memeorandum: Obama Promises Syria Strike Will Have No Objective (Andy Borowitz/Borowitz Report)

2:50 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.

Discussion: Politico, Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Lawfare, The Hill, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, The Volokh Conspiracy, Hullabaloo, NPR, Weasel Zippers, Associated Press, National Review, Telegraph and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

BBC:

MPs' vote halts UK action over Syria — MPs have rejected possible UK military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to deter the use of chemical weapons. — David Cameron said he would respect the defeat of a government motion by 285-272, ruling out joining US-led strikes.

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

Jim VandeHei / Politico:

The ironic war plan — Imagine Dick Cheney in a “Saturday Night Live” skit fantasizing about Barack Obama handling the pressures of going to war. — Cheney's sitting there, yucking it up with Rummy and the boys, eating yellow cake. He laughs off his own reckless rush to an unwinnable war fought on flawed grounds.

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

Associated Press:

UK Prime Minister Cameron loses Syria war vote — LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron lost a vote endorsing military action against Syria by 13 votes Thursday, a stunning defeat for a government which had been poised to join the U.S. in strikes to punish Bashar Assad's regime …

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

CNN:

British leader loses vote on Syria response — (CNN) — [Breaking news alert, 5:52 p.m. ET] — British Prime Minister David Cameron was dealt a blow Thursday in his push for a strong response, including possible military action, against Syria after the House of Commons voted down the measure.

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

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:

British parliament rejects military strike against Syria — British lawmakers on Thursday delivered a stunning rejection of Prime Minister David Cameron's bid to punish the government of Bashar al-Assad for allegedly using chemical weapons, citing skepticism over the misinformation used …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Outside the Beltway, Wonkblog and Lawfare, more at Mediagazer »

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Liberals join conservatives in demanding Obama get Congress OK for Syria action

Discussion: Politico

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

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Reuters

GOV.UK:
Chemical weapon use by Syrian regime: UK government legal position

Discussion: Associated Press, BBC, Guardian, ThinkProgress, Business Insider, Amnesty's global human …, News Desk and Telegraph

Josh Rogin / The Daily Beast:
Exclusive: Obama Refused to Send Gas Masks to Syrian Opposition for Over a Year

Discussion: Yahoo! News, NewsBusters and Post Politics

Cassell Bryan-Low / Wall Street Journal:
U.K. Parliament Rejects Syria Action

Discussion: Reuters, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, Paper Chase and New York Times

Reid J. Epstein / Reuters:
White House: U.S. could act alone after U.K. rejects action

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, Weasel Zippers and Guardian

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 …

Washington Post:

Inside the 2013 U.S. intelligence ‘black budget’ — The pages in this document appear in the summary of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's multivolume FY 2013 Congressional Budget Justification — the U.S. intelligence community's top-secret “black budget.”

Discussion: The Hill, FP Passport, The Gateway Pundit and Business Insider

Washington Post:
To hunt Osama bin Laden, satellites watched over Abbottabad, Pakistan, and Navy SEALs

Discussion: New York Times, The Switch, Lawfare and The Daily Caller

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

Discussion: msnbc.com and NPR

U.S. Department of the Treasury:

All Legal Same-Sex Marriages Will Be Recognized for Federal Tax Purposes — Ruling Provides Certainty, Benefits and Protections Under Federal Tax Law for Same-Sex Married Couples — WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) …

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, The Other McCain, Towleroad News #gay, Advocate, Arizona Republic, AL.com, msnbc.com, Wonkblog, Althouse, Daily Kos, National Review, Firedoglake and NPR

Annie Lowrey / New York Times:
Gay Marriages Get Recognition From the I.R.S.

Discussion: Liberal Values, Mediaite, Towleroad News #gay, Outside the Beltway and LGBTQ Nation

HHS.gov:
HHS announces first guidance implementing Supreme Court's decision on the Defense of Marriage Act

Discussion: Daily Kos, LGBTQ Nation, The Huffington Post, The Heritage Foundation, ThinkProgress, Joe. My. God. and Weekly Standard

The United States Department of Justice:

Justice Department Announces Update to Marijuana Enforcement Policy — Today, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an update to its federal marijuana enforcement policy in light of recent state ballot initiatives that legalize, under state law, the possession of small amounts of marijuana …

Discussion: Hit & Run, ThinkProgress, The Verge, msnbc.com, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Reality-Based Community, BBC, Firedoglake and TalkLeft

Evan Perez / CNN:
No federal challenge to pot legalization in 2 states

Discussion: New York Times, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Huffington Post and AL.com

Blake Neff / The Hill:
Justice Department eases rules on marijuana enforcement

Discussion: Politico and The Democratic Daily

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 Daily Caller, The Week, PoliticusUSA, AL.com and NPR

Josh Lederman / Associated Press:
OBAMA OFFERS NEW GUN CONTROL STEPS

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Truth About Guns, Associated Press, Daily Kos, msnbc.com, BuzzFeed, Global Grind, BizzyBlog, UrbanGrounds and The Raw Story

Allison Benedikt / Slate:

If You Send Your Kid to Private School, You Are a Bad Person — A manifesto. — You are a bad person if you send your children to private school. Not bad like murderer bad—but bad like ruining-one-of-our-nation's-most- essential-institutions-in-order-to-get- what's-best-for-your-kid bad.

Discussion: his vorpal sword, Ace of Spades HQ, Weasel Zippers, The Week, The Daily Caller, The PJ Tatler, National Review, Hot Air, FITSNews, Business Insider, The Other McCain, NewsBusters, TheBlaze.com, BizzyBlog, JustOneMinute and Overlawyered

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:
Please, sending your kids to private school doesn't make you a bad person

Discussion: protein wisdom and National Review

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Senator Tim Scott Turned Down Invitation to 50th Anniversary of MLK Event — One of the controversies surrounding the 50th anniversary celebration of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King's “I Have A Dream” speech has been the absence of Republicans at the event, despite many of them having been invited.

Discussion: Joe. My. God., theGrio and PoliticusUSA

Emma Dumain / The World's Greatest Deliberative Body:
Tim Scott Declined Invite to Attend MLK March as Spectator

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Week, The Hinterland Gazette, theGrio, The Spectacle Blog, The Reality-Based Community, Washington Examiner, Washington Wire, Washington Post and PoliticusUSA

Telegraph:

Kim Jong-un's ex-lover ‘executed by firing squad’ — Kim Jong-un's ex-girlfriend was among a dozen well-known North Korean performers who were executed by firing squad nine days go, according to South Korean reports. — Hyon Song-wol, a singer and rumoured to be a former lover of the North Korean leader …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Via Meadia, The Other McCain and The Daily Caller

Digital Chosunilbo:
Kim Jong-un's Ex-Girlfriend ‘Shot by Firing Squad’

Discussion: NY Daily News, Fox News, NBCNews, Gawker, FP Passport, Business Insider, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and AL.com

Rush Limbaugh:

Minimum Wage: How Much is Too Much? — RUSH: Let's go to San Diego. We'll start with Sean. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello, sir. — CALLER: (Unintelligible) tell (unintelligible) — RUSH: Shh. Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. Hang on, folks.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

Eliana Johnson / National Review:

Cory Booker's Imaginary Friend — Go back and listen to Cory Booker's stump speeches over the years, and, as in those of any politician, you'll hear many of the same stories. But Booker's are more dramatic and heart-rending than most. They draw heavily on his experiences in Newark, N.J. …

Discussion: Twitchy, The PJ Tatler, TheBlaze.com, Weasel Zippers, Gawker, Real Clear Politics, Ed Driscoll, Hot Air, Taegan Goddard's …, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Daily Caller and Post Politics

Atossa Araxia Abrahamian / Reuters:

U.S. fast-food workers protest, demand a ‘living wage’ — (Reuters) - Fast-food workers went on strike and protested outside McDonald's, Burger King and other restaurants in 60 U.S. cities on Thursday, in the largest protest of an almost year-long campaign to raise service sector wages.

Discussion: Agence France Presse, Gawker, The Atlantic Online, NPR and Balloon Juice

Alana Semuels / Los Angeles Times:
National fast-food wage protests kick off in New York

Discussion: Power Line, The PJ Tatler and TheBlaze.com

Sarah Jones / PoliticusUSA:

Shellie Zimmerman Reveals She Had Left George The Night Before the Shooting — In an interview with ABC, Shellie Zimmerman said that she had left her husband George the night before the shooting. If you don't know anything about domestic violence statistics, this might not have set off any alarms.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ABC News, Crooks and Liars and ABC News

Seni Tienabeso / ABC News:
George Zimmerman's Wife ‘Very Much Alone’ When He Didn't Go to Court With Her

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and TalkLeft

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.