memeorandum: NSA Bombshell Story Falling Apart Under Scrutiny; Key Facts Turning Out to Be Inaccurate (Bob Cesca/The Daily Banter)

2:05 PM ET, June 9, 2013

Top Items:

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Paul weighs Supreme Court challenge to NSA surveillance programs — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Sunday said he would examine ways to block the National Security Agency's surveillance programs before the Supreme Court. — “I'm going to be seeing if I can challenge this at the Supreme Court level,” vowed Paul on “Fox News Sunday.”

Discussion: CNN, Politico, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite and The PJ Tatler

Kevin Liptak / CNN:

Senators should have known about snooping, says McCain — (CNN) - Lawmakers who are now expressing outrage over the government's surveillance of phone records and Internet activity should have paid closer attention when they were voting to reauthorize provisions in the Patriot Act, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said Sunday.

Discussion: National Review

Politico:
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper condemns ‘rush to publish’

Discussion: CNN, TIME, Little Green Footballs and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »

James Hohmann / Politico:
Voters give government leeway to snoop

Discussion: Hot Air and The PJ Tatler

ODNI Newsroom Feed: DNI Statement on the Collection of Intelligence Pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Guardian:
Boundless Informant: the NSA's secret tool to track global surveillance data

Discussion: Business Insider, emptywheel, Gawker, American Power, Activist Post, Pirate's Cove, Liberal Values and Engadget

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Peeping Barry — WASHINGTON — THE acid that corroded George W. Bush's presidency was fear — spreading it and succumbing to it. — You could see the fear in his eyes, the fear that froze him in place, after Andy Card whispered to W. in that Florida classroom that a second plane had crashed into the twin towers.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, No More Mister Nice Blog and Guardian

Bob Cesca / The Daily Banter:

NSA Bombshell Story Falling Apart Under Scrutiny; Key Facts Turning Out to Be Inaccurate — It turns out, the NSA PRISM story isn't quite the bombshell that everyone said it was. Yes, there continues to be a serious cause for concern when it comes to government spying and overreach with its counter-terrorism efforts.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Outside the Beltway, Booman Tribune, ZDNet, emptywheel, The Hinterland Gazette, Little Green Footballs and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

Kelly Ayotte:

Op-ed: Why I'm backing legislation to fix our broken immigration system — Everybody agrees that America's immigration system is broken, threatening our security and holding back our economy. The combination of porous borders and lax enforcement has made us a magnet for illegal immigration.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, First Read and Outside the Beltway

Megan Wilson / The Hill:

Rand Paul says he's key to bridging Senate, House immigration gap — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on Sunday that his Senate colleagues would have to go through him in order to win support from the House to successfully pass comprehensive immigration reform — “What they have in the Senate …

Discussion: CNN

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

IRS Staff Undermine GOP Claims That White House Directed Targeting Of Conservative Groups, Top Democrat Says — Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) — the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee — pledged to release transcripts of interviews with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Raw Story

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Cummings vows to release full IRS transcripts by week's end

Discussion: CNN

Jessica Jaglois / WWBT-TV:

Virginia GOP asks for concealed gun permit holders personal information — The Republican Party of Virginia has sent letters to circuit courts across the Commonwealth asking for the personal information of concealed weapons permit holders. — The party wants the information in order to send campaign materials to like-minded voters.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Outside the Beltway

Mark Nicol / Daily Mail:

Harry saved me from gay hate attack: Prince in extraordinary showdown with troops who threatened gunner — A gay soldier told last night how Prince Harry bravely rescued him from a terrifying homophobic attack by squaddies from a rival regiment. — The Prince stepped in to save Trooper James Wharton …

Discussion: LGBTQ Nation and Outside the Beltway

Washington Post:

After Newtown shooting, mourning parents enter into the lonely quiet — In NEWTOWN, Conn. — They had promised to try everything, so Mark Barden went down into the basement to begin another project in memory of Daniel. The families of Sandy Hook Elementary were collaborating on a Mother's Day card …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Alan M. Dershowitz / Jerusalem Post:

Analysis: Syria crisis shows why Israel must remain strong — Whether Syrian death toll is 80,000 or 100,000, this figure is more than all people killed in nearly a century of conflict between Israel and its enemies, including several wars and thousands of acts of terrorism.

Discussion: Israel Matzav

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Dem senator skeptical call tracking needed to thwart terror threats — Democratic Sen. Mark Udall (Colo.) on Sunday expressed skepticism that the National Security Agency's massive phone tracking program was really necessary to help the government thwart possible terrorist attacks.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, CNN and Politico