memeorandum: Dogs Are People, Too — FOR the past two years, my colleagues … (Gregory Berns/New York Times)

8:15 AM ET, October 7, 2013

Top Items:

In Conversation: Antonin Scalia — On the eve of a new Supreme Court session, the firebrand justice discusses gay rights and media echo chambers, Seinfeld and the Devil, and how much he cares about his intellectual legacy ("I don't"). — a day that just happened to be the 27th anniversary …

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, msnbc.com, Betsy's Page, NewsBusters, Towleroad News #gay, Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Agonist, Taegan Goddard's …, Gawker and Liberaland

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Has Deep Docket in Its New Term — WASHINGTON — After back-to-back terms ending in historic rulings that riveted the nation, the Supreme Court might have been expected to return to its usual diet of routine cases that rarely engage the public.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Wall Street Journal and Prairie Weather

Manu Raju / Politico:

Reid plotting to stay in power — Republicans are eager for November 2016 — and not just because Barack Obama's presidency will be in its final days. — It's when Harry Reid, the man reviled by Republicans for his inflammatory rhetoric and hardball tactics during the government shutdown, could be booted from his Nevada Senate seat.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and WJLA-TV

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

GOP congressman: We stumbled into war over Obamacare — BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL OBAMACARE REPUBLICAN PARTY HARRY REID JOHN BOEHNER — On Thursday afternoon, as the government shutdown entered its third day, a Republican member of the House sat down with a group of reporters in an office building not far from the Capitol.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Politico and Taegan Goddard's …

Argus Leader:
Mount Rushmore blockage stirs anger in South Dakota

Discussion: “The Lid”, The Lonely Conservative, Connecting.the.Dots, Althouse and Patterico's Pontifications

Phil Mattingly / Bloomberg:

Boehner Says House Won't Vote on Clean Debt Limit Bill — U.S. Speaker John Boehner said the House can't pass an increase to the U.S. debt ceiling without packaging it with other provisions — something President Barack Obama has labeled a nonstarter. — “We are not going to pass a clean debt limit …

Discussion: The Big Picture, Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

Rick Klein / ABC News:

Boehner: No ‘Clean’ Votes on Reopening Government or Debt Ceiling Without Negotiations with President Obama — House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday flatly refused to schedule votes for full government funding or to raise the debt ceiling without concessions from Democrats …

Discussion: First Read and National Review

ABC News:
‘This Week’ Transcript: House Speaker John Boehner

Discussion: The Fix, The Daily Banter, Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Post Politics, PoliticusUSA, “The Lid”, National Review and Speaker.gov

Vicki Needham / The Hill:
Cruz calls on lawmakers to tie debt ceiling to ObamaCare

Discussion: Ballot Box, Politico, Outside the Beltway and The Moderate Voice

David Segal / New York Times:

Mugged by a Mug Shot Online — IN March last year, a college freshman named Maxwell Birnbaum was riding in a van filled with friends from Austin, Tex., to a spring-break rental house in Gulf Shores, Ala. As they neared their destination, the police pulled the van over, citing a faulty taillight.

Discussion: The Other McCain and The Verge

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Boehner Bunglers — The federal government is shut down, we're about to hit the debt ceiling (with disastrous economic consequences), and no resolution is in sight. How did this happen? — The main answer, which only the most pathologically “balanced” reporting can deny, is the radicalization of the Republican Party.

Discussion: The Week and The Moderate Voice

Gregory Berns / New York Times:

Dogs Are People, Too — FOR the past two years, my colleagues and I have been training dogs to go in an M.R.I. scanner — completely awake and unrestrained. Our goal has been to determine how dogs' brains work and, even more important, what they think of us humans.

Discussion: Stinque and National Review

Shaun Walker / Guardian:

Russia to monitor ‘all communications’ at Winter Olympics in Sochi — Exclusive: Investigation uncovers FSB surveillance system - branded ‘Prism on steroids’ - to listen to all athletes and visitors — Athletes and spectators attending the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February will face …

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, TechCrunch, The Verge and Weasel Zippers

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

California GOP Reaching Out — A reader was telling me this morning about how the California GOP, after a pretty much nonstop 20 year decline, had perhaps hit rock bottom and was turning to some of its more pragmatic or centrist leaders to make it relevant in the state again. — And yet ...

Discussion: The Raw Story, The Moderate Voice, Liberaland, ThinkProgress and Balloon Juice

ThinkProgress:

CBS Host Takes Apart GOP's Shutdown Argument — Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) was unable to explain why Republicans needed to threaten economic disaster to try to get their way on Obamacare during an interview on CBS's Face The Nation on Sunday. — Bob Schieffer, Face the Nation's host …

Discussion: The Raw Story and Liberal Values