memeorandum: Snowden case highlights Ecuador's double standard (Washington Post)

8:25 AM ET, June 25, 2013

Top Items:

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:

US-China relations chill over Snowden — Press secretary Jay Carney blasted China in unusually blunt terms as the administration hunted for Snowden, the leaker of National Security Agency documents who is now believed to be hiding out in Russia. — Carney dismissed Hong Kong's legal justification …

Discussion: Reuters and CNN

ABC News:

Officials: How Edward Snowden Could Hurt the U.S. — PIERRE THOMAS (@PierreTABC), MIKE LEVINE (@mlevinereports), JACK DATE (@jackdate), LUIS MARTINEZ (@LMartinezABC) and JACK CLOHERTY (@jjclo) report: — As the U.S. intelligence community struggles to complete a damage assessment …

Discussion: Prairie Weather and Hot Air

Washington Post:

Snowden case highlights Ecuador's double standard — CHINA MADE a show of disrespect for the Obama administration Sunday by facilitating the flight of Edward Snowden. Russia may do the same. But when it comes to anti-American chutzpah, there's no beating Rafael Correa, the autocratic leader of tiny, impoverished Ecuador.

Miriam Elder / Guardian:

Edward Snowden never crossed border into Russia, says foreign minister — Sergei Lavrov's comments about fugitive US whistleblower deepen mystery surrounding his whereabouts — Russia's foreign minister has said the surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden never crossed the border into Russia …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, BBC, Outside the Beltway and The Huffington Post

John Cassidy / News Desk:
Demonizing Edward Snowden: Which Side Are You On?

Discussion: ABC, Althouse, Daily Kos and Politico

Reuters:
U.S. steps up pressure on Russia as Snowden stays free

Discussion: The Week, New York Times, Mediaite, Yahoo! News and Infowars

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Obama's hands-off approach to extraditing Snowden draws criticism

Discussion: Wonkblog, WorldViews and Yahoo! News

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:
U.S. officials don't know how much secret material Snowden took

Discussion: Business Insider, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Associated Press

Peter Wehner / Commentary Magazine:
Putin Is Cleaning Obama's Clock

Discussion: Reuters, msnbc.com, The Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, Power Line and Israel Matzav

Erik Wemple:
Greenwald: Beltway media types are ‘courtiers to power’

Discussion: New York Times, Techdirt, The Raw Story, Hit & Run, Mediaite, Daily Kos, CNN and Informed Comment, more at Mediagazer »

Miriam Elder / Guardian:
Edward Snowden leaves reporters chasing shadows around an airport

Discussion: Quartz, Whiskey Fire, VodkaPundit, New York Times and Reuters

Garrett Epps / The Atlantic Online:

Justice Alito's Inexcusable Rudeness — A justice of the Supreme Court should not act like a high schooler on the bench; when the target is a fellow justice, the offense is even greater. — I suspect that the cause of cameras in the Supreme Court suffered a blow on Monday.

Discussion: theusconstitution.org, Prairie Weather, Associated Press, Crooks and Liars, Yahoo! News and New York Times

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Justice Samuel Alito's middle-school antics — The most remarkable thing about the Supreme Court's opinions announced Monday was not what the justices wrote or said. It was what Samuel Alito did. — The associate justice, a George W. Bush appointee, read two opinions …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Mary Dudziak / CNN:
A big step backward on race

Discussion: Balkinization, SCOTUSblog and ImmigrationProf Blog

Stephanie Condon / CBS News:

Obama to lay out three-part plan for addressing climate change — With little to no hope on Capitol Hill for action on climate change, President Obama on Tuesday plans to bypass Congress and move forward with executive actions designed to reduce carbon emissions.

John M. Broder / New York Times:

Obama to Outline Ambitious Plan to Cut Greenhouse Gases — WASHINGTON — President Obama will propose a sweeping plan to address climate change on Tuesday, setting ambitious goals and timetables for a series of executive actions to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and prepare the nation for the ravages of a warming planet.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Mother Jones, Daily Kos and Conservatives4Palin

Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
Experts weigh in on climate plan

Discussion: CNN, New Republic, ThinkProgress and Hot Air

Alan Fram / Associated Press:

IRS chief: Inappropriate screening was broad — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service's screening of groups seeking tax-exempt status was broader and lasted longer than has been previously disclosed, the new head of the agency said Monday. — An internal IRS document obtained …

Discussion: Associated Press, National Review, The Daily Banter, Gawker, ThinkProgress, Wall Street Journal, Daily Kos, Taegan Goddard's … and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Danny Werfel, IRS Chief, Says Inappropriate Screening Was Used More Broadly Than Disclosed

Discussion: The Raw Story and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Bernie Becker / The Hill:
IRS chief: Agency improperly screened groups until last month

Discussion: Politico, Hot Air, CNN, The Reaction and Weasel Zippers

Ian Swanson / The Hill:

Immigration reform passes key Senate test in 67-27 vote on border measure — Fifteen of the “yes” votes were Republicans, suggesting supporters could hit the 70-vote threshold they hope to reach in the final vote. It is thought a big, bipartisan vote could put pressure in the GOP-held House …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and ViralRead

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Immigration reform: Senate backs ‘border surge’ in test vote

Discussion: Red Alert Politics, The Mahablog, Daily Kos and The Hill

Michael Warren / Weekly Standard:
Senate Passes Cloture Motion on Hoeven-Corker Immigration Amendment

Discussion: American Spectator and Weasel Zippers

Politico:

Obama in the doldrums — Not yet six months into his second term, Barack Obama's presidency is in a dead zone. — A combination of familiar Washington intransigence and a more recent run of bad news and political setbacks have left him with less influence over his circumstances …

Discussion: Mediaite

Tor.com Frontpage Partial:

Richard Matheson, 1926-2013 — Tor.com is saddened and staggered to learn of the passing of Richard Matheson, the esteemed author of I am Legend, The Shrinking Man, What Dreams May Come, Hell House, the script for the Steven Spielberg film Duel, and many Twilight Zone scripts, among many more works.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Moderate Voice and The Verge

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

Paula's Worst Ingredients — Paula Deen is where sass meets crass, where the homespun and folksy curdle into something with a sour aftertaste. — Her manner may be as sugary as her cooking, her smile as big as the hams she hawked for Smithfield. But she doesn't pause when she should.

Discussion: msnbc.com

Mirwais Harooni / Reuters:

Afghan forces put down attack on presidential palace: police — (Reuters) - Afghan forces put down an early morning attack by Taliban insurgents on the presidential palace and nearby buildings in central Kabul on Tuesday, with police saying all the assailants had been killed after a 90-minute gunfight.

Discussion: Spiegel Online and Weasel Zippers

Reuters:

Mitch McConnell Is Either Very Bad at Math or Horribly Disingenuous — The Senate minority leader took me to task on Friday. Unfortunately, he had his facts wrong on virtually every count. — Last Friday morning, I attended a ballyhooed speech given by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at AEI …

Discussion: Brad DeLong

Robert Costa / National Review:

Bolton Plans a Tour of Early-Primary States — Watch out, Rand Paul. — As Paul, a Kentucky senator, plans for a 2016 presidential run, he is talking up his views on foreign policy, which, broadly speaking, include less intervention in foreign conflicts and a smaller military budget.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Yahoo! News

Jon Favreau / The Daily Beast:

When Journalists Attack — With its rush to compare Obama to Nixon and to overhype any and all scandals, the media is ruining America's ability to engage in nuanced debate, says Jon Favreau. — If you saw the news at any point in the last month, chances are that you heard Barack Obama compared …

Discussion: Ed Driscoll and The Moderate Voice