Top Items:
Washington Post:
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.
Discussion:
American Prospect, Forbes, Hit & Run, The Fix, Firedoglake, Lawfare and The Spectacle Blog, more at Mediagazer »
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Guardian:
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, FP Passport, emptywheel, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos, Techdirt, Boing Boing and Samizdata
Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:
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
New York Times:
Obama Offers Plan Meant to Ease Concerns on Surveillance
Obama Offers Plan Meant to Ease Concerns on Surveillance
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Washington Monthly and Hot Air
Jana Winter / Fox News:
NSA head says agency working to reduce leaks by replacing people with machines
NSA head says agency working to reduce leaks by replacing people with machines
Discussion:
protein wisdom and The PJ Tatler
Joshua Green / Businessweek:
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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Paul Krugman:
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
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
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, Politico, Washington Monthly and Liberal Values
Tony Romm / Politico:
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.
Discussion:
CNN, TechCrunch, ReadWrite, BuzzMachine, VentureBeat, Fortune, Hit & Run, GigaOM, Digits, Crooks and Liars, The Verge, Business Insider and Mashable
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Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:
Email service used by Snowden shuts itself down, warns against using US-based companies
Email service used by Snowden shuts itself down, warns against using US-based companies
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Forbes, TechCrunch, NYT Bits, The Technology Chronicles, Mashable and Balloon Juice
Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
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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Marijke Rowland / ModBee.com:
Denham talks about the House, immigration in Modesto
Denham talks about the House, immigration in Modesto
Discussion:
Politico, Post Politics, The Plum Line and The Daily Caller
Andrew Rafferty / U.S. News:
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.
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New York Post, msnbc.com, Death and Taxes, BuzzFeed and New York Times
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Erin Durkin / NY Daily News:
Anthony Weiner slips to lowest rating ever in poll of Democratic voters
Anthony Weiner slips to lowest rating ever in poll of Democratic voters
Discussion:
New York Times and Capital New York
Ashley Killough / CNN:
Weiner mocks British reporter
Weiner mocks British reporter
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics, National Updates and Towleroad News #gay
TIME:
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
Ezra Klein / Bloomberg:
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
boxer.authoring.testing.senate.gov:
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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Lara Seligman / The Hill:
Boxer writes Filner, tells him it's time to go
Boxer writes Filner, tells him it's time to go
Discussion:
CNN and National Review
Joel B. Pollak / BREITBART.COM:
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 …
Patrick Gavin / Politico:
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, The Huffington Post and NewsBusters
Jason Richwine / Reuters:
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:
Wonkblog and Little Green Footballs
Jim Romenesko:
Patch staffers will be laid off and sites closed over next 7 days as Tim Armstrong takes charge — Patch employees listened in on this morning's conference call expecting to hear that hundreds are losing their jobs today. But AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong told the listeners that the layoffs …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Monthly, TechCrunch, Forbes, Gawker, Mashable and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »
Abby D. Phillip / ABC News:
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, Post Politics, The Hill and Boston Herald
Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:
EXCLUSIVE: Oklahoma Congressman Comes Out As A Birther — AFTON, Oklahoma — Although Freshman Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) believes President Obama may secretly be a Kenyan who forged his birth certificate, he thinks it's too late to do anything about it. — During a town hall meeting …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, ThinkProgress and Goppers
James Hohmann / Politico:
Ken Cuccinelli slams Terry McAuliffe at forum — MANASSAS, Va. — Republican Ken Cuccinelli threw the kitchen sink at his Democratic opponent Friday, using a forum here to unload the most blisteringly negative and far-reaching attacks yet of an already nasty governor's race.
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Free Beacon and National Review
Chicago Tribune:
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, The Raw Story, Booman Tribune and Illinois Review
Joe Concha / Mediaite:
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.
Discussion:
National Review, New York Times, Scared Monkeys, Los Angeles Times, Hot Air, TVNewser, Hypocrisy-Now!, The Gateway Pundit, The Huffington Post, Twitchy, Hollywood Reporter, The Hill, Business Insider, Politico, Inside TV, Deadline.com, The Week, The PJ Tatler, Joe. My. God., Michelle Malkin, Ed Driscoll, New York Magazine and The Raw Story
Andrew Kaczynski:
Obama: “We Are Not Going To Completely Eliminate Terrorism” — The President said we can weaken terror threats by working with our partners overseas. — President Obama said Friday that “we are not going to completely eliminate terrorism.” The President was speaking at a White House press conference …
Discussion:
McClatchy Washington Bureau and Alan Colmes' Liberaland