memeorandum: Americans Say Dream Fading as Income Gap Hurts Chances (Bloomberg)

9:30 PM ET, December 11, 2013

Top Items:

RSC fires executive director — The conservative Republican Study Committee, the bastion of right-wing strategy on Capitol Hill, has fired its longtime executive director Paul Teller, accusing him of leaking conversations with lawmakers. — Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the chairman of the RSC …

Discussion: Roll Call, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo and Hit & Run

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Conservative Groups Fire Back At John Boehner's Attack — Outside right-leaning groups are firing back at Speaker John Boehner after he attacked their intentions and questioned their commitment to conservative principles on Wednesday. — “Speaker Boehner's real problem here isn't with conservative groups …

Discussion: American Prospect, Slate, Mediaite, PoliticusUSA, The Impolitic and Politico

Matt Berman / NationalJournal.com:

John Boehner: Conservative Groups' Reaction to Budget Deal Is ‘Ridiculous’ — House Speaker John Boehner went off on outside conservative groups Wednesday morning for pushing against the new budget deal. — “They're using our members and they're using the American people for their own goals,” he said.

Discussion: USA Today, Yahoo! News, Heritage Action for America, CNN, The Daily Caller, Balloon Juice and Hit & Run

Politico:

GOP's private war goes public — The simmering feud between House Republicans and movement conservatives is finally an all-out war. — The tension exploded on Wednesday morning when Speaker John Boehner and outside conservative groups traded sharp barbs over the budget deal Rep. Paul Ryan …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and The Daily Caller

Politico:

Lamar Alexander top aide Ryan Loskarn arrested for child porn — GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander's chief of staff was arrested Wednesday afternoon on charges of possessing and distributing child pornography, the Justice Department said. — Jesse Ryan Loskarn — who goes by his middle name …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Hinterland Gazette and The Raw Story

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:
Source: McConnell will vote against budget deal brokered by Paul Ryan

Discussion: Business Insider, Mediaite, Hot Air, Booman Tribune and NationalJournal.com

Erick Erickson / RedState:
BOHICA Act of 2013 — I am old enough to remember when the GOP …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Washington Monthly and The Other McCain

Jake Sherman / Politico:
House prepares to vote on budget deal

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Washington Post, GovBeat, Post Politics, Capitol Report, Daily Kos and Salon

CNN:
CNN's GUT CHECK for December 11, 2013

Discussion: Politico and Business Insider

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Rand Paul, Mike Crapo to oppose budget deal

Discussion: Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo

Thomas Donnelly / Weekly Standard: Right Deal for National Defense

Jake Sherman / Politico:
The new Paul Ryan — The new Paul Ryan emerged this week.

Discussion: NewsBusters, Gawker, CNN, Outside the Beltway, No More Mister Nice Blog, BillMoyers.com, neo-neocon, The Week, Wonkblog, National Review, Booman Tribune, Mediaite, Wall Street Journal and NPR

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
Possible GOP 2016 contenders in Senate critical of budget deal

Discussion: Politico

Roberto Schmidt / Correspondent:

The story behind “that selfie” — So here's the photo, my photo, which quickly lit up the world's social networks and news websites. The “selfie” of three world leaders who, during South Africa's farewell to Nelson Mandela, were messing about like kids instead of behaving with the mournful gravitas one might expect.

Discussion: CNN, Fox News, Mediaite, Business Insider, Guardian, The Gateway Pundit, Politico, The Daily Banter, The PJ Tatler, Gawker, The Verge, Mashable, Telegraph, Power Line, BBC, Yahoo! News and Selfies at Funerals

Roxane Gay / Salon:

The media's Michelle Obama problem: What a selfie says about our biases — The overanalysis of the first lady's expression speaks volumes about America's expectations of black women — Not even President Obama is above taking a selfie in the least appropriate selfie-taking venue possible.

Discussion: New York Post, NY Daily News, Wonkette, Feministing, The Impolitic, American Prospect, ThinkProgress, Jezebel, Althouse and Business Insider

Alexander Smith / World News:

‘Fake’ sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela memorial provokes anger — Nelson Mandela's body is to lie in state for three days in Pretoria. NBC News' Ron Allen reports on the thousands lining up to view Mandela's body and on a sign language interpreter at the Mandela memorial.

Discussion: Red Alert Politics, Joe. My. God. and NPR

Arlette Saenz / ABC News:
Cruz Says He Walked Out of Mandela Service When Raul Castro Spoke

Discussion: Mediaite, Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, The Hinterland Gazette, Politico, Talking Points Memo, CNN and Baltimore Sun

Josie Ensor / Telegraph:
Nelson Mandela memorial interpreter ‘was a fake’

Discussion: Vox Popoli

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Greenwald Attacks Time For Person Of The Year Selection: ‘A Meaningless Award From A Meaningless Magazine’ — Glenn Greenwald ridiculed Time on Wednesday for the magazine's decision to name Pope Francis — and not Edward Snowden — its “person of the year” for 2013.

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Banter and Balloon Juice

Nancy Gibbs / TIME:

Pope Francis, The Choice — With a focus on compassion, the leader of the Catholic Church has become a new voice of conscience. Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs explains why Francis is TIME's choice for Person of the Year 2013 — Once there was a boy so meek and modest, he was awarded a Most Humble badge.

TIME:

Pope Francis, The People's Pope — He took the name of a humble saint and then called for a church of healing. The first non-European pope in 1,200 years is poised to transform a place that measures change by the century — On the edge of Buenos Aires is a nothing little street called Pasaje C …

TIME:
Edward Snowden, The Dark Prophet

Discussion: The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Curt Anderson / Associated Press:

Prosecutor: No Domestic Charges Against Zimmerman — MIAMI (AP) — Prosecutors say they will not file domestic violence charges against George Zimmerman after his girlfriend said in a sworn statement she did not want to pursue the case. — State Attorney Phil Archer in Seminole County …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

ThinkProgress:
With Charges Dropped, George Zimmerman Can Get All Of His Guns Back

Discussion: Liberaland

Jeff Weiner / Orlando Sentinel:
George Zimmerman will not be charged in domestic dispute, prosecutor says

Discussion: Liberaland, The Raw Story and ThinkProgress

Jason Millman / Politico:

Kathleen Sebelius pushes back against GOP critics — Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius touted a vastly improved Obamacare enrollment website Wednesday morning as she sought to reassure skeptical lawmakers that people who want health insurance coverage starting Jan. 1 will have it.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, VodkaPundit, Reuters and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
HHS ‘hand-matching’ applications: Sebelius

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Kathleen Sebelius / HHS.gov:
Building On Our Progress and Moving Forward: Three Initial Steps

Discussion: CBS News, Nextgov, CNN, NBCNews, First Read, NPR, The Verge, Hot Air, The Daily Caller and Michelle Malkin

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Republicans plan 30-hour talkathon to protest ‘nuclear option’ use in Senate — Senate Republicans will stage a more than 30-hour talkathon on the Senate floor to protest Democrats' triggering of the “nuclear option” last month. — The GOP protest, which could extend into the weekend …

Discussion: Politico, The World's Greatest …, Washington Monthly and Liberaland

Politico: Panel sends DHS nominee Alejandro Mayorkas to Senate floor

Carl Campanile / New York Post:

GOP dislikes sitting congressman, eyes DWI pol with secret family — Republicans are so nervous about Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm's re-election chances that they've quietly reached out to former GOP Congressman Vito Fossella — who quit five years ago after confessing to having a secret second family …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politicker and Liberaland

Gawker:

Happy Holidays: Startup CEO Complains SF Is Full of Human Trash — Behold a perfect Silicon Valley denizen, an archetype: he's been written up in TechCrunch for his hackathon-organizing company. He's been fluffed in Business Insider. And now, inevitably, he's publicly savaged the homeless …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Colorlines, Taking Note, ThinkProgress and Democracy in America

Peter Hamby / CNN:

GOP could shake up 2016 campaign — Washington (CNN) — A handful of Republican Party officials is quietly advancing a new batch of rules aimed at streamlining a chaotic presidential nominating process that many party insiders viewed as damaging to the their campaign for the White House in 2012, multiple GOP sources told CNN.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, NewsBusters, Hot Air, Hit & Run, Daily Kos, Red Alert Politics, First Read, Politico, Shakesville and Poynter

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Hill staffers warned not to rely on info from ObamaCare exchange — Capitol Hill staffers who signed up for ObamaCare through the Washington, D.C., healthcare exchange, called DC Health Link (DCHL), are being told to confirm their enrollments in person, and not to rely on data provided by the website.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Mediaite