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Apple's Tim Cook, tech execs meet with Barack Obama to talk surveillance — President Barack Obama hosted Apple CEO Tim Cook, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, Google computer scientist Vint Cerf and other tech executives and civil liberties leaders on Thursday for a closed-door meeting about government surveillance, sources tell POLITICO.
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CNN, ReadWrite, Crooks and Liars, Hit & Run, BuzzMachine, Fortune, Business Insider, VentureBeat, The Verge, GigaOM, Digits and Mashable
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Obama announces proposals to reform NSA surveillance — President Obama announced plans Friday to pursue reforms that would open the legal proceedings surrounding the National Security Agency's surveillance programs to greater scrutiny, the administration's most concerted response yet to a series of national security disclosures.
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Hit & Run and Firedoglake, more at Mediagazer »

Obama Administration Launching NSA Transparency Website — And the NSA is releasing a paper explaining some of its methods. — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced on Friday it will create a new website to address concerns over the transparency of controversial dragnet surveillance programs.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and The Week

Obama Offers Plan Meant to Ease Concerns on Surveillance
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Hot Air

Obama Proposes Surveillance-Policy Overhaul
Discussion:
Washington Wire, TechCrunch and The Gateway Pundit

NSA head says agency working to reduce leaks by replacing people with machines
Discussion:
protein wisdom and The PJ Tatler


Rand Paul on Republicans' Voter Appeal and the Federal Reserve — How seriously are you thinking about the White House? — At this point we're thinking about ways to grow the Republican Party and won't make any decision about whether that involves me running or not for about a year.
Discussion:
The Week, National Review, American Prospect, The Dish, Fortune and Wonkblog
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Rand Paul Not So Good With Numbers — Let's see ... carry the five ... can I please have a calculator? — Josh Green asks Rand Paul about his rather extreme budget proposal, and Paul replies that it's necessary because the only alternative is Trillion-Dollar Deficits As Far As the Eye Can See:
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, Politico and Liberal Values

A Poll I'd Like To See — Jonathan Chait finds Rand Paul talking about the evils of “running a trillion-dollar deficit every year” — which, as it happens, is not at all what we're doing; the deficit is at around $600 billion and falling fast. This follows on Eric Cantor's talk about …
Discussion:
Eschaton


Weiner mocks reporter, scolds staff as cameras roll at campaign event — “I just have a feeling I like stepped into a Monty Python bit,” Anthony Weiner said as a British journalist questioned him about his campaign to become New York City mayor. He then offered to present an impromptu weather forecast.
Discussion:
New York Post, msnbc.com, Death and Taxes, New York Times and BuzzFeed
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Anthony Weiner slips to lowest rating ever in poll of Democratic voters
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New York Times and Capital New York

Weiner mocks British reporter
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National Updates, Real Clear Politics and Towleroad News #gay


The Bourne Hypocrisy: Matt Damon's Peculiar School Choice — The movie star's explanation for sending his four daughters to private school is disingenuous. — Oscar winner Matt Damon has earned millions successfully playing a super spy, tortured genius, rugby icon, and poker player.
Discussion:
The PJ Tatler, PJ Lifestyle, The Daily Caller, The Reliable Source and Eduwonk
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Matt Damon on Pres. Obama: “He Broke Up With Me”
Discussion:
Mediaite, NewsBusters, Wake up America, The Fix, theGrio and Politico


Lavabit's brave stand: email service shuts down — Edward Snowden: 'Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, and the rest of our internet titans must ask themselves why they aren't fighting for our interests the same way' — A Texas-based encrypted email service recently revealed …
Discussion:
Forbes, Business Insider, Defense One, The Technology Chronicles, Informed Comment, AL.com and Balloon Juice
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Silent Circle Preemptively Shuts Down Encrypted Email Service To Prevent NSA Spying
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Firedoglake, NYT Bits, Marginal Revolution, Guardian, Althouse, Wake up America, Quartz, Boing Boing, The Switch, The Agonist and BBC


NSA loophole allows warrantless search for US citizens' emails and phone calls — Exclusive: Spy agency has secret backdoor permission to search databases for individual Americans' communications — The National Security Agency has a secret backdoor into its vast databases under …
Discussion:
Politico, Techdirt, emptywheel, Daily Kos, Boing Boing and Samizdata


How Dumb Is Immigration Debate? This Dumb. — Everything you know about immigration, particularly unauthorized immigration, is wrong. — So says Princeton University's Doug Massey, anyway. Massey is one of the nation's preeminent immigration scholars.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and AL.com

Reid raises race in discussing GOP opposition to Obama's agenda — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Friday said he hoped GOP opposition to President Obama was not based on his race. — Reid made the comments in response to a question during a radio interview.
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CNN
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Harry Reid: Conference would lead to ‘win’
Discussion:
ModBee.com, Post Politics and The Daily Caller


Fox News Poll: Majority calls implementation of ObamaCare ‘a joke’ — Majorities of Americans think the new health care law is going to increase their medical costs and their taxes — and add to the federal deficit as well. Those are some of the reasons why voters say — by a two-to-one margin …
Discussion:
The PJ Tatler
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Can GOP ‘Replace’ Obamacare? The RSC Has a Plan
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Daily Kos and Washington Monthly

Fox News Poll: Phony scandals? Not to voters
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NewsBusters, Hot Air, Weekly Standard and Weasel Zippers

Boxer Sends Open Letter to San Diego Mayor Bob Filner — Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today sent an open letter to San Diego Mayor Bob Filner. The text of the letter follows: — Dear Bob, — We've known each other for a long time, and have worked together …
Discussion:
Politico and ThinkProgress
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EXCLUSIVE: Alec Baldwin Set To Host New MSNBC Primetime Show (UPDATED) — Mediaite has learned from a senior source in the cable news industry with knowledge of MSNBC's programming that actor Alec Baldwin is getting his own weekly show in MSNBC's primetime lineup.
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New York Times, National Review, Hollywood Reporter, Scared Monkeys, Los Angeles Times, Hot Air, TVNewser, Deadline.com, The Gateway Pundit, Twitchy, The Hill, The Huffington Post, The Week, Business Insider, Politico, Inside TV, Michelle Malkin, Joe. My. God., The PJ Tatler, Ed Driscoll, New York Magazine and The Raw Story


Scott Brown's Younger Brother Arrested Heavily Armed, Impersonating Police … Bruce Brown, the brother of former senator Scott Brown, is shown in this NECN.com video. — NECN.com — Bruce W. Brown, the younger brother of former Mass. Senator Scott Brown, was arrested last night heavily armed …
Discussion:
CNN, The Hill, Post Politics and Boston Herald


TOP 10 QUESTIONS JOURNALISTS WON'T ASK PRESIDENT OBAMA AT PRESS CONFERENCE — President Barack Obama rarely makes himself available to the mainstream media. They adore him anyway. At rare press conferences, such as the one scheduled for noon Friday at the White House …


‘Muslims peaked in the Dark Ages. But since then?’: Richard Dawkins embroiled in Twitter row over controversial comments — The author of The God Delusion tweeted that the world's Muslims had won fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge — His comments sparked anger among …
Discussion:
Vox Popoli and Jihad Watch

Candy Crowley on Clinton documentary: ‘Life more difficult’ — In the wake of news that NBC plans a four-part drama about the life of Hillary Clinton and that CNN has commissioned a documentary on her, both television networks have had to deflect criticism that these are designed to bolster a potential Clinton presidential run.
Discussion:
Mediaite and The Huffington Post


Durbin's enemies list — Rather than accusing political enemies of flouting federal law, Sen. Dick Durbin is suggesting that he may publicly expose them to public outrage over the killing of Trayvon Martin. … “It is absolutely unacceptable to single out any political group — right …
Discussion:
Overlawyered, Wall Street Journal, Booman Tribune, The Raw Story and Illinois Review

DOT official likens illegal immigrants to Satan, then quickly fired — In a stunning online rant, a top Gov. Scott Walker official likened illegal immigrants to Satan during a Facebook debate over a bumper sticker declaring open season on foreigners living in the United States without documentation.
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, FOX6Now.com, The Huffington Post, ThinkProgress, The Political Environment and The Raw Story


Why can't we talk about IQ? — “IQ is a metric of such dubiousness that almost no serious educational researcher uses it anymore,” the Guardian's Ana Marie Cox wrote back in May. It was a breathtakingly ignorant statement. Psychologist Jelte Wicherts noted in response that a search for …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs and Wonkblog