Top Items:
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, The Switch, The Reality-Based Community, The Week, CANNONFIRE, Lawfare, Global Grind, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Mahablog and NPR
RELATED:
Jeffrey Goldberg / Bloomberg:
Samantha Power on the Duty to Intervene
Samantha Power on the Duty to Intervene
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh and Booman Tribune
Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:
Ex-US Attorney Calls James O'Keefe ‘A Nasty Little Cowardly Spud’ — The conservative video maker James O'Keefe has turned his cameras on the former federal prosecutor whose office brought charges against him and his accomplices in the phone-tampering of a Democratic U.S. senator.
Discussion:
Popehat, Mediaite, The Raw Story and Balloon Juice
KCTV:
Controversial rodeo clown speaks out after death threats — A rodeo clown's controversial Missouri State Fair antics went viral after wearing a President Barack Obama mask and mocking the nation's leader. — It divided people across the country on whether Tuffy Gessling's stunt was disrespectful to Obama.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Hill, Weasel Zippers, AL.com, CNN, The Daily Caller, Jammie Wearing Fools and Post Politics
Martin Weil / Washington Post:
Drone crashes into Virginia bull run crowd — An aerial drone, a pilotless aircraft of the type that has aroused intense public discussion in recent months, crashed Saturday into the stands at a public event in Virginia that has also aroused heated discourse.
Discussion:
The Verge, The Week, The Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Poynter
Kelefa Sanneh / New Yorker:
TWENTY-FOUR-HOUR PARTY PEOPLE — When the news broke—"cleveland kidnapping victims free"—Rachel Maddow wasn't sure she had much to add. It was the kind of story that cable news loves: three women had been abducted and held hostage for years, until a garrulous local man named Charles Ramsey helped kick …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Weasel Zippers and Washington Free Beacon
Los Angeles Times:
Massive Rim fire continues to reshape lives and topography — The blaze, now 134,000 acres, pushes into Yosemite National Park. Each day, what it does depends on the wind. — Charred trees and undergrowth at the Hetch Hetchy gate to Yosemite National Park. The Rim fire continues out of control in and near the national park.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and The Gateway Pundit
RELATED:
Spiegel Online:
How America Spies on Europe and the UN — President Obama promised that NSA surveillance activities were aimed exclusively at preventing terrorist attacks. But secret documents from the intelligence agency show that the Americans spy on Europe, the UN and other countries.
Discussion:
Techdirt, Hot Air, emptywheel, Taegan Goddard's … and The Switch, more at Mediagazer »
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:
The Plum Line, Hit & Run, The Monkey Cage, Washington Monthly and The Fix, more at Mediagazer »
Peter Schroeder / The Hill:
Treasury tells Congress nation will breach debt ceiling in mid-October — The Treasury Department has told Congress it must raise the $16.7 trillion national debt limit by mid-October. — Treasury Secretary Jack Lew in a letter sent Monday to lawmakers said his department would exhaust the …
Ron Fournier / The Atlantic Online:
The Outsiders: How Can Millennials Change Washington If They Hate It? — Young people are eager to serve and to change the world. They just have no faith that public service or elected office are the way to get it done. — Forget what you've read about the “Me, Me, Me Generation.”
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, Mediaite and A plain blog about politics
Will Englund / Washington Post:
Report: Snowden stayed at Russian consulate while in Hong Kong — MOSCOW — Before American fugitive Edward Snowden arrived in Moscow in June — an arrival that Russian officials have said caught them by surprise — he spent several days living at the Russian Consulate in Hong Kong, a Moscow newspaper reported Monday.
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, Little Green Footballs, Max Seddon, Guardian and The Week, more at Mediagazer »
Annie Lowrey / New York Times:
In Obama's High-Level Appointments, the Scales Still Tip Toward Men — WASHINGTON — Behind the roiling conversation over whether President Obama might make Janet L. Yellen the first female leader of the Federal Reserve is an uncomfortable reality for the White House: the administration …
Discussion:
Wonkblog, BuzzFeed and National Review
Hugh Hewitt / Washington Examiner:
Is Obama the worst president ever? — “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.” — President Obama, Aug. 11, 2009 — So said President Obama again and again through 2009 and 2010 as he sold Obamacare to the country. He promised. He put his personal integrity on the line.
Discussion:
The Hugh Hewitt Show and Power Line
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Tea party: Obamacare is now ‘BoehnerCare’ — Tea party activists are planning to rally outside of House Speaker John A. Boehner's Ohio office on Tuesday, telling the Republican speaker that if he doesn't use this year's spending fight to defund the health care law, it will hence be known to them as “BoehnerCare.”
Discussion:
The Hill, Daily Kos, Mediaite and VodkaPundit
Patrick Leahy:
Leahy: SJC Will Hold Hearing On Federal And State Marijuana Laws In September — WASHINGTON - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced Monday that the Committee will hold a hearing next month on the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, Politico and Hit & Run
Ellie Hall / BuzzFeed:
Julian Assange Sang And Danced In A Parody Rap Video For Some Awful Reason — The WikiLeaks founder raps and sings and it's really strange. — Wikileaks founder Julian Assange guest-starred in a satirical music video (he shows up around 3:30) and parodied an Australian '80s pop hit... while wearing a mullet.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
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 …
Justin Sink / The Hill:
Boehner aide: Obama must consult with Congress on Syria — An aide to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) warned the White House on Monday it must consult with Congressional leaders before taking any military action in Syria. — Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said in a blog post that the president …
Discussion:
The Hill, CNN and Yahoo! News
KARE-TV:
Openly gay minister ordained in Minneapolis — Daniel Vigilante is now the minister of outreach at Trinity Community Church at 28th and Humboldt Avenue. — He tried to get ordained 13 years ago, but he had to remove himself from the process because the church wouldn't accept his sexual orientation.
Discussion:
Towleroad News #gay, Advocate and The Raw Story
Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Iowa GOP Not Conservative Enough? — At the New York Times yesterday, Jonathan Martin wrote a catch-up piece for those who haven't been paying attention (or reading Political Animal) to the early 2016 GOP skirmishing over and in Iowa. Long story short: Iowa Republicans are nervous …
Discussion:
RedState, The Plum Line and A plain blog about politics
Aaron David Miller / Los Angeles Times:
A report card for U.S. policy in the Mideast — How Washington is doing on such issues as winding down military involvement, fighting terrorism and reducing our dependence on its oil. — U.S. soldiers of NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. (Sameem Ismail / EPA / August 16, 2013)
Discussion:
Hot Air
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:
The Spectacle Blog, WorldViews, Reuters, The Dish, Israel Matzav, Sic Semper Tyrannis and Weekly Standard
Ruben Navarrette / CNN:
Don't fear talking about race — Editor's note: Ruben Navarrette is a CNN contributor and a nationally syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group. Follow him on Twitter: @rubennavarrette — San Diego, California (CNN) — Americans are told we need to have a national conversation in which we talk about race.
Kaiser Health News:
Bare Bones Health Plans Expected To Survive Health Law — This KHN story was produced in collaboration with — Consumer Reports calls it “junk health insurance.” A California regulator described them as “skeleton policies.” To an expert from the American Cancer Society, they …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress
Jennifer Valentino-DeVries / Digits:
Open Secret About Google's Surveillance Case No Longer Secret — The Justice Department recently won a court battle to keep an Internet company from talking about federal demands for user data, arguing that even disclosing the company's name would damage national security.
Discussion:
Techdirt and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »