Top Items:
New York Times:
A Powerful Rebuke of Mass Surveillance — For the first time since the revelation of the National Security Agency's vast dragnet of all Americans' telephone records, a federal court has ruled that such surveillance is “significantly likely” to be unconstitutional.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Prairie Weather and Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire
RELATED:
Bradley Brooks / Associated Press:
Snowden Petitions Brazil For Asylum In Exchange For Help With Spying — RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden says he would be willing to help Brazil investigate NSA spying on its soil, but could not fully participate without being granted political asylum …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and Patterico's Pontifications
Scott Lemieux / American Prospect:
Four Takeaways from Yesterday's NSA Ruling — Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that the National Security Agency's extensive collection of “metadata”—as revealed by Edward Snowden earlier this year—is likely to have violated the Fourth Amendment.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
‘Passionate’ Judge Has Record of Wrestling With Thorny Issues, and the U.S. Government
‘Passionate’ Judge Has Record of Wrestling With Thorny Issues, and the U.S. Government
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Post and The Volokh Conspiracy
Kim Hjelmgaard / USA Today:
Snowden to Brazil: Swap you spying help for asylum
Snowden to Brazil: Swap you spying help for asylum
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, CNN, Business Insider, The Verge and First Read, more at Mediagazer »
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Judge Questions Legality of N.S.A. Phone Records
Judge Questions Legality of N.S.A. Phone Records
Discussion:
Close Read, Politico, Shakesville, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mark Udall, Mediaite, Firedoglake, The Volokh Conspiracy, Washington Post, SCOTUSblog, Guardian, Poynter, DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Reaction, ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, Freedom Outpost, NYT Bits, TechCrunch, The BLT, Hit & Run, Senator Wyden's Press Feed, Mashable, TIME, TalkLeft, The Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
This Is The Most Important Paragraph In The Court Decision Against The NSA
This Is The Most Important Paragraph In The Court Decision Against The NSA
Discussion:
The Impolitic, Taylor Marsh and Liberal Values
Orin Kerr / The Volokh Conspiracy:
Preliminary Thoughts on Judge Leon's Opinion
Preliminary Thoughts on Judge Leon's Opinion
Discussion:
emptywheel, ACS Blog and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Guardian:
Edward Snowden says judge's ruling vindicates NSA surveillance disclosures
Edward Snowden says judge's ruling vindicates NSA surveillance disclosures
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, The Week, Informed Comment, TechCrunch, Mediaite, Hot Air, USA Today and Forbes, more at Mediagazer »
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
Ron Fournier / NationalJournal.com:
‘This Is the End of the Presidency’ — Tracking the same horrible second-term path as Bush, can Obama learn from the past? — Claiming a mandate he never had, the newly reelected president foisted a bold agenda upon Congress and the public, then watched it collapse within months …
David Weigel / Slate:
Why 60 Minutes Tanked the NSA Story: The Producers Theory — It'll be a good 30 years until I can start collecting Social Security checks, and I can't say where I was when JFK was shot, so I'm not really in 60 Minutes' target audience. * Other reporters, who have closely covered the NSA story …
Discussion:
Guardian, New York Magazine and Reuters
RELATED:
Dylan Byers / Politico:
Lara Logan to return to ‘60 Minutes’
Lara Logan to return to ‘60 Minutes’
Discussion:
The Reaction, The Raw Story, Hullabaloo, Mediaite and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »
Erik Wasson / The Hill:
Senate poised to approve budget — The Senate is poised to approve the two-year budget deal on Tuesday, but the tally is not expected to match the landslide in the House. — The bill, which sets top-line spending levels for 2014 and 2015, is on track to just barely get the 60 votes it needs to clear the upper chamber.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Roll Call
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Obama suffers most from year of turmoil, poll finds — President Obama is ending his fifth year in office matching the worst public approval ratings of his presidency, with record numbers of Americans saying they disapprove of his job performance and his once-hefty advantages over Republicans …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Business Insider, The Plum Line, Scared Monkeys, NewsBusters and Althouse
Quinnipiac News + Events:
Release Detail — December 17, 2013 - Iowa Gov's Approval, Reelection Prospects Improve, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Christie Tops Clinton By 5 Points In 2016 Race — Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's reelection prospects are improving as voters approve 58 - 32 percent of the job he is doing …
Discussion:
CNN, Talking Points Memo, Taegan Goddard's … and Politico
Bret Stephens / Wall Street Journal:
Of Jane Fonda and Pope Francis — The pontiff understands the power of moral example. Today's liberal high priests do not. — In the same week that Pope Francis was named Time's Person of the Year, word arrived of the charitable contributions made by the Jane Fonda Foundation.
David Nather / Reuters:
Next Obamacare crisis: Small-business costs? — Think the canceled health policies hurt the Obamacare cause? There's another political time bomb lurking that could explode not too long before next year's elections: rate hikes for small businesses. — Like the canceled individual health plans …
Discussion:
Politico and Talking Points Memo
Rick Kissell / Variety:
Fox News Remains Ratings Champ As 2013 Comes to Close — It and rivals CNN, MSNBC down from last year — Fox News Channel maintained its grip on the cable-news network ratings prize in 2013, drawing more viewers than the combined averages of CNN, MSNBC and HLN.
Discussion:
BREITBART.COM, Michelle Malkin, BizPac Review, The Gateway Pundit and Scared Monkeys
mynews13.com:
George Zimmerman is selling his original artwork on eBay — SANFORD — It appears George Zimmerman has turned to painting, and is selling his own, original artwork on eBay not one week after prosecutors dropped domestic violence charges against him. — Now the painting has a bid of almost $100,000.
Discussion:
NY Daily News, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, The Raw Story, Gawker, Mediaite and Liberaland
Jordan Zakarin / BuzzFeed:
Shia LaBeouf Apologizes After Plagiarizing Artist Daniel Clowes For His New Short Film — UPDATED: The similarities between LaBeouf's HowardCantour.com and Clowes' Justin M. Damiano are astounding. “In my excitement and naiveté as an amateur filmmaker, I got lost in the creative process …
Dave Levinthal / The Center for Public …:
How Washington starves its election watchdog — FEC hamstrung by political bickering, case backlogs, staff departures — even Chinese hackers — Just after the federal government shut down Oct. 1, and one of the government's more dysfunctional agencies stopped functioning altogether, Chinese hackers picked their moment to attack.
Alexandra Jaffe / The Hill:
McConnell, challenger neck-and-neck in poll — A new poll shows the Kentucky Senate race is essentially tied and that Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) remains deeply unpopular in his home state. — The survey, from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, shows Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes lagging …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Talking Points Memo and Hullabaloo
John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Is A Big Chill On the Way? — As Steve noted a little while ago, the Northern states have been in a deep freeze for a while now. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that northern Minnesota hasn't had a six-day stretch colder than the one the state has just suffered through since the Nixon administration, 1972.
Discussion:
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Jason Horowitz / New York Times:
Obama's Library, Advisers' Dream — WASHINGTON — This spring, a longtime staff member for President Obama, Alyssa Mastromonaco, let a friend in on a secret. Mr. Obama had assigned her to help plan his post-presidential library and foundation. — It was a plum task.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Nathan L. Gonzales / Rothenblog:
How the Calendar Will Influence GOP Senate Primaries — Cornyn's primary is first on the 2014 calendar. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo) — Stories about Republican primaries are all the rage, and we're still nearly three months from the first actual election.
Discussion:
Politico