memeorandum: Earliest Subzero Temps Since '95; More Bitter Cold And Snow Coming (Todd Feurer/CBS Chicago)

12:40 AM ET, December 11, 2013

Top Items:

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: Post Politics, CANNONFIRE, Hot Air, Mediaite, NPR, Ed Driscoll and Weasel Zippers

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

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: Daily Kos, PERRspectives, The Impolitic, PoliticusUSA and The Hinterland Gazette

Fox News:
Cuban-American lawmakers dismayed over Obama handshake with ‘thug’ Castro

Discussion: Strange Bedfellows, Informed Comment, BuzzFeed, Hit & Run, Washington Free Beacon, Business Insider and Telegraph

John Nolte / BREITBART.COM:
CNN: OBAMA-CASTRO HANDSHAKE SHOULD ‘NOT BE MISUNDERSTOOD’

Discussion: Power Line, Weekly Standard, Rush Limbaugh, alicublog, The PJ Tatler, Twitchy, BizPac Review and Michelle Malkin

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
Rubio Complains That Obama Didn't Take Castro To Task For Denying ‘Basic Freedoms’

Discussion: Mario Piperni dot Com and Liberaland

Lesley Clark / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Obama hand shake with Raul Castro makes waves

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, neo-neocon, rubber hose and Booman Tribune

CNN:
A brief but important handshake between Obama, Castro

Discussion: Hot Air, ABC News, Weasel Zippers, National Review, Politico, Shakesville, Scared Monkeys, BREITBART.COM, No More Mister Nice Blog and Israel Matzav

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

Capitol Leaders Agree to a Deal on the Budget — WASHINGTON — House and Senate budget negotiators reached agreement Tuesday on a budget deal that would raise military and domestic spending over the next two years, shifting the pain of across-the-board cuts to other programs over the coming decade …

Discussion: Calculated Risk, Balloon Juice, Mediaite, The Plum Line and Wall Street Journal

Jake Sherman / Politico:

Budget agreement reached — House and Senate budget negotiators will unveil a budget agreement Tuesday evening. — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) both briefed their colleagues Tuesday on their plan to set spending levels for the next two years and reorganize budget cuts set to take hold in 2014.

Discussion: CNN, Salon, Hot Air, Daily Kos and Business Insider

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

It's A Deal! Paul Ryan, Patty Murray Announce Budget Agreement — In a major breakthrough after three years of paralyzing partisan rifts, Congress' top two budget chiefs finalized a bipartisan agreement Tuesday that would set spending levels for two years and mitigate some of the painful spending cuts required by the sequester.

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
Here's what's in Paul Ryan and Patty Murray's mini-budget deal

Discussion: Campaign for America's Future and Forbes

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:

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: Liberaland, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly and Talking Points Memo

John Fritze / Baltimore Sun:

Cummings: Ted Cruz ‘got an earful’ from Dems on South Africa trip — (Rep. Cummings' office / December 10, 2013) — Rep. Elijah E. Cummings is in South Africa for Nelson Mandela's memorial, but that doesn't mean he's abandoned domestic policy. In fact, Cummings said he and other Democrats …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Daily Caller

Julian Zelizer / CNN: From one first black president to another

Andrew Ross Sorkin / DealBook:
How Mandela Shifted Views on Freedom of Markets

Discussion: Bleeding Heart Libertarians and Hit & Run

Congressman Steve Stockman / stockman2014.com:

I'm running for Senate against liberal John Cornyn — You are in a foxhole fighting to save our constitutional Republic... ...and the last thing you need is a Republican bayonet in your back. — But that's what liberal John Cornyn has been doing to you every day. — And we have less than 90 days to stop him.

Discussion: Politico, Daily Kos, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider, Religion Dispatches, Capitol Report and ABC News

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:

Reid Aide Gives Cornyn Democratic Bear Hug — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) communications director tried to give Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) a small kiss of death on Tuesday. … The tweet by Reid communications director Adam Jentleson came a day after Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Business Insider and The Daily Banter

Ben Jacobs / The Daily Beast:
Five Outrageous Outbursts By Senate Candidate Steve Stockman

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Balloon Juice, Mediaite, PoliticusUSA, Outside the Beltway, Unfair Park and Politico

The Texas Tribune:
Stockman Files to Run Against Cornyn

Discussion: The Fix, Talking Points Memo, NPR, Washington Post, Texas on the Potomac, Right Wing Watch, Daily Kos, Off the Kuff and Hot Air

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

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, Wonkblog, Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice and Washington Monthly

Alyssa Brown / Gallup:
Costs Still Keep 30% of Americans From Getting Treatment

Discussion: Firedoglake, ThinkProgress and Daily Kos

James Arkin / BuzzFeed:

Here's Why That Kentucky Doctor Is Closing His Practice “Due To The Policies Of Obamacare” — A Kentucky doctor took out a newspaper ad saying he was closing his practice “due to the policies of Obamacare.” The reason is a federal requirement that he keep electronic records.

Benny Johnson / BuzzFeed:

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, Politico, Mediaite and Joe. My. God., more at Mediagazer »

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:

Kerry gets his way on Iran — Secretary of State John Kerry and the Obama administration appear to have won a fight with Congress over new Iran sanctions — at least for now. — As Kerry readied to give testimony on Tuesday to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the administration's …

Discussion: Politico, The Plum Line, BuzzFeed, ThinkProgress and Daily Kos

Tom Cohen / CNN:
Kerry tells Congress to hold off on new Iran sanctions for now

Discussion: National Review

New York Times:

Why Machiavelli Still Matters — FIVE hundred years ago, on Dec. 10, 1513, Niccolò Machiavelli sent a letter to his friend Francesco Vettori, describing his day spent haggling with local farmers and setting bird traps for his evening meal. A typical day for the atypical letter writer …

Discussion: Althouse

Robert W. Merry / The National Interest:

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

Pew Research Center:

Obama Job Rating Regains Some Ground, But 2013 Has Taken a Toll — Current Health Law Problems Register, Outlook Is Little Changed — For the first time since last spring, Barack Obama's steadily declining job rating has shown a modest improvement. And while his signature legislative accomplishment …

Discussion: CNN and Politico

Christi Parsons / Los Angeles Times:

Obama brings on new advisor — veteran of Clinton impeachment — Center for American Progress Co-founder John Podesta moderates a panel during a conference commemorating the 10th anniversary of the center. (Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images / October 24, 2013)

Discussion: NBCNews and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Ex-Clinton Aide Expected to Join Obama

Discussion: NewsBusters, Weasel Zippers, ABC News, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Moderate Voice, The Fix, The Hill, Taylor Marsh, The PJ Tatler, americanthinker.com, Prairie Weather, Connecting.the.Dots, U.S. News and Politico

Brent Kendall / Wall Street Journal:

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