memeorandum: Federal Judge Strikes Down Law Barring Same-Sex Couples From Receiving Veterans' Benefits (Chris Geidner/BuzzFeed)

11:40 AM ET, August 30, 2013

Top Items:

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Obama Set for Limited Strike on Syria as British Vote No — WASHINGTON — President Obama is prepared to move ahead with a limited military strike on Syria, administration officials said Thursday, despite a stinging rejection of such action on Thursday by America's stalwart ally Britain and mounting questions from Congress.

Ernesto Londoño / Washington Post:

U.S. military officers have deep doubts about impact, wisdom of a U.S. strike on Syria — The Obama administration's plan to launch a military strike against Syria is being received with serious reservations by many in the U.S. military, which is coping with the scars of two lengthy wars …

Discussion: New York Times, The PJ Tatler, Sense of Events, Weasel Zippers and Israel Matzav

Mark Murray / First Read:

NBC poll: Americans skeptical of U.S. intervention in Syria — Fifty percent of Americans say they oppose the United States taking military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad, and nearly eight-in-10 believe President Barack Obama should receive congressional approval before using any force, according to a new NBC News poll.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Politico, Hot Air, The BRAD BLOG, CNN, NBCNews and New York Times

The White House:

FACT SHEET: New Executive Actions to Reduce Gun Violence — Today, the Obama administration announced two new common-sense executive actions to keep the most dangerous firearms out of the wrong hands and ban almost all re-imports of military surplus firearms to private entities.

Discussion: BizPac Review, The Hinterland Gazette, The Daily Caller, PoliticusUSA, The Week, AL.com, NPR and BuzzFeed

Politico:

Nancy Pelosi the hawk tells Barack Obama to act on Syria — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi pressed top administration officials Thursday night to take military action to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad in response to reports that he used chemical weapons in his nation's ongoing civil war.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Guardian, Weasel Zippers, Goppers and Reuters

Kevin Liptak / CNN:

As Obama considers Syria strikes, Bush and Carter weigh in — (CNN) - Two of President Barack Obama's White House predecessors offered their views of his impending decision on Syria Friday as global support for strikes in the country faltered. — Former President George W. Bush …

Discussion: Politico

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:

Unclassified Syria briefing exposes rifts among key lawmakers — Thursday night's briefing by top Obama administration officials exposed divisions among key lawmakers on what to do in Syria. — Lawmakers on the unclassified conference call said the officials made it clear that President Obama …

CNN:
Sources: U.S. may go it alone on Syria

Discussion: Business Insider and KDVR.com

Liam Stack / The Lede:
Facebook Post Said to Be by Assad's Son Dares Americans to Attack

Discussion: Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Gawker, AL.com and FP Passport

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
British parliament rejects military strike against Syria

Discussion: Post Politics, ThinkProgress, emptywheel, Reuters, The Fix, The Huffington Post, Outside the Beltway, Wonkblog and Lawfare, more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Prepares for Solo Strike On Syria After Britain Balks

Discussion: Washington Wire, Questions and Observations, AEIdeas, Hot Air, The Volokh Conspiracy and Business Insider

Politico:
The lonely president — President Barack Obama had hoped for a quick …

Discussion: Weekly Standard and The New Republic

Devin Dwyer / ABC News:
Obama's Off-the-Cuff ‘Red Line’ Creates Syria Dilemma

Discussion: Hot Air, The Daily Caller, NetRight Daily, Associated Press, Business Insider and ABC News

BBC:
MPs' vote halts UK action over Syria

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Samizdata, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, The Volokh Conspiracy, Guardian and Daily Kos

Mark Murray / NBCNews:
NBC poll: Nearly 80 percent want congressional approval on Syria

Discussion: New York Times, Scared Monkeys, National Review, msnbc.com and Weekly Standard

Emily Swanson / The Huffington Post:
Syria Poll Finds Little American Support For Air Strikes

Discussion: americanthinker.com and Outside the Beltway

CNN:
British leader loses vote on Syria response

Discussion: The Economic Collapse, CBS News, AL.com, KDVR.com, NPR, Here & Now, Balloon Juice and ABC News

Associated Press:
UK Prime Minister Cameron loses Syria war vote

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau, Washington Post, The DiploMad 2.0, Scared Monkeys, Ed Driscoll, The Daily Caller, JustOneMinute and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Dylan Byers / Politico:
After Iraq, media skepticism on Syria

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Reuters and Guardian

Jim VandeHei / Politico:
The ironic war plan

Discussion: CNN, Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly, AEIdeas and Reuters

IC ON THE RECORD:

DNI Clapper Directs Annual Release of Information Related to Orders Issued to Telecom Providers Under National Security Authorities — August 29, 2013 — In June, President Obama directed the Intelligence Community (IC) to declassify and make public as much information as possible …

Discussion: Hillicon Valley, AL.com, The Verge, emptywheel, The Switch and Techdirt

Washington Post:

U.S. spy network's successes, failures and objectives detailed in ‘black budget’ summary — U.S. spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national security threats …

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:
Leaked documents reveal US sees Israel as a spying threat (Video)

Discussion: Israel Matzav and The Gateway Pundit

Washington Post:
Inside the 2013 U.S. intelligence ‘black budget’

Discussion: FP Passport and Business Insider

Washington Post:
U.S. spy network's successes, failures and objectives detailed in ‘black budget’ summary

Discussion: msnbc.com and NPR

Kevin Poulsen / Wired:
New Snowden Leak Reports ‘Groundbreaking’ NSA Crypto-Cracking

Discussion: Techdirt, Little Green Footballs, Lawfare, Yahoo! News and The Daily Caller

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Federal Judge Strikes Down Law Barring Same-Sex Couples From Receiving Veterans' Benefits — “Title 38 is unconstitutional under rational basis scrutiny.” — Tracey and Maggie Cooper-Harris. — Courtesy Kathleen Perrin — WASHINGTON — A federal judge in California on Thursday found that …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Washington Blade

M. Alex Johnson / NBCNews:
Federal judge orders VA to obey Supreme Court on same-sex benefits

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Hot Air and SCOTUSblog

U.S. Department of the Treasury:
All Legal Same-Sex Marriages Will Be Recognized for Federal Tax Purposes

Bryce Covert / ThinkProgress:

Poverty Has Same Effect On The Brain As Constantly Pulling All Nighters — The mental strain of living in poverty and thinking constantly about tight finances can drop a person's IQ by as much as 13 percent, or about the equivalent of losing a night of sleep, according to a new study.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

sciencemag.org:
Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function

Discussion: Washington Post, Gawker and NPR

Stephen Lurie / The Atlantic Online:

How the Senate Exploits Unpaid Interns — Barely a third of U.S. senators pay their interns — and embarrassingly for Democrats, a party focused on workplace welfare, most of them are Republicans. — If you walk into any of the 100 Senate offices spread across Capitol Hill, there is one consistent element.

Discussion: Althouse

Washington Post:

What ‘The Butler’ gets wrong about Ronald Reagan and race — Steven F. Hayward, Paul Kengor, Craig Shirley and Kiron K. Skinner are Ronald Reagan historians. — One cold evening in Dixon, Ill., in the early 1930s, a young man known as Dutch Reagan brought home two African American teammates from his Eureka College football team.

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, Power Line and Ed Driscoll

Facebook:

Proposed Updates to our Governing Documents — We are proposing updates to two important legal documents - our Data Use Policy and our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. These two documents tell you about how we collect and use data, and the rules that apply when you choose to use Facebook.

Discussion: AllThingsD, Digits, The Verge, NYT Bits, Hillicon Valley and GigaOM

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Conservatives ready another try to unseat Lindsey Graham — SOUTH CAROLINA 2014 ELECTIONS LINDSEY GRAHAM — ANDERSON, S.C. — On a Monday night in late August, Sen. Lindsey Graham was traveling with a congressional delegation in Africa when the three Republicans who are challenging …

Bloomberg:

Microsoft Said to Be in Talks to Invest in Foursquare — Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and American Express Co. (AXP) are vying to take an equity stake in Foursquare Labs Inc., according to people with knowledge of the discussions. — The two companies are competing to invest in Foursquare rather …

Discussion: GigaOM, Hillicon Valley, TechCrunch, Mashable, The Verge and Digits, more at Mediagazer »

Brady Dennis / Washington Post:

Obama administration will not block state marijuana laws, if distribution is regulated — The Obama administration said Thursday that it would not challenge laws legalizing marijuana in Colorado and Washington state as long as those states maintain strict rules involving the sale and distribution of the drug.

Discussion: National Review, Bangor Daily News, Hot Air, Gawker and The Plum Line