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."
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Miami Herald, Associated Press, PR Newswire, Captain's Quarters, Blogs of War, Debbie Schlussel, The Strata-Sphere, cbs4.com, protein wisdom, Hot Air, Occidentality, A Blog For All, Assorted Babble, The Blotter, Liberty and Justice, Babalu Blog, PrairiePundit, This Blog Is Full Of Crap, California Conservative, Daily Kos, lgf, Gateway Pundit and PartisanTimes.com
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 …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, The Heretik, GOP Bloggers, Blue Crab Boulevard and The Conspiracy to Keep …
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, Blue Crab Boulevard, THE ASTUTE BLOGGER and Don Surber
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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John O'Neil / New York Times:
Seven Are Charged With Plot to Blow Up Sears Tower — The Federal Bureau of Investigation's deputy director said today that a plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago by seven Miami men now facing federal conspiracy charges was "more aspirational than operational," but illustrated …
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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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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.
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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
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
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 …
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 …