Top Items:
New York Times:
President Obama's Dragnet — Within hours of the disclosure that the federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Politico, Yahoo! News, BuzzFeed, Guardian, The Monkey Cage, Washington Wire, Business Insider, VentureBeat, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, The World's Greatest …, Weasel Zippers, Salon, ComPost, The Week, First Read, New Republic, msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, NO QUARTER USA NET, Daily Kos, Mashable, TechCrunch, Firedoglake, Wonkblog, The Maddow Blog, Library of Law & Liberty and WorldViews
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Glenn Thrush / Politico:
George W. 'Bush's 4th term' — The outrage over President Barack Obama's authorization of a nearly limitless federal dive into Americans' phone records obscures a hiding-in-plain-sight truth about the 44th president many of his supporters have overlooked for years:
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's … and CNN
New York Times:
U.S. Is Secretly Collecting Records of Verizon Calls — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is secretly carrying out a domestic surveillance program under which it is collecting business communications records involving Americans under a hotly debated section of the Patriot Act …
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, Joshua Foust, Guardian, emptywheel, The Huffington Post, National Review, Forbes, Washington Free Beacon, Patterico's Pontifications, ThinkProgress, U.S. News, Law Blog, Yahoo! News, ACS Blog, Atlas Shrugs, The PJ Tatler, Via Meadia, ACLU, The Daily Caller, Washington Wire, Business Insider, DISSENTING JUSTICE, msnbc.com, Examiner, Wake up America, Outside the Beltway, The Week, WJLA-TV, americanthinker.com, Right Wing News and Prairie Weather
Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
White House defends NSA collecting Verizon phone records
White House defends NSA collecting Verizon phone records
Discussion:
Politico, CNN, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The PJ Tatler, Business Insider, ThinkProgress and Crooks and Liars
Ed O'Keefe / Post Politics:
Mike Rogers: NSA program helped stop a terrorist attack in the U.S. in ‘the last few years’
Mike Rogers: NSA program helped stop a terrorist attack in the U.S. in ‘the last few years’
Discussion:
American Spectator, emptywheel and The Daily Caller
Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
'It's Called Protecting America': Senators Defend NSA On Phone Records
'It's Called Protecting America': Senators Defend NSA On Phone Records
Discussion:
Politico, The Atlantic Wire, Yahoo! News, BBC, The Daily Caller, Connecting.the.Dots and ProPublica
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
What You Should Know About The Government's Massive Domestic Surveillance Program
What You Should Know About The Government's Massive Domestic Surveillance Program
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, USA Today, No More Mister Nice Blog, BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post, Politico and The Impolitic
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Report: Verizon providing all call records to U.S. under court order
Report: Verizon providing all call records to U.S. under court order
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, Washington Wire, The Week, Hullabaloo, American Prospect, Guardian, Wired, The Lead with Jake Tapper, JustOneMinute, Politico, New York Times, his vorpal sword, Wonkblog, Not the Singularity, Mediaite, San Francisco Bay Guardian, The Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Post Politics, The Fix, WorldViews, emptywheel, Associated Press, American Spectator, New Republic and News Desk
Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
NBC's Pete Williams: DOJ Will ‘Very Likely’ Investigate Guardian Scoop
NBC's Pete Williams: DOJ Will ‘Very Likely’ Investigate Guardian Scoop
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, GigaOM, Guardian, msnbc.com, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Politico, Reuters, Taylor Marsh, Mashable, Hot Air, WorldViews and Nice Deb, more at Mediagazer »
Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Flashback: Obama Railed Against Monitoring Citizens Who Did Nothing Wrong
Flashback: Obama Railed Against Monitoring Citizens Who Did Nothing Wrong
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Ron Fournier / NationalJournal.com:
Welcome to the Bush-Obama White House: They're Spying on Us
Welcome to the Bush-Obama White House: They're Spying on Us
Discussion:
Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, Twitchy, Yahoo! News, Jammie Wearing Fools and The Daily Caller
Ed O'Keefe / Post Politics:
Transcript: Dianne Feinstein, Saxby Chambliss explain, defend NSA phone records program
Transcript: Dianne Feinstein, Saxby Chambliss explain, defend NSA phone records program
Discussion:
emptywheel, Yahoo! News, The Hill and The Daily Caller
Bobby Cervantes / Politico:
Mike Rogers: ‘Legal’ NSA phone program ‘thwarted’ domestic terrorism plot
Mike Rogers: ‘Legal’ NSA phone program ‘thwarted’ domestic terrorism plot
Discussion:
Business Insider
Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
The Unknown Patriot Who Exposed the Government's Verizon Spy Program
The Unknown Patriot Who Exposed the Government's Verizon Spy Program
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Guardian, The Atlantic Wire and New York Times
New York Times:
Christie Picks Chiesa, New Jersey's Attorney General, to Be Interim Senator — Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey on Thursday announced the appointment of Jeffrey S. Chiesa, the state's attorney general, to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Frank R. Lautenberg.
Discussion:
Progressive Policy Institute, The Hinterland Gazette and Towleroad News #gay
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Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
New Senator Supports Program To Take ‘Lethal Weapons Out Of Circulation,’ Opposes Death Penalty
New Senator Supports Program To Take ‘Lethal Weapons Out Of Circulation,’ Opposes Death Penalty
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Maddow Blog, nj.gov, The Political Carnival, The Week, msnbc.com and First Read
Jenna Portnoy / New Jersey Online:
Christie names N.J. attorney general Jeffrey Chiesa to fill Lautenberg's seat
Christie names N.J. attorney general Jeffrey Chiesa to fill Lautenberg's seat
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, Outside the Beltway, Joe. My. God., Hot Air and Taegan Goddard's …
Josh Margolin / ABCNEWS:
Gov. Christie Appoints Attorney General Jeff Chiesa to Senate
Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Chiesa is N.J. interim senator pick
Chiesa is N.J. interim senator pick
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, CNN and Post Politics
Washington Post:
U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program — The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs …
Discussion:
Guardian, Business Insider, ABCNEWS, ProPublica, Hot Air, Gawker, The Verge, The Volokh Conspiracy, GigaOM and Engadget
Matt Stout / Boston Herald:
Manhunt over, Deval Patrick tied one on — Candid gov discusses attacks — By: — Gov. Deval Patrick gave a candid, behind-the-scenes look at the horrific days after the Boston Marathon bombings, telling employees at a Cambridge marketing firm yesterday he got “quite drunk” the day after the intense manhunt finally ended.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Sister Toldjah, Washington Monthly, Mediaite, CNN, The Hill, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, CBS Boston and Associated Press
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Katie Glueck / Politico:
Gov. Deval Patrick says he got drunk after bomber captured
Gov. Deval Patrick says he got drunk after bomber captured
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
Numbers / Pew Research Center for the People …:
In Gay Marriage Debate, Both Supporters and Opponents See Legal Recognition as ‘Inevitable’ — OVERVIEW — As support for gay marriage continues to increase, nearly three-quarters of Americans - 72% - say that legal recognition of same-sex marriage is “inevitable.”
Discussion:
American Prospect, Yahoo! News, LGBTQ Nation, Hit & Run, First Read, CNN and ThinkProgress
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Bloomberg:
Gay Marriage Gains Ground in Poll as Court Readies Ruling — More than half of Americans support allowing same-sex couples to marry, endorsing the goal of gay-rights activists as the U.S. Supreme Court this month prepares to rule on the issue for the first time.
Discussion:
Joe. My. God., Associated Press, Taylor Marsh, Truth Wins Out, Taegan Goddard's … and Right Wing Watch
Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
House votes to defund Obama's ‘administrative amnesty’ for immigrants — The House voted Thursday morning to defund President Obama's orders that allow officials to focus deportation efforts on illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes. — Republicans have argued that these orders amount …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Post Politics, Weasel Zippers, Daily Kos and National Review
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Rebecca Leber / ThinkProgress:
House Republicans Booed As They Vote To Deport DREAMers
House Republicans Booed As They Vote To Deport DREAMers
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs and The Plum Line
Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
Grand Bargain Loses Center For American Progress Support In Major Blow To Austerity — WASHINGTON — The Center for American Progress, a pillar of the Democratic establishment in Washington is walking away from the broad negotiations aimed at reaching a “grand bargain,” …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Campaign for America's Future and ThinkProgress
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Michael Linden / Center for American Progress:
It's Time to Hit the Reset Button on the Fiscal Debate
It's Time to Hit the Reset Button on the Fiscal Debate
Discussion:
Firedoglake, ThinkProgress and Washington Wire
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Report Says IRS Approved Tax-Exempt Status For Twice as Many Conservative Groups as Liberal Groups — Here's an interesting tidbit from the newsletter Tax Notes. As we all know by now, the IRS applies extra scrutiny to a group applying for tax-exempt status if it suspects the group is political in nature.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, The Impolitic and Prairie Weather
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Politico:
GOP to Darrell Issa: Cool it — Shortly after Darrell Issa dubbed Jay Carney a “paid liar” on CNN last Sunday, House Republican leadership staffers called the California Republican's aides with a message: Cool it. — Issa's aides promptly responded: The remark was over the top, they agreed …
Discussion:
CNN, The Week, The Huffington Post, The Hill, The Plum Line, Daily Kos, Booman Tribune, New York Times, Post Politics, Slate and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Michelle Mondo / MySanAntonio.com:
Jury acquits escort shooter — Ezekiel Gilbert denied he meant to kill Craigslist escort. — A Bexar County jury on Wednesday acquitted Ezekiel Gilbert of murder in the death of a 23-year-old Craigslist escort. — Gilbert, 30, embraced defense attorneys Bobby Barrera and Roy Barrera Sr …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Gawker, Juanita Jean's, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and The Raw Story
Joel Gehrke / Washington Examiner:
Kirk to Eric Holder: Is DOJ spying on Congress? … Attorney General Eric Holder refused to answer when asked if the Justice Department is spying on Members of Congress, citing the need for a classified conversation, which lawmakers accepted while asking him to make sure that evidence of such surveillance is not destroyed.
Discussion:
Ed Driscoll, Post Politics, Mediaite and Hot Air
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Jonathn Easley / The Hill:
Holder says ‘fatigue’ may eventually lead him to step aside
Holder says ‘fatigue’ may eventually lead him to step aside
Discussion:
Politico
Politico:
‘War on women’ returns — Still, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is cooking up state-by-state releases calling on possible GOP Senate candidates to condemn remarks from GOP leaders. — “These comments make Todd Akin look moderate. Republicans have offended women across the country,” said DSCC spokeswoman Regan Page.
Discussion:
Hot Air and New York Magazine
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Mark Murray / First Read:
Health care law's unpopularity reaches new highs — President Barack Obama's signature health care reform law remains unpopular with the American public just months before it fully goes into effect, according to the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. — The poll shows 49 percent …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Firedoglake, The Plum Line, Politico, msnbc.com, Hot Air, Wake up America, Hit & Run, Taegan Goddard's … and Washington Free Beacon
Majority / NY Senate Newsroom:
Senate Passes Bill Making the Harassment of a Police Officer a Crime — The New York State Senate today passed a bill that creates the crime of aggravated harassment of a police or peace officer. The bill (S.2402), sponsored by Senator Joe Griffo (R-C-I, Rome) would make it a felony to harass …
Discussion:
Boing Boing, Gawker and THEROOT.COM
Michael McAuliff / The Huffington Post:
Atheist Chaplains Would Call Fallen Soldiers ‘Worm Food,’ GOP Congressman Says (VIDEO) — WASHINGTON — There are no atheists in foxholes, the saying goes. Republicans in Congress don't want them in the military chaplain corps, either. — That's after New Jersey Democratic …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars