memeorandum: Inside the mind of NSA chief Gen Keith Alexander (Glenn Greenwald/Guardian)

5:45 PM ET, September 15, 2013

Top Items:

Devin Dwyer / ABC News:

Obama Rejects Criticism of Shifting Syria Policy: 'I'm Less Concerned About Style Points' — WASHINGTON — President Obama says a tumultuous month as commander in chief, when his policy toward Syria took a number of unexpected turns, may not have looked “smooth and disciplined and linear,” but it's working.

Discussion: Power Line, NPR, Patterico's Pontifications, ABC News, Weasel Zippers, msnbc.com, Israel Matzav, BBC and Associated Press

Jason Easley / PoliticusUSA:

Obama Obliterates The Republican Myth That Putin Saved Him on Syria — On ABC's This Week, President Obama destroyed the Republican created myth that Putin saved him on Syria, and obliterated the GOP talking points on the issue. — Transcript via This Week:

Discussion: American Power, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hinterland Gazette and Telegraph

ABC News:

Full Transcript: President Obama Speaks Exclusively to George Stephanopoulos on ‘This Week’ — Alexander Vilf/Host Photo Agency via Getty Images … GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: — Mr. President, thank you for doing this. — PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: — Great to see you. — GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS:

Discussion: Hullabaloo, PoliticusUSA and Guardian

Margaret Wente / Globe and Mail:

Barack Obama, the 98-pound weakling — So, let me get this straight. Some red lines cannot be crossed, and gassing Syrian children is one of them. That's what Barack Obama told us Tuesday evening. “The images from this massacre are sickening,” he said.

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots and Power Line

Devin Dwyer / ABC News:

Obama Calls GOP Debt Ceiling Demands an Assault on US ‘Constitutional Structure’ — WASHINGTON — On the eve of another fiscal showdown with congressional Republicans, President Obama is outright refusing to negotiate over an increase to the nation's debt limit, saying doing so would alter …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Yahoo! News

CNN:
Syrian official declares ‘victory,’ thanks Russia

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, PoliticusUSA, The Week, Algemeiner.com, Booman Tribune, Politico and Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

Carlo Muñoz / The Hill:
Russia deal opens door to end Syrian civil war, says Rep. Cummings

Discussion: CNN and Politico

Pamela Falk / CBS News:
Syrian chemical weapons agreement bound for United Nations Security Council

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Raw Story and ThinkProgress

Ashley Killough / CNN:
Obama on Syria criticism: Washington grades on style, not substance

Discussion: Politico, Booman Tribune and PoliticusUSA

David Wessel / Wall Street Journal:

Summers Withdraws Name for Fed Chairmanship — Former Treasury Secretary Calls Obama, Cites ‘Acrimonious’ Coming Confirmation — WASHINGTON— Lawrence Summers, a former U.S. Treasury secretary, called President Barack Obama Sunday to say he is pulling out of the contest to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Discussion: CNBC, Taegan Goddard's …, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Business Insider, National Review, Crooks and Liars, Brad DeLong, The Raw Story and Daily Kos

Jeremy W. Peters / The Caucus:
3 Democrats Say They Will Oppose Summers for Fed

Discussion: New York Times, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Zandar Versus The Stupid and Prairie Weather

Sy Mukherjee / ThinkProgress:

Police Fatally Shoot Unarmed Former Football Player Who May Have Been Seeking Help After A Car Crash — The wreckage of the car that Jonathan Ferrell, 24, had pulled himself out of before seeking help, only to be shot fatally by police. — Officer Randall Kerrick, 27 …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Mediaite and The Hinterland Gazette

The Charlotte Observer:

CMPD officer charged in fatal shooting — lruebens@charlotteobserver.com htrenda@charlotteobserver.com — A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer who was involved in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man early Saturday has been charged with voluntary manslaughter and is in custody …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and msnbc.com

David Rose / Daily Mail:

Global warming is just HALF what we said: World's top climate scientists admit computers got the effects of greenhouse gases wrong — A leaked copy of the world's most authoritative climate study reveals scientific forecasts of imminent doom were drastically wrong.

Discussion: Watts Up With That?, Power Line and Wall Street Journal

Spiegel Online:

NSA Spies on International Payments — The United States' NSA intelligence agency is interested in international payments processed by companies including Visa, SPIEGEL has learned. It has even set up its own financial database to track money flows through a “tailored access operations” division.

Discussion: Firedoglake, emptywheel, TechCrunch and GigaOM

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:

Inside the mind of NSA chief Gen Keith Alexander — A lavish Star Trek room he had built as part of his ‘Information Dominance Center’ is endlessly revealing — (updated below) — It has been previously reported that the mentality of NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander is captured by his motto “Collect it All”.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Verge and Boing Boing

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:

Angry House Republicans demand better communication from their leaders — Republican lawmakers are growing increasingly frustrated with what they say is a lack of communication from their leaders. — Both centrist and conservative members in the House believe that Speaker John Boehner …