Top Items:


Obama, Cuban President Raul Castro Shake Hands at Nelson Mandela Memorial — President Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raul Castro today at a memorial service for the late Nelson Mandela in South Africa. — Obama stopped to shake Castro's hand as he was walking to the podium to pay tribute to Mandela.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Politico, Little Green Footballs, CNN, ABC News and National Review
RELATED:


Liz Cheney's 1988 Op-Ed on Anti-Apartheid Protestors: “Nobody's Listening” — Her father wasn't the only Cheney to speak out against speaking out against apartheid. — Liz Cheney for Senate; The Catalyst — In a 1988 op-ed for her college newspaper, Liz Cheney, the daughter …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos


McCain On Obama-Castro Handshake: ‘Chamberlain Shook Hands With Hitler’ (AUDIO) — President Obama's handshake with Cuban President Raul Castro on Tuesday was met with a mostly muted reaction from conservatives and Republicans. Invoking memories of the Munich Agreement, Sen. John McCain …
Discussion:
The Hinterland Gazette

The Damage of a Handshake — American presidents should avoid shaking the hand of dictators, especially those that have American blood on theirs. One example of many: Raul Castro was Minister of Defense in 1996 when Cuban Air Force Mig's, cold-bloodedly and over international airspace destroyed …
Discussion:
Ed Driscoll and Weasel Zippers

A brief but important handshake between Obama, Castro — (CNN) - Arriving on stage at FNB stadium in Johannesburg to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela, President Barack Obama shook hands with dozens of other world leaders, pausing briefly to grasp the hand of Cuban President Raul Castro.
Discussion:
ABC News, Politico, Weasel Zippers, National Review, No More Mister Nice Blog, Shakesville and Israel Matzav


Rubio Complains That Obama Didn't Take Castro To Task For Denying ‘Basic Freedoms’
Discussion:
Liberaland

Obama hand shake with Raul Castro makes waves
Discussion:
neo-neocon, rubber hose and Booman Tribune

CNN: OBAMA-CASTRO HANDSHAKE SHOULD ‘NOT BE MISUNDERSTOOD’
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, The PJ Tatler, alicublog, BizPac Review and Michelle Malkin

Obama eulogizes Mandela as ‘great liberator’
Discussion:
The Hinterland Gazette, Taylor Marsh, The Agonist, Jerusalem Post, The Mahablog and Reuters

Nelson Mandela memorial service: Obama praises ‘Madiba’ in euology …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Jezebel and NY Daily News

How Mandela Shifted Views on Freedom of Markets
Discussion:
Hit & Run and Bleeding Heart Libertarians

President Barack Obama shakes Raul Castro's hand at Mandela memorial service
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, Hit & Run, Weasel Zippers, Business Insider and Outside the Beltway

Obama, in eulogy, calls Mandela ‘the last great liberator of the 20th century’
Discussion:
World News

OBAMA SHAKES HANDS WITH CUBA'S RAÚL CASTRO AT MANDELA MEMORIAL
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, RealClearPolitics Video Log and Scared Monkeys


Ex-Clinton Aide Expected to Join Obama — WASHINGTON — President Obama, after a rocky year that leaves him at the lowest ebb of his presidency, is bringing into his White House circle the longtime Democratic strategist John D. Podesta, a former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton.
Discussion:
Politico, The Moderate Voice, The Fix, ABC News, Taylor Marsh, The PJ Tatler, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and americanthinker.com
RELATED:


Obama turns to populism to boost agenda
Discussion:
Politico, Weekly Standard and Prairie Weather


Another potential boost for Obamacare — Opponents of the Affordable Care Act tend to suggest expanded coverage resulting from the law's Medicaid expansion somehow doesn't really count as success. But the law's goal is to expand coverage, and the Medicaid expansion is one of the tools it utilizes to accomplish that.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Wonkblog and Balloon Juice
RELATED:


GOP bills would prohibit in-flight calls — Political momentum to keep a ban on cellphone calls during flights gained momentum Monday as lawmakers said it would be crazy to allow them. — Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) became the second lawmaker after Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to offer legislation to keep the ban in place.
Discussion:
Ricochet Conversations Feed, Capitol Report, Hot Air, Liberal Values, Patterico's Pontifications and Instapundit
RELATED:


Twitchy Sold To Owners Of Townhall And Hotair — “Media Matters types would like to paint conservatives as boring, old white guys. Twitchy ads more fun and humor to our platform,” Townhall's general manager says. — Twitchy, the conservative Twitter aggregation site …
Discussion:
Hot Air and Joe. My. God.

Senate Confirms Millett to D.C. Circuit Court — Move Marks First Judge Approved Since Democrats Changed Filibuster Rules — WASHINGTON—A divided U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Washington lawyer Patricia Millett to serve on a powerful U.S. appeals court, the first Obama administration nominee …
Discussion:
The Switch
RELATED:


Yes, Obamacare is Redistribution—But Republicans Are Wrong About Who Pays — Republicans and their allies are making a lot of different arguments about what Obamacare is doing to America. It's hiking premiums! It's making people lose their doctors! It's destroying Medicare!
Discussion:
American Prospect, Washington Monthly and JustOneMinute


The New York Times' ‘homeless’ hooey — If a five-part opus in The New York Times by Andrea Elliott is to believed, we live in a hard-hearted city. But if you read closely, it suggests just the opposite. — Begin with the family at the center of this story. The mother, father and eight kids aren't really homeless at all.
Discussion:
TheBlaze.com, Gothamist and National Review


Again: Turkish Students Arrested for Nazi Salutes at Auschwitz — Two Turkish tourists could face up to two years in prison for giving Nazi salutes outside the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Poland. — The Turkish nationals - who according to Turkey's Zaman news site …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and Jihad Watch


Patty Murray, Paul Ryan close to finishing budget deal — House and Senate budget negotiators are down to a small set of differences, and are aiming to unveil a budget agreement by the end of the day Tuesday, according to senior aides familiar with the talks.

Does America Trust Barack Obama? — Of all of Abraham Lincoln's profound observations about politics and life, one in particular, uttered on September 2, 1858, in Clinton, Illinois, captures the essence of representative democracy: “You may fool all the people some of the time …
Discussion:
Power Line


New York's top court blocks Colorado from forcing Fox reporter to reveal sources or face jail — New York's top court today spared FoxNews.com reporter Jana Winter from jail for refusing to reveal confidential sources for a bombshell story following the Aurora movie massacre.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Hit & Run, Mediaite, KDVR.com, Fox News Insider and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

History Will Forget the Obamacare Website's Bungled Launch — The media has written a cruel first draft, but it won't last. — National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru says Obamacare—like George W. Bush's Iraq War—should persuade Americans that “the grand designs of governments, left or right …
Discussion:
Associated Press, National Review and PoliticusUSA