Top Items:
Burgess Everett / Politico:
In surprise, unemployment benefits advance — In a surprise, several Senate Republicans on Tuesday morning joined with Democrats to break the filibuster of a bill to extend unemployment benefits for three months. — By 60-37, Senate Democrats secured the votes needed to advance the bill …
Discussion:
CNN, Slate, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh and The Raw Story
RELATED:
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Morning Plum: Republicans reframing fight over unemployment benefits — With the three month extension of unemployment benefits set for a Senate vote this morning, multiple Republicans are going all in on the suggestion that they would support extending benefits if only it were paid for.
John Bresnahan / Politico:
Michael Bloomberg gives $2.5M to Senate Majority PAC
Michael Bloomberg gives $2.5M to Senate Majority PAC
Discussion:
Washington Wire and Weasel Zippers
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Jobless Benefits Extension Clears One Hurdle, but More Remain
Jobless Benefits Extension Clears One Hurdle, but More Remain
Discussion:
The World's Greatest … and National Review
Washington Post:
Income gap takes shape as central issue for both parties ahead of 2014 midterms
Income gap takes shape as central issue for both parties ahead of 2014 midterms
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, National Review, Business Insider, NBCNews, Guardian, Associated Press and Politico
Speaker.gov:
Boehner Statement on Jobs
Boehner Statement on Jobs
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Plum Line and PoliticusUSA
Kevin Liptak / CNN:
Obama calls for unemployment extension as measure clears key Senate hurdle
Obama calls for unemployment extension as measure clears key Senate hurdle
Discussion:
Politico
Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:
Burglars Who Took On F.B.I. Abandon Shadows — Stealing J. Edgar Hoover's Secrets: One night in 1971, files were stolen from an F.B.I. office near Philadelphia. They proved that the bureau was spying on thousands of Americans. The case was unsolved, until now.
RELATED:
Michael Isikoff / NBCNews:
After 43 years, activists admit theft at FBI office that exposed domestic spying
After 43 years, activists admit theft at FBI office that exposed domestic spying
Discussion:
Yahoo! News
Thom Shanker / New York Times:
In His New Memoir, Robert M. Gates, the Former Defense Secretary, Offers a Critique of the President — WASHINGTON — President Obama eventually lost faith in the troop increase he ordered in Afghanistan, his doubts fed by top White House civilian advisers opposed to the strategy …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Mediaite and NBCNews
RELATED:
Bob Woodward / Washington Post:
Robert Gates, former defense secretary, offers harsh critique of Obama's leadership in ‘Duty’ — In a new memoir, former defense secretary Robert Gates unleashes harsh judgments about President Obama's leadership and his commitment to the Afghanistan war, writing that by early 2010 …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, The Fix, The PJ Tatler and Post Politics
CNN:
Angry Dennis Rodman defends North Korea basketball game — (CNN) — Basketball star Dennis Rodman defended his controversial visit to North Korea with a team of former NBA players in a combative exchange Tuesday, saying it was a “great idea for the world.” — In an exclusive interview …
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Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Dennis Rodman Screams at CNN's Chris Cuomo, Implies Kenneth Bae is Guilty in Bizarre Interview
Dennis Rodman Screams at CNN's Chris Cuomo, Implies Kenneth Bae is Guilty in Bizarre Interview
Discussion:
TIME, ThinkProgress, Washington Free Beacon and National Review
Tara Palmeri / New York Post:
Spitzer caught sucking Lis Smith's toes in topless hot tub romp — Sleazy Eliot Spitzer turned a resort hot tub into a steamy love cauldron over the weekend — kissing and sucking the toes of his topless mistress, Lis Smith, in front of families with children, mortified witnesses told The Post.
Larry J. Sabato / Politico:
Republicans Really Could Win It All This Year — A definitive guide to the 2014 elections from our new columnist. … Another midterm election beckons, and over the next 10 months we'll see headlines about a thousand supposedly critical developments—the “game changers” and the “tipping points.”
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Week, The PJ Tatler, No More Mister Nice Blog, CANNONFIRE, Booman Tribune, Hot Air, Mediaite, First Read and The Plum Line
Richard Pollock / Washington Examiner:
Surprise! Walmart health plan is cheaper, offers more coverage than Obamacare — WATCHDOG OBAMACARE HEALTH CARE ACCOUNTABILITY WALMART — New Obamacare health insurance enrollees may feel a pang of envy when they eye the coverage plans offered by Walmart to its employees.
Discussion:
TheBlaze.com
Hadas Gold / Politico:
Navy mistakenly sends FOIA plans to reporter — The Unites States Navy inadvertently sent a memo to a local NBC News reporter this week detailing how it intended to try and deter requests he had filed under the Freedom Of Information Act. — Scott MacFarlane, a reporter for NBC 4 in Washington …
Discussion:
Gawker, Talking Points Memo and Hit & Run
Joshua Stewart / GPB:
Senate Conversations: Paul Broun ‘Fighting For Liberty’ — The primary race for Georgia's open U.S. Senate seat heats up in the first weeks of 2014 with the election looming May 20. — For Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens), the race is all about liberty. — “What I'm fighting for is liberty.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, First Read, Weasel Zippers, Ajc Blogs: &lsquo, Post Politics, The Raw Story and Taegan Goddard's …
John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Rachel Maddow Is Crazy, Too — MSNBC has had a hard time lately. The network fired Martin Bashir and Alec Baldwin for craziness, on-air and off-air respectively. Melissa Harris-Perry was forced to apologize, first on Twitter and then, tearfully, on the air, for making political hay out of Mitt Romney's adopted grandson.
Discussion:
National Review, Ed Driscoll, The Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite, American Power and The Democratic Daily
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:
In New Year, Half Are Looking Forward to Midterm Elections — More Republicans than Democrats Are Anticipating Midterms — As 2014 begins and the midterm election campaigns heat up, about half of the public (51%) is especially looking forward to November's congressional elections while 49% are not looking forward to them.
Amanda Hess / Pacific Standard:
Why Women Aren't Welcome on the Internet — “Ignore the barrage of violent threats and harassing messages that confront you online every day.” That's what women are told. But these relentless messages are an assault on women's careers, their psychological bandwidth, and their freedom to live online.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Switch and The Verge
Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:
Why A Majority-Minority Congressional District May Go Unrepresented For An Entire Year — A quirk of North Carolina's election law may leave voters in the state's 12th Congressional district without representation until 2015. Though Rep. Mel Watt (D) resigned his seat on the first day of …
Discussion:
ABC News and Raleigh News & Observer
Alan Duke / CNN:
What the heck is a polar vortex? — (CNN) — Americans in two dozen states from the Midwest to the Southeast and Northeast are shivering this week courtesy of a distorted polar vortex. The rush of cold air it's sending southward is the biggest visitor from the North Pole since Santa Claus.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Weasel Zippers and Blogcritics
Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
McCain Thinks Obama Is The One Who ‘Blew The Whole Thing’ In Iraq — Rising bloodshed in Iraq has Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) convinced that failure of the American military effort there now falls on President Obama's shoulders. — McCain went on Fox News on Tuesday morning to once again blast Obama …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Lawfare and Washington Post
David Freddoso / Conservative Intelligence Briefing:
Ten freshman governors who have shrunk their states' bureaucracies — In 2010, Americans went to the polls and elected a whole crop of new governors — 26 in all, if you count the election of governors who had previously served non-consecutive terms in Iowa and Oregon.
Michael Hirsh / NationalJournal.com:
How Janet Yellen's Agenda Could Transform Washington — The next Fed chair is an old-school progressive economist. Just wait until she starts sharing her passions. — Every Federal Reserve Board chairman comes into office with a secret agenda, a hidden passion.
Discussion:
Washington Wire and New York Times
Karl Bergholz / ABC News:
3 Amtrak Trains With Hundreds of Passengers Stranded Since Monday — About 500 passengers aboard three Amtrak trains were stranded overnight in a remote part of northern Illinois because of blowing and drifting snow, Amtrak officials said today. — The trains were halted late Monday near Mendota, about 80 miles west of Chicago.