memeorandum: Podesta's Push for Executive Power Raises Stakes on Obama Agenda (Bloomberg)

11:05 AM ET, December 20, 2013

Top Items:

Obama administration relaxes rules of health-care law four days before deadline — The Obama administration Thursday night significantly relaxed the rules of the health-care law for millions of consumers whose individual insurance policies have been canceled, saying they could buy bare-bones health plans …

Discussion: Fox News, Hot Air, The Plum Line, Liberaland, Mediaite, Pirate's Cove, The Daily Caller, americanthinker.com, Michelle Malkin, Viking Pundit, Jammie Wearing Fools and American Power

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:

The individual mandate no longer applies to people whose plans were canceled — Today, the Obama administration announced that people whose insurance plans were canceled this year will “temporarily” be exempted from the law's individual mandate. Here's how they're doing it — and what it means for the law.

Discussion: Power Line, Weekly Standard, New York Times, Weasel Zippers and Guardian

Avik Roy / Forbes:

Utter Chaos: White House Exempts Millions From Obamacare's Insurance Mandate, ‘Unaffordable’ Exchanges — It's hard to come up with new ways to describe the Obama administration's improvisational approach to the Affordable Care Act's troubled health insurance exchanges.

Discussion: Washington Post, Josh Blackman's Blog, National Review, Betsy's Page, NBCNews and Los Angeles Times

Louise Radnofsky / Wall Street Journal:

White House Will Allow Some To Buy Catastrophic Health Plans — Health-Care Law Tweak Addresses People Whose Polices Were Canceled Under New Rules — The Obama administration said Thursday it would allow some of the millions of Americans whose insurance policies had been canceled …

Discussion: The Incidental Economist, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Pocket Full Of Liberty, Weasel Zippers and neo-neocon

Tal Kopan / Politico:

Chuck Todd: Will anyone be fined? — NBC News chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd says with all the changes the Obama administration has made to the rules of Obamacare, he doubts a “single person” will end up paying a penalty next year when the individual mandate takes effect.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Clara Ritger / NationalJournal.com:
Obama Administration to Delay Individual Mandate for Some

Discussion: The Incidental Economist, Washington Free Beacon and The Volokh Conspiracy

Reuters:
White House broadens Obamacare exemptions

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hit & Run, Althouse and Politico

Elise Viebeck / The Hill: O-Care ‘fix’ extends to bare-bones plans

Byron Tau / Politico:
For Obamacare boosters, all memes are good memes

Discussion: CNN, CBS New York and Betsy's Page

Swalker / Duck Commander:

The Robertson Family Offical Statement — We want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. The family has spent much time in prayer since learning of A&E's decision. We want you to know that first and foremost we are a family rooted in our faith in God and our belief that the Bible is His word.

TMZ.com:

Phil Robertson Publicly Bashed Gays for Years — A&E Knew All About It — Publicly Bashed Gays ... FOR YEARS — A&E KNEW ALL ABOUT IT — EXCLUSIVE — A&E knew all about “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson feelings toward gays when it hired him — because the guy openly preached …

Discussion: The Raw Story, Business Insider, Towleroad News #gay, Patterico's Pontifications and Mediaite

ThinkProgress:
Why The Racist And Homophobic ‘Duck Dynasty’ Comments Have Nothing To Do With Free Speech

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, ABC News, Liberaland, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, The Democratic Daily and CNN

Governor Bobby Jindal:
Gov. Jindal on Phil Robertson Suspension: I Remember When TV Networks Believed in 1st Amendment

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Wonkblog, Lone Star Q, crooksandliars.com/user/2, PostPartisan, The Fix, The Week, Holy Bullies …, Mediaite, Christian News Network, The Hinterland Gazette, Back2Stonewall, National Review, Real Clear Politics, Hullabaloo and The Raw Story

LZ Granderson / CNN:
‘Duck Dynasty’ suspension doesn't violate First Amendment

Discussion: Politico, Guardian, BizPac Review, American Thinker, Nashville Scene and Associated Press

Dean Obeidallah / The Daily Beast:
The Right's ‘Duck Dynasty’ Hypocrisy

Discussion: The Mahablog, Liberal Values, Politico and New Orleans Times-Picayune

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

Paul Ryan Finds God — How a backstage prayer in Cleveland and a new leader in the Vatican set the budget-slashing congressman on a mission to help the poor. “My bet is that he's on Pope Francis' team.” — On Oct. 24, 2012, Paul Ryan slipped into a high-ceilinged backstage room …

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

MacIver Institute:

BREAKING: Workers Dismantle Over 70 Unions in Wisconsin — [Madison, Wisc...] Workers rejected over 70 of 408 school district unions during annual recertification elections that ended on Thursday, according to a preliminary analysis of the results. — The elections went from November 29th until noon …

Discussion: Hot Air and Weekly Standard

Donna Cassata / Associated Press:

Senate To Vote On Yellen For Fed Chair In January — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate will vote on the nomination of Janet Yellen to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve in January. — Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Thursday night that Republicans and Democrats had worked …

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
10 Democratic Committee Chairs Warn Menendez's Iran Sanction Bill Could Blow Up Negotiations

Discussion: Firedoglake and Taylor Marsh

Meredith Shiner / The World's Greatest …:
Senate Deal Sets Up Friday Christmas Exit, Pushes Yellen Confirmation to 2014 (Updated)

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Washington Post:

Officials' defenses of NSA phone program may be unraveling — From the moment the government's massive database of citizens' call records was exposed this year, U.S. officials have clung to two main lines of defense: The secret surveillance program was constitutional and critical to keeping the nation safe.

Discussion: Secrecy News, Prairie Weather, The Reaction and Pocket Full Of Liberty

Bloomberg:

Podesta's Push for Executive Power Raises Stakes on Obama Agenda — When the Republican victory in the 2010 midterm election raised the prospect of political gridlock, John Podesta was ready with an answer: The president should bypass Congress and wield the executive powers of his office.

Discussion: ABC News

Amie Parnes / The Hill:

Messina rejects holding Baucus's Senate seat — Jim Messina, who served as President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign manager, said Thursday that he is not considering an appointment in the Senate to replace departing Sen. Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat. — The comments came on the heels …

Discussion: Washington Wire

First Read / NBCNews:
First Thoughts: Baucus' ambassadorship gives Democrats a potential 2014 break

Discussion: The Fix and Outside the Beltway

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:

Mary Landrieu and All That JAZZ — The Louisiana senator says she's pro-energy, but her PAC has raised a lot of money to elect opponents of the oil and gas industry. — Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu rolled out her pitch for a fourth term in an interview with the Times-Picayune in April.

link.springer.com:

How dogs scan familiar and inverted faces: an eye movement study — Sanni Somppi, - Heini Törnqvist, - Laura Hänninen, - Christina M. Krause, - Outi Vainio — Abstract — Faces play an important role in communication and identity recognition in social animals.

Discussion: CBS Philly

James Hohmann / Reuters:

NRSC raised $3.2 million in November — The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised $3.2 million in November and ended the month with $6.4 million cash on hand. — The numbers, shared first with POLITICO, come after the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $5.1 million …

Discussion: CNN