memeorandum: F.A.A. Nears New Rules on Devices (New York Times)

9:15 PM ET, September 23, 2013

Top Items:

Ted Cruz: The Distinguished Wacko Bird from Texas — In less than a year, Texas Republican Ted Cruz has become the most despised man in the U.S. Senate. He's been likened to Joe McCarthy, accused of behaving like a schoolyard bully, and smeared by senior members of his own party.

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Harry Reid Shoots Down Ted Cruz On Defunding Obamacare — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) objected on Monday to Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) request for unanimous consent to pass the House's continuing resolution to defund Obamacare. — Reid also objected to a request by Cruz …

Discussion: The World's Greatest … and Daily Kos

Sen. Ted Cruz / Real Clear Politics:
The Path to Victory — Just a few weeks ago the Washington …

Discussion: The Plum Line, Politico, Daily Kos, Mediaite, The Week, ABC News, ABC News, The Mahablog, Yahoo! News, msnbc.com and National Review

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:
Reid, Cruz begin ObamaCare slugfest

Discussion: Politico

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:
Lindsey Graham Knocks Ted Cruz Strategy For Defunding Obamacare: ‘Not The Best Tactic’

Discussion: The Plum Line and ThinkProgress

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Ted Cruz Announces That He Will Filibuster House Bill That Defunds Obamacare

Discussion: BOR, msnbc.com, The Moderate Voice, Los Angeles Times, Fox News, Politico, The Dish, Balloon Juice, PoliticusUSA, Twitchy and Mediaite

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Blame for Both Sides as Possible Government Shutdown Approaches — Tea Party Reps Say Stick to Principles, Even if Shutdown Results — If the federal government shuts down because Republicans and the Obama administration fail to agree on a budget, there will be plenty of blame to go around.

Discussion: NPR, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Post Politics, Taegan Goddard's … and p m carpenter's commentary

Jonathan Bernstein / American Prospect:

The Day after Shutdown — So it's October ... or maybe it's six or ten weeks later, after a short-term continuing resolution has come and gone. The clock strikes midnight, Congress has failed to fund the government, and the next day it shuts down. — What happens next?

Discussion: Economix, PostPartisan, Washington Monthly, Politico, The Plum Line and A plain blog about politics

Steve Liesman / CNBC:
Most Americans against defunding Obamacare: Survey

Discussion: Hot Air, Post Politics, msnbc.com, Washington Post, Daily Pundit, Washington Wire, Taegan Goddard's …, Conservative Intelligence … and The Dish

Frank Newport / Gallup:
Americans' Desire for Gov't Leaders to Compromise Increases

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Real Clear Politics, The Moderate Voice and The Fix

Abby D. Phillip / ABC News:

Clinton World Hints at Ditching Old Baggage for Hillary Run … Hillary Clinton's first major print interview since leaving the Obama administration seven months ago leaves two inescapable impressions: She is running in 2016, and this campaign won't look anything like her failed 2008 run.

Discussion: Politico, CNN and Taylor Marsh

New York Magazine:

Hillary in Midair — Her former staffers argue that she managed a host of important, if underrecognized, global flare-ups along the way, from freeing a dissident in China to brokering the easing of sanctions against Burma. “She helped avert a second war in Gaza by going out and pulling off that cease-fire …

Discussion: Daily Kos and Runnin' Scared

First Read:
First Thoughts: The next eight days

Discussion: CNN, American Prospect, Salon, Politico and Taegan Goddard's …

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
How long can Hillary Clinton wait?

Discussion: Fox News, Shakesville and KTLA 5

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Sorry, The Latest Anti-Obamacare Article To Go Viral Is Totally Wrong — An article published by Forbes claiming that Obamacare will increase health care costs by $7,450 for a typical family of four is spreading like wildfire across the internet, but causing eye rolls from economists across the country.

Chris Conover / Forbes:

Obamacare Will Increase Health Spending By $7,450 For A Typical Family of Four — It was one of candidate Obama's most vivid and concrete campaign promises. Forget about high minded (some might say high sounding) but gauzy promises of hope and change. This candidate solemnly pledged on June 5 …

Discussion: USA Today, Politico, Bookworm Room and Shakesville

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:
Exclusive: Rand Paul wants Chief Justice Roberts, all federal workers, to enroll in Obamacare

Discussion: Pirate's Cove, Shakesville and Talking Points Memo

Robert Pear / New York Times:

Lower Health Insurance Premiums to Come at Cost of Fewer Choices — WASHINGTON — Federal officials often say that health insurance will cost consumers less than expected under President Obama's health care law. But they rarely mention one big reason: many insurers are significantly limiting …

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Post, Politico, Flopping Aces, Sister Toldjah, The Feehery Theory, The Heritage Foundation, Wonkblog, National Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Free Beacon, Corrente, Twitchy, Marginal Revolution and Seeing the Forest

Washington Post:

Nationalities of Kenya shopping mall gunmen unknown — NAIROBI — Kenyan security forces on Monday seized control of a luxury shopping mall that had been attacked by Islamist militants, but officials said some assailants remained hidden inside stores in the mall and little was known …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, New York Times, The Agonist, Taylor Marsh, ThinkProgress, Simply Left BehindThe … and TIME

NBCNews:
‘Bodies everywhere’: Survivor stories emerge as Kenya mall siege goes on

Discussion: msnbc.com

Lauren French / Politico:

Lois Lerner still Hill's favorite piñata — Lois Lerner is the political piñata that Congress still loves to whack months after she awkwardly acknowledged that the IRS wrongly scrutinized conservative groups for years. — Her sudden retirement on Monday after 12 years at the agency won't change that.

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed and White House Dossier

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Lois Lerner, IRS official at heart of tea party scandal, retires

Discussion: NewsBusters, The Heritage Foundation and Ed Driscoll

Michael Laris / Washington Post:

E.W. Jackson says non-Christians are engaged in ‘some sort of false religion’ — At a morning sermon Sunday in Northern Virginia, Republican lieutenant governor candidate E.W. Jackson, a Chesapeake pastor, said people who don't follow Jesus Christ “are engaged in some sort of false religion.”

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ThinkProgress, Mediaite and Outside the Beltway

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Bush: Obama should play golf — Former President George W. Bush said President Obama should not be criticized over his frequent golf outings. — Former President George W. Bush said President Obama should not be criticized over his frequent golf outings.

Discussion: Hot Air, Politico, CNN, Mediaite and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Joy Wilke / Gallup:

Americans' Belief That Gov't Is Too Powerful at Record Level — Record number of Republicans say the federal government has too much power — PRINCETON, NJ — Six in 10 Americans (60%) believe the federal government has too much power, one percentage point above the previous high recorded in September 2010.

Discussion: BuzzFeed and The Daily Caller

Daily Local News:

CASD in crisis after racially-charged text messages surface — The abrupt departure of the Coatesville Area School District superintendent and another senior administrator came two weeks after numerous exchanges of inappropriate and racially-charged text messages were discovered …

Discussion: The Raw Story, The Hinterland Gazette, Mediaite and The Other McCain

Rebecca Evans / Daily Mail:

'If they found me, I'm white... so I'm dead': Survivors reveal how gunman executed non-Muslims - after asking them to name Prophet Mohammed's mother — Survivors said they saw fellow shoppers mercilessly executed after being singled out as non-Muslim — Shoppers said people were lined …

Discussion: Ed Driscoll, americanthinker.com and Daily Pundit

Sari Horwitz / Washington Post:

Ex-FBI agent to plead guilty in leak to AP — A former FBI bomb technician who later worked as a contractor for the Bureau has agreed to plead guilty to disclosing national defense information about a disrupted terrorist plot to the Associated Press, according to the Justice Department.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and WJLA-TV, more at Mediagazer »

Neil King Jr / Washington Wire:

One Big Trader Lost Millions Betting on Romney, Study Finds — A new academic paper digging into presidential betting in the final weeks of the 2012 election finds that a single trader lost between $4 million and $7 million placing a flurry of Intrade bets on Mitt Romney …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Balloon Juice

Zach Weissmueller / Reason:

The Mower Gang: #Anarchy in Detroit, Part I — We all know Detroit's in trouble: A bankrupt city full of crumbling houses, abandoned factory buildings, and a dwindling population. — But while politicians, unions, and investors slug it out in bankruptcy court and grasp for their share …

Discussion: Hit & Run, TheBlaze.com and Daily Pundit

Bryan Koenig / CNN:

Who is Obama scared of? — (CNN) - President Barack Obama has made it clear to the public that he's quit smoking. But Monday he may have hinted at the real reason why: he's afraid of his wife. — The moment of candor followed a roundtable discussion during a conversation caught on camera …

Discussion: Politico

Politico:

Nancy Pelosi plans to introduce immigration reform bill — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is spearheading a plan to advance comprehensive immigration reform in the chamber. — The California Democrat's strategy includes introducing legislation combining the comprehensive bill that passed …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and ImmigrationProf Blog

Judd Gregg / The Hill:

Opinion: Defunders are playing Russian roulette with GOP, writes ex-senator — Most Americans these days are simply ignoring Republicans. And they should. — The self-promotional babble of a few has become the mainstream of Republican political thought. It has marginalized the influence of the party to an appalling degree.

Discussion: A plain blog about politics and Talking Points Memo