memeorandum: In the Shadow of Katrina — Hurricane Katrina devastated … (Retro Report)

9:05 AM ET, October 28, 2013

Top Items:

Obama unaware as U.S. spied on world leaders: officials. — The National Security Agency ended a program used to spy on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a number of other world leaders after an internal Obama administration review started this summer revealed to the White House the existence of the operations, U.S. officials said.

Discussion: The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Politico, ABC News, The Hinterland Gazette, Hot Air, Roger L. Simon, emptywheel, Taegan Goddard's …, CNN and AllThingsD

David Simpson / CNN:

Report: White House stopped phone tapping of foreign leaders this summer — (CNN) — The White House learned this summer that the National Security Agency had tapped the phones of world leaders and ordered a halt to some of the eavesdropping, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

Discussion: The Hill, Informed Comment and ABC News

Louise Barnett / Telegraph:
Barack Obama 'approved tapping Angela Merkel's phone 3 years ago'

Discussion: BBC, The Lonely Conservative and Atlas Shrugs

Yahoo! News:
Obama did not discuss tapping Merkel's phone with NSA chief

Discussion: National Review, Guardian and emptywheel

CBS News:

60 Minutes: Benghazi — The following script is from “Benghazi” which aired on Oct. 27, 2013. The correspondent is Lara Logan. Max McClellan, producer. — When Chris Stevens was killed in Benghazi, Libya, on the anniversary of September 11th last year, it was only the sixth …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Hot Air, RealClearPolitics and Atlas Shrugs

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

60 Minutes confirms Benghazi is a real scandal, and you've been lied to — 60 Minutes had an absolutely devastating report on the Obama administration's failure to protect Ambassador Chris Stevens and other Americans in Benghazi. — I'll post the video when available (update …

Discussion: The Other McCain, Power Line and The Gateway Pundit

Rolling Stone:

Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71 — New York legend, who helped shape nearly fifty years of rock music, underwent a liver transplant in May — Lou Reed, a massively influential songwriter and guitarist who helped shape nearly fifty years of rock music, died today.

Ben Ratliff / New York Times:
Outsider Whose Dark, Lyrical Vision Helped Shape Rock ‘n’ Roll

Discussion: The Week, Washington Monthly and alicublog

CNN:
Rock legend Lou Reed dies at 71

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, KTLA 5, Scared Monkeys and Crooks and Liars

Maggie Haberman / Politico:

A model for Hillary Clinton 2016: Hillary Clinton 2000 — The most urgent question Hillary Clinton would face if she runs for president again is whether she could avoid the blunders — the bitter staff rivalries going public, the poisonous relationship with the press, the presumption of inevitability …

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Pelosi hints she might endorse Clinton — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi might endorse Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. — In her interview with The Hill, the California Democrat left open the possibility of backing the former secretary of State.

Philip Elliott / Associated Press:
Clinton: Ideologues Reliable GOP Voters

Discussion: CNN, Politico and The Reaction

Wbastone / The Smoking Gun:

Meet The Florida Men Who Got Dressed Up As George Zimmerman And Trayvon Martin For Halloween — Buster — A pair of Florida men decided to celebrate Halloween this year by dressing up as George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin, complete with blackface and blood-stained hoodie.

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, Gawker, Weasel Zippers and Mediaite

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:

Florida Blue CEO Refuses to Play Along with David Gregory's Concern Trolling — You hear it on the lips of every single one of the Republican talking heads on every single Sunday news show: President Obama promised that if you liked your healthcare, you could keep it and HE LIED!!! (cue sobbing) …

Discussion: Mediaite and Angry Bear

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Big Kludge — The good news about HealthCare.gov, the portal to Obamacare's health exchange, is that the administration is no longer minimizing its problems. That's the first step toward fixing the mess — and it will get fixed, although it's anyone's guess whether the new promise …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Annie Lowrey / New York Times: Health Site's Woes Could Dissuade Vital Enrollee: the Young and Healthy

Steve Coll / New Yorker:

PARTY CRASHERS — In the late nineteen-sixties, Mitch McConnell came to Washington to work as an aide to Senator Marlow Cook, a Kentucky Republican. Cook backed clean-air standards and limits on strip mining. It was a time of political diversity among Republicans: in 1970 …

Retro Report:

In the Shadow of Katrina — Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, and Louisiana's troubled housing recovery has shaped the response to every major disaster since, including Hurricane Sandy. — This week's Retro Report video tells the story of Louisiana after Katrina …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Politico:

House leaders plot new fall GOP strategy — For the first time in months, House Republicans are facing no immediate cataclysmic deadlines, and GOP leaders are struggling to come up with an agenda to fill the 19 legislative days that are left in 2013. — Need evidence?