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9:10 PM ET, August 5, 2011

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Political Punch:
Govt Officials: US Expecting S&P Downgrade — Based on ‘Serious Mistake’ in Analysis*  —  Two government officials tell ABC News that the federal government is expecting and preparing for bond rating agency Standard & Poor's to downgrade the rating of U.S. debt from its current AAA value.
RELATED:
Politics:
S&P DOWNGRADE WATCH: Furious Behind The Scenes War Going On Over Threat To Remove US AAA Rating  —  A senior administration official confirms to Business Insider that S&P gave notice to the White House that it intended to downgrade the US AAA rating today.  —  The official confirmed …
Kate Kelly / CNBC:
US Braces for Possible S&P Downgrade: Source  —  U.S. government officials are bracing for the rating agency Standard & Poor's to downgrade the country's credit as early as this evening or take other possible action, according to someone familiar with the matter.
MarketBeat:
U.S. Debt Rating in Limbo as Treasury Finds Math Mistake by S&P in Downgrade Warning  —  A mathematical error discovered late Friday by Treasury Department officials has thrown into limbo — at least temporarily — plans by ratings firm Standard & Poor's to downgrade the top-notch AAA credit rating …
Discussion: Felix Salmon and FT Alphaville
Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:
US Faces Ratings Downgrade from S&P  —  For a couple of days, I've been hearing rumors that one reason that US stocks were plummeting was S&P's delay in issuing its ratings; supposedly, the delay was because S&P was going to downgrade us, and they wanted to wait until after Friday's market close.
Discussion: Balloon Juice and ThinkProgress
blogs.abcnews.com:
Govt official: US expecting S&P downgrade
Discussion: Outside the Beltway and MarketBeat
Leary / nation.foxnews.com:
Obama's Hip-Hop BBQ Didn't Create Jobs  —  POLITICO EXCLUSIVE — The President's private 50th birthday bash, not listed on his public schedule: His gift to the press corps was a travel/photo lid shortly after 4 p.m., prompting what pooler Julie Mason called “general cheering in WH workspace.”
RELATED:
Media Matters / Media Matters for America:
Discussion: Crooks and Liars
Tanya Somanader / ThinkProgress:
Fox Nation Reports On Obama's Birthday: 'Obama's Hip-Hop BBQ Didn't Create Jobs'
Jason Cherkis / The Huffington Post:
Rick Perry's College Transcript: A Lot Of Cs and Ds … WASHINGTON — As governor of Texas, Rick Perry has pursued a controversial agenda that would gut Texas' vaunted public university system in favor of something that more closely resembles a business.  —  As the Washington Post reported on Thursday …
RELATED:
The Note:
Rick Perry's Religious Event Mired in Controversy
Discussion: CNN, ThinkProgress and The Daily Caller
William Saunders / The Politico:
Rick Perry is half-right on abortion
Discussion: LifeNews.com
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
The Incredible Shrinking Tea Party  —  If there's one thing the debt ceiling battle revealed, it's that the Tea Party continues to enjoy outsized influence in Washington in general and over the GOP in particular.  —  So it's interesting to note that according to the internals of today's New York Times poll …
RELATED:
RELATED:
JSOnline:
State Patrol called in, youth policy imposed after violence at State Fair
Discussion: Pajamas Media
Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:
A Modest Proposal  —  Reading this...  And thinking back on this, by the same writer...  It occurs to me that we really need a world with more murders, more failing schools, more grocery stores with rotting vegetables, more bodegas with old milk, more teen-pregnancy, more homeless, more crack …
RELATED:
Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Striking Change in Bedford-Stuyvesant as the White Population Soars
Discussion: Gothamist
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Why Democrats are very nervous about Wisconsin  —  Publicly, Democrats are projecting great confidence about the likelihood of taking back the Wisconsin state senate in the upcoming recall elections.  They claim their private polling shows them ahead or tied in all six races targeting GOPers for recall …
Discussion: Daily Kos and The Mahablog
RealClearPolitics Video Log:
John Kerry: Media Has “Responsibility” To “Not Give Equal Time” To Tea Party  —  Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) told MSNBC's “Morning Joe” on Friday that the media has the responsibility to not give equal time or credence to the Tea Party's views: SEN. JOHN KERRY: “And I have to tell you, I say this to you politely.
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Video: They're still not listening to Rick Santelli  —  Want to see a microcosm of everything that's been wrong with American economic policy over the last couple of years?  Watch this exchange between Ezra Klein and Rick Santelli from earlier today on MSNBC's Morning Joe.
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Wrong Worries  —  In case you had any doubts, Thursday's more than 500-point plunge in the Dow Jones industrial average and the drop in interest rates to near-record lows confirmed it: The economy isn't recovering, and Washington has been worrying about the wrong things.
Julie Mason / Reuters:
White House has new talking points  —  Austan Goolsbee: Jobs!  Bickering!  Brrrains!!!!!  —  If only Congress would pass patent reform!  The White House has found the guilty parties behind that dismal June jobs report — and they include failure to act on trade deals and that old Washington bugaboo: bickering.
Mitchel Maddux / New York Post:
‘Rent is Too Damn High’ candidate facing eviction from rent-controlled apartment  —  The man who ran for governor because the “Rent is Too Damn High” claims he's being kicked out of his Manhattan apartment — because the rent is too damn low!  —  Jimmy McMillan says he pays $872.96 …
Walter Brandimarte / Reuters:
United States loses AAA credit rating from S&P  —  (Reuters) - The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday in an unprecedented reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy.  —  S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus …
Discussion: Conservatives4Palin and Hot Air
Tanya Somanader / ThinkProgress:
Cantor Opposes Extending Unemployment Benefits: We Need To Stop ‘Pumping Up’ Jobless Americans  —  The unemployment rate inched downwards to 9.1 percent today, with private sector jobs increasing by 154,000.  While a slight improvement, these better-than-expected figures provide little comfort …
James Pethokoukis:
Can Obama's 2012 hopes survive 9%+ unemployment? … The consensus used to be that President Obama might be OK if the jobless rate fell below 8 percent by Election Day.  That seems increasingly unlikely.  The economy is, at best, in slow-growth mode, just churning and churning, creating few jobs.
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
The FAA shutdown and the new rules of Washington  —  Congressman John Mica, the Florida Republican blamed for single-handedly shutting down the Federal Aviation Administration, sounded like a beaten man when he called me Thursday evening.  —  The usually biting chairman …
Rasmussen Reports:
54% Think Obama's Reelection At Least Somewhat Likely  —  Most voters think President Obama has a good shot at being reelected next year, even if he continues to pursue tax increases as part of any future deficit reduction plan.  —  Fifty-four percent (54%) of Likely U.S. Voters feel …
Discussion: Daily Pundit
THIRDWAVEDAVE:
TEA PARTY EXPRESS WISCONSIN: “HUDSON, LA CROSSE” EDITION—updated  —  Day one of TPX Wisconsin begins with a noon rally in Hudson and then on to La Crosse at 5:30 PM.  Tour embed Andrea Shea King will report in as events unfold.  I will update this post with her reports, or you can check her site at The Radio Patriot.
Valerie Jarrett / The Huffington Post:
Why I'm Proud to Be Part of President Obama's Team  —  Twenty years ago last month, I met a remarkable young man named Barack Obama.  Since then, I've been honored to join him along his journey, from the Illinois State Senate all the way to the Oval Office.
Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Obama ‘smarter’ than critics, says Alan Simpson  —  Former Sen. Alan Simpson, a Republican who co-chaired President Barack Obama's fiscal commission, says that the president is “a little bit smarter” than some of his critics, who “ought to give it up.”  —  Simpson, who represented Wyoming …
Discussion: The Spot and Weasel Zippers
Joy Pullman / Washington Examiner:
Teachers union disavows internal memo endorsing deception of parents  —  American Federation of Teachers officials have disavowed an internal report after it was posted on the union's website following its annual conference, embedded on each of its 19 pages with the union's logo and signed by a union official.
Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com and Pajamas Media
Marc Stewart / TheDenverChannel.com:
TSA Confiscates Pregnant Woman's Insulin, Ice Packs  —  Security Tells Woman Isulin Vial Was An Explosives Risk  —  DENVER — A Denver couple has filed a formal complaint with the Transportation Security Administration after a pregnant woman's insulin and ice packs were confiscated by screeners at Denver International Airport.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Tyler Durden / ZeroHedge:
Average Length Of Unemployment Surges To New All Time Record 40.4 Weeks
Discussion: Don Surber and Doug Ross
Financial Times:
Italy agrees to liberalise economy
Discussion: ThinkProgress and New Atlanticist
Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Sometimes a Day in Congress Takes Seconds, Gavel to Gavel
Discussion: Wonkette
A.Killough / CNN:
Perry to meet with GOP leaders in South Carolina
Discussion: The Page
Hugh Son / Bloomberg:
Bank of America Says Mortgage Buyback Claims May Exceed Prior Estimate
Kathie Obradovich / Iowa Caucuses:
Santorum: Courts have created ‘super-right’ of sexual liberty
Discussion: ThinkProgress and TPMDC
Lee Fang / ThinkProgress:
VIDEO: Security Guards At American Legislative Exchange Council Conference Physically Attack ThinkProgress Reporters
 Earlier Items: 
M.S. / Democracy in America:
Adventures in tea-party cognitive dissonance
Cindy Adams / New York Post:
Harvey hosts O money meal
Noah / Noahpinion:
Supply-side vs. demand-side recessions
Charles Krauthammer / National Review:
The Solution  —  A three-stage compromise to reduce the debt on a scale never before seen
Discussion: FrumForum
Hilary Gowins / Northwest Herald:
Walsh tries to clear air at town hall-style meeting
Discussion: Hotline On Call and The Hill
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
The Atlantic is profitable, has 1M subscribers, and revenue grew 10% in 2023 thanks to a 50% price hike, a harder paywall, and a shift to in-depth reporting

New York Times:
The NBC News-Ronna McDaniel saga highlights the perks and perils of partisan talk TV; a source says McDaniel is now seeking $600K+ for her two year deal

New York Times:
Karlie Kloss' Bedford buys Life publication rights from Dotdash Meredith and plans to resume regular print publication in 2025; Josh Kushner will be publisher

 
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