memeorandum: When the facts change, should I change my mind? (Vince Cable/New Statesman)

7:25 PM ET, March 6, 2013

Top Items:

Chief White House Calligrapher Gets Paid $96,725 Per Year — With the White House closing its doors to public tour groups in order to save money for the sequester, it's worth remembering some of the other costs the White House incurs annually. — Like the “Chief Calligrapher,” …

Discussion: Hit & Run, The Shark Tank, Hot Air, Mediaite, TheBlaze.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Impolitic, The Daily Caller and Washington Times

James Joyner / Outside the Beltway:

Calligraphy-Gate — The Weekly Standard's Daniel Halper, who yesterday broke the story of a government leader reminding his employees to obey the law, unearths another scandal: the White House employs calligraphers. And pays them money! … Yes, it sounds a little silly that we're paying people …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Daily Caller and Weekly Standard

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Capitol janitors making ‘ends meet’ with overtime? Nope

Discussion: Fox News, Weekly Standard, NewsBusters, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications and Heritage Action for America

Donovan Slack / Politico:
6 Obama administration sequester claims shot down by fact checkers

Discussion: The Fix, White House Dossier, Right Turn, CNN and The PJ Tatler

Politico:
Now Dems worry: Did Obama cry wolf?

Discussion: CNN, Wonkblog, Salon, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Business Insider, Hot Air, The Huffington Post and The National Memo

Speaker.gov:
U.S. Capitol to Continue Welcoming Visitors for Public Tours

Discussion: New York Times

Jake Novak / CNBC:

Boehner Wants Budget Deals ‘Out in the Open’ — Supervising Producer for “The Kudlow Report” — House Speaker John Boehner told CNBC's Larry Kudlow on Wednesday that a long-term deal on entitlements is possible, and there's no good reason for the Obama team to have shut down the White House tour.

Discussion: Politico, First Read, Daily Kos, PoliticusUSA and Post Politics

New York Times:

Trying to Revive Talks, Obama Goes Around G.O.P. Leaders — WASHINGTON — With Republican leaders in Congress forswearing budget negotiations over new revenues, President Obama has begun reaching around them to Republican lawmakers with a history of willingness to cut bipartisan deals.

Discussion: The Plum Line, The Week, The Other McCain, The Hill, Campaign for America's Future, The Maddow Blog, The Caucus, American Prospect, The National Memo, First Read, Washington Post, Smartypants, Weekly Standard, NBCNews.com, susiemadrak.com and msnbc.com

Niels Lesniewski / Roll Call:
Filibuster Overhaul Effort Should Be Revived, Durbin Says

Discussion: American Prospect, Daily Kos and PostPartisan

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Republicans Have Won a Budget Battle, But Not the War

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Monthly, The Plum Line, Weasel Zippers, The Reaction, Jammie Wearing Fools, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider and Prairie Weather

Jon Cohen / The Fix:
Cut government spending? Sure....in theory.

Discussion: Firedoglake, CNN, Politico and Hot Air

Reuters:
Election bump over, Obama approval drops to 43 percent: Reuters/IPSOS poll

Discussion: Moe Lane, NBCNews.com, Hot Air, Scared Monkeys, The Moderate Voice, Weasel Zippers, Jammie Wearing Fools, The PJ Tatler and National Review

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:

Rand Paul launches talking filibuster against CIA nominee — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is staging a talking filibuster against the nomination of John Brennan to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). — “I'm here to filibuster John Brennan's nomination to be director of CIA,” Paul said on the Senate floor Wednesday.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, Post Politics, Washington Examiner, Hot Air, Babalú Blog, The Mental Recession and Outside the Beltway

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Rubio, NRSC heads join Rand Paul's filibuster — and could get political boost

Discussion: Politico

Josh Voorhees / Slate:
Rand Paul Has Started What Could Be an Epic Mr. Smith-Style Filibuster on the Senate Floor

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Senate Democrats Threaten To Reignite Filibuster Reform

Discussion: Wonkblog, A plain blog about politics and The Maddow Blog

Philip Ewing / Politico:
Rand Paul stops John Brennan action with filibuster

Discussion: Business Insider, The Week and Booman Tribune

William J. Dobson / Slate:

How his economically disastrous, politically effective ideology will haunt the country he ruined. — Even before Hugo Chávez died, he had become a ghost. A strange, unfamiliar quiet had fallen on Venezuela for weeks as people waited to hear the voice of the president who had been part of their daily lives for nearly 14 years.

Discussion: The Lede, The Dish, NewsBusters, The Week and IHT Rendezvous

Greg Grandin / The Nation:
On the Legacy of Hugo Chávez

Discussion: Mediaite, Twitchy, Babalú Blog, Weasel Zippers, Hit & Run, Hollywood Reporter, The Daily Caller, Belmont Club, Ed Driscoll, ThinkProgress and The Carter Center

Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
What I learned about Hugo Chávez's mental health when I visited Venezuela with Sean Penn.

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Week, Toronto Star, The Dish, The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, TheBlaze.com and News Desk, more at Mediagazer »

Rory Carroll / New York Times:
In the End, an Awful Manager

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Daily Beast, The Other McCain, National Review and Spectator

Zev Chafets / Vanity Fair:

Exclusive Excerpt: Roger Ailes Off Camera — Roger Ailes is one of the most powerful—and controversial—characters in television media, pilloried by critics and many in the mainstream media and lionized by conservative viewers who can't get enough of his posse of charismatic hosts.

Joleen Chaney / KFOR-TV:

GRAPHIC: Woman packing heat, drugs in private parts — WARNING: Content could be considered graphic to some audiences. — ADA, Okla. - An unusual and graphic case in Pontotoc County leads police to a bizarre find inside a female suspect. — It began at Dairy Lou Drive Inn in Ada.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Agoldberg / The Smoking Gun:

Cops: Perp Had Loaded Revolver In Her Vagina — Handgun was found inside Oklahoman during strip search — An Oklahoma woman arrested Monday on drug charges had a loaded handgun hidden in her vagina, according to police. — The weapon was discovered during a search of Christie Dawn Harris …

Discussion: Gawker, The Hinterland Gazette, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Balloon Juice

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Report: Mitt Romney takes job at son Tagg's investment firm — Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be returning to work, joining his son Tagg's investment firm. — Romney will serve as chairman of the executive committee for Solamere Capital, where he'll work for one week …

Discussion: CNN

Sarah B. Boxer / NBCNews.com:
Romney returning to the private sector

Discussion: Politico and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Lindsey Graham: Hurricane Victims Need Assault Weapons To Shoot ‘Roaming Gangs’ — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) pushed back against efforts to limit the availability of assault weapons during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday by echoing the paranoia of the National Rifle Association …

Discussion: Video Cafe blogs

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Graham on Obama invite: ‘How do you say no to the president?’

Discussion: Politico

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:

Ted Cruz Goads Eric Holder Into Admitting That Killing Americans With Drones On U.S. Soil Is Unconstitutional — On Tuesday, the Department of Justice sent shockwaves through the nation when Attorney General Eric Holder informed Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in writing that the White House …

Discussion: Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, The Shark Tank, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Mother Jones

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
Killing Americans on U.S. Soil: Eric Holder's Evasive, Manipulative Letter

Discussion: The Raw Story, msnbc.com, Hit & Run, emptywheel and CP Feed

Guardian:

Revealed: Pentagon link to Iraq torture centres — Exclusive: General David Petraeus and ‘dirty wars’ veteran behind commando units implicated in detainee abuse — See the full-length documentary film of the 15-month investigation — The Pentagon sent a US veteran of the “dirty wars” …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Talking Points Memo, The Dish and susiemadrak.com

Spencer Ackerman / Wired:

Over $8B of the Money You Spent Rebuilding Iraq Was Wasted Outright — The never-completed Khan Bani Sa'ad Prison in Diyala, Iraq. Ultimately, the U.S. spent $40 million on the aborted project. Photo courtesy of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction

Discussion: The Dish

sigir.mil:
Learning From Iraq — A Final Report From the Special Inspector …

Discussion: The Hill, The Huffington Post, The Week, Online NewsHour, Hot Air and New York Times

Carl Campanile / New York Post:

Mayor Bloomberg's new health crusade: too-loud earbuds — Now listen up, if you can. — Mayor Bloomberg — who has already cracked down on smoking, junk food, trans fats, salt and super-sized drinks — is embarking on a new crusade: preventing New Yorkers from going deaf.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, NBCNews.com, Gothamist, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Michelle Malkin, The PJ Tatler and Jammie Wearing Fools

John Bachman / WSB-TV:

City looks to make gun ownership mandatory — Every homeowner in a local town could soon have to own a gun or break the law. It's a controversial new plan for the city of Nelson. — NELSON, Ga. — Every homeowner in a local town could soon have to own a gun or break the law.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Red Alert Politics, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mediaite, The PJ Tatler, BuzzFeed, The Raw Story and Shakesville

Vince Cable / New Statesman:

When the facts change, should I change my mind? — The long economic stagnation of post-crisis Britain. — The British economy is still operating at levels around or below those before the 2008 financial crisis and roughly 15 per cent below an albeit unsustainable pre-crisis trend.

Discussion: Guardian, Spectator and BBC

Erik Eckholm / New York Times:

Arkansas Adopts Strictest Abortion Law in the U.S. — In the sharpest challenge yet to Roe v. Wade, Arkansas adopted Wednesday what is by far the country's most restrictive ban on abortion, at 12 weeks of pregnancy, around the time that a fetal heartbeat can be detected by abdominal ultrasound.

Discussion: Liberal Values and Shakesville