Top Items:
Daniel W. Drezner:
Why Obama is arming Syria's rebels: it's the realism, stupid. — Red line!! RED LINE!!! RED LINE!!!!: … Naturally, this will feed the “return of the liberal hawks” meme that's spreading in some quarters. Other commentators will gnash their teeth or decry that this is the first ill …
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Post, WorldViews, Guardian, Democracy in America, Shakesville, The Week, Yahoo! News and Outside the Beltway
RELATED:
Julian Pecquet / The Hill:
Obama to press Putin on Syria when they meet Monday — President Obama will directly press Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop supporting Syria's government in a meeting Monday. — The White House said Obama would make an “interest-based” argument to Putin on the margins of the Group of Eight summit Monday.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Politico, CNN and Guardian
USA Today:
Syrian rebels pledge loyalty to al-Qaeda
Syrian rebels pledge loyalty to al-Qaeda
Discussion:
NBC Politics, Associated Press, Weasel Zippers, Moonbattery, Firedoglake, No More Mister Nice Blog, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Hot Air
Tal Kopan / Politico:
Clinton praises Syrian rebel support
Clinton praises Syrian rebel support
Discussion:
Liberty Unyielding, Daily Kos, The Dish, msnbc.com and Reuters
Politico:
Syria chemical weapons: President Obama's forced hand
Syria chemical weapons: President Obama's forced hand
Discussion:
National Review, Hot Air, NO QUARTER USA NET, Wall Street Journal and CBS News
Dan Roberts / Guardian:
US ready to arm Syria rebels as major battle for Aleppo looms
US ready to arm Syria rebels as major battle for Aleppo looms
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Reuters, VICE, Telegraph, Hit & Run, Foreign Policy, The Week and Wall Street Journal
James Hohmann / Politico:
Santorum: Why Romney didn't win — Rick Santorum ripped Mitt Romney's campaign Thursday for mishandling President Barack Obama's “you didn't build that” gaffe last summer. — The former Pennsylvania senator recalled all the business owners who spoke at the Republican National Convention.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, ABCNEWS, msnbc.com, Shakesville, Weekly Standard and Daily Kos
Erik Wemple:
CBS News confirms multiple breaches of Sharyl Attkisson's computer — CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson revealed in May that her computer had been compromised. When asked about the situation, CBS News responded with a statement that it was conducting an investigation.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, Power Line, protein wisdom, Twitchy, Politico, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, Betsy's Page and Michelle Malkin, more at Mediagazer »
Justin Sink / The Hill:
White House: Obama's $100M Africa trip ‘great bang for our buck’ — President Obama's $100 million trip to African offers “great bang for our buck,” the White House said Friday. — Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes defended the cost of Obama's upcoming trip to South Africa …
Discussion:
TheBlaze.com and Weasel Zippers
RELATED:
Rebekah L. Sanders / Arizona Republic:
Franks firestorm spurs fundraising
Franks firestorm spurs fundraising
Discussion:
Politico and Post Politics
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Some Questions For and About Edward Snowden — Via Andrew Sullivan, I see that a number of people are pushing back against Glenn Greenwald's insistence that the PRISM program allows “direct access” to servers from Google, Microsoft and other tech companies. I'm glad to hear that, because it raises some questions that deserve answers.
Discussion:
News Desk, The Week, The Daily Banter, Little Green Footballs and Los Angeles Times
RELATED:
Kirsten Powers / The Daily Beast:
The Sickening Snowden Backlash
The Sickening Snowden Backlash
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Guardian, Mediaite and Blogs of War
David Brooks / New York Times:
Religion and Inequality — About a century ago, Walter Judd was a 17-year-old boy hoping to go to college at the University of Nebraska. His father pulled him aside and told him that, though the family had happily paid for Judd's two sisters to go to college, Judd himself would get no money for tuition or room and board.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog and Booman Tribune
Reason:
Tap It: NSA Slow Jam (featuring Remy) — Government surveillance never sounded so smooth... Government surveillance never sounded so smooth. — Song written and performed by Remy. Produced by Meredith Bragg. About 2:45 minutes. — Scroll below for downloadable versions and subscribe …
Discussion:
TheBlaze.com and The Daily Caller
Michael Riley / Bloomberg:
U.S. Agencies Said to Swap Data With Thousands of Firms — Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Yahoo! News, Ed Driscoll, Firedoglake, Discourse.net, Techdirt, Business Insider, PJ Media, Shakesville, GigaOM, Washington Post, Mashable and The Hill
Pat Buchanan / Townhall.com:
The Bell Tolls for the ‘New Majority’ — Next year should be a banner year for the GOP, and may yet be. — Obamacare, a “train wreck” about to happen, says Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, goes into full effect Jan. 1, with the popular IRS as enforcer. — The Obama media feel betrayed …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Hinterland Gazette, Shakesville and Right Wing Watch
IMF:
Concluding Statement of the 2013 Article IV Mission to The United States of America — 1. The U.S. recovery has remained tepid over the past year, but underlying fundamentals have been gradually improving. The modest growth rate of 2.2 percent in 2012 reflected legacy effects from the financial crisis …
Discussion:
Financial Times, ThinkProgress, Wonkblog, AEIdeas and BBC
Aaron Blake / Post Politics:
Jeb Bush: U.S. economy needs immigrants because they're ‘more fertile’ — Former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) argued Wednesday that the United States should pass immigration reform because the U.S. economy needs the labor of young immigrants, and immigrants are “more fertile.”
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway, The Gateway Pundit and Yahoo! News
RELATED:
Will Weissert / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Texas gov. signs ‘Merry Christmas’ law; says religious freedom is not freedom from religion — AUSTIN, Texas — Surrounded by sleigh bell-ringing Santa Claus impersonators, Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday signed a law protecting Christmas and other holiday celebrations in Texas public schools …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The New Civil Rights Movement and Taegan Goddard's …
Keith Bradsher / New York Times:
Snowden's Leaks on China Could Affect Its Role in His Fate — HONG KONG — The decision by a former National Security Agency contractor to divulge classified data about the U.S. government's surveillance of computers in mainland China and Hong Kong has complicated his legal position …
Discussion:
Lawfare, JustOneMinute, Althouse and Wall Street Journal
RELATED:
Jonah Goldberg / National Review:
Freedom: The Unfolding Revolution — 'Why are there no libertarian countries? In a much-discussed essay for Salon, Michael Lind asks: “If libertarians are correct in claiming that they understand how best to organize a modern society, how is it that not a single country in the world …
Discussion:
Ed Driscoll
Emily Schultheis / Politico:
Paul Ryan explains GOP's 2012 loss — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Friday that he and Mitt Romney lost in November in part because they were arguing against the “empty promises” of the not-yet-implemented Obamacare law. — “This was the challenge that Mitt Romney and I had in this last election …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Dylan Matthews / Wonkblog:
Do low taxes on the rich leave the middle-class with lower wages? — Raising taxes on the rich often gets proposed as a way of combating the rise of financial inequality. But how important is tax policy, really? — Andrew Fieldhouse, a federal budget policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute …
Discussion:
Economic Policy Institute, National Review and Prairie Weather
Josh Margolin / ABCNEWS:
Christie, Bill Clinton Warm to Latest Bipartisan Presidential ‘Bromance’ — What is it with Chris Christie and Democratic presidents? — First, the Republican governor from New Jersey surprised his party by embracing — both figuratively and literally — President Obama.
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh and Taegan Goddard's …
John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Marsha Blackburn to Take the Lead on Revised Bill Restricting Late-Term Abortions — Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, told THE WEEKLY STANDARD Friday afternoon that she will manage the floor debate on a bill that would prohibit most abortions during the final four months of pregnancy.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, LifeNews.com and The Gateway Pundit
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Cornyn emerges as key to 70-vote threshold for immigration reform — Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is the big prize in the quest for more than 70 votes for immigration reform, but the Gang of Eight is split over whether he's worth wooing. — Cornyn told Republican colleagues at a meeting Wednesday …