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Welcome to the Republican Party's make-believe fight to defund Obamacare. — If you're in a hurry, and you can only memorize one fact about the coming congressional debt and budget war, try this: There will be no “defunding of Obamacare.” It's impossible for Republicans to admit it …
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The GOP's Self-Defeating ‘Defunding’ Strategy — It will only strengthen the president while alienating independents. — In 2010, Republicans took the House of Representatives by gaining 63 seats. They also picked up six U.S. senators and 675 state legislators, giving them control …
Discussion:
Hawkings Here, Ballot Box, The Hill, Washington Post, NationalJournal.com, CNN, msnbc.com, PostPartisan, American Spectator, PoliticusUSA, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, Prairie Weather, The Plum Line, The Hill, The Daily Caller, First Read and New York Times

House Republicans Pass Deep Cuts in Food Stamps — WASHINGTON — House Republicans narrowly pushed through a bill on Thursday that slashes billions of dollars from the food stamp program, over the objections of Democrats and a veto threat from President Obama.

Senate sees way forward on funding bill
Discussion:
National Review, The Huffington Post and The Hill


Boehner To Cruz: Time To Put Up Or Shut Up On Defunding Obamacare
Discussion:
CNN and National Review

New test could expose GOP's pack of charlatans
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Washington Examiner, PostPartisan, Hullabaloo and The Plum Line

Ted Cruz Digs Himself In Further On Obamacare: ‘Likely That It Will Take Another Election For A Full Repeal’
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Hill, BOR, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, The Hinterland Gazette, The Fix and The Plum Line

Obama's claim that non-budget items have ‘never’ been attached to the debt ceiling
Discussion:
Mediaite, Hot Air and Independent Journal Review


The GOP Is Threatening Murder-Suicide With New Shutdown Warnings
Discussion:
Washington Post, The PJ Tatler, NewsBusters and Democratic Policy & …

Some House GOP conservatives want Cruz-Paul-Rubio-Lee filibuster on Obamacare defunding
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Hot Air and National Review


Pope, Criticizing Narrow Focus, Calls for Church as ‘Home for All’ — Six months into his papacy, Pope Francis sent shock waves through the Roman Catholic church on Thursday with the publication of his remarks that the church had grown “obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage and contraception …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, Advocate, The Other McCain, National Review, Taylor Marsh, The Dish, RH Reality Check, Gawker, PostPartisan, Firedoglake, DownWithTyranny!, Jezebel, Joe. My. God., ThinkProgress, NBC Latino, Mediaite, Guardian, The Hinterland Gazette, Balloon Juice, Althouse and Shakesville
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A Big Heart Open to God — The exclusive interview with Pope Francis — Editor's Note: This interview with Pope Francis took place over the course of three meetings during August 2013 in Rome. The interview was conducted in person by Antonio Spadaro, S.J., editor in chief of La Civiltà Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit journal.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Dish, PostPartisan, msnbc.com, Guardian, Firedoglake, CNN, The Week, LifeNews.com, The Lead with Jake Tapper, The ToastThe Toast, NPR, CBS DC and The Raw Story


Spitting on Their Graves: Democrats Leave Benghazi Hearing Before Testimony From Families of Victims — During the second portion of a House Oversight and Government Reform hearing about Benghazi Thursday on Capitol Hill, the majority of Democrats on the Committee left the room and refused …
Discussion:
Power Line, The Gateway Pundit, Bookworm Room, The PJ Tatler, Sister Toldjah and Hot Air
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Hillary Clinton's image control: Security swipes man's phone, erases pic of her at speech — Hillary Clinton quietly slipped into Miami on Thursday to address a travel agents convention in a speech where the former secretary of state said little about troubles abroad or the future ambitions of the likely presidential-race frontrunner.
Discussion:
The Hill

Democrats Refuse to Hear Testimony from Parents of Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods, Who Died in Benghazi
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Doug Ross, Weasel Zippers, Independent Journal Review, Twitchy and TheBlaze.com


Creepy Obamacare ad hits college campuses and your nightmares — There will be girls. There will be beer. There will be cornhole. And someone will be dressed in the creepiest Uncle Sam costume you've ever seen. — Welcome to the strange new front in the war over Obamacare.
Discussion:
The Caucus, A plain blog about politics, Liberal Values, Mediaite, Washington Wire, Los Angeles Times, Twitchy, BuzzFeed, Guardian, TheBlaze.com, ABC News, ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo, msnbc.com, The Week, Joe. My. God., The Raw Story, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Politico, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Independent Journal Review and Daily Kos
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WATCH: Anti-Obamacare Videos With ‘Creepy Uncle Sam’
Discussion:
CNN, Mashable, The PJ Tatler and A Spork in the Drawer


EXCLUSIVE: Two decades after her affair with Bill Clinton, Gennifer Flowers reveals they'd be together now if it wasn't for Chelsea and how former president confided in her that Hillary was bisexual — She bitterly regrets rejecting him when he last begged to see her and says he's the ‘love of her life’


DeLay thanks God after aquittal for money laundering — HOUSTON - Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay says he thanks God for his acquittal on money laundering charges, calling the prosecution, “an outrageous criminalization of politics.” — Lunching in the Capitol with other Texas Republicans Thursday …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Taegan Goddard's …
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Texas Court Overturns Conviction of DeLay
Discussion:
The Hill and Washington Monthly


Two Men Dead In Michigan Road Rage Shootout, Police Say — Police said two men died Wednesday after a shootout allegedly motivated by road rage, the Grand Rapids Press reported. — The initial police investigation showed Ionia, Mich. residents James Pullum, 43, and Robert Taylor, 56 …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
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Road rage shootout: 2 men killed identified after evening incident in Ionia
Discussion:
The Raw Story


Warming lull haunts authors of key climate report — STOCKHOLM (AP) — Scientists working on a landmark U.N. report on climate change are struggling to explain why global warming appears to have slowed down in the past 15 years even though greenhouse gas emissions keep rising.
Discussion:
PlanetSave
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Senator John McCain: Russians deserve better than Putin — When Pravda.ru editor, Dmitry Sudakov, offered to publish my commentary, he referred to me as “an active anti-Russian politician for many years.” I'm sure that isn't the first time Russians have heard me characterized as their antagonist.
Discussion:
Business Insider, TheBlaze.com, Wall Street Journal, WorldViews, The Stranger …, Guardian, The Moderate Voice, msnbc.com, CNN, Gawker, Associated Press, New York Times, The Dish, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, NPR, World News, National Review, Yahoo! News, Independent Journal Review, Hot Air, The Hinterland Gazette, Talking Points Memo, Post Politics, The PJ Tatler and CBS DC
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Truthfully, John McCain in wrong Pravda
Discussion:
Hot Air, English pravda.ru, Weasel Zippers, Guardian, Joe. My. God., TheBlaze.com, Business Insider, The Moderate Voice, Mediaite and Connecting.the.Dots


AllThingsD parting ways with Dow Jones — AllThingsD and The Wall Street Journal call it quits. — FORTUNE — The team behind influential tech site AllThingsD is severing ties with founding owner Dow Jones, a subsidiary of News Corp. (NWS). A formal statement is expected later today.
Discussion:
New York Times, Politico, TechCrunch, Mashable, The Verge, Gawker, Deadline.com and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »


Justice Dept. watchdog never probed judges' NSA concerns — In response to a FOIA request from USA TODAY, the Justice Department said its ethics office never looked into complaints from two federal judges that they had been misled about NSA surveillance. — CONNECT
Discussion:
Hit & Run and emptywheel
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DOJ spox to USA Today: ‘I will save what I have for another outlet’
Discussion:
Techdirt and Popehat, more at Mediagazer »

GOP plans ‘one man, one woman’ law in wake of same-sex marriage ruling — A group of Republicans in the House is set to unveil a proposal aimed at protecting conservative groups in the wake of the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. — Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) …
Discussion:
Politico, The Volokh Conspiracy and Joe. My. God.
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New bipartisan bill protects groups that don't support same-sex marriage
Discussion:
Human Rights Campaign Blog, NOM Blog, Towleroad News #gay and Daily Kos

Obama: ‘Raising the Debt Ceiling...Does Not Increase Our Debt,’ Though It Has ‘Over 100 Times’ — Raising the debt ceiling doesn't increase the nation's debt, Pres. Obama declared in a speech today. — In a speech at the Business Roundtable headquarters in Washington, D.C. …
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Yes, Americans Like the Debt Ceiling - And it Matters
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The Plum Line, Business Insider, The Mahablog, National Review and Taegan Goddard's …


Colorado House Republicans Unanimously Support Flood Relief, Unanimously Opposed Sandy Aid — As historic floods of “biblical” proportions continue to ravage Colorado, President Obama signed an emergency declaration on Sunday — a move that was encouraged by a bipartisan letter last week …
Discussion:
The Colorado Independent and The Raw Story

My Shutdown Lament — I have a problem. My job is to keep up with the world of politics and then write commentary, explanations, and analysis that readers will find interesting, entertaining, or informative. Sometimes that involves big-picture looks at policy issues …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo


Syria's Assad: Removing chemicals a sensitive operation — Syrian President Assad said the cost for removing chemicals from Syria would be $1B. — CONNECT — Syrian President Bashar Assad wants to cooperate with diplomatic agreements that would compel his country to be rid …
Discussion:
CNN, Hot Air, National Review, Los Angeles Times, The PJ Tatler and TheBlaze.com