Top Items:
Declan McCullagh / CNET:
NSA admits listening to U.S. phone calls without warrants — National Security Agency discloses in secret Capitol Hill briefing that thousands of analysts can listen to domestic phone calls. That authorization appears to extend to e-mail and text messages too.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, Guardian, Ed Driscoll, The Verge and Patterico's Pontifications
RELATED:
Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Video: Congressman Claims He Was Told Government Could Listen To Phone Calls Without A Warrant — Democratic New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler claims he was told in a closed-door briefing that the NSA could listen to a specific phone call, and get a call's “contents” without a warrant, based solely on an analyst's decision.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senators skip classified briefing on NSA snooping to catch flights home — A recent briefing by senior intelligence officials on surveillance programs failed to attract even half of the Senate, showing the lack of enthusiasm in Congress for learning about classified security programs.
Discussion:
CNN, Gawker, Hot Air, The Verge, BuzzFeed, Patterico's Pontifications, Hullabaloo, Prairie Weather, americanthinker.com, Daily Kos and Outside the Beltway
Erik Wasson / The Hill:
Palin slams military intervention in Syria: ‘Let Allah sort it out’ — Former GOP vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin told a Washington audience Saturday that the U.S. should not get involved in the Syrian civil war. — Palin argued that the U.S. should not intervene …
RELATED:
Paige Lavender / The Huffington Post:
Sarah Palin On Syria: ‘Let Allah Sort It Out’ (VIDEO) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) criticized President Barack Obama while speaking at the annual meeting of the Faith and Freedom Coalition Saturday, saying the United States should not intervene in Syria while he's in office.
Discussion:
ABCNEWS and The Raw Story
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Heavy Pressure Led to Decision by Obama on Syrian Arms
Heavy Pressure Led to Decision by Obama on Syrian Arms
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!, JustOneMinute, Booman Tribune, National Review, FiveThirtyEight and Balloon Juice
Cindy Adams / New York Post:
Kraft: Putin stole Bowl ring — New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft revealed the real story behind a 2005 meeting with Vladimir Putin, during which the Russian president pocketed his Super Bowl ring, worth more than $25,000. Kraft, at the time, claimed the diamond-encrusted bauble was a gift …
New York Times:
For Snowden, a Life of Ambition, Despite the Drifting — WASHINGTON — In 2006, when Edward J. Snowden joined the thousands of computer virtuosos going to work for America's spy agencies, there were no recent examples of insiders going public as dissidents.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Althouse
Eric Lipton / New York Times:
Fears of National ID With Immigration Bill — WASHINGTON — Driver's license photographs and biographic information of most Americans would be accessible through an expanded Department of Homeland Security nationwide computer network if the immigration legislation pending before the Senate becomes law.
bigstory.ap.org:
SECRET TO PRISM PROGRAM: EVEN BIGGER DATA SEIZURE — You are here — Home » United States government » Secret to Prism program: Even bigger data seizure — WASHINGTON (AP) — In the months and early years after 9/11, FBI agents began showing up at Microsoft Corp. more frequently …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Boing Boing, emptywheel and Reuters
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
FBI knew earlier of Boston bombing suspect — Deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev came to the attention of the FBI on at least two occasions prior to a Russian government warning in March 2011 that said he appeared to be radicalizing, FBI Director Robert Mueller said in Congressional testimony this week.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Reuters:
Moderate Rohani looks on road to winning Iran presidential vote — (Reuters) - Moderate cleric Hassan Rohani took a solid lead over conservative rivals on Saturday in preliminary vote counting in Iran's presidential election in what could be the makings of a surprise victory over favored hardliners.
Discussion:
Washington Post, American Spectator, Israel Matzav, The Week, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The PJ Tatler and Booman Tribune
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Farnaz Fassihi / Wall Street Journal:
Rohani Leads in Early Iran Results
Rohani Leads in Early Iran Results
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, New York Times, Spectator and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Elie Mystal / Above the Law:
Law School Tries To Pressure Students Into Snap Decision With ‘Buy Now’ Sales Tactic — It really bothers me when law schools resort to used car salesmen tactics to try to induce law students to sign up for school. Say what you will about the value of legal education, but it's not like buying a Sham-Wow.
Elise Viebeck / The Hill:
GOP to constituents: Questions on ObamaCare? Call Obama. — Republican lawmakers say they anticipate a flood of questions in the coming months from constituents on the implementation of ObamaCare, which will pose a dilemma for the GOP. [WATCH VIDEO] — People regularly call …
Facebook Newsroom:
Facebook Releases Data, Including All National Security Requests — Over the last week, in press statements as well as Mark's post last Friday, we've repeatedly called for governments worldwide to be willing to provide more details about programs aimed at keeping the public safe.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Wire, TechCrunch, Gawker, AllThingsD, Little Green Footballs, Engadget, The Verge, Taylor Marsh, CNN, TechNet Blogs, Mashable, ABC News, Digits and BBC
RELATED:
Gail Collins / New York Times:
The Other Side of the Story — The deck is always stacked …
The Other Side of the Story — The deck is always stacked …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice and Prairie Weather
David Knowles / NY Daily News:
Texas Gov. Rick Perry signs ‘Merry Christmas bill’ into law — Schools will now be able to display religious symbols as long as at least one secular or other religion's symbol is also displayed. At the signing ceremony high-school cheerleaders wore t-shirts that read ‘I cheer for Christ.’
Discussion:
The Reaction, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and National Review
RELATED:
Amanda Terkel / The Huffington Post:
Rick Perry Vetoes Texas Equal Pay Bill
Rick Perry Vetoes Texas Equal Pay Bill
Discussion:
Mediaite, ThinkProgress, Off the Kuff, Texas Politics, Trail Blazers Blog, Yahoo! News and The Raw Story