Top Items:
Bloomberg:
Kerry Brings Paris a ‘Big Hug’ And James Taylor After Attacks — Secretary of State John Kerry, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit France since Islamic militant attacks in Paris left 17 dead, met with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and French President Francois Hollande to offer condolences this morning.
Discussion:
Mashable, Taylor Marsh, Bloomberg Politics, Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon
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Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
That time John Kerry got James Taylor to sing 'You've got a friend' to France — Secretary of State John Kerry is in Paris after the White House apologized for not sending a high-ranking official to a massive unity rally after the terrorist attacks there. — And he brought a friend by the name of James Taylor.
Derek Hunter / The Daily Caller:
Apology Tour: John Kerry Brings James Taylor To Paris To Play 'You've Got A Friend' [VIDEO] — Under fire for being a no-show at the Paris March Against Terrorism, the Obama administration sent Secretary of State John Kerry to Paris today to give a “big hug” to the French.
Discussion:
TPNN, The PJ Tatler and National Review
Matthew Lee / Associated Press:
Kerry offers ‘big hug’ to Paris after attacks
Kerry offers ‘big hug’ to Paris after attacks
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Fox News Insider and Associated Press
Sarah Ferris / The Hill:
GOP tactics on ObamaCare move away from full repeal — Republicans are shifting their tactics on ObamaCare, an abrupt change from the party's “repeal-only” rhetoric that dominated the last five years of debate. — The GOP is coalescing around the idea that incremental changes …
Discussion:
Politico, Political Wire and Daily Kos
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Manu Raju / Politico:
Obama to Senate Dems: 'I'm going to play offense' — The president said he's prepared to veto hostile legislation, including an Iran sanctions package. — President Barack Obama made clear Thursday in a closed-door session with Senate Democrats that he's prepared to veto hostile legislation …
Discussion:
US News, Daily Mail, Daily Kos, Fox News and The Hill
Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Obama and Senator Robert Menendez Spar on How to Handle Iran
Obama and Senator Robert Menendez Spar on How to Handle Iran
Discussion:
The PJ Tatler and Booman Tribune
NASA:
NASA, NOAA Find 2014 Warmest Year in Modern Record — The year 2014 ranks as Earth's warmest since 1880, according to two separate analyses by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists. — The 10 warmest years in the instrumental record, with the exception of 1998, have now occurred since 2000.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Vox, Washington Post, Chicago and Climate Etc.
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Justin Gillis / New York Times:
2014 Was Hottest Year on Record, Surpassing 2010 — Last year was the hottest in earth's recorded history, scientists reported on Friday, underscoring scientific warnings about the risks of runaway emissions and undermining claims by climate-change contrarians that global warming had somehow stopped.
Discussion:
Washington Post
Rocco Parascandola / NY Daily News:
EXCLUSIVE: Married NYPD cop accused of kissing, groping rape victim after booze-filled night in Seattle — Detective Lukasz Skorzewski was investigating the rape of a 24-year-old woman when he flew to Seattle, drank with her all night and got physical with her in a hotel room, the college student alleges.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Raw Story and Gothamist
Tim Alberta / National Journal:
Ben Carson to the GOP Establishment: I'm Not ‘Crazy’ — The political novice with eyes on 2016 auditions before the RNC and blames his zealot image on the mainstream media. — CORONADO, Calif. — Ben Carson—a Washington outsider, a world-renowned neurosurgeon, a favorite among tea-party insurgents …
Discussion:
Mediaite and Joe. My. God.
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Angelo Codevilla / The Federalist:
The Foreign Policy Of The First Tea Party President
The Foreign Policy Of The First Tea Party President
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and Salon
BBC:
Belgium Verviers plot ‘aimed to kill police’ — A suspected jihadist group targeted in a major anti-terror raid on Thursday had been planning to kill policemen in the street and at police stations, Belgian prosecutors say. — The planned attacks were imminent, they said …
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Jethro Mullen / CNN:
European counterterrorism officials scramble to identify potential threats
European counterterrorism officials scramble to identify potential threats
Discussion:
Algemeiner.com, Washington Free Beacon, Hot Air and The Daily Beast
James Kanter / New York Times:
2 Suspects Killed in Gun Battle in Belgian Antiterror Raid
2 Suspects Killed in Gun Battle in Belgian Antiterror Raid
Discussion:
Reuters, Power Line, Mediaite, CNN and Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jonathan Cohn / The Huffington Post:
Key Obamacare Official Stepping Down — A senior government official with almost unparalleled authority over the U.S. health care system is stepping down, ending a tenure that included one highly publicized, highly consequential failure on Obamacare as well as significant, if less heralded, successes.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Hit & Run
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Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:
Obamacare Has Reversed A Negative Trend. Researchers Call It ‘Remarkable.’
Obamacare Has Reversed A Negative Trend. Researchers Call It ‘Remarkable.’
Ahiza Garcia / Talking Points Memo:
VIDEO: Ex-Navy SEAL Pretends To ‘Choke Out’ Obama — Chris Heben had an unusual year in 2014. — The former Navy SEAL made national headlines in March when he was shot by what he described as three black assailants. Then he was in the news again in September when prosecutors alleged he'd lied to police about the ordeal.
Adam Lusher / The Independent:
The mystery of shellshock solved: Scientists identify the unique brain injury caused by war — When the war poet Wilfred Owen wrote of “men whose minds the Dead have ravished” he was attempting to describe the mysterious effects of shellshock which started appearing during the First World War and of which he himself was a sufferer.
Discussion:
FOX News Radio
Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:
Don't Do It, Mr. Romney — He'd have been a better president than Obama. That's not nearly enough. — Hershey, Pa. — A conversation with a Republican governor who is a possible presidential aspirant: — I told him I'd been thinking about something and wanted his response.
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Regime Change in Switzerland — Blogging will be limited for the next few days, unless I can resolve the tech problems here in Delhi. But I did want to say something about the Swiss de-pegging, beyond what I put in the column. — These days it's fairly widely accepted that it's very hard …
Discussion:
Washington Post, TheMoneyIllusion and Marginal REVOLUTION
Ron Charles / Washington Post:
‘Boy Who Came Back From Heaven’ going back to publisher — Tyndale House, a major Christian publisher, has announced that it will stop selling “The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven,” by Alex Malarkey and his father, Kevin Malarkey. — The best-selling book, first published in 2010 …
Yvonne Dean-Bailey / Campus Reform:
All-women's college cancels ‘Vagina Monologues’ because it's not feminist enough — Mount Holyoke College, an all-women's school, announced in a campus-wide email that the Theatre Board has cancelled its annual production of the “Vagina Monologues.” — The board has decided to retire …
Discussion:
Power Line, Hit & Run, Jezebel, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Patterico's Pontifications, Althouse and The PJ Tatler
Colin Campbell / Business Insider:
Al Sharpton Calls For Emergency Meeting To Address ‘Appalling’ All-White Oscar Nominees — The Rev. Al Sharpton was left fuming mad after the Oscars revealed its all-white list of nominees for this year's Oscar awards on Thursday. — “The movie industry is like the Rocky Mountains …
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Linda Holmes / NPR:
At The Oscar Nominations, It's A Good Year To Be An Idiosyncratic Man
At The Oscar Nominations, It's A Good Year To Be An Idiosyncratic Man
Discussion:
NY Daily News, The Dish, WHNT-TV, Washington Post, Hot Air, Mediaite, The Atlantic Online, New York Times, TPNN, Vox, The Huffington Post and Althouse
Martin Matishak / The Hill:
Democrat condemns ‘shocking’ comments about Muslim lawmaker — A top House Democrat on Thursday condemned suggestions from conservative websites that Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), a Muslim, should not have been appointed to the House Intelligence Committee. — It has “come to my attention …
Discussion:
BizPac Review
Jonathan Strong / Press Association:
GOP Retreat: Rep. Jeff Denham Says Party's Quietly Crafting Broad Immigration Bill — The GOP's most outspoken proponent of comprehensive immigration reform let loose in an interview with reporters here, detailing quiet efforts to draft far-reaching legislation, saying House leadership is …
Discussion:
protein wisdom, National Review and Bloomberg Politics
Ben Yakas / Gothamist:
[Update] Video: Subway Rider Upstages Homophobic Preacher With Willy Wonka Song — As Grandpa Joe once sang, he may have never dreamed that he would climb over the subway preacher in musical ecstasy, but nevertheless it's there that he a short time ago was.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Mashable, New York's PIX11 and New York Magazine