Top Items:
Guardian:
Obama orders US to draw up overseas target list for cyber-attacks — Exclusive: Top-secret directive steps up offensive cyber capabilities to ‘advance US objectives around the world’ — • Read the secret presidential directive here — Barack Obama has ordered his senior national security …
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, The Hill, The Week, The Next Web, American Spectator, The Gateway Pundit, GigaOM, Pressing Issues and AllThingsD
RELATED:
Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:
On whistleblowers and government threats of investigation — No healthy democracy can endure when the most consequential acts of those in power remain secret and unaccountable — We followed Wednesday's story about the NSA's bulk telephone record-gathering with one yesterday …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, BuzzFeed, The Week, The Hill, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider, Daily Mail and The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »
New York Times:
Anti-Surveillance Activist Is at Center of New Leak — After writing intensely, even obsessively, for years about government surveillance and the prosecution of journalists, Glenn Greenwald has suddenly put himself directly at the intersection of those two issues, and perhaps in the cross hairs of federal prosecutors.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Guardian, The Maddow Blog, The Verge, msnbc.com, Gawker, TechCrunch, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Firedoglake, Taking Note, Pressing Issues, Mediaite, naked capitalism, Daily Kos, BBC, Hit & Run, The Huffington Post, Althouse, The Daily Caller, Towleroad News #gay, Conservative Intelligence …, The Dish, Taylor Marsh, The Hill, The BLT, Lawfare and Outside the Beltway, more at Mediagazer »
Wall Street Journal:
Thank You for Data-Mining — The NSA's ‘metadata’ surveillance is legal and necessary. — Well, another day, another Washington furor. This one is over a National Security Agency phone data monitoring program, but unlike the other White House scandals there seems to be little here that is scandalous.
Discussion:
Guardian, Althouse, Yahoo! News, National Review, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, New Republic, Lawfare, The Hill, Mashable, New York Times, USA Today, Politico, Washington Post, The Caucus, American Prospect, The Week, Right Turn, Outside the Beltway, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Atlantic Wire, PoliticusUSA and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »
Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Dem. Senator disputes Obama's claim that Congress was briefed
Dem. Senator disputes Obama's claim that Congress was briefed
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill and Weasel Zippers
New York Times:
Obama Calls Surveillance Programs Legal and Limited
Obama Calls Surveillance Programs Legal and Limited
Discussion:
Guardian, Wonkblog, Business Insider, Hit & Run, Forbes, Yahoo! News, The Huffington Post, New Republic, Towleroad News #gay and Lawfare, more at Mediagazer »
William Saletan / Slate:
Stop Freaking Out About the NSA
Stop Freaking Out About the NSA
Discussion:
Hit & Run, American Prospect, Wonkblog and The PJ Tatler
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
The Morning Plum: Revelations expose basic contradiction at heart of Obama's war on terror
The Morning Plum: Revelations expose basic contradiction at heart of Obama's war on terror
Discussion:
WorldViews, Washington Monthly, GigaOM, Politico and Prairie Weather
Michael Hirsh / NationalJournal.com:
James Clapper Clarifies Remarks Over NSA Snooping
James Clapper Clarifies Remarks Over NSA Snooping
Discussion:
emptywheel, Yahoo! News, Guardian, ABCNEWS, The Daily Caller and ABCNEWS
Talking Points Memo:
Mike Lee Points To Patriot Act As Reason To Be Wary About Big Immigration Bill — In the midst of Senate floor debate on Friday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) argued against the so-called Gang of Eight's comprehensive immigration reform bill because its length and scope could have unintended consequences …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Mediaite
RELATED:
Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
Admit It, Rep. Sensenbrenner: You Were Wrong About the Patriot Act
Admit It, Rep. Sensenbrenner: You Were Wrong About the Patriot Act
Discussion:
Politico, The Week, ThinkProgress, Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner and msnbc.com
Jennifer Hoelzer / The Huffington Post:
What You Should Know About the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)
What You Should Know About the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, Wonkblog, Daily Kos, Hit & Run, Lawfare and Senator Wyden's Press Feed
U.S. News:
Texas woman arrested in ricin letters to Obama, Bloomberg: Officials — A Texas woman has been arrested in connection with the mailing of three letters containing a form of the poison ricin to President Obama, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, federal authorities said.
Discussion:
Politico, CNN, The Raw Story and Clayton Cramer's Blog
Toddstarnes / Fox News:
Soldier Told Not to Read Levin, Limbaugh or Hannity in Uniform — A veteran member of the U.S. Army Band said he is facing retribution and punishment from the military for having anti-Obama bumper stickers on his car, reading books written by conservative authors like Mark Levin and David Limbaugh …
Discussion:
American Spectator, Weasel Zippers and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Reuters:
Misfired 2010 email alerted IRS officials in Washington of targeting — (Reuters) - A misfired email from a U.S. Internal Revenue Service employee in Cincinnati alerted a number of Washington IRS officials that extra scrutiny was being placed on conservative groups in July 2010 …
CNN:
Obama speech-less — (CNN) - President Barack Obama got off to an awkward and unusual start Friday morning as he took the stage to give a speech on health care reform. — Once he took the podium, he realized he didn't have anything to talk about. — “Good morning everybody.
RELATED:
Nick Hopkins / Guardian:
UK gathering secret intelligence via covert NSA operation — Exclusive: UK security agency GCHQ gaining information from world's biggest internet firms through US-run Prism programme — The UK's electronic eavesdropping and security agency, GCHQ, has been secretly gathering intelligence …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, GigaOM, Daily Mail, Yahoo! News, BBC, The Next Web, TechCrunch, Weasel Zippers, Engadget, The Hill, Boing Boing and Washington Post
Dylan Byers / Politico:
N.Y. Times changes scathing editorial — The New York Times editorial board has quietly changed the language in the most widely cited line from Thursday's scathing editorial about the Obama administration's surveillance of U.S. citizens. — The line — “The administration has now lost all credibility” …
Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Behind the Obamacare Derangement Syndrome — At TNR today, Noam Scheiber looks at the deep investment Republican pols and conservative scribblers and gabbers seem to have in the failure of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, and sees a concentration of the biases we have all called the Obama Derangement Syndrome on this one issue.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, New Republic and Politico
BBC:
Rape suspect buried alive in Bolivia — A man suspected of rape has been buried alive by villagers in the southern highlands of Bolivia. — Police had identified the 17-year-old as the possible culprit in the rape and murder of a 35-year-old woman near the municipality of Colquechaca.
Discussion:
Gawker
Stephen Carter / Bloomberg:
Detroit's Van Gogh Would Be Better Off in L.A. — When the news broke that if Detroit goes into bankruptcy the city might cover some of its $15 billion debt by selling Detroit Institute of Arts treasures, the reaction was predictable and the language harsh. — The DIA's director, Graham Beal, called the idea “sickening.”
Discussion:
National Review
Bloomberg:
Why Obama Keeps Losing at the Supreme Court — In cases before the Supreme Court last year, President Barack Obama's Justice Department relied on outlandish legal theories that pushed a constitutional interpretation of extreme federal power. That posture led to unanimous losses in three …
Discussion:
Conservative Intelligence …
David Simon:
We are shocked, shocked... Is it just me or does the entire news media — as well as all the agitators and self-righteous bloviators on both sides of the aisle — not understand even the rudiments of electronic intercepts and the manner in which law enforcement actually uses such intercepts?
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Little Green Footballs
Josh Barro / Business Insider:
Massive Government Spying Is The Result Of A Public Obsessed With Eliminating Terrorism — The revelations about massive National Security Agency snooping in Americans' phone records and Internet activities appear to be shocking, but they aren't. — The reason programs like these exist …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Crooks and Liars, New York Times, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Daily Caller
Fox News:
‘Uhhh...Uh...Uhhh....People!’ Obama at Total Loss for Words When Staff Forgets His Speech — President Obama strolled out to the podium today in San Jose, CA and was immediately at a loss for words. Not only did the President not have teleprompter, his aides forgot his speech.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs and The PJ Tatler
Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
George W. Bush critics turn wrath on President Obama — A club of Capitol Hill liberals made life hell for George W. Bush in his second term. — Now the gang is back — and they don't care that this time the president is their guy. — In the last few weeks, some of the loudest anti-Bush voices …
Discussion:
Progressive Policy Institute, Taylor Marsh, White House Dossier and BuzzFeed
Kevin Liptak / CNN:
Ted Cruz Iowa bound — (CNN) - That trip to South Carolina must have gone well. — Sen. Ted Cruz, who spoke to Palmetto State Republicans in early May, has another trip to an early voting state slated for July when he'll headline the Iowa GOP's annual summer picnic.
Discussion:
Ballot Box
Carol Cratty / CNN:
Prosecutors want 4 year sentence for Jesse Jackson Jr. — Washington (CNN) - Federal prosecutors want former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. to receive a sentence of four years in prison for misuse of $750,000 in campaign funds, which he used to cover personal expenses.
Discussion:
Politico
John McCormick / Bloomberg:
Clinton Slips in Poll After Benghazi Hits, Christie's Up — Hillary Clinton hasn't decided whether she'll run for president in 2016, a status that doesn't matter to the brewing class of potential Republican candidates already running against her. — And, in the pre-campaign posturing …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, CNN and ViralRead