Top Items:
New York Times:
Spies' Dragnet Reaches a Playing Field of Elves and Trolls — Not limiting their activities to the earthly realm, American and British spies have infiltrated the fantasy worlds of World of Warcraft and Second Life, conducting surveillance and scooping up data in the online games played …
Discussion:
Guardian, The Verge, Liberaland and TechCrunch
RELATED:
ProPublica:
World of Spycraft: NSA and CIA Spied in Online Games — by Justin Elliott, ProPublica, and Mark Mazzetti, The New York Times … Not limiting their activities to the earthly realm, American and British spies have infiltrated the fantasy worlds of World of Warcraft and Second Life …
Discussion:
Techdirt, The Minority Report Blog, KDVR.com, Gawker and NPR
James Ball / Guardian:
Spy agencies in covert push to infiltrate virtual world of online gaming
Spy agencies in covert push to infiltrate virtual world of online gaming
Discussion:
Computerworld, ProPublica, Discourse.net, Mashable, The Raw Story and emptywheel
Robert Pear / New York Times:
On Health Exchanges, Premiums May Be Low, but Other Costs Can Be High — WASHINGTON — For months, the Obama administration has heralded the low premiums of medical insurance policies on sale in the insurance exchanges created by the new health law. But as consumers dig into the details …
Discussion:
Power Line, The Minority Report Blog and Hot Air
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New York Times:
Amid the Uproar Over the Health Law, Voices of Quiet Optimism and Relief
Amid the Uproar Over the Health Law, Voices of Quiet Optimism and Relief
Discussion:
The Plum Line
Stephanie Kirchgaessner / Financial Times:
New Affordable Care US health plans will exclude top hospitals
New Affordable Care US health plans will exclude top hospitals
Discussion:
americanthinker.com
Beth Reinhard / NationalJournal.com:
Can Democrats Make 2014 About the Minimum Wage? — Shifting away from Obamacare is smart politics, but it won't be easy to lure GOP voters with a low-wages argument. — A prominent liberal think tank dubbed it a “political goldmine.” The New Republic called it “the issue that could take down Mitch McConnell.”
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Mediaite and National Review
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Seymour M. Hersh / London Review of Books:
Whose sarin? — Barack Obama did not tell the whole story this autumn when he tried to make the case that Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the chemical weapons attack near Damascus on 21 August. In some instances, he omitted important intelligence, and in others he presented assumptions as facts.
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Justin Sink / The Hill:
WH: Hersh report on Syria ‘simply false’
ThinkProgress:
There's Now A Coloring Book To Teach Your Children To Love Ted Cruz — Are you a new parent terrified that the liberal media will turn your child into an Obama supporter? Or do you just need something to entertain your kids during those long drives to Tea Party rallies?
Discussion:
Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon, Hullabaloo, The Raw Story and National Review
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Susan Page / USA Today:
Sibling rivalry? Zeke vs. Rahm Emanuel on Obamacare
Sibling rivalry? Zeke vs. Rahm Emanuel on Obamacare
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Washington Free Beacon
TIME:
The Top Ten Finalists for Person of the Year in 2013 — Here are the final ten contenders for TIME's Person of the Year (listed alphabetically): Bashar Assad, President of Syria Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder Ted Cruz, Texas Senator Miley Cyrus, Singer Pope Francis, Leader of the Catholic Church Barack Obama …
Discussion:
Politico, Yahoo! News, Towleroad News #gay and Joe. My. God.
Tomas Hachard / The Atlantic Online:
Finally, Some Films That Don't Make the 1960s Look So Groovy — While it's likely entirely coincidental, it's nevertheless fitting that the Coen brothers' latest movie, Inside Llewyn Davis, has its initial release on December 6. That was the day of the Altamont music festival in 1969 …
Alex Seitz-Wald / NationalJournal.com:
How Adam Lanza Wrecked Obama's Second Term — Don't blame the catastrophic health care rollout for the president's woes. The Sandy Hook shooting is the real reason things went amok. — There are plenty of reasons this is the lowest point of Barack Obama's presidency.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
Americans Discover They're Trapped In GOP's Medicaid Expansion Gap — With HealthCare.gov working better and the first deadline to sign up for health coverage that starts in January approaching, Obamacare's so-called navigators — the people and organizations receiving federal funds to help people enroll …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Progressive Eruptions
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Punishment Cure — Six years have passed since the United States economy entered the Great Recession, four and a half since it officially began to recover, but long-term unemployment remains disastrously high. And Republicans have a theory about why this is happening.
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, p m carpenter's commentary, Shakesville, Prairie Weather, Daily Kos and Post Politics
The Sportsman Channel:
Sarah Palin Joins Sportsman Channel as Host of Original Series “Amazing America with Sarah Palin” — Cultural, Political and Media Force, Palin Returns to Unscripted Television as Sportsman Channel's “First Lady of the Outdoors” — New Berlin, WI (December 9 2013) Former U.S. vice presidential candidate …
Discussion:
Politico, CNN, Post Politics and The Gateway Pundit
Susan B. Glasser / Politico:
Was Hillary Clinton a good secretary of state? — And does it matter? — Not so long ago, Hillary Clinton was being lauded as an exemplary secretary of state. After four years and nearly a million miles logged as America's top diplomat, she stepped down to a torrent of praise.
Discussion:
TheBlaze.com and The Daily Caller
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Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Worries about Hillary Clinton
Worries about Hillary Clinton
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh and Washington Monthly
Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
Budget deal expected this week amounts to a cease-fire as sides move to avert a standoff — House and Senate negotiators were putting the finishing touches Sunday on what would be the first successful budget accord since 2011, when the battle over a soaring national debt first paralyzed Washington.
Discussion:
NBCNews, Wonkblog, A plain blog about politics, The Fix, Daily Kos, Business Insider, ABC News, Marginal Revolution and The Hill
Joseph Curl / Washington Times:
Obama tells a whopper on IRS scandal — ANALYSIS/OPINION: — Fact: The IRS targeted conservative and tea party groups requesting tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election. That's a fact. — Congress held hearings — embarrassing hearings.
Discussion:
Betsy's Page, The Other McCain and Power Line
Zach Carter / The Huffington Post:
Obama Faces Backlash Over New Corporate Powers In Secret Trade Deal — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration appears to have almost no international support for controversial new trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications …
Discussion:
National Review, Teamster Nation, susiemadrak.com and Shakesville
Reuters:
Israeli Top Leaders Not Attending Mandela Funeral — JERUSALEM — Neither Israel's prime minister nor president will attend South Africa's commemorations of the late Nelson Mandela this week, officials said, a notable absence at events expected to draw more than 70 world leaders.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo