Top Items:
Rachel Donadio / New York Times:
Frail Pope Breaks Tradition and Resigns — VATICAN CITY — Citing advanced years and infirmity, but showing characteristic tough-mindedness and unpredictability, Pope Benedict XVI shocked Roman Catholics on Monday by saying that he would resign on Feb. 28, becoming the first pope to do so in six centuries.
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Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
What Did Pope Benedict Do, Anyway? — Pope Benedict XVI, who took office in 2005, announced on Monday that he will resign on Feb. 28, the first pope to leave the papacy since Pope Gregory XII in 1415. The 85-year-old pontiff is in poor health and has been advised by doctors “not to take any more transatlantic trips.”
Discussion:
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Max Fisher / WorldViews:
The bizarre stories of the four other popes to have resigned in the last 1,000 years
Discussion:
Guardian, The Fix, Washington Post, Poynter, Daniel W. Drezner, Hit & Run and FIRST DRAFT
David Willey / BBC:
Pope Benedict XVI
Discussion:
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Reid J. Epstein / Politico:
Biden praises Pope Benedict's integrity, jokes he won't run to succeed him
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Phil Bronstein / Esquire:
The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden... Is Screwed — For the first time, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden tells his story — speaking not just about the raid and the three shots that changed history, but about the personal aftermath for himself and his family.
Discussion:
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Kevin Grandia / Firedoglake:
New Study Finds Koch Bros. Tried to Start Tea Party Movement in 2002 — Were David Koch (and his brother Charles) planning to astroturf the Tea Party even earlier than formerly suspected? — Shattering the public perception that the Tea Party is a spontaneous popular citizens movement …
Discussion:
Mock, Paper, Scissors and DeSmogBlog
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Brendan DeMelle / DeSmogBlog:
Study Confirms Tea Party Was Created by Big Tobacco and Billionaires
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs and The Raw Story
Glenn Thrush / Politico:
Obama's State of the Union: Aggressive — President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech will be less a presidential olive branch than a congressional cattle prod. — Emboldened by electoral victory and convinced the GOP is unwilling to cut deals, Obama plans to use his big prime …
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Chris Moody / Yahoo! News:
Democrats offer ‘prebuttal’ to Marco Rubio's rebuttal of Obama's State of the Union Address — Keep up, if you can—things are about to get strange. — In preparation for President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday night, the Democratic National Committee …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Jammie Wearing Fools
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Ted Nugent to be guest at State of the Union — While other members of Congress are hosting gun-control advocates for Tuesday's State of the Union address, Rep. Steve Stockman has given one of his visitor's gallery tickets to Ted Nugent, the conservative gun-rights supporter.
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit and The Right Scoop
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Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Justice Ginsburg: The Senate Is ‘Destroying The United States’ Reputation... As A Beacon of Democracy' — Two years ago, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lamented that if she were nominated today to her current job on the Supreme Court, her “ACLU connection would probably disqualify” her from being confirmed.
Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
House Republicans Unlikely To Pass New Sequester Replacement Plan — Buried in this Politico story about the House GOP's sequester strategy is a key admission. … This is what Republicans — most recently House Majority Leader Eric Cantor — are obscuring when they claim, in Cantor's words …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice and msnbc.com
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Signs of bipartisanship offer Obama narrow window to move agenda
Discussion:
Booman Tribune
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Don't Believe the Hype — Let's just say it: Marco Rubio is the Wes Clark of 2013. Only with many fewer accomplishments. — It pains me to say this because I'm an admirer of Gen. Wesley Clark. I think he would have made a good president. He was an extremely accomplished career military officer.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Crooks and Liars, The Daily Caller and Booman Tribune
Charlie Spiering / Washington Examiner:
Biden: We're counting on ‘legitimate media’ for successful gun control effort … During a press conference on gun safety in Philadelphia, Vice President Joe Biden said that any reports that suggest that he was trying to take weapons away from gun owners was a “bunch of malarkey.”
Discussion:
protein wisdom, Mediaite and The PJ Tatler
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Justin Sink / The Hill:
Biden says gun lobby's depiction of Obama plan ‘a bunch of malarkey’
Discussion:
Chicago Tribune, Hot Air, Washington Examiner, Politico, CNN and Weasel Zippers
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
New Winger Conspiracy Theory Takes Flight — In the wake of news that Sen. Lindsey Graham is threatening to block the nominations of Hagel and Brennan, there's a whole new conspiracy theory bubbling up on the right. From ground zero of Obama era conspiracy theories comes the conspiracy theory …
Discussion:
Salon, Wonkette, The Atlantic Online and The Reaction
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
New Rove Group Could Backfire on G.O.P. — The strategist Karl Rove and his allies last week announced the formation of Conservative Victory Project, a new “super PAC” designed to lend support to what they see as more electable candidates in Republican Senate primaries.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Prairie Weather
New York Times:
Quietly Killing a Consumer Watchdog — If you'd like to know why Republicans are trying to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, take a look at three things the agency has already accomplished in its first 18 months: — ¶ It called a halt to predatory practices by mortgage lenders …
Discussion:
Hillman Foundation blogs, Prairie Weather, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Daily Kos
Ben Terris / NationalJournal.com:
The Curse of the State of the Union Aisle Seat — Lawmakers wait for hours to get one of these coveted seats, but at what cost? — Some members wait for hours just for a chance to be in this picture. (Richard A. Bloom/Photo illustration) — It was supposed to be one of the best seats in the House.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers, The Atlantic Online and TheBlaze.com
Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
Sen. Inhofe threatens filibuster to block Hagel — Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) on Sunday threatened to filibuster former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.)'s nomination for Defense secretary, if necessary to prevent his confirmation. — “I want a 60-vote margin and you don't have to filibuster to get that …
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Major Garrett / CBS News:
Hagel confirmation votes to be held this week
Discussion:
The Hill, National Review and Politico
Neil Irwin / Washington Post:
Is Congress really going to miss its free lunch on infrastructure? — Since the election, there have been hints that we could be entering a period with some actual productive, bipartisan dealmaking, most explicitly on immigration reform. But the Republican reaction to Obama's expected proposals …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, American Prospect, Mother Jones and No More Mister Nice Blog
Kate Sheppard / Mother Jones:
“We're Not Going to Be Pushed Around by the Antis” — Julie Burkhart is working to bring abortion care back to Wichita. — Wichita, Kansas, has been without a local abortion provider since an anti-abortion extremist murdered Dr. George Tiller in his church in May 2009.
Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:
Virginia Cuts State Employees' Hours To Avoid Providing Obamacare Coverage — As part of his state's new budget, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and his administration are trying to force potentially tens of thousands of public sector employees in the state to work fewer hours so that the government …
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