Top Items:
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Harry Reid escalates nuclear threat in a big way — An important moment on the Senate floor just now: Harry Reid said he would be filing cloture today on a whole bunch of executive nominations, and challenged Republicans to act on them — a major escalation of the threat to change the Senate rules …
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Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
Mitch McConnell's problem: How can he threaten to obstruct the Senate even more? — There's a reason the Senate majority rarely goes through with filibuster reform: The minority can make the aftermath hellish. — Will Harry Reid actually change the rules? (Michael Reynolds/EPA)
Discussion:
The World's Greatest …
Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Democrats Poised to Limit Filibusters, Angering G.O.P. — WASHINGTON — A confrontation in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats over the confirmation of President Obama's cabinet nominees edged closer on Thursday toward a showdown over changing the rules on filibusters.
Discussion:
Senator Harry Reid, The Hill, ACS Blog, Washington Monthly, The Impolitic and Salon
Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Reid: McConnell Broke His Word On Filibuster, So The Nuclear Option Is On The Table
Reid: McConnell Broke His Word On Filibuster, So The Nuclear Option Is On The Table
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and Yahoo! News
Ian Swanson / The Hill:
House approves farm bill in big win for Boehner, GOP leaders — The House approved a stripped-down farm bill Thursday in a tight 216-208 vote, giving a huge boost to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other Republican leaders after the embarrassing failure of an earlier bill last month.
Discussion:
Yahoo! News and Daily Kos
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Ed O'Keefe / Post Politics:
Farm Bill passes in House, without food stamp funding
Farm Bill passes in House, without food stamp funding
Discussion:
Wonkblog, Crooks and Liars, aflcio.org, Daily Kos, The Hill and The Plum Line
Charles Abbott / Reuters:
White House threatens veto of farm bill that drops food stamps
White House threatens veto of farm bill that drops food stamps
Discussion:
New York Times, USA Today, Shakesville, The Hill, msnbc.com, The Heritage Foundation, Hot Air and Politico
Mary Clare Jalonick / Associated Press:
House Passes Farm Bill, Now Without Food Stamp Cuts
House Passes Farm Bill, Now Without Food Stamp Cuts
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, A plain blog about politics and Associated Press
New York Times:
Republicans in House Resist Overhaul for Immigration — WASHINGTON — Meeting for the first time as a group to hash out their approach to immigration, House Republicans on Wednesday came down overwhelmingly against a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration laws …
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Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
Pelosi Draws Her Bright Lines On Immigration Reform — After a two-hour meeting Wednesday in the Capitol basement, House Republicans were no closer to an immigration reform consensus other than that they don't like the Senate bill, they don't like big bills, and they don't like a …
Discussion:
National Review, Balloon Juice and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Elizabeth Harrington / CNSNews:
Pelosi: The Employer Mandate ‘Was Not Delayed’
Pelosi: The Employer Mandate ‘Was Not Delayed’
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Examiner, Hit & Run, Power Line, Weasel Zippers, Michelle Malkin and The PJ Tatler
Guardian:
Revealed: how Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages — • Secret files show scale of Silicon Valley co-operation on Prism — • Outlook.com encryption unlocked even before official launch — • Skype worked to enable Prism collection of video calls
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, The Atlantic Wire, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hill, KDVR.com, TechCrunch, Mediaite, The Verge, Gawker, emptywheel, Business Insider, GigaOM and The Raw Story
NME:
Jay-Z: ‘I get texts from President Obama, of course’ — Rapper opens up his relationships with Rihanna, Jack White and daughter Blue Ivy — Jay-Z has opened up about his life in a new radio interview, revealing that he texts President Obama as well as discussing his relationships with Rihanna, Jack White and daughter Blue Ivy.
Discussion:
The Hill, Politico, Weasel Zippers, The Reliable Source and The Daily Caller
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Russell Berman / The Hill:
Boehner: House to vote next week on delaying ObamaCare mandates
Boehner: House to vote next week on delaying ObamaCare mandates
Discussion:
Politico, Yahoo! News and Washington Post
New York Post:
Spitzer a no-show in 2012 election vote after writing column about voting for Obama — Eliot Spitzer failed to vote in last year's presidential election — just four days after penning a column proclaiming “Why I Am Voting for Barack Obama,” The Post has learned.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Yahoo! News, Post Politics, Politico, Politicker, The Daily Caller, The PJ Tatler, National Review and Wall Street Journal
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Gail Collins / New York Times:
New York Sizzles — Positive aspects of New York City's Weiner-Spitzer summer:
Russ Schriefer / The Daily Beast:
Bill Clinton, the Original Sex Scandal Comeback Kid
Bill Clinton, the Original Sex Scandal Comeback Kid
Discussion:
FishbowlDC
New York Times:
Sudden Improvements in Egypt Suggest a Campaign to Undermine Morsi — CAIRO — The streets seethe with protests and government ministers are on the run or in jail, but since the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi, life has somehow gotten better for many people across Egypt …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Via Meadia, Gawker, The Week, Mondoweiss, ThinkProgress, World News and msnbc.com
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Ben Hubbard / New York Times:
Christians Targeted for Retribution in Egypt
Christians Targeted for Retribution in Egypt
Discussion:
Hot Air and Outside the Beltway
Michael J. Totten / Michael J. Totten's blog:
Getting the Muslim Brotherhood Wrong
Getting the Muslim Brotherhood Wrong
Discussion:
Washington Post
Howard Fineman / The Huffington Post:
Rand Paul Stands By His ‘Southern Avenger’ — WASHINGTON — In an interview with The Huffington Post, Sen. Rand Paul stoutly defended an aide who, as a radio shock jock in South Carolina, praised John Wilkes Booth, heaped scorn on Abraham Lincoln and wore a ski mask emblazoned with the stars and bars of the Confederate Battle Flag.
Eliott C. McLaughlin / CNN:
Ex-Sanford police chief: Zimmerman probe ‘taken away from us’ — (CNN) — The George Zimmerman investigation was hijacked “in a number of ways” by outside forces, said the former police chief of Sanford, Florida. — Bill Lee, who testified Monday in Zimmerman's second-degree murder trial …
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Samantha Maziarz Christmann / Buffalo News:
Wegmans cuts health benefits for part-time workers — Et tu, Wegmans? — The Rochester-based grocer that has been continually lauded for providing health insurance to its part-time workers will no longer offer that benefit. — Until recently, the company voluntarily offered health insurance …
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, Michelle Malkin, Red Alert Politics, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, The Other McCain and The PJ Tatler
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Republicans' Obamacare search-and-destroy mission — Watching House Republicans' latest complaint about Obamacare brings to mind the joke Woody Allen used to open “Annie Hall,” about two elderly women at a Catskills resort. — “Boy, the food at this place is really terrible,” says one.
Discussion:
Politico, his vorpal sword and msnbc.com
RELATED:
Emily Swanson / The Huffington Post:
Abortion Poll Finds Support For 20-Week Ban — Most Americans would favor sweeping new national restrictions on abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll. But the poll also shows many Americans remain conflicted in their views on abortion.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Weekly Standard, LifeNews.com and Washington Free Beacon
Sarah Palin / Facebook:
Sarah Palin · 3,554,768 like this — Really, Mark? Really? — Margaret Thatcher used to say, “I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.”
Discussion:
Conservatives4Palin, Mediaite, Politico and CNN
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Mark Begich / CNN:
Palin fires back in war of words with Begich
Palin fires back in war of words with Begich
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Politico and National Review
Sheelah Kolhatkar / Businessweek:
Hedge Funds Are for Suckers — At the height of the financial crisis in 2008, a group of famous hedge fund managers was made to stand before Congress like thieves in a stockade and defend their existence to an angry public. The gilded five included George Soros, co-founder of the Quantum Fund …
Discussion:
USA Today, Firedoglake, The Big Picture, Mashable, Althouse and The Week
Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
D.C. Council approves ‘living wage’ bill over Wal-Mart ultimatum — D.C. lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a bill requiring some large retailers to pay their employees a 50 percent premium over the city's minimum wage, a day after Wal-Mart warned that the law would jeopardize its plans in the city.
Brian Tashman / Right Wing Watch:
Robertson: ‘We Are Not Anti-Gay’ Since Gays Are Just Confused Straight People — Pat Robertson is disturbed that people, for whatever reason, might believe that he is somehow anti-gay. After all, how could blaming gays for 9/11, warning that gay rights will destroy America, using anti-gay slurs …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Mediaite, AMERICAblog, Taylor Marsh, The Raw Story and On Top Magazine Headlines