memeorandum: Taliban says it captured 2 U.S. service members in Afghanistan (Washington Post)

3:50 AM ET, July 25, 2010

Top Items:

Los Zetas drug cartel seizes 2 U.S. ranches in Texas — In what could be deemed an act of war against the sovereign borders of the United States, Mexican drug cartels have seized control of at least two American ranches inside the U.S. territory near Laredo, Texas.

Discussion: Pat Dollard, TBogg, The Democratic Daily, Diggers Realm, Flopping Aces, The Mahablog and Riehl World View

Digger / TheCypressTimes:

BREAKING: MULTIPLE RANCHES IN LAREDO, TX TAKEN OVER BY LOS ZETAS — Publisher's Note: We are now receiving numerous conflicting reports regarding the veracity of this article. Numerous sources on the web (found via Google search) are picking up on this report, just as we did at The Cypress Times.

Discussion: Right Pundits, YID With LID, Moonbattery and DaTechguy's Blog

Confederate Yankee:

No, Texas Hasn't Been Invaded — Twitter exploded a while ago about this story, which claims that heavily-armed Los Zetas gunmen of the Gulf Cartel have taken over ranches on the U.S. side of the border. — My curiosity got the better of me, and so I called the Laredo Police Department …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Digger / Diggers Realm:

BREAKING: Multiple Ranches In Laredo, TX Taken Over By Los Zetas [Update 3] — The bloodbath continues along our southern border and now word is coming in that Los Zetas, the highly trained killers formerly with the Gulf Cartel, have crossed into the United States and taken over at least two ranches in the Laredo, Texas area.

Discussion: Laredo Morning News, Michelle Malkin, The Jawa Report, Sister Toldjah and Left Coast Rebel

Sarah Lyall / New York Times:

Britain Plans to Decentralize National Health Care — LONDON — Perhaps the only consistent thing about Britain's socialized health care system is that it is in a perpetual state of flux, its structure constantly changing as governments search for the elusive formula that will deliver …

Discussion: Pat Dollard, Weasel Zippers, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Townhall.com

Laura Donnelly / Telegraph:

Axe falls on NHS services — NHS bosses have drawn up secret plans for sweeping cuts to services, with restrictions on the most basic treatments for the sick and injured. — Some of the most common operations — including hip replacements and cataract surgery — will be rationed as part …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Doug Ross

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Reid vows changes to filibuster rules — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Saturday that Democrats will try to change Senate rules on the longstanding practice of filibusters. — Reid said that while Democrats were still looking at options as to how they would change the filibuster …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Karen Ocamb / LGBT POV:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on ENDA at Netroots Nation - Transcript — With much pre-election 2010 grumbling by progressives about the slow pace of the progressive agenda by Democrats - taking the public option out of healthcare reform, for instance, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared …

Discussion: Joe. My. God., The Politico and Pam's House Blend

Bridget Johnson / The Hill:
'Don't ask, don't tell' before ENDA, Pelosi tells frustrated activists

Discussion: Joe. My. God.

Washington Post:

Taliban says it captured 2 U.S. service members in Afghanistan — KABUL — Two U.S. service members went missing after driving off their base in Kabul on Friday, and the Taliban later claimed to have captured them in eastern Afghanistan, NATO officials said Saturday, the same day five U.S. troops were killed in the south.

Discussion: Thomas P.M. Barnett's …

David Fox / Reuters:
Taliban say 2 U.S. soldiers captured in Afghanistan

Discussion: Associated Press, CNN, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Confederate Yankee and Weasel Zippers

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Court Under Roberts Is Most Conservative in Decades — WASHINGTON — When Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and his colleagues on the Supreme Court left for their summer break at the end of June, they marked a milestone: the Roberts court had just completed its fifth term.

Matt Lewis / Politics Daily:

Five Minutes With Andrew Breitbart — Few would dispute the notion that Andrew Breitbart, 41, has become a major force on the right. Formerly the editor of The Drudge Report, and a primary developer for The Huffington Post, Breitbart has come into his own in recent years …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, The American Scene, Mediaite, New York Times, Right Pundits, Newshoggers.com, Riehl World View, NewsBusters.org, Big Journalism and Crooks and Liars

Andrew Gilligan / Telegraph:

Police Muslim forum headed by Islamic extremist — An Islamic extremist who has described al-Qaeda as a “myth” and justified the killing of British troops in Iraq has been chosen as the main link between the Metropolitan Police and the Muslim community. — Scotland Yard will now face pressure …

Discussion: Jihad Watch and Weasel Zippers

Edward Wong / New York Times:

Unease in Tibet Over Influx of China's Money and Migrants — LHASA, Tibet — They come by new high-altitude trains, four a day, cruising 1,200 miles past snow-capped mountains. And they come by military truck convoy, lumbering across the roof of the world.

Discussion: The Peking Duck

New York Times:

Trader's Cocoa Binge Wraps Up Chocolate Market — LONDON — To some, he is a real-life Willy Wonka. To others, he is a Bond-style villain bent on taking over the world's supply of chocolate. — In a stroke, a hedge fund manager here named Anthony Ward has all but cornered the market in cocoa.

Discussion: Suburban Guerrilla and skippy the bush kangaroo

Susan Crabtree / The Hill:

Rangel proceeding worries Dems and puzzles ethics experts — The timing of Rep. Charles Rangel's (D-N.Y.) public House ethics trial has House Democrats panicked and ethics watchdogs puzzled. — Democrats are worried the unusual and high-profile trial will cost the party seats in the fall …