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 …
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Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:
Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily — Exclusive: Top secret court order requiring Verizon to hand over all call data shows scale of domestic surveillance under Obama — • Read the Verizon court order in full here — • Obama administration justifies surveillance
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, CNN, Washington Wire, Washington Post, The Week, American Prospect, Post Politics, Politico, The Monkey Cage, Hullabaloo, The Atlantic Wire, JustOneMinute, The Huffington Post, Joshua Foust, Yahoo! News, Wired, The Lead with Jake Tapper, New York Times, his vorpal sword, TIME, Wonkblog, Rand Paul, The Plum Line, Not the Singularity, The World's Greatest …, Mediaite, San Francisco Bay Guardian, msnbc.com, National Review, Forbes, Salon, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, The Hill, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hot Air, NO QUARTER USA NET, Via Meadia, Wall Street Journal, Washington Free Beacon, Progressive Policy Institute, The Fix, Washington Monthly, American Spectator, Democracy in America, Patterico's Pontifications, ThinkProgress, ACS Blog, Atlas Shrugs, FreedomWorks, New Republic, First Read, U.S. News, Daily Kos, WorldViews, Mashable, TechCrunch, Examiner, Wake up America, Engadget, Firedoglake, Associated Press, Taylor Marsh, News Desk, The Verge, The Maddow Blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, Library of Law & Liberty, BBC, Moon of Alabama, Betsy's Page, AllThingsD, Outside the Beltway, susiemadrak.com, Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Gateway Pundit, TalkLeft, VentureBeat and ProPublica
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:
The World's Greatest …, ACLU, Forbes, The Huffington Post, Yahoo! News, The PJ Tatler, Guardian, The Raw Story, The Week and BuzzFeed
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 …
Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
White House defends NSA collecting Verizon phone records — The White House on Thursday defended the National Security Agency's use of a secret court order to collect telephone records from millions of Verizon customers. — An administration official called the phone data a …
Discussion:
Politico and The PJ Tatler
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 and emptywheel
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:
No More Mister Nice Blog, The Impolitic, Guardian, msnbc.com and New Republic
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:
Yahoo! News, Connecting.the.Dots and The Daily Caller
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:
BuzzFeed, Yahoo! News, Guardian, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Hot Air and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »
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 and Twitchy
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
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
Guardian:
Verizon forced to hand over telephone data - full court ruling
Verizon forced to hand over telephone data - full court ruling
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, emptywheel, USA Today, CNN, American Spectator, The Week, The Raw Story, The Atlantic Wire, Wired, msnbc.com, National Review, Reuters, The Daily Caller, News Desk, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, New York Times, U.S. News, Law Blog, Betsy's Page, DISSENTING JUSTICE, UPROXX, Wonkblog, Weasel Zippers, BuzzFeed, The Dish, Michelle Malkin and Firedoglake
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:
Guardian, Business Insider and WorldViews
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:
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 — Incoming U.S. Sen. Jeffrey Chiesa (Credit: AP) — New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa (R), who Gov. Chris Christie (R) just announced will temporarily fill the U.S. Senate vacancy left …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Yahoo! News, The Maddow Blog, nj.gov, The Political Carnival, The Week and msnbc.com
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, Taegan Goddard's …, Joe. My. God. and Hot Air
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, Washington Monthly, Sister Toldjah, Mediaite, CNN, The Hill and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
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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, ThinkProgress and CNN
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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
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, The Impolitic, Daily Kos and Prairie Weather
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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:
Washington Wire and ThinkProgress
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
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, msnbc.com, Politico, Hot Air, Hit & Run, Wake up America and Taegan Goddard's …
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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
Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:
Dems to hit Gomez with ads — National Democrats will launch television ads on Friday that tie GOP Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez to his national party. — Republicans argue the ads, which will run just three weeks before a special election, suggest Democrats are worried about Gomez …
Discussion:
Politico
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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:
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 Plum Line, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos and New York Times
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