Top Items:
Neil King Jr / Wall Street Journal:
Poll Finds Republicans Gain Favor on Key Issues — The Republican Party is gaining a public-opinion edge on several key issues ahead of the 2014 elections, as Americans question President Barack Obama's leadership on Syria and worry about the country's overall direction, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Via Meadia, American Power, Mediaite, The Hill and Washington Free Beacon
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Lucy McCalmont / Politico:
NBC/WSJ poll: GOP on the rise — Republicans are now leading Democrats on handling several key issues, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll. — The poll, released Friday, shows more Americans think that the Republicans are doing a better job on the economy, foreign policy and reducing the federal deficit.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
The House GOP Is About to Crack Up: Three Theories Why — Lots of people think John Boehner has lost control of the House Republican caucus. Apparently John Boehner does, too. — On Wednesday, the speaker and his lieutenants had to stage yet another embarrassing retreat—this time …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Plum Line, Politico, The Dish, Business Insider, Wonkblog, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, The Week, First Read and Mother Jones
Domenico Montanaro / NBCNews:
Poll: 44 percent of Americans oppose raising debt ceiling — Americans overwhelmingly do not think Congress should raise the nation's debt limit as President Barack Obama and Congress prepare once again to wage battle over the issue, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider, Hot Air, National Review and Talking Points Memo
Elise Viebeck / The Hill:
Forty-three House Republicans back bill to defund ObamaCare — Forty-three House Republicans on Thursday endorsed legislation that would keep the government open while defunding ObamaCare. — The sponsorship total reveals that there is a significant bloc of opposition to a plan from GOP leaders …
Discussion:
Roll Call, Shakesville and The Hill
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Boehner Seeking Democrats' Help on Fiscal Talks
Boehner Seeking Democrats' Help on Fiscal Talks
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos, First Read and Talking Points Memo
Politico:
Will Democrats haul out hookers in David Vitter fight?
Will Democrats haul out hookers in David Vitter fight?
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Reuters and E2-Wire
Domenico Montanaro / NBCNews:
Wall Street remains highly unpopular five years after crisis
Wall Street remains highly unpopular five years after crisis
Discussion:
The Plum Line, No More Mister Nice Blog, First Read and Washington Free Beacon
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The fruits of epic incompetence — The president of the United States takes to the airwaves to urgently persuade the nation to pause before doing something it has no desire to do in the first place. — Strange. And it gets stranger still. That “strike Syria, maybe” …
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Steven T. Dennis / Roll Call:
Decisiveness Overrated? White House Thinks Yes — President Barack Obama's Syria strategy may not have been particularly decisive, but that's not a bad thing, according to the White House. — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney defended his boss Thursday after a blistering few weeks …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Right Wing News, Hot Air and The Gateway Pundit
Robert F. Worth / New York Times:
Listing Demands, Assad Uses Crisis to His Advantage
Listing Demands, Assad Uses Crisis to His Advantage
Discussion:
The Hugh Hewitt Show and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Rod Bastanmehr / Alternet:
Trayvon Martin's Medical Examiner: Prosecution Threw the Case — Fired Zimmerman trial coroner says conviction was never going to happen. — A recent revelation in the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case could, and should spark a new wave of outrage. — Dr. Shiping Bao …
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Hinterland Gazette
Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
In Email, Zimmerman's Local Police Chief Agrees He's Another ‘Sandy Hook’ Waiting To Happen — Police Chief Steve Bracknell, who is responsible for the Florida town where George Zimmerman resides, agreed in a series of emails that Zimmerman is a “ticking time bomb” and another “Sandy Hook” waiting to happen.
Discussion:
The Hinterland Gazette, Taylor Marsh, Salon, addictinginfo.org, Mediaite and Shakesville
McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:
Rand Paul On The War Path — Once dismissed by the GOP establishment as a gadfly, Paul is starting to look a lot like the leader of his party — and his enemies are panicking. “There's a big transition in the Republican Party,” the Kentucky senator says in a BuzzFeed interview. — John Gara
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The Fix, Hit & Run, BOR and Politico
Facebook:
Ron Paul · 1,163,250 like this — We're supposed to believe that the perpetrators of 9/11 hated us for our freedom and goodness. In fact, that crime was blowback for decades of US intervention in the Middle East. And the last thing we needed was the government's response …
Discussion:
Right Turn and American Spectator
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Denver Post:
COLORADO FLOOD: DAMS BREAK IN LARIMER AND ADAMS COUNTIES; OVERFLOWING IN BOULDER — Record-shattering rainstorms across Colorado's Front Range led to flooding that blew out at least six dams Thursday, stranding a Larimer County family on the second floor of their home and breaching a federal stormwater holding pond northeast of Denver.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Shakesville and USA Today
Rebecca Shabad / The Hill:
Kerry heads to Israel for peace talks — Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in the latest round of Middle East peace talks. — “The purpose of the visit is to have an in-depth discussion between the Israelis and Palestinians …
Discussion:
Politico
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Wall Street Journal:
Elite Syrian Unit Scatters Chemical Arms Stockpile — Assad Regime Has Moved Weapons to as Many as 50 Sites — A secretive Syrian military unit at the center of the Assad regime's chemical weapons program has been moving stocks of poison gases and munitions to as many as 50 sites …
Discussion:
Hot Air, National Review, Israel Matzav, americanthinker.com, New York Times and NPR
Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Putin gets his revenge on Obama — Russian President Vladimir Putin's criticism of the United States in the op-ed pages of Thursday's New York Times was a revenge of sorts on President Obama. — Putin blasted notions of American “exceptionalism” and directly criticized Obama's proposed military strikes …
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Roger Cohen / New York Times:
An Anchorless World — BERLIN — At dinner the other night …
An Anchorless World — BERLIN — At dinner the other night …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Hot Air, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post
Washington Times:
Emails show IRS' Lois Lerner specifically targeted tea party — Lois G. Lerner, the woman at the center of the Internal Revenue Service scandal over special scrutiny of conservative groups, specifically targeted tea party applications and directed that they be held up in 2011 in order to come …
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys and Right Wing News
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Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
GOP lawmaker calls for criminal penalties against IRS's Lerner
Matthew Klein / Bloomberg:
Why Michael Woodford Thinks the Fed Should Taper — Michael Woodford is one of the world's preeminent monetary theorists, which is why you should read the thorough profile written about him by my colleagues at Bloomberg Markets. Buried inside the article is the revelation that Woodford wants …
Discussion:
Paul Krugman and Marginal Revolution
Ben White / Politico:
Investors expect Fed to tap brakes - Twitter going public - Goldman scores top underwriting spot — FIRST LOOK: INVESTORS EXPECT FED TO TAP THE BRAKES — Per a Potomac Research Group survey out this morning : “A clear majority of leading investment professionals expect that the Fed …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post and DealBook
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Rich Man's Recovery — A few days ago, The Times published a report on a society that is being undermined by extreme inequality. This society claims to reward the best and brightest regardless of family background. In practice, however, the children of the wealthy benefit from opportunities …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Wonkblog, The Glittering Eye, Prairie Weather, Crooks and Liars and The Daily Beast
Monte Morin / Los Angeles Times:
NASA confirms Voyager 1 has left the solar system — This post has been corrected. See the note below for details. — NASA confirmed Thursday that after 36 years of space travel and months of heated debate among scientists, Voyager 1 has indeed left our solar system and had entered interstellar space more than a year ago.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Calculated Risk, Outside the Beltway, The Week and New York Times