memeorandum: ATF leader's email could be Fast and Furious smoking gun and Holder admitted Obama can't shield it (Matthew Boyle/The Daily Caller)

11:20 AM ET, June 26, 2012

Top Items:

What Happened Tonight — So anyone following along on twitter know the basics. I was SWATted tonight. My wife was down in the basement, and unknown to me she had fallen asleep in an uncomfortable position while watching TV. I was just finishing up a post where I was going to share …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Clayton Cramer's Blog

Patterico's Pontifications:

Aaron Walker SWATted — No joke. It happened around 6 p.m. Eastern. I briefly talked with one of the police officers at the scene, who confirmed that someone had called saying he had shot his wife, and sent officers to Aaron's address. — I just got off the phone with Aaron and he and his wife are a little shaken up but OK.

Discussion: Allergic to Bull, The Other McCain, The Lonely Conservative, protein wisdom and Nice Deb

Bruce Godfrey / Law Office of Bruce Godfrey:

A Personal Statement About Professional Fortitude — Today's tone will be a little earthier and more personal than I am normally willing to indulge here. If coarse analogies offend, please go read this vulgarity-free light reading instead. — Lawyers far more skilled and dedicated …

Discussion: UrbanGrounds

A.W. / Allergic to Bull:
An Important Victory For Freedom of Expression

Discussion: The Conservatory, The Other McCain, Wizbang, Sister Toldjah, Patterico's Pontifications, Popehat, Washington Examiner, The Jawa Report, The PJ Tatler, The Volokh Conspiracy, iOwnTheWorld.com, Nice Deb and Wake up America

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:

ATF leader's email could be Fast and Furious smoking gun and Holder admitted Obama can't shield it — A single internal Department of Justice email could be the smoking-gun document in the Operation Fast and Furious scandal — if it turns out to contain what congressional investigators have said it does.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Weasel Zippers, UrbanGrounds and The Hill

Politico:

Issa escalates ‘Furious’ war — Rep. Darrell Issa escalated the legal war over Fast and Furious, directly accusing President Barack Obama of either abusing his power by withholding information or having his aides conspire with Justice Department officials to manage the aftermath of the failed ATF gun-walking program.

Discussion: Riehl World View

Jordy Yager / The Hill:

Issa accuses Obama of involvement in Fast and Furious operation — Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Tuesday accused President Obama of either obstructing a congressional investigation or of involvement in the Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation. — In a seven-page letter to the president …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Hot Air

Jordy Yager / The Hill:
Dems seek to recast Holder furor as GOP effort to suppress votes

Discussion: Prairie Weather and Jammie Wearing Fools

Steven Musil / CNET:

Google scientists find evidence of machine learning — A neural network created by connecting 16,000 computer processors appears to support biologists' theories on how the human brain identifies objects. Hint: It's all about the cats. — Follow @stevenmusil

Discussion: The Agonist and The Daily Caller

John Markoff / New York Times:

In a Big Network of Computers, Evidence of Machine Learning — MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Inside Google's secretive X laboratory, known for inventing self-driving cars and augmented reality glasses, a small group of researchers began working several years ago on a simulation of the human brain.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Mashable!, AllThingsD and The Verge

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

Homeland Security suspends immigration agreements with Arizona police — The Obama administration said Monday it is suspending existing agreements with Arizona police over enforcement of federal immigration laws, and said it has issued a directive telling federal authorities to decline …

First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: A limit to states' rights

Discussion: The Caucus and Guardian

Alexander Burns / Politico:
The Romney camp's line on Arizona (Updated)

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Condoleezza Rice: VP offer ‘not going to happen’ — Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice looked to downplay speculation Tuesday that she could be inching up Mitt Romney's short list for vice president after a widely regarded policy briefing over the weekend to a meeting of the Republican presidential nominee's top donors.

Discussion: CNN and No More Mister Nice Blog

CBS News:
Condoleezza Rice says “no way” to VP for Romney

Discussion: Washington Wire

Jeanne Marie Laskas / GQ: Bob Dole: Great American

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

John Roberts's big moment — Chief Justice John Roberts pledged during his Supreme Court hearings to be a mere umpire of the law. — But as a legacy-defining decision nears, Roberts is emerging as the court's most intriguing player. — Justices are expected to rule Thursday …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Washington Post, Associated Press and Wall Street Journal

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
States' rights, no; corporate rights, yes

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Examiner and National Review

Peter Wallsten / Washington Post:
Arizona immigration ruling complicates Republicans' strategy with Hispanics

Discussion: USA Today, New York Times, ABCNEWS and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Wall Street Journal:

News Corp. Mulls Splitting in Two — News Corp. is considering splitting into two companies, separating its publishing assets from its entertainment businesses, say people familiar with the situation. — The split would carve off News Corp.'s film and television businesses …

Discussion: DealBook, Deadline.com, News Desk, Capital New York, Poynter and JIMROMENESKO.COM

DealBook:
News Corp. Considers Dividing Itself in Two

Discussion: msnbc.com, Media Decoder and Deadline.com, more at Mediagazer »

Hans Nichols / Bloomberg:

Democrats May Drop Speedway Event At Charlotte Convention — Democrats are considering canceling their political convention's kick-off event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, as party planners grapple with a roughly $27 million fundraising deficit, according to two people familiar with matter.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, BizzyBlog and The PJ Tatler

Whitson Gordon / Lifehacker:

Facebook Changed Everyone's Email to @Facebook.com; Here's How to Fix Yours — Facebook just removed everyone's email address from their profile and replaced it with an @facebook.com email address without asking you. Here's how to easily fix the problem. — Facebook launched …

Discussion: Guardian, Washington Examiner, American Power, Outside the Beltway and ProducerMatthew.com

Kashmir Hill / The Not-So Private Parts:
Facebook's Lame Attempt To Force Its Email Service On You

Discussion: TPM IdeaLab, TechCrunch, AllThingsD, The Daily Caller, Lifehacker, Mashable! and New York Magazine

Tami Luhby / CNNMoney.com:

Government wants more people on food stamps — NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — More than one in seven Americans are on food stamps, but the federal government wants even more people to sign up for the safety net program. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been running radio ads …

Discussion: Right Wing News, Outside the Beltway, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, americanthinker.com and The Lonely Conservative

Politico:

On green jobs and DOE loans, the jury is still out — The Energy Department's clean-energy loan program hasn't yet yielded the kind of moonshot-style success that President Barack Obama envisions would transform the U.S. economy. But its results also go well beyond the $535 million collapse of Solyndra.

Discussion: Pirate's Cove

Joel Gehrke / Washington Examiner:
Green company creates three jobs in three years, gets another $80 million from DOE

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative

Sasha Issenberg / The Atlantic Online:

Abolish the Secret Ballot — For the United States' first century, Americans elected their leaders in full view of their neighbors, gathering on courthouse steps to announce their votes orally or hand a distinctive preprinted ballot or unfolded marked paper to a clerk.

Discussion: Betsy's Page and Los Angeles Times

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Power of the Particular — They say you've never really seen a Bruce Springsteen concert until you've seen one in Europe, so some friends and I threw financial sanity to the winds and went to follow him around Spain and France. In Madrid, for example, we were rewarded with a show …

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Business Insider

BuzzFeed:

Romney Bus Circles, Honks Obama — Again Mitt Romney's campaign bus circled President Barack Obama's fundraiser tonight in Boston, the second time they've pulled the stunt in two weeks. — BOSTON — For the second time in as many weeks, Mitt Romney's campaign taunted President Barack Obama outside a speech.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Mother Jones, The Maddow Blog, The Gateway Pundit, nation.foxnews.com and Daily Kos

Rachel Gordon / San Francisco Chronicle:

S.F. gay rights advocate arrested over child porn — San Francisco police have arrested veteran gay rights advocate Larry Brinkin in connection with felony possession of child pornography. — Brinkin, 66, who worked for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission before his retirement in 2010, was taken into custody Friday night.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, The Snitch and Jammie Wearing Fools

David Martosko / The Daily Caller:

Suspended reporter tweeted: Racism ‘secret sauce in the Politico sh*tburger’ — Joe Williams, the White House correspondent whom Politico suspended last week after he made racially insensitive remarks about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, tweeted about his employer on the evening …

Discussion: Mediaite

Paul Werdel / Talking Points Memo:

Stuck In A Box — Want to better understand the bind Mitt Romney is in with respect to taking a stand on immigration? Watch his surrogate's twisting this morning to get an idea. — Paul Werdel — Paul Werdel is an Associate Editor at TPM. Before joining TPM he was a News Editor …

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Roxana Tiron / Bloomberg:

Congress Said To Delay Automatic Budget Cuts Until March — Republican and Democratic congressional leaders are weighing whether to delay automatic federal spending cuts until March 2013, according to a House aide and industry officials who were briefed on the discussions.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Business Insider