Top Items:


Erick Erickson Shows Everything That's Wrong With The GOP — Conservative pundit Erick Erickson doesn't like me. This morning he wrote 900 words about why. — But the main thing his post reveals is what's wrong with Erickson - and with a Republican party that is built to appeal to people like Erickson.
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, The Plum Line, Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong
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On Conservative Reformers — There is a lot of back and forth chatter …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Other McCain and The Daily Caller


Bob Woodward criticizes IRS ‘fiction’ — The Washington Post's Bob Woodward says the Obama administration has explaining to do on the IRS scandal and needs to answer questions about who knew what, when. — “This fiction that somehow [The IRS is] totally an independent agency is absurd,” …
Discussion:
Yahoo! News and No More Mister Nice Blog
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Accuse first and ask questions later — A third House committee joined the stampede to examine the IRS on Monday, and its chairman did exactly what you would expect somebody to do before launching a fair and impartial investigation: He went on Fox News Channel and implicated the White House.
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, Taylor Marsh, Right Wing News, The Hill and The Huffington Post

Emails of top Obama appointees remain a mystery — WASHINGTON (AP) - Some of President Barack Obama's political appointees, including the Cabinet secretary for the Health and Human Services Department, are using secret government email accounts they say are necessary to prevent their inboxes …
RELATED:

Bush Administration Appointees Also Used ‘Secret E-mail Addresses’
Discussion:
The Democratic Daily, Hit & Run and The Raw Story

Obama Names 3 to Top Appeals Court in Challenge to Republicans — WASHINGTON — President Obama set a confrontation with Senate Republicans in motion on Tuesday morning by naming a slate of judges to a top appeals court and daring his rivals to block their confirmations.
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Obama dares GOP to block three nominations to critical court
Discussion:
Politico

Obama's D.C. Circuit Picks Likely to Prompt GOP Outcry
Discussion:
Booman Tribune, Taegan Goddard's … and The World's Greatest …

Military brass oppose removing sexual assault cases from chain of command — Military leaders on Tuesday expressed unified opposition to stripping commanders of the power to decide where sexual assault cases are prosecuted. — In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee …
Discussion:
Politico, Outside the Beltway, Prairie Weather, CNN and Shakesville
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Sandra Fluke Redux? Senate Stacks the Deck Against Reformers in Sexual Assaults Crisis
Discussion:
BuzzFeed and Yahoo! News

U.S. military chiefs balk at taking sex-assault cases out of commanders' hands
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The Huffington Post, msnbc.com, ABCNEWS and Post Politics


Mississippi governor: Educational troubles began when ‘mom got in the workplace’ — VIDEO — Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) said Tuesday that America's educational troubles began when women began working outside the home in large numbers. — Bryant was participating …


The Latest Navy SEAL Book Could Impact the Military's Transgender Rules — In every Navy SEAL is a memoir, it seems lately. Retired SEAL Kristin Beck's new memoir, published on Tuesday and titled Warrior Princess, is a bit different, though. In it, Beck describes how …
Discussion:
Advocate, SOFREP, Business Insider, Towleroad News #gay, AMERICAblog, Outside the Beltway, Shakesville and Hullabaloo
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SEAL Team 6 Vet Comes Out As Transgender In New Memoir
Discussion:
ABCNEWS and The Raw Story

Is Obama waging psychological warfare on Americans? — I believe that the Obama administration is conducting psychological warfare on conservative Americans. Not only that but it is also waging this war on all Americans who previously viewed themselves, their country …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, Outside the Beltway and Shakesville


Court's DNA Ruling Brings U.S. a Step Closer to ‘Gattaca’ — The day that DNA cheek swabs officially became the new fingerprints deserves to be marked and remembered — and not just because of the inevitable march of technology. — No, the Supreme Court's 5-4 holding today in Maryland v. King …
Discussion:
SCOTUSblog and Althouse
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Baby boomers are killing themselves at an alarming rate, raising question: Why? — Last spring, Frank Turkaly tried to kill himself. A retiree in a Pittsburgh suburb living on disability checks, he was estranged from friends and family, mired in credit card debt and taking medication for depression …
Discussion:
ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Vox Popoli and Clayton Cramer's Blog


Harry Reid says immigration bill on floor next week — The Senate will begin considering the landmark immigration reform bill next week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday morning. — “Even if we we've not completed action on the farm bill or the student loans proposals …
Discussion:
CNN
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Rubio: Senate immigration reform bill lacks 60 votes
Discussion:
Politico


Death of Senator Places Christie in Difficult Spot — The death of Frank R. Lautenberg on Monday has left Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey with the kind of opportunity that politicians usually covet: the chance to give away a seat in the United States Senate.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Daily Kos, msnbc.com, Taegan Goddard's … and WJLA-TV
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Top Democrat to Christie: Hold senate election in November for Lautenberg's seat
Discussion:
Post Politics, The Week, First Read and Rothenblog


Democrats' 2014 strategy: Own Obamacare — Scarred by years of Republican attacks over Obamacare, with more in store next year, Democrats have settled on an unlikely strategy for the 2014 midterms: Bring it on. — Party strategists believe that embracing the polarizing law …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Sister Toldjah, Via Meadia, The Plum Line, americanthinker.com, National Review and CNBC


John McCain's Surprising Toast at Kissinger's 90th Birthday Party — At Henry Kissinger's 90th birthday party, the assembled VIP guests learned a piece of the past shared by the imprisoned Navy pilot and Nixon's secretary of state. — Henry Kissinger's 90th birthday party on Monday night …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's … and ABCNEWS

Iran, Hezbollah mine Latin America for revenue, recruits, analysts say — (CNN) — An Argentine special prosecutor's accusation that Iran has established terrorist networks throughout Latin America has renewed debate over how big a threat that poses to the region and the United States.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway


Citing Stand Your Ground, Jury Acquits Man Who Killed Wife's Lover — As trial approaches for the man who generated national controversy over Stand Your Ground laws when he shot dead 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on a Florida street, a jury has acquitted another man under Florida's controversial law …

House Republicans broken into fighting factions — On New Year's Day, in a cramped room in the Capitol basement, House Republican leaders faced an angry caucus. Democrats had negotiated them into a corner — virtually every American would be hit with a massive tax increase unless …
Discussion:
American Prospect, Yahoo! News, msnbc.com, PostPartisan, Taegan Goddard's …, Booman Tribune and Daily Kos


Behind the Rise in House Prices, Wall Street Buyers — The last time the housing market was this hot in Phoenix and Las Vegas, the buyers pushing up prices were mostly small time. Nowadays, they are big time — Wall Street big. — Large investment firms have spent billions of dollars …
Discussion:
The Week and Calculated Risk