memeorandum: NSA Officers Sometimes Spy on Love Interests (Siobhan Gorman/Washington Wire)

2:25 PM ET, August 24, 2013

Top Items:

Siobhan Gorman / Washington Wire:

NSA Officers Sometimes Spy on Love Interests — WASHINGTON—National Security Agency officers on several occasions have channeled their agency's enormous eavesdropping power to spy on love interests, U.S. officials said. — The practice isn't frequent — one official estimated a handful …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The PJ Tatler, CNET, Guardian, The Switch, Crooks and Liars, Associated Press, Boing Boing, Business Insider, Crooked Timber, Techdirt and Bloomberg

Juan Cole / Informed Comment:

NSA abuses include Stalking ex-Girlfriends — We have HUMINT, or human intelligence gathered from agents. We have SIGINT or signals intelligence. And now we have LOVEINT or NSA analysts occasionally reading the emails of ex-lovers. It doesn't happen a lot, the NSA told the WSJ, but often enough that there is a word for it.

Discussion: Techdirt, Hullabaloo and Discourse.net

Allan Fallow / blog.aarp.org:

Linda Ronstadt Discloses Her Battle With Parkinson's Disease — Legendary singer Linda Ronstadt, 67, told AARP today that she “can't sing a note” because she suffers from Parkinson's disease. Diagnosed eight months ago, Ronstadt began to show symptoms as long as eight years ago.

Discussion: Power Line, Telegraph, Associated Press, Scared Monkeys, KTLA 5 and EW.com

Associated Press:

US FORCES MOVE CLOSER TO SYRIA AS OPTIONS WEIGHED — WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. naval forces are moving closer to Syria as President Barack Obama considers military options for responding to the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad government. The president emphasized that a quick intervention …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and Associated Press

RT:
Materials implicating Syrian govt in chemical attack prepared before incident - Russia

Discussion: NO QUARTER USA NET and Sic Semper Tyrannis

Fox News:
Found: Samantha Power in Ireland during urgent Syria meeting, sources say

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, BizPac Review, The Hill, News Desk, National Review, Mediaite and Hot Air

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

New Jersey Senate Candidate To Single Mothers: Stop Relying On Food Stamps And Go To Work! — New Jersey Senate candidate Steve Lonegan (R) told MSNBC's Steve Kornacki on Saturday that single mothers don't need to rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps …

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

John Lewis At March On Washington: 'I'm Not Going To Stand By And Let The Supreme Court Take The Right To Vote Away' — Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) — who was the youngest speaker during the March on Washington in 1963 — delivered a passionate address about the importance of protecting voting rights …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Most Recent:

FILNER RESIGNS, EXIT DEAL OK'D — Bob Filner announced his resignation Friday as San Diego's 35th mayor following a tumultuous six weeks in which lurid allegations of repeated sexual misconduct against women crippled his ability to lead and turned him into a subject of national ridicule.

Discussion: Voice of San Diego, KPBS San Diego, CBS News, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Moderate Voice, Advocate, Los Angeles Times and CNN

Washington Free Beacon:
Filner Resigns, Plays the Victim

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Ed Driscoll, Weasel Zippers and National Review

Katie Glueck / Politico:
Filner steps down in deal with San Diego city council

Discussion: Washington Monthly, KGTV-TV, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice and CNN

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:

Why Steve Ballmer Failed — The resignation of Microsoft's CEO is also an acknowledgement: The computer world changed, and Microsoft hasn't. — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, a thunderous leader who presided over a deadly quiet decade for the tech giant, announced he will retire within the next year.

Discussion: VodkaPundit, NBCNews and Mashable

Henry Samuel / Telegraph:

France cannot take any more taxes, government admits — France's Socialist government has admitted that the country cannot cope with any further tax rises and promised no more hikes just days ahead of the country's largest ever tax bill. — President François Hollande has enacted …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Vox Popoli and Hot Air

Joe Hagan / New York Magazine:

The Suit in the Newsroom — An unusual Times executive— for unusual times. — When Mark Thompson, a former director general at the BBC, was appointed president and CEO of the New York Times Company, the reaction inside the company was a mix of relief and apprehension.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Politico and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Kevin D. Williamson / National Review:

Bradley Manning Is Not a Woman — Dennis Avner was not a tiger, and Bradley Manning is not a woman. Mr. Manning, who upon his sentencing for his role in the WikiLeaks case announced that he desires to live out his days as a woman called Chelsea, is what he is, and no amount of pronoun play …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, VICE, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, Althouse, Ed Driscoll and ThinkProgress

Zack Colman / E2-Wire:

Decision on Keystone in danger of being delayed until 2014 — The State Department's decision on the Keystone XL pipeline is in danger of being pushed into 2014. — State's internal watchdog on Friday said it won't complete until January a review of allegations that the department hired …

Discussion: DeSmogBlog

Chris Good / ABC News:

50 Years Later: March on Washington Today Honors King … American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, lead a march down the center of a street in the 1960s. — Getty Images — Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington …

Discussion: Politico