Top Items:
Joshua Roberts / Newsweek:
Bush's Snoopgate — The president was so desperate to kill The New York Times' eavesdropping story, he summoned the paper's editor and publisher to the Oval Office. But it wasn't just out of concern about national security. — Bush says he had 'legal authority' to permit …
Discussion:
The RCP Blog, Right Wing Nut House, The Mahablog, Brendan Nyhan, The Carpetbagger Report, WTF Is It Now??, The Peking Duck, IntoxiNation-News …, Bark Bark Woof Woof, The Washington Monthly, Let Freedom Ring, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Shakespeare's Sister, Prairie Weather, The Strata-Sphere, Macsmind, firedoglake, Donklephant, Booman Tribune ~ Boo!, This Modern World, Taegan Goddard's …, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo, Running Scared and AMERICAblog
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James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:
Critics Question Timing of Surveillance Story — The New York Times, which knew about the secret wiretaps for more than a year, published because of a reporter's new book, sources say. — The New York Times first debated publishing a story about secret eavesdropping on Americans as early as last fall …
Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
F.B.I. Watched Activist Groups, New Files Show — WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - Counterterrorism agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups active in causes as diverse as the environment …
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Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:
FBI Papers Show Terror Inquiries Into PETA; Other Groups Tracked — FBI counterterrorism investigators are monitoring domestic U.S. advocacy groups engaged in antiwar, environmental, civil rights and other causes, the American Civil Liberties Union charged yesterday as it released new FBI records …
Opinion Journal:
Thank You for Wiretapping — Why the Founders made presidents dominant on national security. — Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold wants to be President, and that's fair enough. By all means go for it in 2008. The same applies to Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who's always …
Discussion:
The Rude Pundit
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Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
WHAT IS THE NSA UP TO?....So what's the nature of the secret NSA bugging program? Why did the Bush administration feel like they couldn't continue to seek warrants via the usual FISA procedures? Take a look at the following quotes and you can see a single thread that starts to emerge:
Walid Phares / The Counterterrorism Blog:Catch them, but do not watch them!.. — "Use their systems …
Michelle Malkin:NSA AND THE LAW: WHAT THE TIMES DIDN'T PRINT
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Balkinization, Flit, Hugh Hewitt, The Washington Monthly and In the Bullpen
George F. Will / Washington Post:
Why Didn't He Ask Congress? — The president's authorization of domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency contravened a statute's clear language. Assuming that urgent facts convinced him that he should proceed anyway and on his own, what argument convinced him that he lawfully could?
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Washington Post:
Vital Presidential Power — A U.S. president has just received word that American counterterrorist operatives have captured a senior al Qaeda operative in Pakistan. Among his possessions are a couple of cell phones — phones that contain several American phone numbers.
New York Times:
Administration Cites War Vote in Spying Case — WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - President Bush and two of his most senior aides argued Monday that the highly classified program to spy on suspected members of terrorist groups in the United States grew out of the president's constitutional authority …
New York Times:
Millions Are Left to Make It to Work Any Way They Can — Workers walked to their offices in bitter cold, long lines formed for taxis and the police inspected cars at tunnels and bridges as transit workers started a strike this morning, shutting down New York City's subway and bus system …
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Evan Coyne Maloney / >bt: Brain Terminal:
Strike Shuts Down NYC Subways & Buses — 20 December 2005 @ 3:43AM >> For the first time since 1980, the New York City public transit system is completely shut down due to a strike. Transit Workers Union head Roger Toussaint made the announcement shortly after 3:00AM local time.
Discussion:
A Blog For All, GOP and the City, Alarming News, Gothamist, Suitably Flip and Michelle Malkin
Ted Frank / PointofLaw.com:An opportunity for Spitzer — New York Attorney General …
Discussion:
Overlawyered
Washington Post:
Senator Sounded Alarm in '03 — Rockefeller Wrote Cheney to Voice Concerns on Spying — John D. Rockefeller IV, a wealthy man representing a poor state, had been the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee for six months when he sat down to a secret briefing on July 17, 2003.
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Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Negative Attitudes on Iraq Prove Hard to Change — Half still believe U.S. can't achieve victory in Iraq — PRINCETON, NJ — President George W. Bush's speech to the nation Sunday night squarely addressed several of the areas where there is the greatest divergence between the administration …
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Washington Post:President's Approval Rating Rebounds
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CNN, ABCNEWS, Galley Slaves, Decision '08, Power Line, USS Neverdock, Mystery Pollster, AMERICAN FUTURE, Wonkette, In the Bullpen and The Claremont Institute
Mark Blumenthal / Mystery Pollster:NOT SUCH AN OUTLIER AFTER ALL? … Advantage, Mr. Todd.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
Bull Moose:
Big Brother W.? — The Moose doesn't think it's 1984. — The latest imbroglio over the revelation that the government eavesdropped into the international phone calls of U.S. citizens does not set the Moose's antlers on fire. The Administration is going to have to offer a better explanation …
Discussion:
Cold Fury
Opinion Journal:
Our Friends the Pakistanis — Support for the U.S. is surging in some parts of the Muslim world. — So much for the popularly peddled view that anti-Americanism in the Muslim world is so pervasive and deep-rooted it might take generations to alter. A new poll from Pakistan …
Barbara Boxer / boxer.senate.gov:
Boxer Asks Presidential Scholars About Former White House Counsel's Statement that Bush Admitted to an 'Impeachable Offense' — Boxer said, "I take very seriously Mr. Dean's comments, as I view him to be an expert on Presidential abuse of power. I am expecting a full airing of this matter by the Senate in the very near future."
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