memeorandum: Jury acquits escort shooter (Michelle Mondo/MySanAntonio.com)

11:40 PM ET, June 6, 2013

Top Items:

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 …

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 …

Guardian:

NSA taps in to internet giants' systems to mine user data, secret files reveal — • Top secret PRISM program claims direct access to servers of firms including Google, Facebook and Apple — • Companies deny any knowledge of program in operation since 2007

Discussion: Yahoo! News, BuzzFeed, The Next Web, The Raw Story, The Hinterland Gazette, AllThingsD, Business Insider, Mashable, Mediaite, The Verge, Balloon Juice, GigaOM, TechCrunch, Daily Kos and Moon of Alabama

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: BuzzFeed and Taegan Goddard's …

Washington Post:

Documents: U.S. mining data from 9 leading Internet firms; companies deny knowledge — “We have never heard of PRISM,” an Apple spokesman said. “We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order.”

Discussion: Firedoglake, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, News Desk, Business Insider and Towleroad News #gay

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Collects Vast Data Trove — NSA Monitoring Includes Three Major Phone Companies, as Well as Online Activity — WASHINGTON—The National Security Agency's monitoring of Americans includes customer records from the three major phone networks as well as emails and Web searches …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Forbes, Weasel Zippers, VentureBeat, Patterico's Pontifications, Engadget and Washington Wire

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
'It's Called Protecting America': Senators Defend NSA On Phone Records

Discussion: Esquire, The Atlantic Wire, Hot Air, The Hill, Yahoo! News, Politico, The Daily Caller and Connecting.the.Dots

Washington Post:
NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

Discussion: Politico, ThinkProgress, Business Insider, The Hill, The Next Web, VentureBeat, Weasel Zippers, GigaOM, Democracy in America, msnbc.com 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’

Discussion: American Spectator, emptywheel and The Daily Caller

The Huffington Post: NSA Whistleblowers Reveal Stunning Extent Of Spying Operation

Guardian:
PRISM scandal: tech giants flatly deny allowing NSA direct access to servers

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Weasel Zippers, Business Insider and Mediaite

Allison Sherry / The Spot:
Sen. Mark Udall: I knew the NSA was spying, did everything but leak classified information to stop it

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Yahoo! News and Post Politics

Washington Post:
Documents: U.S. mining data from 9 leading Internet firms; companies deny knowledge

Discussion: Telegraph and Marginal Revolution

New York Times:
N.S.A. Said to Gather Users' Online Data

Discussion: The Caucus, The Monkey Cage, Politico, Not the Singularity, CNN, ACS Blog, Salon and The Maddow Blog

Ed O'Keefe / Post Politics:
Transcript: Dianne Feinstein, Saxby Chambliss explain, defend NSA phone records program

Discussion: The Verge, The Hill, emptywheel, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Daily Caller and Yahoo! News

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
White House defends NSA collecting Verizon phone records

Discussion: Politico, ThinkProgress, Lawfare, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post, Business Insider, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Guardian, The PJ Tatler, New York Times, Wake up America and emptywheel

Bobby Cervantes / Politico:
Rogers: NSA ‘thwarted’ terrorist plot

Discussion: Hit & Run and Business Insider

Politico:
Dianne Feinstein on NSA: 'It's called protecting America'

Discussion: Balkinization and msnbc.com

Jenna Portnoy / New Jersey Online:

Christie names N.J. attorney general Jeffrey Chiesa to fill Lautenberg's seat — TRENTON —Gov. Chris Christie today named state attorney general Jeffrey Chiesa to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the death of U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg. — Chiesa said he won't seek election later this year.

Discussion: Gothamist, Roll Call, Outside the Beltway, Yahoo! News, Hot Air, Phantom Public and Joe. My. God.

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: Towleroad News #gay, Progressive Policy Institute and The Hinterland Gazette

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
New Senator Supports Program To Take ‘Lethal Weapons Out Of Circulation,’ Opposes Death Penalty

Discussion: nj.gov, The Week, First Read, msnbc.com, Washington Blade, The Political Carnival and Washington Monthly

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Chiesa is N.J. interim senator pick

Discussion: CNN, Ballot Box, Yahoo! News and Post Politics

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: LGBTQ Nation, Advocate, Firedoglake, Yahoo! News, Hit & Run, American Prospect, The Heritage Foundation, First Read, CNN, msnbc.com and ThinkProgress

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, Mediaite, Washington Monthly, CNN, The Hill, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, CBS Boston and Associated Press

Katie Glueck / Politico:
Gov. Deval Patrick says he got drunk after bomber captured

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

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: Post Politics, National Review, Daily Kos, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and The Moderate Voice

Rebecca Leber / ThinkProgress:
House Republicans Booed As They Vote To Deport DREAMers

Discussion: The Hill and The Plum Line

Virginia Postrel / Bloomberg:

Sick Girl May Get a Lung but It's Not a Happy Ending — A child dying of cystic fibrosis now has a shot at a lung transplant. A federal judge in Pennsylvania has ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to let 10-year-old Sarah Murnaghan move from waiting list for lungs …

Discussion: Hit & Run and The Incidental Economist

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: Gawker, Feministe, ThinkProgress, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Juanita Jean's, The Political Carnival, The Raw Story and UPROXX

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: Campaign for America's Future, ThinkProgress and Taylor Marsh

Michael Linden / Center for American Progress:
It's Time to Hit the Reset Button on the Fiscal Debate

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Wire and ThinkProgress

Lee Fang / The Nation:

Revealed: Letters From Republicans Seeking Obamacare Money — It's the height of hypocrisy: They call for repeal of the law but plead for its dollars on behalf of constituents. — This article appeared in the June 24-July 1, 2013 edition of The Nation. —

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Political Carnival and The Impolitic

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: The Raw Story