memeorandum: Napolitano to Step Down as Homeland Security Chief (Peter Nicholas/Wall Street Journal)

1:55 PM ET, July 12, 2013

Top Items:

Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security chief, to head UC — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is being named the next president of the 10-campus UC system. (Alex Wong / Getty Images / July 18, 2012) — Janet Napolitano, the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security and former governor of Arizona …

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Report: Napolitano to Resign — Reuters reports Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will resign today: … UPDATE: Here's the statement from Napolitano: — “For more than four years I have had the privilege of serving President Obama and his Administration as the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Yahoo! News and americanthinker.com

Christian Beckner / Foreign Policy:

15 Top Slots At DHS Now Vacant With Napolitano's Resignation — Janet Napolitano is leaving the Department of Homeland Security. But she's not the only one who's gone. No less than 15 leadership positions across DHS are now vacant — or soon will be. And there doesn't seem to be any hurry to fill them.

Discussion: A plain blog about politics and The Raw Story

Peter Nicholas / Wall Street Journal:
Napolitano to Step Down as Homeland Security Chief

Discussion: Hit & Run, Washington Wire and Politicker

Yahoo! News:
Napolitano leaving Homeland Security to become president of University of California system

Discussion: Washington Monthly, BuzzFeed and Los Angeles Times

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Napolitano to leave Obama, DHS to lead the University of California

Discussion: Politico

Associated Press: HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY NAPOLITANO RESIGNING

WikiLeaks:

Statement by Edward Snowden to human rights groups at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport — Edward Joseph Snowden delivered a statement to human rights organizations and individuals at Sheremetyevo airport at 5pm Moscow time today, Friday 12th July. The meeting lasted 45 minutes.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Guardian, FP Passport, Politico, Gawker, Business Insider, Boing Boing, Telegraph, BBC, The Lede and Agence France Presse, more at Mediagazer »

Paul Owen / Guardian:

Edward Snowden to meet Amnesty and Human Rights Watch at Moscow airport - live coverage — NSA whistleblower to meet human rights groups at Sheremetyevo airport to discuss his next steps forward as he claims US is illegally denying his right to seek asylum — Edward Snowden along …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mashable, msnbc.com, The Hinterland Gazette and Business Insider

New York Times:
U.S. Is Pressing Latin Americans to Reject Snowden

Discussion: New Republic and msnbc.com

Reuters:
Rights groups summoned to meet fugitive Snowden

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Hinterland Gazette, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Daily Caller and McClatchy Washington Bureau

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Snowden complains of hounding, asks Russia for temporary asylum

Discussion: americanthinker.com

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Oh, snap! The GOP misfires on food stamps. — There was a rare moment of candor on the House floor this week. — Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.), a committee chairman and the man who led House Republicans to their majority in 2010, was explaining why he and his colleagues decided to drop the food stamp program from the farm bill.

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Campaign for America's Future, The Plum Line, Daily Kos and The Raw Story

New York Times:

In the House, a Refusal to Govern — On two crucial issues this week, the extremists who dominate the Republican majority in the House of Representatives made it clear how little interest they have in the future prosperity of their country, or its reputation for fairness and decency.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Reaction, Washington Wire, The Maddow Blog, Daily Kos, The Plum Line and Taking Note

Mary Clare Jalonick / Associated Press:
Republicans to Tackle Cuts in Food Stamp Program

Discussion: Reuters, Shakesville and Associated Press

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
House Republicans Pass Bloated Socialist Monstrosity

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week, The Fix, Balloon Juice, In These Times and New York Times

John Fund / National Review:

Obama's Alinskyite Administration — Judicial Watch, a conservative legal foundation, has used the Freedom of Information Act to uncover documents that show Eric Holder's Justice Department used a “community relations” unit to support and stage-manage public protests in Florida …

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Sense of Events

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:
Geraldo: Al Sharpton And ‘Race Politics’ Forced Florida To Pursue ‘Weak’ Case Against Zimmerman

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Wbastone / The Smoking Gun:
Zimmerman Lawyers Were Once Supporters Of Judge Who Has Knocked Them About Florida Courtroom

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Erik Wemple:
Geraldo: Jurors would have ‘shot and killed Trayvon Martin a lot sooner than George Zimmerman did’

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Huffington Post and The Dish

David Brooks / New York Times:

Pass the Bill! — It's beginning to look as though we're not going to get an immigration reform law this year. House Republicans are moving in a direction that will probably be unacceptable to the Senate majority and the White House. Conservative commentators like my friends Bill Kristol …

Discussion: American Prospect, Washington Monthly, The Dish, Prairie Weather and Taegan Goddard's …

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Bob McDonnell's stunning fall from grace — In 2010, the political world pegged Bob McDonnell as a president in the making. Last year, they put him on every VP list. As recently as May, they called the popular Virginia governor a political model for his would-be successors in Richmond, Democrat and Republican alike.

Discussion: Business Insider, Washington Monthly, The Other McCain and Bearing Drift

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:

Another IRS Scandal Waiting to Happen — Federal Elections Commissioner Donald McGahn wants to rein in the bureaucracy of this sensitive agency. The political left is furious. — The Obama administration claims it wants to ensure that the rank political abuse perpetrated by the Internal Revenue Service is never repeated.

Discussion: Betsy's Page and Hot Air

ThinkProgress:

Iowa Supreme Court: It's OK To Fire A Woman For Being Too Attractive — Joseph Diebold is an intern with ThinkProgress. — Standing by a December decision, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that a male dentist who fired a female assistant because she was too attractive and threatened his marriage did not commit sex discrimination.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Raw Story and Shakesville

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog: Employer health mandate upheld (UPDATED)

Walter Shapiro / American Prospect:

Coming to Do Good, Staying to Do Well — For 20 years, since the weekend of Bill Clinton's first inauguration, I have rented against all financial prudence an apartment in Washington, D.C. even though I really live in Manhattan. So, at least in a real-estate sense, I can rightfully claim …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Taegan Goddard's …

Reuters:

New front opens in Syria as rebels say al Qaeda attack means war — (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said on Friday the assassination of one of their top commanders by al Qaeda-linked militants was tantamount to a declaration of war, opening a new front for the Western-backed fighters struggling against President Bashar al-Assad's forces.