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, Mediaite, Guardian, Prairie Weather, Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire and Taylor Marsh, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
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.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money and Mediaite
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
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
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Judge Questions Legality of N.S.A. Phone Records
Judge Questions Legality of N.S.A. Phone Records
Discussion:
Politico, Close Read, Guardian, Shakesville, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, NBCNews, Mark Udall, Firedoglake, The Volokh Conspiracy, Washington Post, Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog, Informed Comment, SCOTUSblog, Poynter, DISSENTING JUSTICE, ThinkProgress, The Reaction, Outside the Beltway, NYT Bits, Freedom Outpost, TechCrunch, The BLT, Hot Air, Senator Wyden's Press Feed, Mashable, Hit & Run, TIME, TalkLeft, The Raw Story, Althouse and Talking Points Memo, 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 and Liberal Values
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:
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 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:
Talking Points Memo and Politico
RELATED:
Alexander Burns / Politico:
Pro-Mitch McConnell ad links him to Rand Paul
Pro-Mitch McConnell ad links him to Rand Paul
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Fix and The Daily Caller
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
RELATED:
Jenna Portnoy / New Jersey Online:
Iowa voters prefer Chris Christie to Hillary Clinton in 2016 matchup, poll shows
Iowa voters prefer Chris Christie to Hillary Clinton in 2016 matchup, poll shows
Discussion:
Booman Tribune and susiemadrak.com
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
RELATED:
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, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, The Week, The Verge and First Read, more at Mediagazer »
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 Raw Story, The Reaction, Hullabaloo, Mediaite and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »
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, Scared Monkeys, Business Insider, NewsBusters and Althouse
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Thought Leader — Little boys and girls in ancient Athens grew up wanting to be philosophers. In Renaissance Florence they dreamed of becoming Humanists. But now a new phrase and a new intellectual paragon has emerged to command our admiration: The Thought Leader.
Discussion:
Capital New York and Patterico's Pontifications
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
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, Taylor Marsh, Scared Monkeys and The Gateway Pundit
Seung Min Kim / Politico:
White House to tap Microsoft exec to fix Obamacare site — The White House is tapping the private sector for its next point man to fix the troubled Obamacare website. — The administration is set to announce that Kurt DelBene, an executive at Microsoft, will succeed Jeff Zients in leading …
Discussion:
Hot Air and Business Insider
Scott Jaschik / Inside Higher Ed:
Too Risky for Boulder? — Patricia Adler stunned her students in a popular course on deviance Thursday by announcing that she would be leaving her tenured position teaching sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. — Adler said that officials told her that one of the highlights of the course …
Discussion:
The Latest Word, CBS Denver and The Raw Story
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.
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 …