memeorandum: In Paper War, Flood of Liens Is the Weapon (Erica Goode/New York Times)

5:55 PM ET, August 24, 2013

Top Items:

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: Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Associated Press

Doctors Without Borders:

[Press Release] Syria: Thousands Suffering Neurotoxic Symptoms Treated in Hospitals Supported by MSF — Brussels/New York, August 24, 2013 — Three hospitals in Syria's Damascus governorate that are supported by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders …

Discussion: Business Insider, New York Times, NPR, The Gateway Pundit and BizPac Review

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 …

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Erica Goode / New York Times:

In Paper War, Flood of Liens Is the Weapon — MINNEAPOLIS — One of the first inklings Sheriff Richard Stanek had that something was wrong came with a call from the mortgage company handling his refinancing. — “It must be a mistake,” he said, when the loan officer told him that someone …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Vox Popoli

Siobhan Gorman / Washington Wire:

NSA Officers 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 of cases …

Discussion: CNET, Guardian, The PJ Tatler, The Switch, Firedoglake, Crooks and Liars, Associated Press, Business Insider, Boing Boing, msnbc.com, 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

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: The Moderate Voice, The PJ Tatler, New York Times, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Hinterland Gazette

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

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

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 and The Democratic Daily

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.