Top Items:
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional — A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely to be unconstitutional. — U.S. District Court Judge …
Discussion:
Hot Air, TIME, American Spectator, Hit & Run, Atlas Shrugs, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Caller, Gawker, Gizmodo, Freedom Outpost, Business Insider, The Hinterland Gazette, JONATHAN TURLEY, Washington Monthly, Little Green Footballs, CNN, National Review, Maggie's Farm and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »
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Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Judge Questions Legality of N.S.A. Phone Records — WASHINGTON — A federal district judge ruled on Monday that the National Security Agency program that is systematically keeping records of all Americans' phone calls most likely violates the Constitution, describing its technology as …
Discussion:
Mark Udall, Guardian, The Volokh Conspiracy, Washington Post, SCOTUSblog, Informed Comment, Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Outside the Beltway, The BLT, The Reaction, TechCrunch, Mediaite, TIME, Mashable, Hit & Run, TalkLeft, Senator Wyden's Press Feed, The Raw Story and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
This Is The Most Important Paragraph In The Court Decision Against The NSA — The National Security Agency went into Judge Richard Leon's courtroom with a powerful precedent on its side. In its 1979 decision in Smith v. Maryland, the Supreme Court held that individuals do not have a …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh and Liberal Values
Associated Press:
Judge's word on NSA program won't be the last — WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge made headlines Monday by declaring that the National Security Agency's bulk collection of millions of Americans' telephone records is likely unconstitutional. But even he realized his won't be the last word on the issue.
Discussion:
Associated Press
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
Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:
Federal Judge: NSA Program Revealed By Snowden Likely Unconstitutional
Federal Judge: NSA Program Revealed By Snowden Likely Unconstitutional
Discussion:
Guardian and The Impolitic, more at Mediagazer »
Dylan Byers / Politico:
Lara Logan to return to ‘60 Minutes’ — Lara Logan and Max McClellan, the ‘60 Minutes’ journalists who were put on a leave of absence following their now-retracted report on Benghazi, are set to return to the program early next year, POLITICO has learned. — Logan and her producer …
Discussion:
The Raw Story, Hullabaloo and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
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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 …
Jessica Hopper / Sound of the City:
Read the “Stomach-Churning” Sexual Assault Accusations Against R. Kelly in Full — It has been nearly 15 years since music journalist Jim DeRogatis caught the story that has since defined his career, one that he wishes didn't exist: R. Kelly's sexual predation on teenage girls.
Discussion:
Business Insider and The Hinterland Gazette
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Alyssa Rosenberg / ThinkProgress:
What R. Kelly Teaches Us About How Sexual Predators Choose And Silence Their Victims — On Monday, the Village Voice published a long conversation between Jessica Hopper, the music editor for Rookie, and Jim DeRogatis, now a professor at Columbia College, who, as a critic at the Chicago Sun-Times …
Annie Linskey / Bloomberg:
Brown's Move to New Hampshire Fuels Talk of Senate Race — Former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown plans to move to New Hampshire, the latest sign that he's considering a U.S. Senate bid there, which would complicate Democrats' effort to hold their majority in the chamber.
Discussion:
ABC News, Daily Kos, CNN, First Read and Balloon Juice
Bloomberg:
Make Obamacare Cool, or Make It Hurt — Instead of outreach programs and sappy TV ads with parents imploring their kids to sign up for Obamacare, President Barack Obama needs to start thinking creatively if he wants his signature legislative achievement to be a success. What motivates kids?
Discussion:
NewsBusters, National Review, Connecting.the.Dots and Weasel Zippers
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FDA Consumer Health Information Updates:
FDA Taking Closer Look at ‘Antibacterial’ Soap — On this page: — When you're buying soaps and body washes, do you reach for the bar or bottle labeled “antibacterial”? Are you thinking that these products, in addition to keeping you clean, will reduce your risk of getting sick or passing on germs to others?
Discussion:
New York Times, The Verge, NBCNews, BBC, Los Angeles Times and The Week
Alexis Levinson / The Daily Caller:
Democratic group apologizes after sending tracker to memorial service — Democratic opposition research organization American Bridge apologized on Monday for sending someone to follow New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte at a funeral this weekend, after a reporter and the New Hampshire Republican party attacked them for the move.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
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Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Democratic Group American Bridge Apologizes After Oppo Tracker Films Memorial Service
Democratic Group American Bridge Apologizes After Oppo Tracker Films Memorial Service
Discussion:
New Hampshire Public Radio and Mediaite
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
Juan Williams / The Hill:
Republicans must see the light on combatting poverty — Fifty years ago this month, President Johnson was closing in on his first State of the Union address. The famous speech, delivered in January 1964, kickstarted the War on Poverty. — The war was never won.
Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Jeh Johnson OK'd for Homeland Security — The Senate confirmed former Pentagon attorney Jeh Johnson on Monday to lead the Department of Homeland Security, rounding out President Barack Obama's second-term Cabinet. — After the 78-16 vote, Johnson will take the helm at DHS …
Discussion:
Reuters, TIME and ImmigrationProf Blog
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:
Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit
Katie Thomas / New York Times:
Glaxo Says It Will Stop Paying Doctors to Promote Drugs — The British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline will no longer pay doctors to promote its products and will stop tying compensation of sales representatives to the number of prescriptions doctors write, its chief executive said Monday …
Discussion:
Guardian and Balloon Juice
Josh Barro / Business Insider:
Conservatives Have No Idea What To Do About Recessions — For the last five years, liberals have promoted three main economic policies to shorten or ameliorate the Great Recession and speed the recovery from it. — Deficit-financed spending to compensate for demand gaps in the private sector.
Discussion:
Paul Krugman, Washington Monthly and The New Republic
Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:
Budget deal shows the GOP has PTSD — Since taking office, Barack Obama has run the table on congressional Republicans, racking up one government-expanding victory after another — from the stimulus to Dodd-Frank, Obamacare and the $620 billion in fiscal-cliff tax increases.
Discussion:
Power Line
Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
Gary Patton out in DOD sexual assault post — The Pentagon's top sexual assault prevention official is stepping down next month amid an internal investigation that he intimidated whistleblowers during a previous stint in Afghanistan. — Maj. Gen. Gary Patton is set to retire in the spring …
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Jeremy Herb / The Hill:
Pentagon sexual assault prevention chief stepping down
Pentagon sexual assault prevention chief stepping down
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo