Top Items:


How Democrats Got a Spine — The Republican Party taught them how to be uncompromising. — It's easy to forget, but this year began with a nick-of-time congressional compromise. At the 11th hour, with Washington's supply of clichés nearly depleted, the House and Senate approved a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff.
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos, The Mahablog and No More Mister Nice Blog
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Hagel recalls most defense staff — The Pentagon has ordered roughly 400,000 furloughed civilian employees back to work. — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the worker recall in a department-wide memorandum issued Saturday. — After consulting with the Justice Department and Department …
Discussion:
The PJ Tatler


Boehner Urges G.O.P. Unity in ‘Epic Battle’
Discussion:
Hot Air, Prairie Weather, The Caucus, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, Gawker, PoliticusUSA, Politico, The Monkey Cage, Talking Points Memo, Liberaland and Taegan Goddard's …

Pentagon to Recall Most Workers
Discussion:
American Spectator

Obama grabs sub sandwich with Biden, slams Republicans over shutdown
Discussion:
The Hinterland Gazette

GOP finds its shutdown message
Discussion:
Prairie Weather, The Reaction, New York Times, Talking Points Memo and Taegan Goddard's …


U.S. Says Navy SEALs Stage Raid on Somali Militants — NAIROBI, Kenya — A Navy SEAL team targeted a senior leader of the Shabab militant group in a raid on his seaside villa in the Somali town of Baraawe on Saturday, American officials said, in response to a deadly attack on a Nairobi shopping mall …
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NPR, The Jawa Report and The Hinterland Gazette
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U.S. Raids in Libya and Somalia Strike Terror Targets — CAIRO — American commandos carried out raids on Saturday in two far-flung African countries in a powerful flex of military muscle aimed at capturing fugitive terrorist suspects. Members of a Navy SEAL team emerged before dawn …

A U.S. military official tells The Associated Press that Navy SEALs have raided a Somali coastal town looking for a specific al-Qaida suspect in connection with the Nairobi shopping mall attack, but did not get their target. — A former U.S. military official also confirms the raid by the SEALs, but no other details have been provided.
Discussion:
Politico

NBC: Police Remove Vietnam War Veterans at Memorial Wall — Via William Jacobson, NBC's affiliate in Washington, D.C. reports that police ordered tourists and Vietnam war veterans who were visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall to leave the memorial at one point on Friday.
Discussion:
Ed Driscoll, Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative
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Iwo Jima Memorial Closed, Barricades Erected (Update: Vets Break Through)
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Weasel Zippers

TEXT OF OBAMA'S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE AP — President Barack Obama conducted an interview Friday with AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace that covered a wide range of topics - the government shutdown, the debt ceiling, health care, foreign affairs and the name of Washington's professional football team.
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Post, Business Insider and msnbc.com, more at Mediagazer »
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Arizona Is Only State To Stop Welfare Checks During Shutdown — Arizona appears to be the only state to have stopped cutting welfare checks during the federal government shutodown, the Arizona Republic reported Friday. — Republican Gov. Jan Brewer's administration announced this week …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Hinterland Gazette and Liberaland
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Experts: Arizona only state to halt welfare checks during shutdown — FONT: — Policy experts say Arizona appears to be the only state in the nation so far to have withheld welfare checks because of the federal shutdown, a move key state lawmakers want Gov. Jan Brewer to reverse.


Some in G.O.P. Try to Pick and Choose Amid Spending Fight — WASHINGTON — Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a hard-core leader of House conservatives who helped force a government shutdown in a fight over the scope of federal health care spending, sent out a statement on Wednesday bragging …
Discussion:
Prairie Weather, PoliticusUSA and Bloomberg


FEDS TRY TO CLOSE THE OCEAN BECAUSE OF SHUTDOWN — Just before the weekend, the National Park Service informed charter boat captains in Florida that the Florida Bay was “closed” due to the shutdown. Until government funding is restored, the fishing boats are prohibited from taking anglers into 1,100 square-miles of open ocean.
RELATED:

Shutdown Simulacrum
Discussion:
BizPac Review, NO QUARTER USA NET, Independent Journal Review, Ed Driscoll and Weekly Standard

IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Statement by Secretary Hagel on the Pay Our Military Act — Today I am announcing that most DoD civilians placed on emergency furlough during the government shutdown will be asked to return to work beginning next week. — Immediately after President Obama signed …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Raw Story, msnbc.com, NPR, New York Times and Stars & Stripes

Neb. high court nixes teen's request for abortion — OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — In a split decision released Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected a 16-year-old ward of the state's request to waive parental consent to get an abortion, saying the girl had not shown she is sufficiently mature …
Discussion:
The Raw Story and Hullabaloo


Federal Judge Smacks House Republican For Demanding Exemption From Republican Shutdown — Countless lawsuits where the United States is a party are now in limbo, thanks to the fact that the Justice Department lacks the resources to litigate them so long as the government is shut down.
Discussion:
The Hinterland Gazette and The Raw Story