: PBS. 52% of voters say they trust PBS to only 29% who don't trust it. The other seven outlets we polled on are all distrusted by a plurality of voters.

Discussion: Truthdig, Wonkette, Liberal Values, msnbc.com, Business Insider, The Dish, Outside the Beltway and TheBlaze.com

Bloomberg:

Obama Is Said Close to Choosing Pritzker for Commerce — President Barack Obama is close to choosing Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker, who led fundraising for his 2008 campaign, as his next commerce secretary, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: BuzzFeed

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Report: Obama close to nominating Penny Pritzker for Commerce

Discussion: Poor Richard's News

Politico:

The GOP, Fox political purge — Republicans and Fox News are moving to purge the controversial political creatures they created. — Both were damaged badly in 2012 by loud, partisan voices that stoked the base — but that scared the hell out of many voters.

Discussion: CNN, Slate and Truthdig

Spokesman.com:

Bill requires all Idaho kids to read ‘Atlas Shrugged’ — BOISE - Coeur d'Alene Sen. John Goedde, chairman of the Idaho Senate's Education Committee, introduced legislation Tuesday to require every Idaho high school student to read Ayn Rand's “Atlas Shrugged” and pass a test on it to graduate from high school.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mock, Paper, Scissors, Washington Monthly, The Week, Taegan Goddard's …, The Raw Story, Joe. My. God. and Wonkette

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:

Progressive Caucus Introduces Legislation To Replace Spending Cuts With Revenues, Investments … The Congressional Progressive Caucus announced today that it is introducing legislation to cancel the automatic spending cuts — known as the “sequester” — that are scheduled to take place at the beginning of March.

Discussion: cpc.grijalva.house.gov

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
The absurdity of the GOP position on spending, in one chart

Discussion: Businessweek, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:

Thanks To Congressional Incompetence, Saturday Mail Delivery Is History — The U.S. Postal Service announced on Wednesday that it will discontinue first class Saturday mail delivery, marking another milestone in the decline of the once-ubiquitous government service.

Discussion: Salon, The Week, Esquire, The Atlantic Online, Felix Salmon, Wonkblog and UrbanGrounds

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Michigan Republicans Introduce Bill Mandating Transvaginal Ultrasound Before An Abortion — Michigan Republicans have introduced a bill requiring all women to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound before obtaining an abortion, a move that rekindles last year's firestorm when other GOP-led states were considering similar measures.

Discussion: Tennessean.com and The Raw Story

United We Dream:

CORE PRINCIPLES FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM — DIRECT AND STRAIGHFORWARD ROADMAP TO CITIZENSHIP … THE TIMELINE FOR THE ROADMAP TO CITIZENSHIP SHOULD BE REASONABLE AND FAIR. — Individuals who came to the U.S. as adults should be eligible to apply for a temporary immigration status immediately …

Discussion: New York Times, Colorlines and The Raw Story