memeorandum: Was ESPN sloppy, naive or compromised? (Robert Lipsyte/ESPN)

12:50 PM ET, August 26, 2013

Top Items:

Eliot A. Cohen / Washington Post:

Syria will require more than cruise missiles — Eliot A. Cohen teaches at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He directed the U.S. Air Force's Gulf War Air Power Survey from 1991 to 1993. — In 1994, after directing the U.S. Air Force's official study of the Persian Gulf War …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, Weekly Standard, Sic Semper Tyrannis and WorldViews

Telegraph:

Navy ready to launch first strike on Syria — Britain is planning to join forces with America and launch military action against Syria within days in response to the gas attack believed to have been carried out by President Bashar al-Assad's forces against his own people.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The Dish, Via Meadia, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Weasel Zippers and CANNONFIRE

BBC:

Snipers attack UN convoy in Syria — Unidentified snipers have opened fire on a convoy of UN experts investigating suspected chemical weapons attacks in Syria's capital, the UN has said. — One car was shot at “multiple times”, forcing the convoy to turn back.

Discussion: Guardian, Foreign Policy, The Verge and NPR

Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Obama boxed-in on Syria

Discussion: Reuters and VodkaPundit

New York Times:
Confident Syria Used Chemicals, U.S. Mulls Action

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Associated Press, Reuters, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Week, NPR and Washington Post

Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Sets Stage for Bigger Syria Role

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times and DownWithTyranny!

Oliver Holmes / Reuters:
Syria lets U.N. inspect gas attack site, Washington says too late

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Daily Caller, Booman Tribune, The Gateway Pundit, The Economic Collapse, ABC News, Weasel Zippers and The Moderate Voice

Jeffrey Goldberg / Bloomberg:

Samantha Power on the Duty to Intervene — This week, the Barack Obama administration's most eloquent and ardent advocate for humanitarian intervention overseas, Samantha Power, the ambassador to the United Nations, tweeted the following about the alleged Syrian chemical weapons attack …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Booman Tribune

Ben Smith:

ProPublica Joins NSA Chase — Broadening the journalistic front on the National Security Agency documents leaked by Edward Snowden. — A new National Security Agency facility in Utah. — George Frey / Getty Images — The nonprofit investigative reporting group ProPublica is among …

Discussion: New York Times, Connecting.the.Dots, Politico, Guardian, Pressthink, Joshua Foust, The Huffington Post and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

Max Seddon:
Report: Snowden Reached Out To Russian Authorities While Still In Hong Kong

Discussion: Business Insider and Joshua Foust, more at Mediagazer »

Foreign Policy:

Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran — The U.S. knew Hussein was launching some of the worst chemical attacks in history — and still gave him a hand. — The U.S. government may be considering military action in response to chemical strikes near Damascus.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Switch, Global Grind and NPR

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Tea Party Now Covering News for Washington Post — The Washington Post's lead Sunday news story is one of the weirdest, and most weirdly biased, news articles I've ever read in my life. The point of the story — headlined “After six budget showdowns, big government is mostly unchanged” …

Discussion: Hit & Run, The Fix, Firedoglake and Prairie Weather

TheBlaze.com:

SHOCK VIDEO ALLEGEDLY SHOWS AL QAEDA-LINKED TERRORISTS STOPPING TRUCK DRIVERS ON SIDE OF ROAD THEN EXECUTING THEM FOR NOT BEING SUNNI MUSLIMS — Editor's note: This story contains extremely graphic content that may be offensive to some readers. — New video posted on YouTube purports …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Jawa Report

Robert Lipsyte / ESPN:

Was ESPN sloppy, naive or compromised?

Discussion: ThinkProgress, TVNewser and Deadline.com, more at Mediagazer »

Laura Bassett / The Huffington Post:

Anti-Abortion Laws Take Dramatic Toll On Clinics Nationwide — More than 50 abortion clinics across the country have closed or stopped offering the procedure since a heavy wave of legislative attacks on providers began in 2010, according to The Huffington Post's nationwide survey of state health departments …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly and BizPac Review

Kim Severson / New York Times:

Challengers to South Carolina Senator Are Lining Up on the Right — LAKE WYLIE, S.C. — Some of the early shots in the Republican primary battle against Senator Lindsey Graham have been fired from this tiny community on northern border of the state where the Civil War began.

Discussion: The Week, NationalJournal.com, The Plum Line and msnbc.com

Niall Stanage / The Hill:

Black lawmakers lament flaring of racial tensions under Obama — When President Obama follows in Dr. Martin Luther King's footsteps on Wednesday with an address at the Lincoln Memorial, he will face a nation where race remains the great divide. — Black lawmakers say the election …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Jammie Wearing Fools

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Donald Trump: New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman ‘political hack’ — Donald Trump slammed the New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman on Monday for suing him over Trump University. — “He sits up in my office asking me for campaign contributions, he's been there numerous times.

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Banter and American Spectator

Bloomberg:

No Tolerance for Russia's Anti-Gay Games — The International Olympic Committee is letting Russia off far too easy. Russia has argued nonsensically that its new anti-gay law is in keeping with the Olympic Charter's protections against discrimination, and the IOC simply has accepted it.

Discussion: AMERICAblog News

Bryce Covert / ThinkProgress:

Colin Powell On Republican Voting Restrictions: 'It's Going To Backfire' — On Face the Nation this Sunday, Colin Powell, former Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, warned his fellow Republicans that the continuing push to restrict voting rights is going to “backfire” and harm the Republican Party:

Discussion: Crooks and Liars