Senate Votes To Expand Warrantless Surveillance  —  White House Applauds; Changes Are Temporary  —  The Senate bowed to White House pressure last night and passed a Republican plan for overhauling the federal government's terrorist surveillance laws, approving changes that would temporarily …

It's Official: Beauchamp's Claims Debunked by Army Internal Investigation  —  Col. Steven Boylan, Public Affairs Officer for U.S. Army Commanding General in Iraq David Petraeus, just emailed me the following in response to my request to confirm an earlier report that the U.S. Army's investigation …

Video: YearlyKos Military Panel Moderator Shouts Down Soldier  —  Here's the video — the section in question begins at around 41:00, and they apparently turned off the recording while the soldier was speaking.  —  (Hat tip: Killgore.)  —  Earlier at LGF:  —  Serviceman Shouted Down at YearlyKos

Busted computer hamstrings House  —  A busted computer system hamstrung the House (video link courtesy Breitbart.tv) for at least 45 minutes Friday on one of the tensest legislative days of the year.  —  The House electronic voting system malfunctioned at approximately 2 p.m. as lawmakers began …

Police Raids Linked to Editor's Slaying … OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Firearms linked to the slaying of an Oakland journalist were seized during early morning raids Friday targeting members of a Black Muslim group that operates a chain of bakeries, police said.

Aborigine wins payout for stolen childhood  —  Man awarded £220,000 after removal from family led to lifelong depression  —  "The best thing is knowing they never forgot me, my mum and dad.  They didn't want to let me go.  There's proof of that."  —  Clutching a mug of tea …

Dateline Mole Allegedly at DefCon with Hidden Camera — Updated: Mole Caught on Tape  —  DefCon security on Friday warned attendees at the annual hacker conference that Dateline NBC may have sent a mole with a hidden camera to the event to capture hackers admitting to crimes.

Reid, Pelosi, Emanuel Cancel; [UPDATED]  —  UPDATE [9:42pm, Chicago Time]: - It has now been confirmed that all of the Meet the Leaders panelists are not going to make their previously scheduled panel.  There will be no 8am keynote Saturday.  The regular schedule picks up again at 9am.

Gingrich says war on terror 'phony'  —  Former speaker says energy independence is key  —  Washington — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday the Bush administration is waging a "phony war" on terrorism, warning that the country is losing ground against the kind of Islamic radicals …

'Conventional Washington' v. change  —  From NBC's Mark Murray  —  In the wake of the criticism that Obama has received for saying he wouldn't use nuclear weapons to take out Al Qaeda in Pakistan — and for his other recent controversial statements on foreign policy …

FOUR GREAT NEW INTERVIEWS FROM YEARLY KOS ON TPMTV  —  Juan Cole of Informed Comment ...  David Sirota , who needs no introduction ...  Peter Leyden of the New Politics Institute ...  Ramona Oliver of Emily's List ...

Forward or Back?  —  Recent steps on infrastructure issues  —  Senate Passes Infrastructure Improvement Act, the Senate late Thursday night passed the ASCE-endorsed National Infrastructure Improvement Act (S. 775), a bill that would establish a national commission to assess the physical condition …