Top Items:
Talking Points Memo:
Obama Administration Responds To Rand Paul On Drones — The U.S. government cannot target an American citizen who is not engaged in combat on American soil, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Thursday during his daily press briefing. — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) …
RELATED:
Grace Wyler / Business Insider:
IT'S WAR: John McCain And Lindsey Graham Just Ripped Into Rand Paul On The Senate Floor — U.S. Sen. John McCain blasted fellow Republican Rand Paul on the Senate floor this morning for his 13-hour filibuster to block John Brennan's confirmation as CIA Director. — “Calm down, Senator,” McCain said, in an apostrophe to Paul.
Wall Street Journal:
Rand Paul's Drone Rant — Give Rand Paul credit for theatrical timing. As a snow storm descended on Washington, the Kentucky Republican's old-fashioned filibuster Wednesday filled the attention void on Twitter and cable TV. If only his reasoning matched the showmanship.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Guardian, The Daily Beast, Hit & Run, Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, Washington Wire, Hot Air, First Read, Business Insider, Mediaite, PoliticusUSA, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller, The Raw Story, National Review, TheBlaze.com, Associated Press, American Spectator and The Week
Luke Johnson / The Huffington Post:
Rand Paul Filibuster Leaves Senate Democrats Struggling To Explain Absence — WASHINGTON — While many Senate Democrats said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) raised legitimate concerns about the Obama administration's drone program during his epic filibuster of John Brennan's nomination as CIA director …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Shakesville, The Last Refuge, Post Politics and Taylor Marsh
Lois Romano / Politico:
Rand Paul: ‘Seriously’ weighing 2016 bid — Before Thursday, Rand Paul — tea party firebrand — hadn't vaulted into the top tier of Republican power players. — But all that seemed to change this week. The Kentucky Republican senator showed serious clout by holding a 13-hour filibuster …
Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Holder's Letter to Rand Paul: ‘No,’ the U.S. Can't Use Drone to Kill Citizen Not Engaged in Combat on U.S. Soil — Eric Holder responds to Rand Paul's filibuster with this letter: … Here's an image of that letter: — UPDATE: Apparently, the White House and Justice Department failed …
Discussion:
Washington's Blog, The Jawa Report, Hot Air and Washington Times
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
John Brennan confirmed as CIA director following White House drone statement — John O. Brennan was confirmed as CIA director on Thursday afternoon, after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) expressed satisfaction with the response he had received to his questions about the Obama administration's drone program.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Dish, ACS Blog, The Fix, News Desk, p m carpenter's commentary, Mediaite, Pew Research Center, The Plum Line, Post Politics, Daily Kos and Shakesville
Sarah Wheaton / New York Times:
Senate Confirms Brennan as C.I.A. Chief — The Senate on Thursday afternoon approved John O. Brennan's nomination to lead the Central Intelligence Agency by a vote of 63 to 34. — The vote followed a filibuster by Senator Rand Paul, who spent nearly 13 hours on the Senate floor in pursuit …
Discussion:
Politico, The Maddow Blog, his vorpal sword, Guardian, Lowering the Bar, Outside the Beltway, Gawker and The Political Carnival
Senator Ted Cruz:
Press Release of Senator Cruz
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Jihad Watch, Althouse and National Review
David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:
McCain, Graham Slam Rand Paul's ‘Ridiculous’ Filibuster
Discussion:
The Reliable Source, Via Meadia, Washington Post, American Spectator, Shakesville and The Caucus
Kate Nocera / Politico:
Rand Paul filibuster blasted by John McCain, Lindsey Graham
Discussion:
Power Line
Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Harry Reid Winks At Revisiting Filibuster Reform
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, The Monkey Cage, A plain blog about politics, The Maddow Blog and Hullabaloo
Ramsey Cox / The Hill:
McCain, Graham lambast ‘ridiculous’ drone filibuster by Paul
Discussion:
Politico, The Huffington Post, The Immoral Minority, Wired, CNN, Crooks and Liars and Hot Air
Walter Shapiro / Yahoo! News:
Rand's stand: How the filibustering blusterer made the Senate (briefly) a better place
Politico:
Paul: Pro-drone Republicans on ‘wrong side of history’
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, CNN and Booman Tribune
David Weigel / Slate:
Everybody Loves Filibusters
Discussion:
Politico, New York Times, The Atlantic Online, msnbc.com and The Week
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Graham, McCain blast Paul filibuster
Discussion:
Mediaite, Politico, CNN, Right Turn, Wonkette and Business Insider
Carl Levin / CNN:
Sen. Levin won't seek re-election in 2014 — Washington (CNN) - Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, 78, announced Thursday that he will not run for a seventh term in 2014. — Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called it an “extremely difficult” decision and stated …
Discussion:
Politico and The Political Carnival
RELATED:
Carl Levin:
Sen. Carl Levin announces he will not seek re-election in 2014
Discussion:
Hot Air, Daily Kos, emptywheel, The New Civil Rights Movement and National Review
Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Levin retirement leaves Dems defending fourth open seat in 2014 cycle
Discussion:
The Political Carnival
Chris Christie / CNN:
TRENDING: Poll: Clinton, Christie fare best in possible 2016 showdowns
Discussion:
Politico
Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:
Is Michelle Obama About to Honor an anti-American antiSemite? — Tomorrow afternoon, First Lady Michelle Obama and the secretary of state, John Kerry, are scheduled to present the International Women of Courage Award to 10 women who have shown leadership in advocating for women's rights around the world.
Discussion:
The Times of Israel, The Lede, The Shark Tank, Hot Air, Ynetnews, Algemeiner.com and Washington Free Beacon
RELATED:
Bradley Klapper / The Huffington Post:
US postpones award for Egyptian woman over tweets
Discussion:
Politico, Israel Matzav, Weasel Zippers and Weekly Standard
Shira Kallus Zwebner / The Times of Israel:
Yup, Samira probably sent those tweets
Discussion:
National Review, Israel Matzav, The Gateway Pundit and Twitchy
Ta-Nehisi Coates / New York Times:
The Good, Racist People — Last month the actor Forest Whitaker was stopped in a Manhattan delicatessen by an employee. Whitaker is one of the pre-eminent actors of his generation, with a diverse and celebrated catalog ranging from “The Great Debaters” to “The Crying Game” to “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.”
Discussion:
Steve Sailer
RELATED:
Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
The Racism of “Good People” — If you are a white person who has on occasion felt aggrieved at the persistence of allegations of white racism in America, do yourself and your conscience a favor and read Ta-Nehisi's Coates' guest column today in the New York Times.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Obama sets end-of-July goal for bipartisan agreement on deficit — President Obama wants to complete a grand bargain to reduce the deficit by the end of July, an aggressive timeline coinciding with the expiration of the nation's debt limit. — Obama told a small group of Republican senators …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
RELATED:
Brian Ross / ABCNEWS:
Homeland Chair: Osama bin Laden's Son-in-Law ‘Cooperating’ — Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, has been “cooperating” and has already revealed “key intelligence” about the current status, personnel and finances of al Qaeda even before he was secretly spirited to New York City, U.S. officials told ABC News today.
Discussion:
The Jawa Report and Mediaite
RELATED:
Devin Leonard / Businessweek:
How Disney Bought Lucasfilm—and Its Plans for ‘Star Wars’ — One weekend last October, Robert Iger, chief executive officer of Walt Disney (DIS), sat through all six Star Wars films. He'd seen them before, of course. This time, he took notes. Disney was in secret negotiations to acquire Lucasfilm …
Discussion:
FirstShowing.net, Deadline.com, Outside the Beltway and Moe Lane
Dan Friedman / NY Daily News:
New York National Rifle Association official barred from carrying a gun — An order of protection stemming from a domestic disturbance at his Long Island home in 2010 prevents Richard D'Alauro, the NRA's field representative for the city and its suburbs, from carrying the weapons.
Discussion:
The Raw Story, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, msnbc.com, Gothamist, Daily Kos and The Immoral Minority
Harry Hawkins / The Sun:
north korea says it will launch nuclear attack on america — Tensions ... North Korea leader Kim Jong-un — NORTH Korea led by tyrant Kim Jong-un has sensationally vowed to launch a NUCLEAR attack on the USA. — The provocative statement comes weeks after the country conducted underground nuclear tests …
Discussion:
Vodkapundit and Weekly Standard
RELATED:
Jack Kim / Reuters:
North Korea threatens U.S. with preemptive nuclear strike
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and LewRockwell.com Blog
Politico:
Lisa Madigan moves toward run in Illinois — Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan spoke with several of the nation's top progressive groups during a visit to Washington D.C. last week, further fueling expectations that the popular Democrat will run for governor in 2014.
Thomas B. Edsall / Opinionator:
The War On Entitlements — The debate over reform of Social Security and Medicare is taking place in a vacuum, without adequate consideration of fundamental facts. — These facts include the following: Two-thirds of Americans who are over the age of 65 depend on an average annual Social Security benefit …
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Monthly, CEPR, Hullabaloo, The Impolitic and USA Today
Senior Data Journalist, NY — 
Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — 
Oil Reporter, Singapore — 
Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — 
Business Reporter, SC — 
State Government Reporter, WA — 
Climate Crisis Columnist — 
Multimedia Journalist, CA — 
Community Engagement Mgr., DC — 
Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — 
Staff Writer - Business, NY — 
Team Editor - Opinion, ON — 
Assistant Correspondent, DC — 
Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — 
Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — 
Lead Business Reporter, TN — 
Managing Editor, WA — 
Private Credit Reporter, NY — 
Trending News Reporter, TX — 
City Correspondent, London — 
Legislative Reporter, CA — 
Reporter, PA — 
Visual Editor, Remote — 
Staff Writer, MI — 
Senior Political Reporter, DC — 
California Playbook Writer, CA — 
National Investigative Reporter, NY — 
Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — 
Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — 
Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — 
Coordinating Editor, OR — 
Editor, Remote US — 
Business Reporter, WA — 
Editor-in-Chief, AZ — 
