Top Items:
Ted Mann / Metropolis:
Christie, Official Who Arranged Bridge Closures Were Together During Fiasco … Gov. Chris Christie was with the official who arranged the closure of local lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 11, 2013 — the third day of the closures, and well after they had triggered outrage …
RELATED:
David W. Chen / New York Times:
Aide Fired by Christie Is Called Loyal Team Player, Not Rogue Operative — Bridget Anne Kelly is devastated that Gov. Chris Christie denounced her as stupid and a liar — but she also is distraught over how much her actions have damaged him politically. — Unheard-of a week ago …
Discussion:
NewsBusters blogs, Politico, NewsBusters, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller and Hot Air
Charlie Cook / NationalJournal.com:
Is Getting Christie's Last Pound of Flesh the Best Use of State Resources? — One of the (many) things wrong with politics today is that we are attempting to criminalize poor political behavior. — The course is predictable. An elected official or a staffer does something that is terribly wrong …
Discussion:
Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, First Read and The Reaction
Salvador Rizzo / New Jersey Online:
Codey: Some Democrats tried to quash investigation into bridge scandal to protect Christie
Codey: Some Democrats tried to quash investigation into bridge scandal to protect Christie
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Human Rights Campaign Blog:
U.S. District Judge Rules Oklahoma Ban on Marriage Equality Unconstitutional — Today U.S. District Judge Terence Kern ruled that Oklahoma's ban on marriage equality is unconstitutional. His ruling is stayed pending appeal, meaning marriages will not occur immediately in the Sooner State.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Advocate, Towleroad News #gay and Balloon Juice
RELATED:
Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Oklahoma Ban On Same-Sex Marriages Is Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Rules — “The Court holds that Oklahoma's constitutional amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” the judge decided.
Discussion:
National Review and GLAAD
Julian Pecquet / The Hill:
Feinstein rejects NYT on Benghazi — The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said that key conclusions of a recent New York Times investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attack are wrong. — Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) rejected the Times's conclusion that al Qaeda …
Discussion:
Politico, NewsBusters blogs, TheBlaze.com, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon
RELATED:
Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
Lawmakers unveil massive $1.1 trillion spending bill in bipartisan compromise — Congressional negotiators late Monday unveiled a massive $1.1 trillion spending bill that would fund federal agencies through the rest of the fiscal year and end the lingering threat of another government shutdown.
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Ed O'Keefe / The Fix:
The winners and losers of the new spending bill
The winners and losers of the new spending bill
Discussion:
The U.S. House … and Daily Kos
Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Spending bill rolls back funding for controversial ObamaCare programs
Spending bill rolls back funding for controversial ObamaCare programs
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Mediaite
Paul Richter / Los Angeles Times:
New Iran agreement includes secret side deal, Tehran official says — (Abedin Taherkenareh / European Pressphoto Agency / February 3, 2007) … WASHINGTON - Key elements of a new nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers are contained in an informal, 30-page text not yet publicly acknowledged …
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Noah Pollak / Weekly Standard:
Yoko Ono vs. Ayatollah Khomeini
Yoko Ono vs. Ayatollah Khomeini
Discussion:
The Tower, Michelle Malkin and Pressure Points
Kevin Liptak / CNN:
Obama to pay visit to Pope — (CNN) - President Barack Obama plans to soon meet with Pope Francis for the first time. — Secretary of State John Kerry said the President was “looking forward” to visiting the popular new leader of the Roman Catholic Church at the Vatican.
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Kate Tummarello / The Hill:
Court strikes down net neutrality — A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down the Obama administration's net-neutrality rules. — The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Federal Communications Commission overstepped its authority by prohibiting Internet providers from blocking …
Discussion:
Politico, RH Reality Check and Hot Air, more at Mediagazer »
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Ynetnews:
Ya'alon: Kerry should win his Nobel and leave us alone — Defense Minister says in private that US security plan 'not worth the paper it's written on', insists Kerry ‘cannot teach me anything about the conflict with the Palestinians’. — Shimon Shiffer — While the United States …
Discussion:
Online NewsHour, ABC News, The Right Scoop, New York Times, NBCNews, CBS DC, Jammie Wearing Fools and National Review
RELATED:
Maayan Lubell / Reuters:
Israel defense minister says Kerry messianic, obsessive: paper
Israel defense minister says Kerry messianic, obsessive: paper
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
TMZ.com:
Justin Bieber — Lil Za ARRESTED for COCAINE During Egg Raid [VIDEO] — Justin Bieber's BFF Lil Za has just been arrested for COCAINE POSSESSION at the singer's home — during the early morning raid stemming from the Bieber egg attack on his neighbor. — A rep for the L.A. County Sheriff's …
Discussion:
Gawker, Mediaite, LAist, New Jersey Online, ExtraTV.com, The Daily Caller and National Review
Tampa Bay Times:
Stand Your Ground already an issue in theater shooting — TAMPA — Soon after authorities say a retired Tampa police captain shot a fellow moviegoer over a cell phone dispute Monday, a question now common in Florida arose: — Could the shooter be defended under Stand Your Ground?
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite and Gawker
RELATED:
Wesley Chapel / FOX 13 News:
Man killed after dispute over texting in theater
Man killed after dispute over texting in theater
Discussion:
CNN, The Daily Caller, Scared Monkeys, The Raw Story, New York Times and Hinterland Gazette
J.K. Trotter / Gawker:
Howard Kurtz Lied About Business Ties To Fox News Contributor — Fox News anchor Howard Kurtz has repeatedly claimed, most famously during a live interrogation on CNN, that his relationship with Fox News contributor Lauren Ashburn amounted to a “limited venture” for which the MediaBuzz host …
Discussion:
Politico and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Senate blocks jobless aid — The Senate blocked two separate proposals to revive emergency unemployment benefits that expired in December, all but killing the prospects of reviving jobless aid for now. — The chamber voted 52-48 to reject a bill that would have extended benefits through November …
Discussion:
The Hill, ThinkProgress and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Jeremy Herb / The Hill:
Blumenthal: No vote needed yet on Iran sanctions bill
Blumenthal: No vote needed yet on Iran sanctions bill
Discussion:
CNN, Politico, The Plum Line, Reuters, ThinkProgress and Minneapolis Star Tribune
Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:
Watch: North Carolina GOP Senate Candidate Claims Food Stamps Are “Slavery” — North Carolina Republican Senate candidate Greg Brannon has an interesting argument for eliminating food stamps: “slavery.” In a videotaped interview with the North Carolina Tea Party in October, Brannon …
Board of Directors / Freedom of the Press Foundation:
Edward Snowden To Join Daniel Ellsberg, Others on Freedom of the Press Foundation's Board of Directors — Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) is proud to announce NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden will join its board of directors. — “I am proud and honored to welcome Edward Snowden …
Discussion:
Politico, The Switch and Hinterland Gazette
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Who's Getting Obamacare? These Four Charts Give Some Big Clues — The Obama Administration has released detailed information about enrollment in the Affordable Care Act—not just how many people are signing up for insurance, but also what kind of people and what plans they are choosing.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Mahablog, MetroTrends Blog, The Week, The Plum Line, The Dish, Politico, Business Insider and AEIdeas
Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:
GOP Senate Candidate Complained of Lack of Muslim Movie Villains — Political correctness is keeping Hollywood from properly stigmatizing Muslims—so said Mississippi Republican Senate candidate Chris McDaniel. He issued this complaint during a 2006 episode of Right Side Radio …
Discussion:
The Raw Story and Talking Points Memo
Terry Miller / Wall Street Journal:
America's Dwindling Economic Freedom — Regulation, taxes and debt knock the U.S. out of the world's top 10. — World economic freedom has reached record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal.
Discussion:
Ed Driscoll and Rush Limbaugh
The Charlotte Observer:
The best, imperfect 12th District solution — Democrats are unhappy with N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory's decision to schedule a November special election to fill the congressional seat formerly held by Charlotte Democrat Mel Watt. McCrory announced this month that instead of letting voters choose …
Discussion:
Post Politics and Facing South
Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Watch Members Of Congress Read Mean Tweets About Themselves — Mean tweets don't just bring celebrities down — members of Congress read the insults hurled at them on social media, too. — NowThisNews brought on several members of Congress, including Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Claire McCaskill …
Discussion:
Business Insider
Politico:
New York Democrat Bill Owens to retire from House — Democratic Rep. Bill Owens of New York will not run for reelection in November, he announced Tuesday — dealing another blow to the party's prospects of winning control of the House. — In the past two months, three Democrats — Owens …
Peter Hamby / CNN:
Hillary's Iowa problem — From a distance, she appears invincible once again, far outpacing her rivals in the polls and primed to redeem herself in the caucus state that has never been especially friendly to the Clintons, or to female candidates. — Iowa has not elected a female governor, senator or member of Congress.
Discussion:
TIME, Washington Monthly, Mediaite and Liberal Values