memeorandum: Ukraine unrest: Protesters blockade government sites (BBC)

10:40 AM ET, December 2, 2013

Top Items:

Julianna Goldman / Bloomberg:

Obamacare Website Sign-Ups Said to Reach 100,000 in Month — About 100,000 people signed up for health insurance through the online federal exchange last month, a roughly four-fold increase from October even as a team of U.S. government and contractor programmers was fixing …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Business Insider, Weasel Zippers, Shakesville, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, Jammie Wearing Fools and ABC News

Scott Pruitt / Wall Street Journal:

ObamaCare's Next Legal Challenge — The law says subsidies can only go through state-run exchanges. — Oklahoma City — As millions of Americans see their health-insurance premiums increase, have their coverage dropped as a result of the Affordable Care Act, and are unable to use the federal exchange …

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:

As Obamacare website relaunches, there's reason to hope — The healthcare enrollment website is poised for a relaunch. But Democrats and the healthcare industry haven't been vocal in defending the Affordable Care Act amid a GOP onslaught. — The Covered California health insurance …

Imtiyaz Delawala / ABC News:
David Plouffe: Obamacare Will ‘Work Really Well’ By 2017

Discussion: The Hill, Ed Driscoll, Scared Monkeys, TheBlaze.com, Hot Air and Doug Ross

Charlie Rose / CBS News:

Amazon's Jeff Bezos looks to the future — Amazon is the world's largest online retailer, serving 225M customers. What's next for the company that prides itself on disrupting tradition? — STUMBLE — TWITTER

Discussion: The Verge, NPR, The Other McCain, Hot Air, Guardian, Roll Call, Gawker, NBCNews, Taylor Marsh and Gigaom

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:

Drones Could Be Amazon's Undoing — Tonight on 60 Minutes, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced rather hazily that the company is working on trying to hone unmanned aerial vehicles as a last-mile delivery solution that could make ultra-fast same-day delivery a reality.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Marginal Revolution

New York Times:

Insurers Claim Health Website Is Still Flawed — Weeks of frantic technical work appear to have made the government's health care website easier for consumers to use. But that does not mean everyone who signs up for insurance can enroll in a health plan. — The problem is that so-called …

Discussion: Washington Post, “The Lid”, Gawker, National Review, Mediaite, Paul Krugman, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Hot Air, Wonkblog, The Daily Caller and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

The Hill:

Democrats admit reboot needs stronger White House team — Former administration officials and Democratic operatives say President Obama is ill-served by his current White House staff and must reboot his second term team following the disastrous ObamaCare rollout.

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools and The Reaction

Joan Walsh / Salon:

GOP's massive 2013 mistake: How the party ignored its terminal illness — Celebrating Obamacare's troubles, Republicans finish the year ignoring lessons it was supposed to learn from 2012 — We did a whole “Hardball” hour Friday on how the GOP ratcheted up the crazy this year.

Discussion: Brains and Eggs and Associated Press

Juan Williams / The Hill:

Dems now party of women — As the 2014 midterm election season begins, the Democratic Party is in full bloom as the political home of the modern American woman. — For the last half-century, women were swing voters between the parties. A gender gap emerged in the 1980s …

Discussion: Booman Tribune

James Hohmann / Politico:

GOP targets blue states in battle for Senate — In 2012, Democrats snagged Senate seats from Republicans in states where the GOP should have prevailed with relative ease. — In 2014, Republicans want to show they can play that game, too. — The GOP could conceivably capture the Senate …

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Better Pay Now — 'Tis the season to be jolly — or, at any rate, to spend a lot of time in shopping malls. It is also, traditionally, a time to reflect on the plight of those less fortunate than oneself — for example, the person on the other side of that cash register.

Discussion: Sky Dancing, Daily Kos, Paul Krugman and New Yorker

BBC:

Ukraine unrest: Protesters blockade government sites — Demonstrators are blockading government buildings in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, as they step up their campaign for the resignation of the government. — Protesters have put up barricades on Independence Square, while others are entrenched inside city hall.

Discussion: NPR

David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:
Thousands Demand Resignation of Ukraine Leader

Discussion: AEIdeas, Outside the Beltway, Guardian, National Review and Philly.com

Fredric U. Dicker / New York Post:

‘Bizarre behavior’ could be risk to Christie White House run — Chris Christie's endorsement for New York governor could impact his presidential chances. — Gov. Chris Christie's “bizarre behavior” in refusing to say he'll support a possible GOP challenger to Gov. Cuomo next year could derail …

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com and Taegan Goddard's …

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

RNC Tweets Tribute To Rosa Parks For ‘Ending Racism’ — The Republican National Committee on Sunday clarified a tweet it sent out claiming civil rights icon Rosa Parks ended racism after the tribute was mocked on the social media website. — The tweet, accompanied by a picture of Parks …

Discussion: CNN and BOR

ThinkProgress:
GOP Credits Rosa Parks For ‘Ending Racism’

Discussion: Politico, The Moderate Voice, The Democratic Daily, Wonkblog, PoliticusUSA, PR Newswire, The Reality-Based Community, Business Insider, Althouse, Mediaite and The Raw Story

Kelly Kennedy / USA Today:

White House claims success on HealthCare.gov repairs — As expected, the government announced it met its goal to make Healthcare.gov operate smoothly for most users. — CONNECT — The White House announced Sunday it has met its goal to make its troubled Healthcare.gov website operate smoothly …

Discussion: Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Immoral Minority, NBCNews and Politico