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, Prairie Weather, Taylor Marsh and Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire
RELATED:
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
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, Shakesville, Mark Udall, Firedoglake, The Volokh Conspiracy, Mediaite, Washington Post, SCOTUSblog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Guardian, Poynter, DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Reaction, ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, NYT Bits, Freedom Outpost, TechCrunch, The BLT, Senator Wyden's Press Feed, Mashable, Hit & Run, 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 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
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 …
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
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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
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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
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Kim Hjelmgaard / USA Today:
Snowden to Brazil: Swap you spying help for asylum — Edward Snowden has written an “open letter to the people of Brazil” offering to assist Brazil's government investigate allegations of U.S. spying, but on the condition that he be granted permanent political asylum.
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, CNN, Global Grind, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, The Verge and First Read, more at Mediagazer »
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
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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
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Dylan Byers / Politico:
Lara Logan to return to ‘60 Minutes’
Lara Logan to return to ‘60 Minutes’
Discussion:
The Reaction, The Raw Story, Hullabaloo, The Huffington Post and Mediaite, 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:
CNN, Washington Monthly, KTOO and Roll Call
RELATED:
Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:
Budget deal shows the GOP has PTSD
Budget deal shows the GOP has PTSD
Discussion:
The Hill, American Spectator and Power Line
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, Scared Monkeys, The Plum Line, NewsBusters and Althouse
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, The Gateway Pundit and Scared Monkeys
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 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
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
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 …
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, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, The Raw Story, Gawker, Mediaite and Liberaland