Top Items:
Alana Goodman / Washington Free Beacon:
Rebel Yell — A close aide to Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) who co-wrote the senator's 2011 book spent years working as a pro-secessionist radio pundit and neo-Confederate activist, raising questions about whether Paul will be able to transcend the same fringe-figure associations that dogged his father's political career.
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, CNN, Weekly Standard, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Little Green Footballs, Washington Monthly, American Prospect, Post Politics, The Huffington Post, The Daily Caller, msnbc.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, Right Turn, Daniel W. Drezner, Taegan Goddard's …, Booman Tribune and Hit & Run
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Alex Seitz-Wald / Salon:
Rand Paul's team has another white supremacist — A top staffer is exposed as a pro-secessionist radical, but it's not the first neo-Confederate on staff — Jack Hunter, who co-authored Rand Paul's 2011 book and now directs new media for the Kentucky senator, has a past alter ego as the …
Discussion:
Liberal Values, Yahoo! News, Washington Monthly, The Hinterland Gazette and The Daily Caller
New York Times:
Spitzer Redux — There will always be candidates for public office who are ethically compromised, temperamentally unsuitable and politically incompetent, but if they insist on running anyway, who has the right to tell them not to? Campaigns sort out the good public servants from the bad.
Discussion:
New York Post, Politico, Business Insider, Politicker, msnbc.com and Taegan Goddard's …
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Politico:
Why sex-scarred pols keep coming back for more
Why sex-scarred pols keep coming back for more
Discussion:
Yahoo! News and The Hinterland Gazette
Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Spitzer Tries to Cry: ‘A Lot of Pain. A Lot of Pain.’
Weekly Standard:
Kill the Bill — We are conservatives who have differed in the past on immigration reform, with Kristol favorably disposed toward it and Lowry skeptical. But the Gang of Eight has brought us into full agreement: Their bill, passed out of the Senate, is a comprehensive mistake.
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Dems to GOP: Your new anti-abortion push is dead on arrival in Senate
Dems to GOP: Your new anti-abortion push is dead on arrival in Senate
Discussion:
Politico, BuzzFeed, Washington Free Beacon and Eschaton
Seung Min Kim / Politico:
In meeting, Democrats say path to citizenship is a must
In meeting, Democrats say path to citizenship is a must
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Democrats Plan Challenge to G.O.P.'s Filibuster Use — WASHINGTON — In a move that could bring to a head six months of smoldering tensions over a Republican blockade of certain presidential nominees, Senate Democrats are preparing to force confirmation votes on a series of President Obama's …
Discussion:
The World's Greatest …, Rothenblog, Booman Tribune, A plain blog about politics, The Plum Line and Post Politics
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Crucial nuclear option decision arrives for Majority Leader Reid
Crucial nuclear option decision arrives for Majority Leader Reid
Discussion:
E2-Wire, The PJ Tatler and Prairie Weather
Margot Sanger-Katz / NationalJournal.com:
White House Has Known For Months Obamacare Implementation Wouldn't Work — Last week, it scaled back several required provisions. They aren't the first. And probably won't be the last. — If you've been reading all the Obamacare stories lately, you might get the impression …
Discussion:
Jammie Wearing Fools, Politico, Hot Air, Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers and Taegan Goddard's …
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Mike Allen / Politico:
Eric Cantor plans anti-IRS push — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Tuesday will tell House Republicans that he plans floor votes before the August recess on a slew of bills in response to the IRS controversies. — The most intriguing: a bill to allow Americans …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
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Peter Bright / Ars Technica:
US agency baffled by modern technology, destroys mice to get rid of viruses — $170,000 of PCs, printers, keyboards, cameras, and mice destroyed in gross overreaction. — The Economic Development Administration (EDA) is an agency in the Department of Commerce that promotes economic development …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
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Amanda McCorquodale / The Huffington Post:
Florida Accidentally Banned All Computers, Smart Phones In The State Through Internet Cafe Ban: Lawsuit — When Florida lawmakers recently voted to ban all Internet cafes, they worded the bill so poorly that they effectively outlawed every computer in the state, according to a recent lawsuit.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Gizmodo, Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway and Shakesville
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Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Is Your iPhone Illegal in Florida?
New York Times:
U.S. Considers Faster Pullout In Afghanistan — WASHINGTON — Increasingly frustrated by his dealings with President Hamid Karzai, President Obama is giving serious consideration to speeding up the withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan and to a “zero option” …
Discussion:
CNN, Politico, AEIdeas, Balloon Juice, Firedoglake, Weasel Zippers, ThinkProgress, Prairie Weather, Mediaite, Hot Air, Business Insider, First Read, Telegraph, The Dish and Booman Tribune
Amie Parnes / The Hill:
Obama is faulted on leadership — Supporters and critics of President Obama are looking for leadership on many pressing issues from the White House, but many believe they are not getting it. — On Monday, Obama held a Cabinet meeting and spoke about his effort to modernize government databases.
Discussion:
CNN, Reuters and National Review
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Secular Society — I might as well tell you upfront that this column is a book report. Since 2007, when it was published, academics have been raving to me about Charles Taylor's “A Secular Age.” Courses, conferences and symposia have been organized around it, but it is almost invisible outside …
Discussion:
The Dish
Michael W. McConnell / Wall Street Journal:
Michael McConnell: Obama Suspends the Law — Like King James II, the president decides not to enforce laws he doesn't like. That's an abuse of power. — President Obama's decision last week to suspend the employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act may be welcome relief to businesses affected …
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Rent-a-Paramilitaries Freak Out Wisconsin — Here's a fascinating little story. There's been a battle royale up in Wisconsin over an effort to establish a big iron mining operation near Lake Superior, to be owned and operated by a company called Gogebic Taconite.
Discussion:
The Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money
David Dykes / The State:
SC Gov. Nikki Haley says she was abused as a child — GREENVILLE, SC — SC Gov. Nikki Haley on Monday said she was physically abused as a girl by a child-care provider, offering a rare, personal disclosure that she said was meant to underscore the challenge any community faces in protecting its children.
Discussion:
CNN, Politico, TheBlaze.com and Post Politics
Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
Santorum to jump into Texas abortion ban battle — (CNN) - Rick Santorum's heading to Texas to put his support behind a controversial bill that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. — According to a press release obtained by CNN that will be sent later Tuesday …
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Monthly, The Raw Story, Shakesville, ABC News, Mock, Paper, Scissors, Juanita Jean's and New York Times
Tal Kopan / Politico:
Rush Limbaugh tells caller not to watch Fox — Rush Limbaugh had a message for one of his callers: Stop watching Fox News. — “Tony from Tampa” called into Limbaugh's radio show on Monday to complain about the lack of outrage from the right over President Barack Obama's policies …
Discussion:
Rush Limbaugh and The Huffington Post
Doug Stanglin / USA Today:
Russian's tweet on Snowden asylum OK quickly deleted — A Russian lawmaker caused a diplomatic stir Tuesday by briefly tweeting — then deleting — news that NSA leaker Edward Snowden had accepted Venezuela's offer of asylum. — Alexei Pushkov, the head of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee …
Jordy Yager / The Hill:
Comey: Waterboarding is torture, illegal — President Obama's nominee to become the next director of the FBI on Tuesday said that he believes waterboarding is torture and illegal and that he had fought to block the practice while serving in the Bush administration.
Discussion:
Politico