Top Items:
New York Times:
Bank Data Sifted in Secret by U.S. to Block Terror — WASHINGTON, June 22 — Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking …
Discussion:
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CNN:
Indictment: Suspects wanted to 'kill all the devils we can' — Terror plot targeted Chicago's Sears Tower — MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — A federal indictment against seven men revealed Friday details of what the government said was a plan intended to "kill all the devils we can."
Discussion:
Miami Herald, Associated Press, PR Newswire, Captain's Quarters, Blogs of War, The Strata-Sphere, cbs4.com, Debbie Schlussel, Hot Air, protein wisdom, Occidentality, A Blog For All, Assorted Babble, The Blotter, Liberty and Justice, Babalu Blog, Florida Cracker, PrairiePundit, This Blog Is Full Of Crap, California Conservative, lgf, Daily Kos and Gateway Pundit
Justin Bachman / Associated Press:
Media Refuses to Hold Surveillance Story — The Bush administration and The New York Times are again at odds over national security, this time with new reports of a broad government effort to track global financial transfers. — The newspaper, which in December broke news of an effort …
Washington Post:
Bank Records Secretly Tapped — Administration Began Using Global Database Shortly After 2001 Attacks — The Bush administration, relying on a presidential declaration of emergency, has secretly been tapping into a vast global database of confidential financial transactions for nearly five years …
Discussion:
Donklephant, Patterico's Pontifications, The Agonist, Bull Moose, The Moderate Voice, The Democratic Daily and FP Passport
Michelle Malkin:
NYTIMES BLABBERMOUTHS STRIKE AGAIN — ***update: The Los Angeles Times piles on and flaps its mouth, too...The story is the blabbermouth media's refusal to act responsibly and learn when to shut up...*** — Dammit. These people don't know when to stop.
Los Angeles Times:
U.S. Mining Bank Transfer Data in Anti-Terror Effort — WASHINGTON — The U.S. government, without the knowledge of many banks and their customers, has engaged for years in a secret effort to track terrorist financing by reviewing confidential information on transfers of money between banks worldwide.
Patterico / Patterico's Pontifications:
New York Times Publishes Classified Details of Legal and (Formerly) …
New York Times Publishes Classified Details of Legal and (Formerly) …
The Big Trunk / Power Line:
THE TIMES STRIKES AGAIN
THE TIMES STRIKES AGAIN
Discussion:
BLACKFIVE, Daily Pundit, Ankle Biting Pundits, PrairiePundit, THE ASTUTE BLOGGER and Blue Crab Boulevard
Times of London:
Peace deal offers Iraq insurgents an amnesty — From Ned Parker in Baghdad and Tom Baldwin — THE Iraqi Government will announce a sweeping peace plan as early as Sunday in a last-ditch effort to end the Sunni insurgency that has taken the country to the brink of civil war.
Philip Shenon / New York Times:
Senate Report Lists Lobbyist's Payments to Ex-Leader of Christian Coalition — WASHINGTON, June 22 — A bipartisan Senate report released on Thursday documented more than $5.3 million in payments to Ralph Reed, the former director of the Christian Coalition and a leading Republican Party strategist …
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Sinan Salaheddin / Associated Press:
State of emergency declared in Baghdad — BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew Friday after insurgents set up roadblocks in central Baghdad and fired on U.S. and Iraqi troops outside the heavily fortified Green Zone.
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Julian Borger / Guardian:
Poll shows Muslims in Britain are the most anti-western in Europe — Public opinion in Britain is mostly favourable towards Muslims, but the feeling is not requited by British Muslims, who are among the most embittered in the western world, according to a global poll published yesterday.
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Richard Morin / Washington Post:
Jon Stewart, Enemy of Democracy? — This is not funny: Jon Stewart and his hit Comedy Central cable show may be poisoning democracy. — Two political scientists found that young people who watch Stewart's faux news program, "The Daily Show," develop cynical views about politics and politicians …
Lee Siegel / The New Republic:
BLOG THIS: — In response to Jason Zengerle's most recent post on The Plank—"Hope you're not tired of this Kos stuff"—no, I for one am definitely not tired of Zengerle's artful and honest exposure of someone who, more and more, seems to represent the purest, most classical strain of hypocrisy.
Discussion:
TAPPED, Brainster's Blog, LamontBlog, The Poor Man Institute, The Horse's Mouth and The Blogging of the President
Hotline On Call:
From Wake Up Call: St. Pete Times's Rove/Satan Story — According to this St. Petersburg Times story, saved here for posterity, "Karl Rove said that he would be plotting the Republican Party's fall election strategy with his longtime comrade-in-arms, Satan."
White House:
President's Remarks to the People of Hungary — THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Yo napote kivanok. (Applause.) Thank you for your warm welcome. I first want to thank the President for his gracious hospitality and the chance to visit Sandor Palace. It's a beautiful site, and I know you're proud of it.
David Boaz / Cato-at-liberty:
Hillary and the Candlemakers: Not a Parody — One of the most famous documents in the history of free-trade literature is Bastiat's famous "Candlemakers' Petition." In that parody, the French economist and parliamentarian imagined the makers of candles and street lamps petitioning …
Discussion:
The RCP Blog
Thomas E. Ricks / Washington Post:
General Reports Spike in Iranian Activity in Iraq — Iranian support for extremists inside Iraq has shown a "noticeable increase" this year, with Tehran's special forces providing weapons and bomb training to anti-U.S. groups, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said yesterday.
Scott Shane / New York Times:
For Diehards, Search for Iraq's W.M.D. Isn't Over — WASHINGTON, June 22 — The United States government abandoned the search for unconventional weapons in Iraq long ago. But Dave Gaubatz has never given up. — Mr. Gaubatz, an earnest, Arabic-speaking investigator who spent the first months …