memeorandum: State employees say LePage pressured them to deny jobless benefits (Christopher Williams/Sun Journal)

6:45 AM ET, April 12, 2013

Top Items:

WFPL:

Source: Progress Kentucky Behind Mitch McConnell Campaign Recording — A secret recording of a campaign strategy session between U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and his advisors was taped by leaders of the Progress Kentucky super PAC, says a longtime local Democratic operative.

Jim Acosta / CNN:

Was it ‘three times’ or ‘free time’ on McConnell tape? — (CNN) - One of the questions to emerge from that secret recording of a Mitch McConnell campaign strategy session is whether it proves the Senate Minority Leader is caught on tape misusing his congressional staff.

Discussion: Daily Kos and The Impolitic

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:

The Disastrous Collapse Of Kentucky's Least Effective Liberal Group — Whatever Progress Kentucky is trying to do, it should probably stop right now. — Via: Win McNamee / Getty Images — WASHINGTON — It's probably possible for a political group to be worse at accomplishing its core mission …

Discussion: Fox News Insider

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Progress Kentucky official resigns — Pressure is growing Thursday afternoon on a liberal super PAC in Kentucky accused of surreptitiously recording a strategy session held by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. — Jacob Conway, the Jefferson County Democratic Party's executive committee member …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Firedoglake and NewsBusters blogs

First Read:
Liberal Ky. group spotlighted in McConnell audio probe

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Politico

New York Times:

Pentagon Says Nuclear Missile Is in Grasp for North Korea — WASHINGTON — A new assessment of North Korea's nuclear capability conducted by the Pentagon's intelligence arm has concluded for the first time, with “moderate confidence,” that the country has learned how to make a nuclear weapon small enough …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, IHT Rendezvous, Daily Mail, WFPL, Washington Free Beacon and Hot Air

Associated Press:

Obama urges NKorea to end belligerence, vows to take ‘necessary steps’ to protect Americans — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Thursday urged North Korea to end its brazen nuclear threats against the U.S. and its allies, warning the unpredictable communist regime that his administration would …

Discussion: Associated Press and The Moderate Voice

Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:
Pentagon Report Says North Korea Likely Has Nuclear Warheads

Discussion: Business Insider and BizPac Review

Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:
How Scared Should You Be About North Korea?

Discussion: Addicting Info, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and Michael J. Totten's blog

Juana Summers / Politico:
Report: North Korea may have missile-capable nuclear weapons

Discussion: CNN

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Federal Officials Aim For “Speedy” Response Following Missouri Hospital Arrest — After the arrest of gay patient's partner in Missouri's Research Medical Center, federal officials are “working to gather the facts and determine what steps to take in a speedy manner.” — Via: facebook.com

Discussion: Hullabaloo and AMERICAblog

David Edwards / The Raw Story:
Missouri man arrested at hospital for refusing to leave gay partner

Discussion: fox4kc.com and BuzzFeed

Katie Ferrell / fox4kc.com:
Man no longer allowed to visit husband at KC hospital

Discussion: Addicting Info, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress, AMERICAblog, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Advocate, Towleroad News #gay and Gawker

Facebook:

Congressman Jeff Duncan · 8,245 like this — Let's not kid ourselves. Expanded background checks and gun show requirements would have had NO effect on stopping Aurora, Sandy Hook or Tucson. Nor would they have any effect on the violent gun-crime in Chicago. — Let's get tough on criminals.

Discussion: Politico, Daily Kos and Mother Jones

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

GOP Rep. Duncan likens gun registration to Rwandan genocide — Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) warned in a Facebook post on Thursday that a national gun registry would be similar to a database used by the ruling Hutu tribe in Rwanda in the 1990s to locate and slaughter members of an opposing tribe …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

The Morning Plum: How expanded background checks could pass the House — The Senate will vote today on starting debate on the new bipartisan compromise proposal to expand gun background checks, and all signs are that enough Republican Senators will vote Yes to break the filibuster being mounted by a bloc of far right Senators.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, The Week, Outside the Beltway, Wonkblog, The Hill, The National Memo and ThinkProgress

Politico:
John Boehner on hot seat as Senate acts

Discussion: NRA-ILA News, A plain blog about politics, Heritage Action for America and First Read

Tom Cohen / CNN:
Senate overcomes filibuster, clearing the way for debate on gun bill

Discussion: BuzzFeed, The Impolitic, New York Times and Booman Tribune

Pat Toomey:

Sen. Toomey Offers Full Text Of Public Safety And Second Amendment Rights Protection Act Online — Public Will Have Ample Opportunity To Review & Provide Input On Important Measure — WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) tonight posted the bill text of The Public Safety …

Discussion: Post Politics, Hot Air, PJ Media, Politico, The Raw Story and Mediaite

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Elizabeth Warren Tears Into Federal Regulators For Shielding Big Banks — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) embarrassed government regulators during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday morning as she demanded to know why they won't reveal how frequently big banks illegally foreclosed on homeowners.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, United States Senate Committee …, Daily Kos and DealBook

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Federal Appeals Court Explains Why Rubber Fetuses And High Schools Don't Mix — An anti-abortion student group in Roswell, New Mexico thought it would be a good idea to pass out hundreds of small rubber replicas of fetuses to students at two high schools. As it turns out, this was not such a good idea:

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The Raw Story

DealBook:

Never Mind Facebook; Winklevoss Twins Rule in Digital Money — The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler — Olympic rowers, nemeses of Mark Zuckerberg — are laying claim to a new title: bitcoin moguls. — The Winklevii, as they are known, have amassed since last summer what appears …

Discussion: Daily Mail, TechCrunch, Wonkblog, Gawker and Firedoglake

Wall Street Journal:

The President's Priorities — Debt in 2014 will hit 78.2% of the economy. — President Obama is pitching his new budget proposal as a fiscal peace offering to Republicans, but the details suggest everyone should expect more conflict. The fiscal 2014 plan he released Wednesday …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, TheBlaze.com and CNSNews

Zack Colman / E2-Wire:
Liberal Dems press White House to reject Keystone pipeline

Discussion: National Republican …

Hollie McKay / Fox News:

Jane Fonda tells veterans boycotting her movie ‘The Butler’ to ‘get a life’ — LOS ANGELES - When Jane Fonda was cast as former First Lady Nancy Reagan in Lee Daniels' forthcoming film “The Butler,” some Reagan fans were not pleased. Now, with the biographical due to hit theaters in October …

Discussion: Blazing Cat Fur, Conservatives4Palin, Moonbattery, his vorpal sword, Weasel Zippers and The Hinterland Gazette

Felix Salmon:

The promise of Ripple — This is a chart of the value of bitcoin yesterday, Wednesday. It's hardly a secret that bitcoins are a highly volatile asset class, so relatively few eyebrows were raised when the price soared from an opening level of $230 all the way to a high of $266.

Discussion: Business Insider, The Week, The Dish, VentureBeat and TechCrunch

Maxim Lott / Fox News:

US gives 4 more F-16 fighter jets to Egyptian government despite outcry — Four more F-16 fighter jets left the U.S. on Thursday headed for Egypt as part of a foreign aid package that has generated controversy given the political upheaval in the Mideast country.

Discussion: BizPac Review, Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit

Sebnem Arsu / New York Times:

Turkish Police Say U.S. Embassy Was Target of Bomb Plot — ISTANBUL — Turkish police said Thursday that they found evidence of a plot linked to Al Qaeda to bomb the United States Embassy in Ankara, a synagogue in Istanbul and other targets, during a raid on two houses in February, according to news reports.

Discussion: Israel Matzav and Atlas Shrugs