Top Items:
Daily Mail:
Another politician forced to resign after sending naked pictures to woman he had online relationship with — A politician who emailed a woman nude photos of himself that were posted on a GOP activist's website has resigned and said he will consider all legal options to have the pictures taken down.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Mediaite and Ricochet Conversation Feed
RELATED:
JammieWearingFool:
'Maybe He Hasn't Noticed or Doesn't Care, But the Country is Giving Up On Him' — I'm not of the mind that Barack Obama doesn't care about his fortunes in the wake of the debt deal hammered out this week. He obviously cares since he's now jetting off for his biggest fundraisers of his re-election campaign.
RELATED:
New York Post:
Scapegoater-in-chief — That was fast. Mounting his shrinking soapbox soon after the Senate passed the debt-ceiling bill, President Obama took less than a minute to lapse into his class-warfare shtick. — It's always us-against-them with him, but yesterday was especially off-key.
Discussion:
Questions and Observations
Pierre Thomas / ABCNEWS:
D.B. Cooper Mystery: Alleged Niece Comes Forward — A woman claiming to be the niece of infamous skyjacker D.B. Cooper has spoken to ABC News in an exclusive interview about her role in the recently re-ignited 40-year-old cold case that has haunted the FBI for years.
Discussion:
The Daley Gator, The Daily Caller, The Lede, Mediaite and New York Times
Paul Ryan / Wall Street Journal:
Where's Your Budget, Mr. President? — Ever since they fudged the numbers to pass ObamaCare, Democrats have abandoned credible spending plans. — During the negotiations over raising the debt ceiling, President Obama reportedly warned Republican leaders not to call his bluff by sending him a bill without tax increases.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, TPMDC, The Gateway Pundit, Man Are We Screwed and The New Republic
Michael Joseph Gross / Vanity Fair:
Exclusive: Operation Shady rat—Unprecedented Cyber-espionage Campaign and Intellectual-Property Bonanza — For at least five years, a high-level hacking campaign—dubbed Operation Shady rat—has infiltrated the computer systems of national governments, global corporations, nonprofits …
Discussion:
Mashable!, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
New York Times:
Security Firm Says It Found Global Cyberspying
Security Firm Says It Found Global Cyberspying
Discussion:
The New Republic and The Daily Caller
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Report on ‘Operation Shady RAT’ identifies widespread cyber-spying
Report on ‘Operation Shady RAT’ identifies widespread cyber-spying
Discussion:
The Politico, more at Techmeme »
Alan Colmes' Liberaland:
Republicans Attack Obama For Having A Birthday Party — Apparently, you're not allowed to do anything other than create jobs, if you're Barack Obama (Mr. Boehner, where are the jobs?). The right wing is going apoplectic because there is a star-studded Chicago fund-raiser in conjunction with his 50th birthday.
Discussion:
Political Punch and The Impolitic
RELATED:
Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
McConnell: ‘The debt ceiling will not be clean anymore’ — (GETTY IMAGES) The most honest man in Washington did some more truth-telling on CNBC last night. Speaking to Larry Kudlow, Mitch McConnell made perfectly clear that the hostage situation we just went through wasn't a one-shot deal.
RELATED:
Reuters:
Private sector added 114,000 jobs in July — (Reuters) - Private employers added more jobs than expected in July, though less than in June, but planned layoffs rose to a 16-month high, according to separate surveys on Wednesday. — The data comes ahead of the U.S. government's key jobs report on Friday …
Discussion:
The Political Carnival
RELATED:
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Palin says she has no respect for Romney's debt-ceiling stance — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) joined the attacks against Mitt Romney's handling of the debt-ceiling debate, saying she has no respect for how the GOP presidential front-runner handled the issue.
Discussion:
Washington Wire and CNN
RELATED:
The Right Scoop:
Palin: If we were terrorists Obama would be wanting to pal around with us — Sarah Palin says that she isn't just going to roll over and say to the left “hit me baby one more time, call me a terrorist again, call me a racist”, but rather she's going to call them out on their hypocrisy.
Discussion:
Maggie's Notebook, Michelle Malkin, Cold Fury and nation.foxnews.com
Edward Wyatt / New York Times:
Stalemate in Senate Leaves 4,000 Out of Work at F.A.A. — WASHINGTON — After dealing with the debt crisis, Senate negotiators tried and failed on Tuesday to end a stalemate over temporary financing for the Federal Aviation Administration, leaving 4,000 agency employees out of work and relying …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, p m carpenter's commentary, Wonkette, The Raw Story, The Consumerist and Associated Press
RELATED:
Bill Chappell / NPR:
Reid Says FAA Shutdown Will Continue; Blames House, Delta Airlines
Reid Says FAA Shutdown Will Continue; Blames House, Delta Airlines
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Firedoglake, Daily Kos, Sky Dancing and Truthdig
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Romney Advisor Robert Bork: Civil Rights Act Is ‘Unsurpassed Ugliness,’ But Contraception And Porn Bans Are Fine — Yesterday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) announced his presidential campaign's “Justice Advisory Committee,” along with its co-chair Robert Bork.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
How John Boehner escaped disaster — In the midst of a rebellion from his own colleagues, John Boehner faced a big decision. — It was 10 p.m. last Thursday, the most stressful moment of his Speakership. — Boehner's debt-limit bill was short on votes, and the GOP leadership was forced …
Discussion:
Nice Deb and The Gateway Pundit
Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:
The Scariest 4 Economic Graphs I've Seen This Year — This is a remarkable sequence of pictures from Calculated Risk showing that no major economic indicator has returned to its pre-crisis level. In other words, after two years of recovery, not a single key broad measure of the economy has actually recovered.
Discussion:
Vox Popoli, Calculated Risk and Prairie Weather
Rasmussen Reports:
Just 22% Approve of Debt Ceiling Deal, Most Doubt It Will Cut Spending — Most voters disapprove of the debt ceiling agreement reached by the president and Congress earlier this week and most doubt it will actually reduce government spending. — A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds …
Scott Wong / The Politico:
Senate blocking recess appointments — Following the House, the Senate will hold a series of “pro forma” sessions over the next month, effectively blocking President Barack Obama from making any appointments during Congress' August recess. — That means Obama won't be able to seat his pick …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Washington Monthly
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Washington Chain Saw Massacre — Even before Emanuel Cleaver, the Democratic congressman from Missouri, called the debt deal “a sugar-coated Satan sandwich” and Nancy Pelosi tossed in a side of “Satan fries,” the whiff of sulfur was rising from the Capitol.
Discussion:
National Review and Moe Lane
Austin Frakt / The Incidental Economist:
Memo to the Super Committee — I know you haven't been established yet. Neither you, nor I, know who you really are. Still, it's possible you'll be pretty important between now and Thanksgiving so I thought I'd drop you this note. — I heard through the grapevine (OK, it was the internet) …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress
Cheezburger Network / The Daily What:
Just Watch This of the Day: Why the Internet Exists, Reason #143,106: “Mariachi Connecticut performing for a beluga whale at Mystic Marinelife Aquarium.” — [thanks tracey!]
Discussion:
TheBlaze.com
Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Conservative talk show host Sean Hannity endorses Sen. Hatch — Conservative talk show host Sean Hannity endorsed Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on his radio show Tuesday, giving a boost to the lawmaker, who could face a primary challenge from the right next year.
Marie Diamond / ThinkProgress:
GOP Rep. Steve King: Free Birth Control Will Make America ‘A Dying Civilization’ — Conservatives are lashing out at the Obama administration's decision to listen to the experts at the Institute of Medicine and approve their recommendation to require new health insurance plans to cover birth control with no co-pays.
Discussion:
Jezebel, Indecision Forever, Political Correction RSS, Feministing and TPMDC
Larry O'Connor / Breitbart.tv:
NBC News' Al Sharpton Doesn't Seem to Understand the Debt Ceiling Issue — In a baffling and confusing interview, NBC News' newest star Al Sharpton doesn't seem to understand the difference between the debt ceiling issue, credit rating downgrade and default. he also, clearly …
Discussion:
Big Journalism and HotAirPundit
Daniel Markovits / Los Angeles Times:
How the GOP lost on the debt deal — The deal reached by Congress eliminates the leverage that would have been created by another imminent default until after the next election, where it will be exercised by new and possibly differently constituted players.
Discussion:
normblog
Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
One shot on taxes: Don't blow it, Democrats — There are now two sides in the American tax debate: the Republican Party, which refuses to have a serious conversation about taxes, and the Democratic Party, which . . . refuses to have a serious conversation about taxes.
Discussion:
UrbanGrounds and Daily Kos
Bloomberg:
Debt Panel Membership to Send Signal on Chances for Tax Overhaul — Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) — The push to reduce the U.S. debt is shifting to the makeup of the special congressional panel charged with finding further spending cuts and whether its 12 members can consider rewriting the tax code.
Discussion:
The Reaction